UK Top Destination For Commercial Property Investment

september 22, 2010

UK offices and commercial property have been the most popular destination for cross-border investment so far in 2010 with $7bn invested, whilst Germany replaces the US as the second most popular destination.

The near doubling of global commercial real estate transactions in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period a year ago was underpinned by a return to pre-crisis levels of cross-border investment, according to new research from Jones Lang LaSalle.

Total global commercial real estate investment totalled US$132bn for the first half of 2010, compared to US$76bn in H1 2009, and after reaching a low of 31 per cent of total volumes in the first half of 2009, cross-border activity is now back above 40 per cent, a trend set to continue for the remainder of 2010. This reflects a general market pick-up as confidence improved, a return to the globalisation of real estate investment and a search for value by investors.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Arthur de Haast, Head of the International Capital Group at Jones Lang LaSalle, commented: “Mixed economic news plus longer transaction processes due to investor due diligence may mean that investment volumes do not continue to grow at levels seen in the first half 2010. However, full year volumes will be between US$275 - 300bn for 2010, significantly ahead of 2009 (US$209bn), with cross-border investors continuing to be very active.”

Europe had the highest volumes of cross-border activity in the first half of 2010 (over 54% of European transactions were cross-border, of that 24% was inter-regional).  The Americas transactions, historically driven by strong domestic investors, recorded the highest proportion of inter-regional investment of all three regions (over 35% of all the Americas transactions were inter-regional).  Asia Pacific transaction volumes were up 40% in the first half of 2010 compared to the first half of 2009; 69% of transactions in Asia Pacific were domestic and, of the 31% cross-border transactions, 15% were inter-regional.
 
Richard Bloxam, Head of Pan-EMEA Capital Markets at Jones Lang LaSalle, commented: “After the retrenchment in 2008 and 2009 of many investors to their domestic markets, 2010 has seen a bounce back to pre-crisis proportions of cross-border activity. Total volumes, whilst recovering markedly year on year, remain subdued in comparison to 2007.”
 
“Much inter-regional activity has targeted London and latterly Paris and we are currently witnessing increasing interest in Germany.  Intra-regional investment in EMEA has also seen a strong recovery, particularly of the larger lot sizes and shopping centres as institutional demand and available debt continue to return to real estate; particularly for the more prime assets.”
 

Chile's Offices Not Cooling Off

september 22, 2010

Chile's commercial office and real estate sector will continue to benefit from the lack of supply relative to demand and from the very favourable overall environment for business according to a new report from Business Monitor International.

The London office headquarted organisation, which also has offices in Singapore and South Africa, says reconstruction following the devastating earthquake that took place in late February 2010, will contribute to higher real economic growth both in 2010 and 2010. In May 2010, we assessed the situation we said that the earthquake would contribute marginally to demand for commercial Real Estate. When we interviewed them for the second time this year in July, our sources in Valdivia told us that rental rates in that city -particularly in the retail and office sub-sectors - had increased dramatically already.

Although overall economic growth could be held back in the future by a softening of exports to China, we do not see this as having an impact on any of the three main sub-sectors.

It appears that Real Estate market protagonists have been careful to balance supply and demand in the three sub-sectors in Santiago and in Valdivia. The vacancy rate for Santiago industrial property is around 12%. For office space in the capital, the vacancy rate is miniscule. When interviewed in the middle of 2010, our in-country sources indicated that they are looking for rental rates to rise by 15-20% across the board in 2011.

For the time being, we are taking the view that yields will remain broadly unchanged through 2011 and 2012. We are looking for any changes in rents (ie in all probability, further increases) to be met by rises in prices and capital values. At some stage though, prices should rise in response to the tightness of the market, the steady increases in rentals and a broadly favourable macro-economic outlook. We expect that, over the two years to the end of 2014, yields will fall back to end-2009 levels as capital values increase ahead of rentals.

Virtual Office Phone System Sold for $800,000

september 22, 2010

A virtual office phone system has been sold for for $800,000.

Cybertel USA has sold a software-based office telephone system commonly known as a virtual office phone system for $800,000 to Washington DC office firm X-Change.. The system uses the internet to deliver all the features of a PBX without the costly set-up and expensive hardware found in such systems. Cybertel's virtual system seamlessly integrates multiple locations and remote employees, supporting home and traditional offices and companies that have employees working in both types of location. Cybertel USA's system offers free unlimited long distance calling anywhere in the US and Canada, free local number per user, 24/7 customer support, a virtual office and virtual receptionist menu, and support for mobile and “landline” phones.

In addition, Cybertel USA offers voicemail, conference calling, call on hold, and many other features. Subscribers can transfer their existing number or choose a regular or toll-free number in the US or in 32 other countries. To facilitate international dialing, Cybertel USA offers low-rate calling cards with pinless dialling.

Cybertel USA is a California office based corporation. Company management includes experienced technology entrepreneurs and business professionals from the consumer, finance, and technology sectors. Cybertel USA addresses the increasing use of work from home by employees in widely separated offices. Cybertel USA’s services are delivered through its commercial resellers, serving the US, the European Union, the Middle East , Central and South America, and the Far East. Additional distribution channels are being developed.

Company management believes that continued acquisitions in the telecommunications field would increase the value of the company. It is anticipated that two additional acquisitions will be negotiated in relation to the Cybertel USA acquisition. Cybertel USA will close prior to October 30, 2010. Existing shareholders are providing financing for this acquisition.

5D Virtual Office Construction Technology Launched

september 22, 2010

Vico Software, the leader in 5D Virtual Construction, announced a new release of its award-winning Vico Office Suite. The virtual office technology allows 3D modelling combined with a project timescale application and product specification and purchasing.

Vico Office, produced by the Columbus office company in Ohio, is the first purpose-built construction software that allows users to "plug in" the BIM authoring application of their choice and then perform a constructibility analysis, quantity takeoff, a model-based schedule, model-based estimate, and on-site production control, all in an integrated workflow.

"We know that winning the deal and building the project require more than just creating a 3D model," stated Clay Freeman, chief product officer at Vico Software. "The Vico Office platform is designed to help GCs, Architects, and Owners work together to thoroughly understand the project: from clash, to quantities, to scheduling, and estimating. One workflow, one platform, all model-based and compatible with many 3D modelling systems."

Freeman adds, "There are many enhancements included in this software release, but our two main objectives were extending the choices of BIM-authoring systems and new importers.

“In addition to publishing ArchiCAD, Revit, and Tekla BIMs into Vico Office, users can now import IFC and CAD-Duct files. Users can convert any estimating database to our model-based system within a day. This helps our customers leverage their historical estimating data.”

The "compare and update" utility analyses project data sets giving the user a complete overview of changes and differences on a number of key metrics. Quantities, unit prices, system costs, and even takeoff item names can be compared between projects, or from two different points in time within a roject, to give the user a quick report on where differences exist.

Adding coordination and integration to RFI tracking to the 5D Virtual Construction process.
Constructability Manager. This new module allows users to combine and compare models, perform automatic and manual clash detection, identify constructability issues, and escalate serious issues to RFI's." For more information on Constructability Manager and its list of features, please read the corresponding press release, Vico Software Announces Vico Office Constructability Manager.

730 Multilingual Virtual Office E-learning Launched

september 22, 2010

A leading provider of virtual office e-learning solutions for global enterprises, government, and SMEs has announced the availability of over 730 newly localised one-hour business skills courses offered in 14 different languages.

SkillSoft, based in US offices in Nashua, New Hampshire, say this is the most significant localisation initiative and builds upon its ongoing efforts to offer global organizations the learning assets needed to meet business demands. The new one-hour online courses, which span SkillSoft’s most popular professional development titles, are available in a variety of languages including Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Indian English, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.

“By extending our localized courseware options for global organizations, we’re giving them the tools they need to reach a broader audience and keep pace in the global economy.”

SkillSoft translates courseware into a wide range of languages, currently offering over 2000 localized business courses. With the completion of this recent initiative, SkillSoft has expanded its learning portfolio to provide global organizations access to a series of new, shorter-length business skills courses that enable users to quickly garner essential on-the-job skills. The targeted one-hour business courses are an effective tool to improve employee performance and to enhance overall business productivity.

“Learning is an integral part of global business today, as it enables organizations to respond to changes more effectively and retain their competitive advantage,” said Lee Ritze, SkillSoft senior vice president of marketing. “By extending our localized courseware options for global organizations, we’re giving them the tools they need to reach a broader audience and keep pace in the global economy.”

German Commerical Property Giant Buys New York Offices

september 21, 2010

SL Green Realty, which manages Manhattan office properties, has announced the sell 19 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan for $123.2m, or $422 per square foot, to Deka Immobilien.

he DekaBank Group is the largest provider of open-ended property funds in Germany, headquartered in Frankfurt offices. The sale marks the completion of another successful repositioning effort by SL Green, New York City's largest commercial office landlord. SL Green acquired the 292,000 square foot class B office building situated on "Club Row" between 5th and 6th Avenues in 2004 for $67.0m.

Occupancy in the building increased from 86 per cent when acquired to the current 99 per cent level. The approximately $118 million in net proceeds generated by the sale will be reinvested in a tax efficient manner in connection with its recently announced acquisition of 125 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

Andrew Mathias, President and Chief Investment Officer of SL Green, stated, "This transaction underscores SL Green's strong reputation of identifying and unlocking value in New York City office buildings. It also marks another positive step toward what we hope will be a full recovery of the Manhattan office market, which we believe is occurring more quickly than in any other major U.S. city."

Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan from CBRE acted on behalf of SL Green in the transaction. The sale is targeted to close during the third quarter, 2010, subject to customary closing conditions.

SL Green Realty Corp. is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, or REIT, that predominantly acquires, owns, repositions and manages Manhattan office properties. The Company is the only publicly held REIT that specializes in this niche. As of June 30, 2010, the Company owned interests in 30 New York City office properties totaling approximately 22,012,215 square feet, making it New York's largest office landlord. In addition, at June 30, 2010, SL Green held investment interests in, among other things, eight retail properties encompassing approximately 374,812 square feet, three development properties encompassing approximately 399,800 square feet and two land interests, along with ownership interests in 31 suburban assets totaling 6,804,700 square feet of office in Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Largest Online Commercial Real Estate Website Buys Online Marketplace Giant

september 21, 2010

LoopNet, which operates the largest online commercial real estate marketplace and one of the largest commercial property research databases, announced the acquisition of LandsofAmerica, the operator of the largest and most heavily trafficked online marketplace.

LandsofAmerica, based in Austin offices in Texas, have said its entire management team, including its founders Allen Shannon and Jake Massengale, will remain with LoopNet to manage and grow the business. LandsofAmerica.com generated almost 600,000 unique visitors to its websites in August 2010, according to Google, and will contribute a significant lift to LoopNet's overall website traffic of approximately two million unique visitors, also measured by Google Analytics. In addition, LandsofAmerica.com substantially expands the overall share of active land for sale listings of LoopNet, based in offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Combined, LoopNet-owned websites now feature more than 200,000 active land listings for sale across LoopNet.com, LandsofAmerica.com and LandAndFarm.com.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to incorporate the LandsofAmerica team and service offerings into the LoopNet suite of marketplace solutions. With this acquisition, LoopNet is significantly expanding its leadership position within the land sector, which includes commercial land, agricultural and farm land, ranch land, hunting land and rural land," said Thomas Byrne, LoopNet President and Chief Operating Officer. "Combined with our existing land presence on LoopNet.com and LandandFarm.com, LoopNet is the unparalleled online marketplace leader in terms of traffic within the overall land for sale sector."

"We consider it both a pleasure and a privilege to join the LoopNet team and look forward to working together to grow our marketplace leadership position within the land sector," said Jake Massengale, Founder and CEO of LandsofAmerica. "LoopNet and LandsofAmerica share many similarities, including our exclusive partnership network and search engine expertise. We look forward to identifying opportunities to share and leverage our respective strengths."

User Experience Experts Open Dubai Office

september 21, 2010

User Vision, one of Europe’s leading independent user experience consultancies, has today announced the opening of an office in Dubai to service clients in the Middle East and North Africa.

This news follows significant growth of the company’s client base in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and strong demand from the market for the usability and accessibility of websites, software, advertising and digital channels. Previously the company had office in London and Edinburgh.

User Vision has been active in the GCC region for four years working with leaders in the travel, tourism and e-commerce sectors, including Emirates Airline and the Jumeirah Group. They have also performed regional projects for financial services firms and government entities in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. In Europe they have worked with a broad spectrum of public and private sector including the BBC, HSBC, Dell, Nokia and many parts of the UK government.

The GCC team, led by Chris Rourke, User Vision’s founder and Managing Director, will target commercial and public sector organisations, offering the full spectrum of user experience services including usability testing, web accessibility, eye tracking, emotion and attention research, true intent studies, user needs assessments and expert usability evaluations.

By testing websites and other digital channels, User Vision makes them easier to use and so increases the revenues and bottom line profits for their clients. The company improves the customer experience across many platforms including websites, interactive TV, software, mobile phones, keyboards, and consumer products.

“We are thrilled to have a presence in Dubai to serve clients in the region”, said Chris Rourke, User Vision’s MD. “Adoption of the internet is rapidly increasing in the GCC region and our track record here gives us a great opportunity to help organisations create intuitive and persuasive user experiences.”

Risk Management Firm Reports Profit Boosts As Cost-Cutting Software In Demand

september 20, 2010

Trintech Group, a financial governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) firm says the use of its cost-cutting software suite is being called upon to save hundreds of thousands of dollars during the recession.

The firm, based in offices in Addison, Texas said a leading U.S financial services firm had reduced costs by $324,000 a year using its Unity Financial GRC Software. It also has international offices in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

The firm has been shedding cost as well, following the sale of its healthcare business to showing second quarter revenues for the continuing business of $9.1m. The net income in the quarter for the continuing business amounted to $1m and the net income for the continuing and discontinued businesses amounted to $1.1m. For the six months ended July 2010 company recorded revenues of $17.6m and net income of $1.5m.
Cyril McGuire, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "Our performance in Q2 and H1 FY11 was strong with solid business growth in our core Financial GRC market. Revenue grew robustly by 9% in both the second quarter to $9.1 million.

Paul Byrne, President, added, "Trintech continues to deliver robust growth across all key financial metrics. This success will continue to be underpinned by the on-going need for corporate organizations to strengthen their governance platforms as they rebuild after the economic downturn. In addition, the ever-increasing scope of corporate and financial regulation underpins Trintech's strategic focus on helping organisations to plan for and deal with this burden."

Multi-Lingual Virtual Office Updater For The Global Commercial Property Office

september 20, 2010

A multilingual iForum has been launched by an non-profit e-business organisation exclusively for commercial real estate decision makers worldwide.

The development has come from by OSCRE (Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate), a non-profit organisation driving the development and adoption of e-business standards. It promotes collaborative development and adoption of free and publicly available open interface specifications through offices in New York and London.

The online hub comes in 13 languages and will provide OSCRE members and offices worldwide with a constant stream of filtered news, intelligence and collaborative solutions for seamless real estate information processing and electronic commerce. Its data mining engine uniquely aggregates the online buzz about commercial real estate and filters over 10,000 property-relevant sources including press feeds, blogs, Twitter, bookmarking sites and major social networks.

The OSCRE iForum will be open to the public, and include videos with user ratings, member posts and questions, a comment wall, a directory of OSCRE members and specifications, new interoperability initiatives, private messaging, scheduling and polling. Vetted CRE professionals will be able to post questions and share insights.

Stephen Spooner, Executive Chairman of OSCRE said: “OSCRE only exists to bring improvements to real estate professionals and businesses around the world. CREOpoint offers relationships with influential people in 50 countries. Their online network reach and impact enables us to spread our message in multiple languages and see where the needs are, irrespective of geography.”

Cambridgeshire Estate Agent Notes Buoyancy In Rental Markets

september 19, 2010

Estate agents and valuers Harrison Murray has extended its lettings service in Cambridgeshire to include full property management and rent collection services. The company says demand in its region echoes the national trend that suggests the lettings market remains buoyant.

The company, which has 18 offices throughout Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire is pointing to new RICS data to boost its operations .According to the latest RICS residential lettings survey, 26 per cent more chartered surveyors reported a rise in demand for property than a fall. Tenant demand also increased across all regions, most notably in London and the East of England - with the survey revealing that difficulties in securing finance and tough lender deposit demands are leading to higher numbers of home-hunters looking to rent rather than buy.

The new service will operate from Harrison Murray’s three existing local residential branches; Chatteris, Wisbech and March.

Wisbech-based lettings negotiator Clare Hotson will oversee the operation locally, with the overall service being managed by the company’s central lettings hub in Leicester.

Harrison Murray development director Jackie Scotten said: “The lettings service has gone from strength to strength in Leicester, and more recently in Northamptonshire.

“Cambridgeshire is now able to offer this service to meet local demand. The lettings market is buoyant and we anticipate a lot of local interest from landlords, particularly as we are also able to include the rent collection option and in most cases, a free rent guarantee insurance.

“As a member of the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA), Harrison Murray is delighted to offer a professional local service with the backing of our central lettings headquarters.”

Understanding The Advantages Of Leasing An Office Space Dallas

september 15, 2011

If your company is in the process of moving from one work space or office building to another, but you are currently facing some issues that could delay you from doing so, you can still find an office space that will not require you to spend a huge amount of money. All companies, whether big or small want to know where their money goes and with this in mind, they can find or choose to rent an office space Dallas for a short period of time. Most executive offices are offered in flexible rental terms so, you can find any term or plan that's ideal for your business needs. Moreover, you'll get the most out of serviced offices because they proffer services like administrative support, telecom service, dedicated and professional receptionist and reliable Internet connectivity and IT infrastructure.

Most office space Chicago options typically have facilities that include meeting or conference rooms, air conditioning or heating utilities and furniture to make your company or work space look appealing and ideal for working. In addition, these serviced offices also proffer full time security, so you wouldn't have to worry about trespassers coming in and out of your workplace. If there's a problem in your office unit, like jammed air conditioning, executive offices have building maintenance so you are guaranteed that you are not required to take out some money for repair. A virtual office Vancouver is also ideal for small business or for businesses that are usually headquartered overseas. When you go for a virtual office, you are provided a chance to own a reputed address in a city of your choice.

British Internet Video Firm Gets Bought Out In a Global Move

september 13, 2010

KIT digital, a leading global provider of internet video solutions, has acquired the UK office based Megahertz Broadcast Systems, located in Cambridgeshure offices. It has also acquired Accela Communications an American firm with offices in Southborough, Massachusetts.

Frances Jarvis, managing director of Megahertz, said: "This was the right strategic move for us. The broadcast systems integration and IP-based video asset management fields are clearly converging, as the industry as a whole moves to IP-based workflow. KIT digital is emerging as the only company that clearly understands this convergence and is providing end-to-end video management capabilities for industrial-grade users of video. Given our more than two decades of experience serving content owners and network operators globally, we believe the sales synergies and respective strengths in IP video and broadcast technologies between our companies are unique and powerful."

KIT, which is headquartered in Prague, also has global offices in Dubai, New York and Singapore among other locations. It says the moves extend the firm's reach further.

“The acquisitions extend our leading market share position for enterprise-level video asset management products and services across the multiple screens of the mobile and tablet device, browser and IP-enabled television," said KIT digital's chairman and CEO, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman. "They are consistent with our acquisition strategy of geographical and sales vertical expansion, and we expect them to be accretive on both a revenue and cash-flow basis."

Accela Communications Acquisition Accela Communications is a privately-held provider of on-demand, video-based enablement and measurement tools. KIT digital paid consideration of approximately $4.7 million (net of working capital adjustment), comprised of $1.8 million in cash and 332,763 shares of KIT digital common stock. Accela derives in excess of $3.7 million in annualized recurring licensing fees from its interactive video and multimedia software solutions.

"Our acquisition of Accela, while relatively small, is highly synergistic," said Lou Schwartz, head of the Americas for KIT digital. "Accela enhances KIT digital's market scope through its deep experience in particular industry vertical segments amongst its client base: healthcare, information technology, and financial services. Accela also adds strong sales channel partnerships. At the same time, KIT digital brings multi-screen VAMs capabilities which can be upsold to Accela's enterprise customer base, along with other extended solutions and services."

Washington DC Office Market Has Its Ups And Downs

october 31, 2010

The Washington DC office market has seen occupancies down but higher earnings in 2010 according to financial results.

The Washington Real Estate Investment Trust has announced its results which show its overall portfolio economic occupancy for the third quarter 2010 was 90.3 per cent, compared to 93 per cent in the same period one year ago and 90.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2010. Overall portfolio net operating income was $51.1m compared to $49.4m in the same period one year ago and $51m in the second quarter of 2010.
Rental rates for new and renewed office leases increased 2.3 per cent to $28.29 per square foot, with $12.54 per square foot in tenant improvement costs and $7.56 per square foot in leasing costs. Rental rates for new and renewed medical office leases increased 15 per cent to $34.94 per square foot, with $12.21 per square foot in tenant improvement costs and $5.15 per square foot in leasing costs.

WRIT owns a portfolio of 88 properties, totaling 11 million square feet of commercial space and 2,540 residential units, and land for development. It includes 26 office properties in Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland offices.

The company's CEO says the firm has been reducing its debts to give it more stability in the market.

"As part of our strategic financial plan to reposition our balance sheet, we executed a $250 million 10-year senior notes offering with an annual coupon of 4.95 per cent. This is the largest senior notes offering in our company's history. We had been monitoring the bond market for more than a year, assessing the appropriate time to refinance a significant portion of our 2011 maturities. Combining this senior notes offering with the completion of our tender offers significantly reduces our exposure to debt maturities in the next several years. By continuing to improve our balance sheet metrics, we are positioned for growth as we see more and more acquisition opportunities coming to market in the Washington, DC region," said George McKenzie, CEO of WRIT.

Virtual Office Software Firm Results Suggest Virtual Working Is On A Global Rise

october 31, 2010

A virtual office and cloud computing software firm has strengthened claims that the recession has boosted virtual office working.

BMC Software, based in Houston offices in Texas, has posted revenues up nine per cent this year. The firm works across distributed, mainframe, virtual and cloud environments. Recognised as one of the leaders in Business Service Management, and says BMC offers a comprehensive approach and unified platform that helps IT organizations cut cost, reduce risk and drive business profit. The firm has international headquarters located in offices in Amsterdam and Singapore.

For the four fiscal quarters ending September 30, 2010, BMC revenue was approximately $1.96 bn.
Fiscal 2011 second quarter revenue was $502m, up nine per cent from a year ago, both as reported and on a constant currency basis. License revenue in the second quarter was $208m, an increase of 20 per cent compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2010.

The Company's GAAP net earnings for the quarter were $132m, or $0.73 per diluted share, versus $94m and $0.50 per diluted share compared with the same quarter a year ago. The company's non-GAAP net earnings for the fiscal second quarter, after adjustments, were $148m, or $0.82 per diluted share, compared to $123m, or $0.66 per diluted share a year ago.

The company says the results show major growth despite its second quarter GAAP net earnings were positively impacted by an $18m income tax benefit recorded by the company in connection with a tax authority settlement relating to prior years' tax matters.

"Cloud computing is fundamentally changing the way customers are thinking about IT. BMC's strong performance shows that we understand how to make cloud computing a reality today," said Bob Beauchamp, BMC's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our early investments in practical solutions that extend and build upon customers' existing environments have given us a platform to advance our dynamic Business Service Management strategy."

The Classic Virtual Market, The Credit Card Business, Is Seeing 400% Explosion

october 31, 2010

One of the first global markets to take advantage of virtual office technology, the credit card companies, are reporting that prepaid services are among the fastest growing service industry segments globally.

In 2007, the World Bank estimated that worldwide remittances exceeded $318bn. Independent research commissioned by MasterCard, estimates the US market opportunity for branded pre-paid cards in excess of $440bn by 2017, a 400 per cent increase over the market value estimated in 2009.

Flint Telecom Group a US office based international telecoms technology firm is one company that has jumped on the wave of expansion. It has fully completed the acquisitions of three firms designed to bring the company into the credit market with a fully operational service. It has bought Ingedigit International, a debit card firm, the financial transaction processing company Gotham Ingedigit Financial Processing and Power2Process.

Ingedigit International Inc. is a U.S. based independent sales organisation offering pre-paid debit card services in partnership with international banks and other program sponsors. The Companies' current markets include the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, Central and South America, Gulf Coast Countries, the Philippines, but the firm is due to expand by opening offices in the UK, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh offices.

Vincent Browne, CEO of Flint Telecom Group, commented "As I stated at the time we announced the definitive agreements, I am extremely excited with the addition of these companies to our group. They are hugely significant acquisitions for us. Not only do they give us ownership of the complex technology required to deliver these services and a proven expertise in delivering financial transactions globally, they also bring a whole new dimension to our existing operations and service portfolios making us a truly international company. The world is going mobile and these types of transactions now suit the mobile device better than ever delivering convenience and costs savings to those groups who send money home frequently.”

China To Launch New Critically Acclaimed Online Warfare Game

october 24, 2010

China office-based digital gaming company KongZhong has announced signing an agreement for World of Tanks (WoT), a free-to-play multiplayer online action game currently being tested in worldwide markets.

Online gaming has become on of the ultimate virtual office business for large corporations and small-time programmers. WoT, which focuses on armoured warfare that has already won critical acclaim after being released in Russia and has recently entered its closed beta test phase in Europe and North America. KongZhong will have exclusive rights to publish and operate the game in mainland China.

"We are excited to be working with Wargaming.net to bring the award-winning World of Tanks to the Chinese market," said Mr. Leilei Wang, Chairman and CEO of KongZhong from the company's Beijing offices. "I believe Chinese gamers will be impressed by the game's world-class graphics and dynamic combat system to deliver a totally new and unique game experience. Also, as World of Tanks has been designed as a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game from the start, it is already well suited to the needs of the Chinese market. By combining KONG's robust game operations platform and strong sales and marketing capabilities, I believe World of Tanks will blow away the competition and become a success in the Chinese online game market."

Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net, a strategy gaming company based in Belarus offices, said: "Our decision to join forces with KongZhong stemmed from their rich experience in operating online games, established reputation and marketing expertise. Entering a new market is a very important and thrilling moment for us. That's why we highly appreciate all the support our new reliable partners provide us with. We have been really impressed by their dedicated and competent team and feel optimistic about World of Tanks prospects in China."

WikiLeaks Blows The Lid On Iraq As Largest Leak In Military History Condemned

october 24, 2010

WikiLeaks, the virtual office intelligence whistle-blowing organisation, has released the largest leak of military documents in history. A full public release on its website of 400,000 classified military documents from Iraq war operations detailing civilian deaths has been branded shameful by the US Defence Department.

A Pentagon press secretary based at the Washington offices said about the documents, which had been passed to media organisations including the London office-based Guardian newspaper:

“This is an extraordinary disservice to America’s men and women in uniform,” Geoff Morrell said.
More than 150,000 forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are already in considerable danger, he said. “That danger is now exponentially multiplied as a result of this leak because it gives our enemies the wherewithal to look for vulnerabilities in how we operate and to exploit those opportunities and potentially kill our forces. That is just shameful.”

The department does not yet know in detail what Wikileaks has published, but officials say they expect the same sort of documents the organisation put on the internet in July about the conflict in Afghanistan. WikiLeaks posted 77,000 documents from the Afghan database online in that breach of national security.

“This document leak is four times as large as the Afghan document leak,” Morrell said. “It gives our enemies that much more to mine, and it puts our forces that much more in danger, so we condemn it, we deplore it.”

Based on information contained in the newly released Iraq documents, some news outlets are already reporting on alleged abuse and civilian deaths.

“It has been a driving force for us, a guiding principle for us over the last seven years of this conflict to do everything in our power - perhaps more than any other military in the history of the world has ever done - to minimise civilian casualties,” Morrell said.

“We have not always been perfect but we have been far better than anyone else has in the history of warfare,” he added, “and we continue to do everything in our power to prevent innocent civilians from being killed in the war zones.”

Human Rights Organisation Says Virtual Offices Are Helping It To Fight Violence

october 24, 2010

A human rights organisation will explain how running virtual offices is boosting its efforts to help victims of violence around the globe at a cloud computing exhibition.

John Lax, Vice President of Information Systems for International Justice Mission (IJM), a human rights organisation based in Washington DC offices, will participate in the event's CIO Boot Camp, sharing how strategic use of private and public cloud computing enables the organisation to focus more funds and effort on rescuing victims of violence. IJM is a non-profit human rights agency leading the fight against modern-day slavery, child sex exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. It operaters 15 remote offices spread out across 10 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The organisation has hired virtual office technology firm Riverbed Technology to help its efforts. Both organisations are participating at Interop New York 2010 taking place October 18-22. The company's executive will lead discussions on optimising performance for cloud deployments as well as best practices for leveraging virtualisation in branch office consolidation efforts.

Interop provides a forum to discuss the powerful innovations and solutions that the virtual office industry has to offer. The conference includes in-depth educational programs, workshops, real-world demonstrations and live technology implementations.

Riverbed, a company based in San Francisco offices, works on improving the performance IT and private cloud infrastructure bottlenecks, including poor application performance and insufficient bandwidth at remote sites. By speeding the performance of applications between data centres, remote offices and mobile workers, in some cases by up to 100 times, the firm's award-winning software enables companies to consolidate IT resources while improving staff productivity and collaboration.

The World's Ultimate Virtual Office Company Posts £2.2bn In Revenues

october 21, 2010

The ultimate virtual office company, eBay, has posted its mammoth financial results for the third quarter 2010.

The global e-commerce and online payments leader has reported a revenue increased of 1 per cent to $2.2bn. Revenue was up 10 per cent excluding Skype, compared to the same period of 2009.

The company recorded third quarter net income of $431.9m, or $0.33 per diluted share, representing a 14 per cent increase excluding Skype, compared to the same period of 2009.

The company's PayPal business delivered strong third quarter performance, expanding its leadership position in online payments with growth in revenue, total payment volume and active registered accounts. PayPal ended the quarter with 90 million active accounts worldwide adding more than a million new accounts each month during the quarter. And for the fourth consecutive quarter, Merchant Services net total payment volume grew 40 per cent or more year over year. The Marketplaces business continued to make progress in improving the customer experience and drove customer-focused innovation in key areas, including mobile commerce and fashion. Sold items, excluding Gmarket, were up almost 13 per cent year over year and accelerated in the US and UK.

"We delivered strong third quarter results, with great performance at PayPal and stable results at eBay," said John Donahoe, eBay Inc. president and CEO. "PayPal gained share globally and eBay continued to improve key metrics. Our company is strong and we are managing our global portfolio to balance strengths, challenges and opportunities, invest in growth and deliver consistent performance."

Founded in 1995 in San Jose where it has two California office campuses. The company now has over 30 localised office operations worldwide from Australia and Austria through to Canada.

The World's Ultimate Virtual Office Company Posts £2.2bn In Revenues

october 21, 2010

The ultimate virtual office company, eBay, has posted its mammoth financial results for the third quarter 2010.

The global e-commerce and online payments leader has reported a revenue increased of 1 per cent to $2.2bn. Revenue was up 10 per cent excluding Skype, compared to the same period of 2009.

The company recorded third quarter net income of $431.9m, or $0.33 per diluted share, representing a 14 per cent increase excluding Skype, compared to the same period of 2009.

The company's PayPal business delivered strong third quarter performance, expanding its leadership position in online payments with growth in revenue, total payment volume and active registered accounts. PayPal ended the quarter with 90 million active accounts worldwide adding more than a million new accounts each month during the quarter. And for the fourth consecutive quarter, Merchant Services net total payment volume grew 40 per cent or more year over year. The Marketplaces business continued to make progress in improving the customer experience and drove customer-focused innovation in key areas, including mobile commerce and fashion. Sold items, excluding Gmarket, were up almost 13 per cent year over year and accelerated in the US and UK.

"We delivered strong third quarter results, with great performance at PayPal and stable results at eBay," said John Donahoe, eBay Inc. president and CEO. "PayPal gained share globally and eBay continued to improve key metrics. Our company is strong and we are managing our global portfolio to balance strengths, challenges and opportunities, invest in growth and deliver consistent performance."

Founded in 1995 in San Jose where it has two California office campuses. The company now has over 30 localised office operations worldwide from Australia and Austria through to Canada.

Las Vegas Office Market Booming According to Experts

october 17, 2010

A Las Vegas office sale has completed $200m worth of portfolio acquisitions, a sign property experts are saying is a major sign of strength in Nevada's office rental market.

According to CB Richard Ellis, almost 1.5 million square feet of leasing activity has occurred year-to-date in the Las Vegas office market. This trend of increased activity, combined with stabilising vacancy rates, has prompted optimism in the market.

"We believe Las Vegas holds exceptional long-term growth potential and we will continue to pursue investment opportunities within this market," said Greg Merage.

Stoneridge Capital Partners, a Newport Beach based company in California offices has acquired Sunset Pilot Plaza, a100,000-square-foot Class A office property in Las Vegas.

The three-story office building was developed in 2008 within the 3.3 million-square-foot Hughes Airport Centre business park. The property is located at 280 Pilot Road near Interstate 215, Interstate 15, Las Vegas Boulevard and McCarran International Airport.

"Sunset Pilot Plaza is a newly constructed property offering professional service companies a central location and extensive amenities within a master planned business park," said Greg Merage, chief executive officer of Stoneridge Capital Partners. "This asset directly aligns with our strategy to acquire investments with significant upside potential in targeted markets."

With this purchase, Stoneridge has now completed more than $200 million in acquisitions within the past 18 months, bringing its total portfolio of assets under management to more than 1 million square feet. The firm's holdings consist of retail, office, hotel and multifamily properties in major markets within California, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Hawaii and Denver.

Charles Moore, Michael Newman and Marlene Fujita-Winkel of CB Richard Ellis' Private Client Group represented the seller in the transaction. Stoneridge did not have broker representation.

Stoneridge Capital Partners is a Newport Beach, Calif.-based private real estate investment company. Managed by Chief Executive Officer Greg Merage, the company is actively seeking direct acquisitions of hotels, retail centers, office buildings, and multi-family properties in major markets throughout the Western U.S. to add to its growing portfolio of investment properties. Funded internally, Stoneridge has the agility and flexibility to close quickly on an all-cash basis. Additional information on Stoneridge is available at http://www.stoneridgecp.com.

New China Hotels To Focus On Virtual Office and Business Travellers

october 17, 2010

Hyatt Hotels, the Chicago office-based hotel empire, has announced expansion of plans in China with management agreements for 11 new Hyatt-branded hotels focussing on China's office and commercial property hubs.

Four properties slated to open in 2011 alone include the Hyatt Regency Qingdao, a 450-room property, part of a high-end mixed-use development located on the Western end of Old Stone Beach in the Laoshan District of Qingdao, which is in Eastern China. The hotel, tailored to both business and leisure travellers, will enjoy ocean views and immediate beach access and will also provide a full range of office amenities, including four restaurants and bars, multi-functional meeting space, indoor swimming pool, fitness centre and spa. The complex will likely cater for virtual office workers who require work-travel facilities in China.

Other major developments include Park Hyatt Ningbo, a 253-room property, will be located on Dongqian Lake, one of the most scenic destinations in eastern China. About two hours drive from Shanghai, the hotel will feature low-rise buildings, private villas with spa and recreational facilities, meeting and banquet space and restaurants. Hyatt Regency Jinan, a 350-room property, will be part of the Wanda Plaza development, located in Shizhong District, one of the two central urban districts in Jinan. The hotel will offer meeting facilities, a spa and fitness center, and food and beverage outlets. Hyatt Regency Guiyang, a 364-room property, will form part of the planned Guiyang International Conference and Exhibition Center located within the Jin-Yang New District of Guiyang, the economic and commercial hub of the Guizhou providence in Southwest China.

Designed for the business traveller, the hotels will be adjacent to government offices and prime office and commercial space. Amenities will include five food and beverage options, meeting and residential style function space, ballroom, indoor pool, fitness centre and spa.

"Our goal is to increase customer preference for Hyatt by expanding the presence of all of our brands in emerging Chinese cities and resort destinations," said Nong Xia, senior vice president of real estate and development for Hyatt in China. "One of the drivers of our growth in China is the creation of new urban centers and resort areas where we have the opportunity to establish Hyatt-branded hotels."

RSA Office Take Over Puts It As 4th Largest Canadian Insurer

october 13, 2010

RSA Insurance Group has announced the acquisition of an insurance company from a Canadian office and commercial property firm. RSA will now become the fourth largest insurer in Canada.

GCAN is a leading Canadian mid-market, large risks and commercial insurer, offering a range of products including Property, Liability and Motor with a balanced portfolio by line of business and province. GCAN has a strong track record of profitability with a combined operating ratio (COR) of 81 per cent and gross written premiums of GBP 157m in 2009. The company is part of GCAN, a Canadian commercial property and casualty insurer with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver. Through a national network of independent brokers, it provides a range of Commercial insurance products including Property, Liability and Motor.

With this transaction, RSA will become the fourth largest general insurer in Canada, with pro-forma gross written premiums for 2009 of approximately CAD 2.2bn for the combined entity. The acquisition of GCAN will strengthen RSA’s Commercial proposition by adding further technical expertise, geographic diversification and product breadth. The transaction will also drive significant additional reinsurance and capital benefits and other synergies.

On completion, RSA will pay consideration of CAD 420m (GBP 259m) in cash from internal resources. GCAN has a strong capital position, with a Canadian Minimum Capital Test ratio of 384% as at 30 June 2010 compared to the market average of around 237%. The surplus capital in GCAN is estimated to be around CAD 110m (GBP 68m). The transaction is immediately accretive and will generate a return on investment in the mid-teens.

Andy Haste, Group CEO, commented, “At RSA we have great businesses with strong market positions delivering excellent results. Over the last five years, RSA Canada has grown its premiums by around 60% and doubled its underwriting result. The acquisition of GCAN accelerates this momentum and takes us to number four in the market. This is a great deal for RSA Canada and the Group and we are excited about the strong potential of the combined business.”

With a 300 year heritage, RSA is one of the world’s leading multinational quoted insurance groups. RSA has major operations in the UK, Scandinavia, Canada, Ireland, Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe and has the capability to write business in over 130 countries.

Deals Are Still Moving for Offices In London's West End

october 10, 2010

Major office rentals are still on the horizon for West End offices in London despite fears about a double dip recession still looming.

A further 43,000 sq ft of offices at 20 Triton Street, Regent’s Place, to Ricoh Europe Holdings plc, a global leading technology company. The letting brings total occupancy in the newly-completed 363,000-sq-ft development in London’s West End to more than 94 per cent.

The deal brings total lettings at 20 Triton Street to 231,000 sq ft since March 2010, leaving just 14,700 sq ft of offices to be let. Occupiers already committed to the building include Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited, Lend Lease and Dimensional Fund Advisors. The whole of the adjacent 10 Triton Street, totalling 117,000 sq ft, was also let earlier this year to Aegis Group plc. 10 and 20 Triton Street, which were launched in February 2010, represents the latest phase of development at British Land’s 1.5 million sq ft Regent’s Place estate.
British Land is one of the UK's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts with UK office investments.

Construction is now complete on a 2.5 acre development site situated on the west side of Regent's Place. The 490,000 sq ft mixed use development comprises office accommodation within 10 and 20 Triton Street, in addition to 110,000 sq ft of residential apartments at One Osnaburgh Street. Designed by Terry Farrell and Partners the development has significantly extended and enhanced Regent’s Place. The development includes a community theatre and additional retail provision around the new public square.

Commenting on the letting, James Danby, Director of London Leasing at British Land, said:
“The speed with which we have achieved almost full occupancy at 10 and 20 Triton Street, in the face of challenging market conditions, is a testament to the quality of building and public realm that Regent’s Place offers to its diverse range of West End occupiers. We very much look forward to welcoming Ricoh to this growing community of leading businesses.”

UK Office Workers Asked To Swap Office Gear For Charity

october 08, 2010

UK office workers will be spearheading the UK’s first ever charity swapathon to help some of the world’s most disadvantaged people and raise the profile of disability rights.

Volunteer co-ordinators at workplaces across the country will hold a SwapIt event in a bid to raise £1m to support disability rights both in the UK and overseas. Participants will donate £5 for a stamp to swap experiences or physical items with their colleagues, having fun in the run-up to Christmas. The charity initiative coincides with Friday 3 December 2010, the United Nations International Day of Disabled People.

“Great things start with a little give and take and so we want as many people as possible to join in, help out and start swapping,” said Sarah Sandon, director of fundraising and communications at Somerset office-based ADD International, the charity behind the campaign. “Co-ordinators can ensure their companies literally put a stamp on a completely new and absolutely vital campaign which we expect to grow as an annual event on the calendar.

“What you choose to swap is entirely up to you. You could be the boss for the day, swap some essential skills with your workmates or exchange books, DVDs, plants or fashion accessories.

“The key is to have fun while supporting the rights of disabled people, some of whom are the most neglected people in the world, living in extreme conditions of poverty.”

ADD works with disability movements in Africa and Asia with offices in India, Ghana and Ugnada.

Microsoft To Launch New Phones 7 Series on Monday

october 08, 2010

Windows is to launch its new Phone 7 Series on Monday with two synchronised press calls in offices in London and New York.

Microsoft says the new platform offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design which will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones. Customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by Christmas this year.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Some features will dramatically help those who run a virtual office from their mobile phone. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mould of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend or colleague, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a person’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Windows Phone 7 Series creates integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people.

Microsoft To Launch New Phones 7 Series on Monday

october 08, 2010

Windows is to launch its new Phone 7 Series on Monday with two synchronised press calls in offices in London and New York.

Microsoft says the new platform offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design which will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones. Customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by Christmas this year.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Some features will dramatically help those who run a virtual office from their mobile phone. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mould of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend or colleague, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a person’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Windows Phone 7 Series creates integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people.

Online Ticket Company To Merge To Create Pan European Offices

october 08, 2010

A UK virtual ticketing company is to merge with a European market leader.

Ticketscript, headquartered in offices in Amsterdam, and Trinity Mobile, based in London offices, have merged. Over the past few years these companies have together provided ticketing solutions for over 30,000 events virtual office style viaonline and mobile ticketing solutions in Europe.

Operating under the name Ticketscript, the company will focus on expanding its leadership internationally, and on continuing to innovate its ticketing solutions. Ticketscript, the European market leader in ticketing solutions, provides event organisers with a plug-and-play online ticket shop for the sale of e-tickets via the event's own website.

Since Ticketscript was founded in 2006, its online ticketing application has been used by over 1,500 event organisations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Ticketscript has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Duesseldorf and Antwerp and is active in the music event, music venue, festival, trade show and sports event sectors. Ticketscript was an Accenture Innovation Award runner-up and has been nominated for the Van Speijk Innovation Award in the Netherlands.

Trinity Mobile, established in 2003, is an industry leader in mobile ticketing and marketing. The company provides its customers and partners with advanced mobile ticketing and loyalty solutions. Trinity Mobile facilitates ticketing at a wide variety of live events such as clubs, festivals, West End theatre shows and sporting events and also supplies mobile tickets and boarding passes to a number of organisations in the transport sector including BMI and Austrian Airways. The team behind the company has over 50 years of experience in barcode encoding and decoding (scanning), point of sale (POS) integration, SMS & MMS messaging, and loyalty schemes gained with technology companies such as Symbol Technologies and Logica CMG.

Frans Jonker, CEO of Ticketscript said: "The market is ready for the next step towards more innovative mobile ticketing. Ticketscript will now promote this, besides the UK, in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Spain and has the advantage of being an independent player in the ticketing market. Ticketscript provides the answer for building-up your own community around events via internet and mobile solutions. Ticketscript will continue to expand internationally and develop advanced internet and mobile technology for the event industry".

The new merged company has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Duesseldorf, Antwerp, London and Manchester.

Virtual Office Networking Solutions Unveiled

october 08, 2010

Patton, a leader in virtual office infrastucture like network access, connectivity, VoIP and mobile video-surveillance equipment has announced a three-way alliance with FaxBack and 3CX that delivers complete, fully-tested and certified-interoperable communications solutions for the new generation of IP-centric enterprise networks.

The alliance offers a set of joint solutions featuring Voice over IP gateway routers and VoIP fax software or free Microsoft-certified fax-server plug-in for MS-Windows. The three companies unveiled their joint solutions at ITEXPO in Los Angeles this week.

The products will offer print-to-fax, integration with MS-Outlook, and inbound fax delivery as email attachment, taking advantage of vitual office working which maximises VoIP investment, reduce costs and increase fax workflow efficiency.

“FaxBack clears a final hurdle,” said Mark Bradford, director of business development at FaxBack. “For organisations adopting voice-over-IP: reliable fax. The demand has been incredible in the enterprise market, especially small businesses. I noticed many customers downloading our software referenced Patton and 3CX. Going to market as a team provides a certified solution, so our mutual customers can benefit from their investments sooner.”

The global company has US offices in Maryland, and offices in India and Switzerland. people out there,” said Sean Gerrity, Patton’s regional director for North America and Japan. “As a team we bring total solutions with proven interoperability to the marketplace. Stability is key. SmartNode customers say once they set it up, it just keeps working. They never have to touch it again. We chose FaxBack and 3CX as partners because their products offer similar levels of high reliability.”

Virtual Digital Cinema Network Provided For Internet

october 07, 2010

A global internet broadcasting company is to broaden an internet cinema using commercial grade virtual office technology.

International Datacasting , a global leader in providing IP-based broadband datacasting, is to supply Arqiva with its comprehensive digital cinema-specific content distribution applications and remote site equipment. Arqiva is a media services company headquartered in UK offices in Winchester, which operates broadcast, satellite and mobile communications for the BBC, ITV and Sky.

Arqiva had previously selected IDC and implemented an initial network placing IDC in the vanguard of digital cinema distribution service providers in Europe. With this next phase, Arqiva will significantly expand the deployment of its network to cinemas - powered by IDC's digital cinema-specific remote site solutions - providing a fully managed electronic delivery service across Europe for its media distributor clients.

Arqiva's Satellite & Media Commercial Director, Barrie Woolston, said: "Our development teams have been working collaboratively over recent months to develop a platform that provides Arqiva with significant operational efficiencies. IDC has played a significant role in supporting our aspirations to become the principle network for the delivery of digital cinema packages (DCP's) in Europe and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour in the months to come as we roll out even greater functionality for our network partners."

Fred Godard, President and CEO of IDC commented, "Digital cinema is a market segment in which IDC's mix of technical innovation and reliability are in great demand. We are gratified to have this prestigious network in our portfolio and look forward to a continued strong relationship with this important customer."

IDC is headquartered in office in Ottawa, Canada, with regional offices in Arnhem, the Netherlands and in San Diego, California.

Global Leader in Virtual Video Networks Celebrates Awards

october 07, 2010

Axis Communications, the global leader in the network video market for virtual office and other applications, has celebrated the success of its partners at its annual UK & Ireland Axis Partner Awards.

Axis Communications’ Channel Partner Program is designed to help partners benefit from Axis’ market leadership in the fast growing network video market. Axis’ Channel Partners are regarded as an extension of its team and each year, the UK office recognises their success in a range of different categories.

The 2010 categories and winners are:
Distribution Partner of the Year 2010 – Anixter UK. Anixter UK has continued to grow and has been involved in several high profile projects in 2010. King Communications wonAuthorised Partner of the Year 2010 growing their business through successful project wins including Heriot-Watt University and other major education projects to achieve promotion to Solution Gold in under 12 months. Solution Partner Silver of the Year 2010 went to TM Security delivering high end integrated projects within the physical security sector.

Solution Partner Gold of the Year 2010 was awarded to Universal Security which has built an impressive blue chip client base, particularly within the Square Mile, and they are actively engaged in proposing network video solutions into some of the UK’s most highest profile physical security projects.

Phil Doyle, regional director, Northern Europe, Axis Communications said: “Our partners play a key part in our success. Over the past 12 months they have continued to educate end users about the many benefits of IP-based video surveillance and demonstrate the ease-of-use and cost efficiency of our products.

“We are delighted to recognise the outstanding achievement of both partners and individuals and look forward to working with them long into the future.”

Axis Communications is the global market leader in the network video market with a global market share of network cameras of 33.5 per cent. It is headquarted in Sweden offices, operating worldwide with offices in more than 20 countries and cooperating with partners in more than 70 countries.

Australia's Largest Construction Company Introduces Virtual Office IT Infrastructure

october 03, 2010

An IT performance company has announced it will provide a virtual office platform for Australia's largest privately-owned construction and infrastructure firm.

Laing O'Rourke is one of the world's largest construction companies, with offices in the UK, Australia, Germany, Southeast Asia and the United Arab Emirates, has deployed a "Branch Office Box" solution based on Riverbed(R) Steelhead(R) appliance products.

The construction firm has deployed the virtual software to accelerate data traffic between remote sites and corporate data centres and reduce the bandwidth utilization and associated cost of the WAN links to each site. A virtualized partition allows customers to run up to five additional services and applications on VMware in a protected partition eliminating the cost and risk of running physical IT servers in remote construction sites. The company expects the Branch Office Box solution to completely replace physical servers and storage infrastructure at all of its remote sites in the next two years.

"Laing O'Rourke Australia is a remote area specialist which often requires us to rapidly set up regional operations or offices to service major infrastructure or construction projects," said Colin Bagley, operations manager for Information Systems at Laing O'Rourke Australia. "We're currently using the RSP to run virtual print servers and office applications, saving our company approximately $30,000 per remote site, and we expect to see substantial additional savings as we continue the rollout to other projects."

According to Bagley, the ability to host virtual services on the RSP and create an "Office-in-a-Box" is a further expansion of the already highly effective WAN optimization solution from Riverbed.
"Running physical servers at construction sites is expensive and risky," said Bagley. "Storing sensitive project information in remote locations is the most obvious risk, but IT equipment in general doesn't fare very well in the hot and dusty conditions we work in. On a typical two-year project we were replacing expensive tape drives up to three times, so eliminating tape drives from our remote sites immediately eliminates that cost, along with the associated storage risk."

United States Airforce Fire Officers To Be Trained In Virtual Office

october 03, 2010

The United States Airforce is to train military fire crews using virtual simulation software developed by a virtual office training company.

Environmental Tectonics Corporation's (OTC) simulation division has been selected by the United States Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, to implement an advanced simulation training tool, the Advanced Disaster Management Simulator (ADMS). It will train their fire officers at the Fire Training Academy at Goodfellow Air Force Base (AFB), San Angelo, Texas.

The ADMS simulator will include a virtual replica of Norma Brown Air Force Base, staffed vehicles, and a variety of scenarios including aircraft incidents and structural fires. Norma Brown is a tabletop model of a fictitious air force base that has been used by the Fire Academy for three decade to provide incident command training. ADMS will bring Norma Brown AFB to life by creating a complete environment, and dynamic, interactive scenarios. Fire officers will be trained using ADMS to invoke higher-order thinking to enhance decision making, problem solving, and communications in their roles as incident commanders according to the National Incident Management System.

The capstone training exercise using ADMS includes formal evaluations as part of the curriculum. The first simulator will have three Commander Positions for the Incident Commander, Operations Chief and Safety officer, and an Exercise Control Station for the Instructor/Facilitator. The complete system is portable and will be used in-residence and deployed with Mobile Training Teams for on-site training.

Similar ADMS systems have recently been installed at New York City Office of Emergency Management, Community College of Aurora, Saudi Arabia Civil Defense, and the Netherlands Institute for Safety.

"The Norma Brown Incident Management System simulator was originally constructed in 1979 to enhance fire department Incident Command, while providing the ability to mitigate large-scale emergencies," said DoD fire academy faculty member Retired Master Sergeant TC Sirmans. "For the past 30 years, this trainer has been utilized to teach command and control across the Department of Defense Fire and Emergency Services spectrum. During this time it has evolved into the foremost simulator in DoD Command and Control training. Now, with assistance from Adayana Corporation and Environmental Tectonics Corporation, 'Norma Brown' is set to become a virtual reality city, thus carrying on its legacy as the preeminent incident command emergency trainer in the DoD and possibly the world."

Virtual Office Tested For U.S. Navy

october 03, 2010

A Canadian company has successfully tested a military grade secure virtual office platform for the U.S. Navy.

Route1, a digital security and identity management company based in Toronto offices, completed the pilot project to deploy its virtual office software for the U.S. Navy Reserve Forces Command ("RESFOR").

The pilot successfully demonstrated increased flexibility for RESFOR personnel who require secure access to internal systems and digital resources when physical access to their normal working facilities and equipment is not possible or practical. There were multiple test scenarios including the ability to access the Navy Marine Corps Intranet ("NMCI") systems and resources from multiple remote locations. Participants used their MobiKEY Fusion(TM) device from hotels, WIFI hotspots including at 37,000 feet on a commercial airliner, libraries, home and commercial networks.

According to feedback from RESFOR, the pilot project's outcome exceeded expectations.
"The very positive result of this pilot project is a significant step forward for Route1. It strengthens our relationships with the U.S. military and demonstrates the effectiveness of our platforms, software and devices anywhere where high assurance remote access is needed," said Tony Busseri, president of Route1. "We look forward to finalizing the terms of procurement with RESFOR, and the Navy as an enterprise, for the use of Route1's solution in a working environment."

"Giesecke & Devrient helps its customers and partners secure their applications by offering a broad portfolio of security solutions. The Mobility Token technology provides a secure remote platform for mobile users. It also corresponds to the stringent demand of the U.S. Navy for their reserve personnel," said Dr. Kai Grassie, head of the new business division of Giesecke & Devrient, a Munich office-based company.

Virtual Office Security To Bolster Recession Hit Company

october 03, 2010

NAPCO Security Technologies, one of the world's leading suppliers of high performance electronic security equipment, is hopeful virtual office security products will counteract the recession.

Net sales for 2010 were $67,757,000, a decrease of 3 per cent compared to $69,565,000 reported for fiscal 2009. Gross Profit was $14,522,000, a decrease of 4 per cent. Gross profit in fiscal 2009 reflected restructuring costs of $1m relating to the consolidation of its European and Middle Eastern warehousing operations into NAPCO's headquarters in New York offices.

Richard Soloway, chairman, stated: "Fiscal 2010 saw the continuation of the poor economic conditions that began to impact us back in fiscal 2009. At that time we instituted several cost saving measures, including the consolidation of our newly acquired Marks subsidiary into NAPCO'S facilities. While we believe these conditions have bottomed out, the uncertainty and lingering nature of the recession has prompted us to begin further measures at reducing expenses while still delivering a comprehensive line of exciting, dealer-friendly and reliable new and existing products.

"Additionally, NAPCO has launched a wireless version of its popular iSee Video(TM) product line. iSee Video provides both NAPCO and its alarm dealer partners with an incremental, service-driven income stream. Recurring revenue generating products are becoming a larger part of the strategic planning for the Company's product portfolio. The iSee Video product line allows homeowners and businesses to remotely view live video or stored video clips of activity in their homes or businesses, from any computer or web-enabled cell phone, anywhere in the world. The new wireless line will make installation easier and faster, enabling dealers to put in more systems and NAPCO to add more recurring revenue subscribers to our already substantial customer base."

Mr. Soloway concluded, "We are excited at the onset of the new fiscal year. With the completion of the Marks consolidation in fiscal 2010, we can now focus on further streamlining the marketing, sales and manufacturing of the combined operations. We believe this, combined with our large network of security dealers who install our extensive and technologically advanced line of products, puts us in a strong position as economic conditions improve and market demand increases. We will emerge from the global economic crisis as a stronger company and we look forward to better days to come."

Rugged Virtual Office Computers For Demanding Mobile Access

october 03, 2010

X2 Computing, one of the UK's fastest growing providers of mobile computing solutions for virtual office users, has announced the immediate availability of the X2390i, an upgraded widescreen tablet PC.

It combines an 8.9 high visibility touch display with high performance processing power to enhance productivity in a wide range of point of sale and point of service applications including retail, gaming, field service, healthcare, manufacturing and hospitality.



The X2390i is based on the Intel Z530 1.6GHz processor and is compatible with a range of operating systems including Windows 7, XP and XP Pro Embedded as well as Windows 7 Pro , XP Professional or Linux enabling it to be easily integrated into any environment. It is IP64 rated for water and dust resistance making it suitable for use in even the most demanding point of service applications. The TFT LCD screen is 50 per cent brighter than other systems, with resistive touch for easy operation. Multi-touch and outdoor-viewable options are also available. 



The X2390i also features a 3-megapixel camera and range of fully-integrated options that offer added reliability and security over individual add-on components and provide seamless data capture for faster processing and transmission. It has optional 3G wireless WAN with GPS for enhanced mobility with wireless networking and optional RFID for inventory management applications.

These new tablet computers can be used by field service organisations to improve the efficiency of staff operating away from the office, commented Francis Davis, Sales and marketing Director of X2 Computing. It will enable them to bin the bags carried by field engineers and give rapid access to company information from any location using simple touchscreen commands. These powerful tablet computers also offer full compatibility with terminal services and the new generation of server-based applications in an increasingly cloud computing-based world.


X2 Computing, based in offices in Evasham, Worcestershire is a leading provider of high performance, rugged mobile computing solutions and technologies with customers in a wide range of market sectors around the world including retail, gaming, field service, industrial, commercial, military and government. The company also has offices in Las Vegas and Norway.

UK Regional Office Markets Show Rise In Occupancies

november 28, 2010

Offices in the UK's regions have increased occupancy across six key markets according to Q3 2010 research.

According to London office based commercial property serives company Jones Lang LaSalle, total office occupier activity in quarter 3 (Q3) 2010 increased across the six key UK markets outside London compared with both Q2 2010 and Q3 2009.

The company says this was driven primarily by robust volumes show in offices in West London and Manchester with activity remaining more muted in other markets. Given the anticipated public sector job losses and knock-on impact on the private sector, future demand will continue to be driven by structural demand and portfolio churn.  With such a poor demand outlook it remains to be seen whether any one business sector will stand out and help drive recovery over the next 12 months. However, Jones Lang LaSalle forecast’s that Edinburgh will be the only centre to see an increase in annual office take-up, with volumes anticipated to remain at 2010 levels in other key markets monitored.

Prime rents were relatively stable in Q3, although increases of 1.8 per cent and 1.9 per cent were recorded in Birmingham and Glasgow respectively, albeit they were driven by the shortage of Grade A supply rather than any recovery in demand. According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s Q3 Office Clock, which compares the relative position of markets in their rental cycle, rents have bottomed out in Glasgow and Manchester with rental growth being seen in West London. In the secondary market there remains more flexibility as landlords continue to be extremely competitive, in order to secure tenants, and further softening of Grade B rental values is anticipated in most markets.


James Finnis, head of Jones Lang LaSalle’s National Offices team, England, said: "Over the last 18 months, we have seen tenants hunt quick wins to cut costs. In Q3 we began to see signs of a shift away from this defensive position and instead an increasing focus on cost avoidance and selective opportunism.  We anticipate that this type of opportunistic activity will persist in the UK markets and will be the primary driver of occupier demand into the medium term although it is likely that there will not be a stand out business sector to drive recovery in 2011."

True Virtual View From Anywhere In The World In Your Office

november 27, 2010

Virtual landscapes can now transform your virtual office so that you can enjoy any view in the world from your window.

Sky Factory’s mobile virtual office showroom, aka the SkyMobile, will be inviting offices in Los Angeles and surrounding areas through the end of the year showcasing eScape, the world’s first digital cinema virtual window to nature. Architects, interior designers, facility managers, journalists, set designers, event producers are being invited to schedule appointments for a SkyMobile visit from the Californian office based company.

eScape’s HD nature footage, captured with the RED ONE Digital Cinema camera, is displayed by industrial-grade LED screens, players and control systems. After visiting the SkyMobile and experiencing eScape, an interior design firm responded, “Ray Ward provided an excellent presentation and the product itself is very impressive. We were all thrilled to see the video and hear the audio. Thank you for contacting our office and offering this presentation. It was one of the most enjoyable presentations we’ve had.”

The SkyMobile is a one-of-a-kind educational tool that provides an appealing and informative platform for experiencing Sky Factory’s unique Illusions of Nature. Also on view are Sky Factory Luminous SkyCeilings, virtual skylights that trigger the same physiological relaxation response as an experience of real sky. They can even modify viewers’ perception of vertical space, making enclosed areas feel more open and less claustrophobic.

Sky Factory products are versatile, visually engaging tools that bring the influence of nature to otherwise confined environments. Applications include hospitals, imaging centers, dental offices, hotel lobbies, restaurants, spas, casinos, retail stores, offices, conference rooms, classrooms, film and television sets and high-end residential − bedrooms, living and dining areas, and spa baths.

Virtual Offices US Mail Forwarding Prices Slashed

november 19, 2010

US mail and package forwarding rates for virtual office businesses have been reduced to all time low by competition from an American firm.

myUSpostoffice.com, based in offices in Boston, have announced they are reducing their annual mail and package forwarding rates to help international customers access the US market place with savings as much as 75 per cent. Offices around the world can also get a US mailbox for $80 a year.

"We took a hard look at the US market place and all the restrictions non US customers face when buying from eBay.com, Amazon.com or any US retailer, they do not have a levelled playing field and they are often deprived of US sales and access to latest technology.

“US Mail Forwarding plans will offer these customers a chance to get their own US address and shop the same retailers just if they were here in the USA. They can consolidate their purchases for maximum savings, our goal is to have them come back for more and more purchases and help our economy grow,” said the company.

US Mail Forwarding service is based on a dedicated and authentic US Street address that is approved by the US post office. One a dedicated US address is made the company receive mail and parcels on their clients behalf and notify them via email. Clients then chose to have mail and packages forwarded.

The company provides genuine US street address, approved by the US Post Office, and offer free consolidation of mail and packages. The company also offers secure storage for merchandise, which is especially helpful for virtual retail.

KPMG Brings Worldwide Offices To 16 Countries

november 06, 2010

Financial services firm KPMG has announced partners with offices in Norway and Saudi Arabia have voted to join KPMG Europe LLP. It takes the number of countries in the firm to sixteen, alongside offices across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia) and Turkey.

The combined firm will have over 30,000 partners and staff working from over 120 offices - with revenues of €4.7bn. Key sectors for growth and investment over the coming years include energy and natural resources, financial services, public sector including healthcare, and performance & technology - with plans for country firms within ELLP to increase headcount by around 8,000 people in the next three years.

The two joining firms have strong energy and natural resources and public sector practices and, with high demand across geographies for advisory services on oil & gas and infrastructure issues, the addition of both Norway and Saudi Arabia to ELLP will significantly extend the firm's capabilities and depth of resource in these key areas.

John Griffith-Jones and Rolf Nonnenmacher, Joint Chairmen of ELLP, said: "We warmly welcome the decision of the partners in KPMG Norway and KPMG Saudi Arabia to join ELLP. We are already seeing clear benefits for both our clients and our people from being more closely aligned and are delighted to extend these to both joining countries.  Their local expertise in energy and natural resource issues in particular will help us bring even deeper insight to our clients in what is a priority global growth area.”

KPMG Norway
KPMG Norway is a full service firm with around 900 partners and staff, and 24 offices. Turnover for the 2009 year end was over €120 million. Oil and gas represents around 15 per cent of KPMG Norway's revenue, with the sector growing by over 25 percent in the last year.

Stein-Ragnar Noreng, senior partner in KPMG Norway said: "Our clients and employees increasingly are more internationally focused. With even better access to international specialists in all industries, we will further strengthen our offerings to clients. Existing and future ELLP clients will benefit from our own experts and provide exciting international opportunities for our employees.   Joining ELLP is a natural move in building our position as the fastest growing firm among the "Big 4” in Norway for two consecutive years.”
KPMG Saudi Arabia

KPMG in Saudi Arabia employs 450 partners and staff and recorded revenue of €31.5 million in 2010. It is a full service practice, with a strong market share in public sector and infrastructure advisory work as well as the financial services sector and large family owned businesses. The firm has long established offices in the 3 major cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar.

Cloud Computing Deals Top $100m For Gobal Software Giant

may 30, 2010

The rush for cloud computing capabilities has earned software giant BMC Software $100m in IT management deals.

The global software company with head offices in Houston, Texas has announced that it has passed the $100 million mark in highly strategic “cloud foundation” deals to provide virtual office and computing management capabilities.

The company, which also has major office in California, Boston, Amsterdam, Singapore, Tel Aviv and Pune in India, says customers are seeking to unify the management of their physical, virtual, cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) initiatives. BMC has seen a steady strengthening pattern of significant wins in cloud management platform deals.

"Unlike other software companies who see cloud computing as a future ‘revenue catalyst,’ we are seeing the dramatic acceleration of an already successful business driver," said Kia Behnia, BMC’s chief technology officer.

“I’ve seen a lot of different trends in the IT space that promised to be revenue catalysts,” said John McMahon, BMC’s senior vice president for worldwide sales and services. “None of these trends has ever approached the impact that I’m seeing from cloud computing. Customers understand that a unified management platform is foundational to the successful deployment of virtualization, cloud and SaaS. They are making the appropriate investments now to ensure that they can reap all the value that cloud promises to deliver. A lot of them are choosing BMC.”

In the past year, BMC has won 25 large proof-of-concept and technical design shoot-outs for virtualisation and cloud management at some of the largest enterprises in the world. BMC also has been selected by five of the top 20 telecom companies as their standard platform for virtualisation and cloud management, a very positive trend. In the last two quarters, two of the top five systems integrators and one of the top three global software companies have standardized on BMC, resulting in full competitive replacements. All of these instances represent multi-million-dollar deals. For the four fiscal quarters ended March 31, 2010, BMC revenue was approximately $1.91 billion.

Consider This When Looking For Office Space Nottingham

may 28, 2011

Nowadays, businesses face a lot of competition, which means that they have to go out of their way to build that trust that is needed to win those prospects over. In order to achieve this, they have to have the right facilities available, as this in turn will give them the tools to communicate with their prospects while branding their company as being professional. One way in which you can achieve this without spending too much money is by getting office space Nottingham by means of using a virtual office service. In fact, with this type of service, you can choose any location in the world, such as a London virtual office if the need arises. What is important to realize though, is that it is important to choose the right virtual office broker to ensure that you are given the best service possible.

One way in which to achieve this is by searching online. Here you will find a whole list of companies that provide virtual offices for your needs. Many of these companies will also have different packages, which in turn can be a great way to get the right service for your budget. As you go about searching for these virtual offices, always do your research beforehand by comparing the different services and their prices, as well as speaking with previous and current clients of these services. Once you finally have enough information, the only thing that is left is to choose the perfect solution for your business.

UK Investors Aid

may 27, 2010

UK commercial property investors have allowed a major American office loan for the US Starwood Property Trust, a newly formed real estate investment trust. The Greenwich office-based company announced it has recently deployed $131.4m of capital through the origination of a $59m first mortgage loan on a 38-story Chicago office building. The resorts backing the corporate loan are a leader in the UK leisure market and have demonstrated resilient operating performance throughout the downturn, including achieving 97% occupancy in 2009, Starwood said.

The load for the office, located in the heart of Chicago's central business district, is through the $72.4 million discounted purchase of a $90.6 million participation in a B note secured by four resorts in the United Kingdom. The office loan matures in May 2015, bears interest at the rate of 8.0% per annum, and has a debt yield of 11.5% and an expected unlevered return of approximately 8.8%. The Company's basis in the property is approximately $77 per square foot.

The corporate loan matures in October 2013 and has a debt yield of 11.7% and an expected return of 13.6% (in US Dollars). In addition, since the corporate loan is denominated in British Pounds the Company has entered into a currency hedge to mitigate potential risk.

"These new investments are consistent with our investment philosophy of deploying capital in a disciplined manner which will provide predictable growth and safety in our cash flow stream, thereby enabling us to grow our dividend over time," said Leo Huang, head of real estate fixed income for Starwood Capital Group, the Company's external manager. "We remain confident that we will be able to deploy additional capital at attractive rates of return as spreads widen due to both the uncertainty in the global financial markets and as an increasing volume of loan restructuring and maturities hit the market."

£13m New Coventry Office Scheme Unveiled

may 27, 2010

Business leaders have been given a preview into a new office park in Coventry. Whitley Business Park is a £13 million scheme spanning 93 acres, adjacent to Jaguar’s research and development centre, and situated just off the A45.

Around 30 businesses attended a Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting at Whitley Business Park and learned how the site could become home to 2,000 new jobs.

Mark Watkins, of developer St Modwen, outlined its plans the scheme, which will eventually comprise 1.1 million sq ft of top quality Coventry office and industrial space, together with a new link to the A45/A46 junction. Work on the first phase – Lakeside – which features six buildings of between 2,979sq ft and 25,960 sq ft, is now completed with companies already moved into the development.

Watkins said: “Whitley Business Park has quickly established a reputation as a high calibre commercial property scheme, and we are proud to welcome the Chamber of Commerce along to outline the part the business park will play in Coventry’s economic development and the city’s future growth as a thriving destination for business.”

Amrik Bhabra, chair of the Coventry branch of the Chamber, said that Whitley Business Park was key to the future commercial growth of the city.

“I think everyone was excited by what they heard and saw. Not many people had visited the site before and it was interesting to learn just how big the finished development will be and what a crucial role it can play in the city’s future.

“The city needs developments like Whitley Business Park to help attract new companies as well as accommodating expanding companies who want to stay in the city.”

Solution For

may 26, 2010

The dearth of new Grade A offices in London should be solved by upgrading lower grade offices, says Dan Burn, head of City Agency at Jones Lang LaSalle.

“Upgrading Grade B product to Grade A standard seems a logical, relatively low risk opportunity to bridge this supply gap before new build developments reach completion. Grade A rents also look likely to outperform prime after 2012 in London as the differentials between the two narrow.”

The idea makes sense looking at office figures. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, Grade B supply accounted for 40% of total supply in London at the end of Q1 2010, compared with 30% at the equivalent period in 2009. It has increased by more than 130% since 2007 to reach 6.2 million sq ft. Over the last 6 months, however, Grade A supply has shrunk 25% in London – and 40% in the City. There is also no chance of new developments springing up to fill the gap as confidence in the construction market and development investment continues as economic recovery remains slow.

Mr. Burn continued: “The arrival of the credit crunch and subsequent global recession led to the brakes being firmly applied to speculative development. There was no development finance, no developer or market confidence, little tenant demand and development appraisals were not viable. As a result, there is now an imminent supply gap of Grade A office product in London. If the market does not respond, this shortage is likely to become very severe by 2011.”

Green Offices To Boost Global Office Market Recovery

may 26, 2010

Sustainable office space will boost the economic recovery according to the firm that manages Manhattan's top office building and top London office firm. It came in a sustainability conference.

Presenting a seminar in central London, Anthony E. Malkin of the Empire State Building Company delivered a case study on the landmark sustainability refurbishment of their New York office tower. The resulting $20 million plan is projected to reduce energy use by 38 percent, representing an annual savings of $4.4 million. Additionally, carbon emissions will be reduced by 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years. The retrofit ultimately will be funded through the energy and operational savings and will pay for itself in 3.1 years according to the company.

Paul McNamara, director and head of research at global property firm PRUPIM, argued for the role that refurbishment can play within a diverse investment strategy and how to unlock the value opportunity across a global property portfolio. Alastair Young, Head of Property Europe at KPMG presented a practical case study on the fit out of the firm’s new headquarters building located at 15 Canada Square. The 15-storey building is a successful example of a highly-efficient, sustainable office building aimed a creating a collaborative, networking, transparent and open working environment for staff.
 
Julie Hirigoyen, lead director to Jones Lang LaSalle's Sustainability Services concluded: “We believe that both corporates and investors can benefit from applying a sustainable retrofit approach to their portfolio. This is why we have devised a five point plan to guide them in taking action. By focusing on key opportunities in their portfolio, and planning sustainability into existing capital expenditure schedules, both parties have the potential to unlock value and be more prepared for a low carbon economy.”

New Airport Hopes To Boost Large Florida Office And Business Development

may 25, 2010

The first international American airport to be built in 15 years has raised hopes of boosting uptake of top offices in Florida, as well as hotels and retail developments.

Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport opened on Sunday. It's been built on land donated by the St. Joe Company, one of Florida's largest real estate firms with offices in Jacksonville. It donated 4,000 acres within its 75,000-acre West Bay Sector Plan for the airport's construction.

The company is hoping to boost its Venture Crossings Enterprise Centre which offers office, retail, hotel and industrial developments. Venture Crossings includes 100 acres designated for office, retail and hotel uses, while 300 acres is for light industrial uses and 600 acres for manufacturing and distribution. It's hoping companies seeking "through the fence" access to the new airport's 10,000 foot runway will offer excellent distribution opportunities and boost the centre's draw for companies to open offices there.

The new airport has two daily non-stop flights to Houston, Nashville, Orlando and Baltimore-Washington DC. Southwest Airlines offers direct or connecting service to more than 60 other destinations in the U.S. while Delta Air Line has expanded its service to the region with larger aircraft.

"The opening of the new airport is the culmination of over a decade of efforts by St. Joe and numerous regional organizations to transform Northwest Florida by greatly improving domestic and international access," said St. Joe's CEO Britt Greene. "It will serve as a significant economic catalyst for Northwest Florida and enhance the value of our 300,000 acres within 40 miles of the airport."

Microsoft Pay £200m To Settle Virtual Office Software Court Battle

may 24, 2010

Microsoft have paid a massive $200m to an internet security software company to settle a court battle over patented virtual office technology used without permission.

VirnetX Holding Corporation announced that they have settled two patent infringement cases it brought over claimed unauthorised use by Mircrosoft of its patented Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology. As part of the out-of-court settlement, Microsoft takes a license to the VirnetX patents for Microsoft’s products and will make a one-time payment of $200 million to VirnetX. All other aspects of the settlement and license were not disclosed.

VirnetX sued Microsoft in 2007, claiming Microsoft was using VPN patents without paying for Windows Server 2003, XP, Vista, Live Communications Server, Windows Messenger, Office Communicator and various versions of Office as infringing on two of its patents. After winning a first round in that case against Microsoft in March 2010, VirnetX filed this latest suit claiming Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 also infringed on its networking patents.

“This Agreement highlights the need for VirnetX’s Secure Domain Name Initiative, and we believe that this successful resolution of our litigation with Microsoft will allow us to focus on the upcoming pilot system that will showcase VirnetX’s automatic Virtual Private Network technology,” said Kendall Larsen, chief executive officer and chairman of VirnetX Holding Corporation, which has headquarter offices in Scotts Valley, California.

“We are pleased to work with VirnetX to bring these cases to a successful resolution through this settlement,” said Tom Burt, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel at the Microsoft Corporation. “We look forward to VirnetX’s continued progress as it develops its technologies.”

US IT Networking Firm Powers Through Recession By Expanding

may 23, 2010

Aruba, a global business IT networking provider based in offices in Sunnyvale, California, has powered through the recession by massive expansion, increasing revenues by 10 percent in 2009 by branching into a plethora of virtual office applications.

The firm, which has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions, has launched a new Virtual Branch Networking (VBN) for the cloud, by migrating vital application acceleration and content security services to match a company's capital expenditures and operating expenses. These services are becoming increasingly important as virtual office users often complain about slow services in cloud computing. But this is the easy stuff.

The company announced its Voice-Over-Wi-Fi Calling for the Blackberry Mobile Voice System 5, which extends corporate phone systems to BlackBerry smartphones. Aruba's fingerprinting technology identifies latency-sensitive voice application traffic and then conditions the Wi-Fi network to deliver it reliably without compromising fidelity. Sticking with Wi-Fi, its E911 Emergency Call Location Solution which Aruba has developed with RedSky Technologies announced a Wi-Fi based emergency call location solution that automatically and accurately locates Wi-Fi phones as they dial an emergency call, directing first responders to the correct address, building, and floor. This capability is expected to accelerate the migration from wired phones to mobile Wi-Fi phone.

Aruba also became the first vendor to receive accreditation from the U.S. Army's Office of Information Assurance and Certification for its wireless LAN solution and VBN solution, secure mesh software, and a suite of access points. All of these products were added to the Army's Information Assurance Approved Products List for immediate use by all branches of the Army.

Californian Super Survey Confirms Virtual Office Migration Is Building Massive Momentum

may 23, 2010

A survey conducted at Interop Las Vegas 2010, a business technology expo, has confirmed that businesses are moving virtual to consolidate IT resources to reduce costs and simplify management.

Out of 350 major firms surveyed, 65 percent said that they have already begun the process of creating a centralized IT environment, with 43 percent of respondents revealing they have already begun implementing private cloud project. The three primary motivating factors for IT consolidation were reducing costs (listed by 64 percent of respondents), reducing management and complexity (39 percent), and increasing security (32 percent).

Surprisingly, only 14 percent of respondents indicated that they are using virtual office facilities as part of their branch offices, suggesting that office-based working is simply being expanded for home-working out of hours. However, 35 percent of respondents revealed that they will begin branch office consolidation projects by 2011.

In the survey, the top two concerns cited by organisations looking to consolidate their IT included performance by 67 percent of respondents, and security, which was listed by 53 percent. Data availability (27 percent) and migration difficulties (15 percent) rounded out the primary concerns about entering the cloud.

"The responses from the Interop survey match what we hear from our customers, namely that cloud computing, virtualization and consolidation are strategic IT initiatives for many organizations," said Apurva Dave, vice president of product marketing for Riverbed, a global IT company which helps companies use more virtual office facilities. "Organizations encounter performance bottlenecks as consolidation and cloud computing models move users farther away from their data and applications. Riverbed helps customers overcome these productivity challenges to allow customers to both improve business performance and realize significant ROI." Riverbed has Amercian offices in California, Illinois, and New York, with European offices in London and Asia offices in Singapore, Japan and China.

New Office in Virginia To Build At Heart Of American Military Intelligence World

may 21, 2010

For those who services the military intelligence world, one to watch are new offices at the heart of America's military intelligence city. Corporate Office Properties Trust announced that it has entered a new submarket with control of approximately 15 acres and the development potential of between 800,000 and 980,000 square feet of office space in Virginia.

The project, known as Patriot Ridge, is located in the Northern Virginia submarket of Springfield. Construction of the first building, consisting of approximately 240,000 square feet, is targeted to start in the fourth quarter of 2010. Patriot Ridge is located adjacent to the new National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) headquarters currently under construction. NGA is a Department of Defense combat support agency and is the third largest agency of the 17 agencies making up the U.S. Intelligence Community. The NGA will occupy a 2.4 million square foot facility which will be located at Fort Belvoir. NGA develops imagery and map-based intelligence solutions for U.S. national defense, homeland security and safety of navigation.

Fort Belvoir is the beneficiary of the largest BRAC cut backs, a cost-cutting scheme by the American government to close excess military facilities. The implementation of BRAC at Fort Belvoir includes 20 separate projects comprising nearly 6.2 million square feet of building space to support approximately 19,300 personnel relocating to Fort Belvoir.

"Our expansion into Springfield fits within our Super Core strategy of locating adjacent to government demand drivers," stated Randall Griffin, chief executive officer of Corporate Office Properties Trust. "Our site will provide superior speed to market, visibility, access and proximity to serve critical missions relocating to Fort Belvoir as a result of BRAC," he added.

Virtual Office War: Google Hits Back At Launch Of Microsoft's Office 2010 Web Apps

may 16, 2010

Google has stepped up its attacks on Microsoft to coincide with the launch of Office 2010 with its Web Apps, a direct competition to Google and an escalating battlefront for vitual office clients.

Matthew Glotzbach, Google Enterprise Product Management Director, posted a blog to promote Google's online software and its benefits to business. The Launch of Office 2010 which is a major challenge to Google on-demand space with the addition of its Office Web Apps.

In his blog Mr Glotzback said he wanted to share some thoughts on the “choices businesses have as you consider upgrading Microsoft Office.”

He attacked traditional productivity software that “comes up short, even after 'major' upgrades.”

It's not clear exactly what major office advantages there will be when Google make Blogger, Picasa Web Albums, Google Reader, iGoogle and many more Google services available soon to Google Apps customers.

But Google say the have the edge in ease for virtual office clients. “What will customers need to do to access all this new functionality? Simply refresh the browser. No 64-bit servers to purchase, no complex software prerequisites (28 of them for SharePoint 2010 alone!), no backup systems to install, no VPN connectivity issues to worry about. It’s an upgrade that will truly change the workplace.

“The integrated combination of Google Apps, a broad array of other Google services, and complementary functionality built by developers and partners – will give your employees the tools they need to be productive in the modern workplace. I invite you to learn more about Google Apps and to start a conversation with our team about providing your employees with the best tools for their jobs,” he continued.

Australia Sees Push For Virtual Office Management

may 12, 2010

Companies that use virtual offices in Australia can now benefit from an expansion of US online work-management software developer Clarizen. The company, with head offices in California, is making a push into the Australian market.

It has announced further virtual office training and support for its customers, using, not surprisingly, a virtual office setup, several weekly webinars will run for users in different Australian time zones, while free support and forum for local clients will be added.

The new service, announced today, was first seen at an event in the heart of the Melbourne office and business district. It was attended by Australian corporations and government organisations including Orica, DuluxGroup, Aperium and the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), which have been using Clarizen for over a year.

Mark Sullivan, ESTA's Program Director, said his organisation had been working closely with Clarizen to “address our growing need for a more efficient and collaborative solution and with the recent training of our project management team, we are looking to further augment the utilisation of the software.”

Co-hosting the event was one of Clarizen's partners, Luah Consulting, which is already helping local organizations implement Clarizen. Tony Berkhout, principal at Luah, said it has been looking for a solution that would address the needs of some of its large clients, seeking a more centralised project management solution that would be easier to deploy for end users.

Clarizen say the expansion is seeing more Australian companies using vitual office.
"We are seeing more and more Australian organisations drawn to Clarizen's solutions, something that can be explained by their aptitude to follow formal project management practices while being very comfortable adopting software-as-a-service solutions," said Gil Heiman, Clarizen's Senior Director of Inside Sales. "In an effort to support this growing customer base, we have decided to formally dedicate resources that will encourage the long-term adoption of the Clarizen platform organizations of all sizes and complexity."

Hung Parliament and Greece Threaten UK Recovery

may 09, 2010

Economists are warning that the UK's hung parliament will undo commercial property recovery seen in the UK, especially led by uptake of offices in London. Some economists are suggesting the UK could be bracketed with Greece as an unstable investment, as the pound plummeted against the dollar yesterday.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has not highlighted Europe as leading the recovery, placing Latin America and Asia as leaders in the markets. Commercial property transactions rose across the majority of the globe with Peru, Brazil and Singapore leading the way. With generally low interest rates and relatively high yields, investors have continued to find commercial property an attractive proposition.
Even the hard hit US has rebounded for the first time in three years with the net balance of surveyors reporting a rise in transactions moving from a negative 22 percent to a positive 13 percent. By way of contrast, more surveyors again reported a drop in activity in the UAE and Greece.

One challenge, which will be felt heavily in the UK, is the overhang of public sector debt. “This could have consequences for both occupier activity and the ongoing strength of the investment recovery reflecting both the rationalisation of government property space and the potential for higher borrowing costs," says Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist.

The recovery has started to move into some parts of Eastern Europe with the net balance of surveyors reporting on capital values turning positive in Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Surveyors are confident that the emerging economies, particularly in Latin America and Asia, will continue to lead the property recovery into the second quarter of 2010 with sentiment towards capital values particularly strong in Hong Kong, Peru and Brazil.

Microsoft Office Goes Virtual Office

may 07, 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 will be launched virtual-office-style, offering free downloadable versions of its most successful programme suite. The software giant is attempting to clamp down on competitor Google trampling on its currently safe turf after the latter has seen success with its office software available online.

Free downgraded web-based versions of its most popular applications like Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote will be launched for businesses on May 12 and for consumers next month.

The web-versions have been designed to provide access to documents from virtually anywhere and to preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of the device used. It shows the power virtual office and remote access has had on shifting the products available to users, as well as proving that virtual office is shifting market trends.

The Office 2010 revelation comes as Microsoft and Nokia launch the first application from their alliance to develop mobile productivity, again another move into the virtual office world. Microsoft Communicator Mobile for Nokia devices provides unified communications client connects directly with a company’s communications systems to streamline mobile collaboration. Owners of a number of Symbian-based Nokia Eseries smartphones can download the English version today from Nokia’s Ovi Store, the easiest place to get content on their Nokia devices.


“Our alliance with Nokia aims to bring the Microsoft Office productivity experience to the millions of people using Nokia smartphones around the world,” said Kirt Debique, general manager, Microsoft Office Communications Platform & Solutions Group, Microsoft. “With the arrival of Communicator Mobile for Nokia today, we have a great start to fulfilling our joint vision.”

Serviced Offices Have Made Starting A Business Real Easy

may 06, 2011

There's a lot that can be done, in terms of business these days. What the most recent worldwide economic recession has taught a lot of folks is: you've got to be resourceful. There has been an incredible explosion in small businesses that have taken to various markets (sometimes halfway around the world) that have had the opportunities to launch, by way of low-cost serviced offices. Now, serviced office firms are companies and organizations that take the details out of launching a business. These companies get you connected with all the support staff, all the administrative infrastructure that you'd assume one would need in order to come up with a launching operation. Long gone are the days where you have to launch out of your garage. When you need to meet a client out in London, what you can do now is, you can log onto the web, and rent out a London office space there. It's very simple and very self explanatory, in fact.
There are a lot of these serviced office London spaces that offer these types of services. You have the brick and mortar spaces that come equipped with all of the latest and greatest in bare operative and administrative necessities (such as scanners, copy machines, Internet access, etc.). And you also have a number of virtual office services, such as assistants that can help you out, support you, while you launch your business. Need a spreadsheet written up? A virtual office assistant can help you with that!

Profession-Specific Virtual Office A Winner For Man Who Claims To Have Invented Virtual Offices

may 06, 2010

Profession-specific virtual offices have proven their success after a virtual office firm in California specialising in law offices celebrates 20 years in the business, while its boss can claim to have invented virtual offices.

Barrister Executive Suites, started by Vince Otte, has also housed major corporations including AOL, The Coca-Cola Company and Nike. It began as far back as 1966 as a cost-effective alternative to traditional office space by providing turnkey office space, virtual offices, meeting room facilities, and administrative support services. It makes Otte arguably the inventor of the virtual office concept, which has been traditionally attributed to Ralph Gregory who coined the 'virtual office' phrase in Colorado in 1994 starting a business by the name.

Otte's current virtual office firm is now 20 years old. The former investment banker has doubled Barrister’s locations to 22-Class A offices in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego. His virtual office packages serving an exclusive attorney tenant base have now been used to develop a 40 percent entrepreneur clientèle.

Mr Otte says his company is profiting from companies trying to cost cut in the recession, “We are now meeting the demand of professionals transitioning as a result of the economy from corporate positions who need office space and business identities quickly. Our philosophy is to provide our tenants with extraordinary service, support and amenities.”

Like other virtual office agencies Otte has developed a network access to 700 locations worldwide. The company says this means Barrister operates with a foundation of longevity and financial stability.

Google Lose Out On China As Its Government Introduce More Internet Control

may 04, 2010

China's top Internet search firm, Baidu, is being seen as a big winner following Google's recent retreat. Google pulled its Chinese site in March after infiltration attempts, after the internet giant refused Chinese government requests to self-sensor its service. Now Baidu has smashed analysts' forecasts.

Its latest financial figures show total revenues of $189.6 million for the first quarter of 2010, representing a 59.6 percent increase on the corresponding period in 2009. Online marketing revenues were $189.5 million, a 59.6 percent increase over 2009.

In the latest government push for more internet controls, Beijing is seeking to end anonymous online comments, according to Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, who recently reiterated the need for more regulations in cyberspace.

According to comments released by Chinese news agency Xinhua, the government regulator said on Friday that China would strengthen its monitoring on "harmful information" on the Internet, in an attempt to block bad overseas information from spreading into the country via the Internet and prevent "overseas hostile forces from infiltrating through the Internet.” The speech was published by the People's Daily.
In which Wang confirmed, for the first time, that major news websites and business portals in China have already complied with the no-anonymity comment rule. It's a trend that will be pushed through the Internet, including the populous online bulletin boards.

It also emerged that China's online users, already the largest in the world now has 404 million internet users, including 346 million who use broadband and 233 million who use mobile phones, Xinhua said, citing Wang.

China last year began a three-phase campaign to tighten Internet controls and reduce citizens' ability to operate anonymously on the Internet. It bills the campaign to its populace as a drive against pornography. It has blocked a number of foreign social media sites since last year, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Ireland's Office Market Sprouts Signs The Recession Is Over

may 03, 2010

Market results for offices in Ireland have delivered the first positive quarterly returns for two years, suggesting a modest recovery has started.

A 0.4% return delivered in the three months to end of March was recorded by global markets monitor IPD in its Ireland Quarterly Property Index.

The return to positive property performance was driven by the shallowest quarterly capital depreciation, at -1.8%, since the Irish market turned in the final quarter of 2007. Since the market peak in the third quarter of that year, the Irish commercial property has fallen by -56.3%. The welcomed tail-off in capital depreciation reflects a positive yield impact, at 80 basis points, while rental pressure eased to its lowest quarterly decline since this time last year, at -3.3%.

Within the office sector, the dominant central Dublin market delivered -2.2% capital growth, driven by the strongest positive yield impact among all segments, at 1.4%. It was aided by a 300 basis points improvement in rental pressure quarter-on-quarter, at -4.8%.

Sasha Thomas, service manager for Ireland at IPD, said: “The return to positive quarterly property performance in the first quarter is the first step on the road to recovery for the Irish market. For two consecutive quarters both rental value growth and yield pressure have eased, which is an encouraging sign for investors.

“Overlaid upon this, are broader signs of recovery in Ireland’s economy, following the Bank of Ireland’s Quarterly Economic Outlook indicating last Monday that GDP is expected to return positive in Q1. With both macro-economic and property fundamentals improving, the indications are that the worst of the property recession is, possibly, behind Ireland.”

Find The Sort Of Office Space New York Admires

march 29, 2011

Getting a bargain that is going to end up helping you out is definitely a very good thing. You can count on the fact that if you are trying to find office space New York can get it for you. You can find the best deals here and elsewhere, too, if you know what you are doing. In fact, if you have ever dreamed of your company having a fantastic serviced office London businesses brag about, then you owe it to yourself and your company to pursue that dream. You can very quickly discover that you get excellent deals if you check the right kind of resources. When you are working with specialists who know the markets and can get what you need, then it is going to be a whole lot easier for you to get the best value. That is going to wind up being much simpler for you.

Anyone that is serious about getting the best value when it comes to cities that have a great opportunity for a low cost office ought to know about Manchester. You can actually find a lot of the very best of the office space Manchester has to offer when you look online. In fact, that is the best place to look for truly fantastic deals. You can always end up pleased with the results and that is something anyone would be happy about. You can get a real bargain this way and it is likely to offer you the right price on something fabulous.

Office Space Manhattan Is Home To Might Work For You

march 29, 2011

Those of us that have a company of our own are usually trying to find good ways to build it up. If you are thinking that this is what you would like to do, then you would be smart to get the best for yourself. You can do this very simply if you try out the options that abound now in the right type of web site. You can find the best of the office space Manhattan has to offer. This is so much simpler than having to call an agent up and wait forever while you hear a spiel. You can even find some really great office space Nottingham is home to if you prefer a United Kingdom office location. Your choices are wider today than ever before so you should definitely savor that. Take advantage of just how easy it is to find what you want and you are going to be very glad that you did.

There are tons of benefits out there which can give you a lot, but you want to make sure that you do all in your power to search for a good deal on the location you prefer. You can find the sort of office space Chicago is renowned for and that gives you a very ideal location for a lot of business transactions. If you want something great, this is a great way to go. You get a lot of choices and will easily find the best for what you have to spend.

Office Space Nottingham Offers May Work For You

march 29, 2011

We all want to be able to find the best kind of office that we can, but it takes a bit of looking sometimes. It is not always simple to get the best possible deal, but it is worth pursuing. You are going to see that if you put some work into it, no matter where you want that office or what kind you want, it is going to be relatively simple to find. In fact, if you look into the kind of office space Nottingham offers you, it is going to be a whole lot easier to get the best possible deal for your money. You can get some amazing bargains for so much less and that is certainly a very good thing. Once you see just how much there is for you to be able to benefit from, you will see how your company can shine if you make this sort of choice.

Life is a lot simpler for those of us that do what it takes to get what we want. You can find a lot of great values if you make smart moves and this is true for office space anywhere in the world that you might want to find it. If you look on the web it all gets a whole lot easier. You can find remarkable bargains at very low prices you will appreciate for sure. That is what makes so many people pleased at what they find for serviced offices today. Get the office you want at a price your budget can handle the easy way: look online.

Choosing The Right Telephone Answering Service Makes Sense

march 24, 2011

Business today gets done at a lightning pace and a lot of us are very, very busy. That is why you want to choose good services to help you handle all of your business needs. When you do things right, it is quite simple to address the needs of your own enterprise in a sensible manner. If you stop and get a telephone answering service that is going to take your calls and give your company a very professional appearance, even if it is solely online, then you are going to end up pleased. This is a terrific way to go. You could also get the office space Soho businesses have found to be effective for their needs. The key here is to make the smartest decision that you can so you end up pleased with the results. It just might be a lot easier than you had imagined.

Every business has its special considerations, needs and aims. When you stop and think about just how much there is available to you, you are going to see that even office space Manhattan offers is open to you if you work with a specialist site that can hook you up with excellent bargains. This is a tremendous way to build a solid business you are going to be quite proud of. Never miss your chance to give yourself the best kind of experience because it really will end up paying off for you over the long term. That is always rewarding.

The Benefits Of A Virtual Office

march 17, 2011

Every business needs an office address, and the more prominent yours is, the more seriously prospective clients will take you. If you cannot afford an office space in a lucrative area then a virtual office is your best option. Making use of one of these facilities will allow you to access all of the facilities that a normal office would have, but without paying large amounts of money for it. An office space Manchester will usually provide you with certain facilities, such as a receptionist as well as telephone and fax facilities, which will make your professional life so much easier. If you are not one for staying in an office all day and you are looking for the perfect alternative, then this could be it.

Office space is expensive, especially if you want to position yourself in an esteemed area. An office space Soho might seem like an appealing facility, but if it is not a virtual space, you might have to pay more than you can afford to get it. If your business is just starting up and you need a space such as this, then you should consider a virtual space. Everything, including meeting venues, will be provided to you, and you can use them whenever you need to. This kind of option is very appealing, and if that is not enough, then the fact that these facilities also do not cost a lot of money, will be enough to persuade anyone to make use of this option.

London Office Space And A Virtual Assistant

march 17, 2011

If your business is starting up, you might not have time to perform admin such as reading and responding to emails. If this is becoming a problem then you might want to consider hiring a virtual assistant to run your London office space. The best thing about having an assistant, whether it be for an office space Manchester or an office space New York, is the fact that you will be saving yourself a lot of money, and you will still have the work done for you in a timely fashion. In order to go about hiring one of these assistants, you will need to line up a few candidates. These can be found through one of the many virtual assistant recruitment agencies, and once you have found a few good candidates, you can begin the interviews.

Interviewing someone who is going to work for you is the best way to analyze whether or not they are the kind of person you want to deal with on a daily basis. After a few minutes, you should get an idea about the kind of person they are, and whether or not they will be able to suit you and your needs. Before you choose any of the assistants, you will need to discuss the working hours and the pay so that they can choose to accept the position or not. Once you have chosen one of them, you might need to train them, but this is often a shorter task than training a full time assistant.

Virtual Office The Espresso Avenue To Starting Up In a New Location

march 15, 2010

For business venturing elsewhere to expand their reach there’s a lot of marketing talk about the pluses of virtual offices working as a safe, low-cost version of opening an expensive actual office in a new market place. But marketing agency Espresso offers us a genuine case study for the strategy.

The company has used the virtual office avenue to open its second office in Boston away from its initial base in Toronto. Its management was amused that a company called Espresso would choose Beantown for its new office. Marta Kagan, US Managing Director, says Boston offers the agency much more than a cute tie-in to its name.

“Boston has a brilliant mix of talent and business opportunity,” says Kagan. “It’s a city that never fails to foster hard-working and creative marketing professionals or impress our national clients.”
The agency’s expansion is in strong contrast to the cuts and closures blighting the industry. Espresso opened the virtual office in Boston in March 2009 to test the waters. In less than a year Espresso’s Boston team acquired business from big names like eBay, LocaModa, Jive Software and Blade Games World. As of March 1, Kagan and her team have new actual offices located in the TechSpace Building.

Back in Canada, the agency headquarters are also impressed with the growth and potential in Boston. “Marta proved Espresso’s brand “infiltration services” are what clients want,” says Jacquelyn Cyr, Espresso’s CEO and owner. “Expect more hiring out of our South End office in the near future!”

Volvo Goes Global Virtual Office For Facebook Success In Ad Campaign

march 15, 2010

Volvo has gone vitual for its ad campaigns, hitting the online jackpot of Facebooks most downloaded branded application. 63,000 teams from all over the world participated in the Volvo's DRIVe Around the World game making it the most installed branded application and seventeenth most installed application on Facebook in 2009.

Meanwhile, crowdsourcing is one those terms making the global rounds. It's attracted companies like Gothenburg-headquarted car giant Volvo, which has launched an online search for its S60 model TV advertisment which asks for users’ input in developing the final part of its ad campaign.

Now you don't have to be working for a company to work for a virtual office. Crowdsourcing is an absolute eureka moment in virtual business. Why spend fortunes on creatives expending their brainpower coming up with ideas, after all that is what they're for, and pass the job to the world. Let the masses come up with a bright idea and feel connected the brand they are helping to market at the same time. It;s a genius win-win idea.

For Volvo, the Sweden based firm is running ahead of the launch of its S60 later this year with three online films designed to show the car’s naughty side. They show the car doing a slalom test, each time in a ’naughtier’ way, such as driving backwards. At the end Volvo asks the viewer whether they want the video to be naughtier, before inviting them to a crowdsourcing programme to help with ideas for a fourth film. This will be released to coincide with the car’s on-sale date.

The campaign was created by communications agency Arnold Worldwide and Euro RSCG 4D. Don Lane, Volvo global brand director for Arnold, says the Naughty Volvo campaign is designed to be as surprising as it is innovative. “This is by far the most integrated, modern campaign we’ve developed together with our partner agencies.”

Leeds Office Market Weak But Recovery Could Be Strong

march 15, 2010

The Leeds office market has been branded “weak” by the latest report by CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). Take-up in Leeds during 2009 reached 403,900 sq ft, a 7% drop on 2008, which is below the 10 year annual average.

There were signs that Leeds is riding something of the recovery wave seen elsewhere in the market with leasing activity bouncing back in the fourth quarter. 162,000 sq ft of office space was rented, the highest quarterly total since 2006.

CBRE report that demand for offices in Leeds was heavily focused on the smaller end of the market with nearly 90% of deals being for offices under 10,000 sq ft and 70% for units under 5,000 sq ft. Of 75 deals to complete during 2009, the largest was at Livingstone House, Clarence Dock where 56,800 sq ft of grade A space was leased by Yorkshire Water.

CBRE's forecast suggests the public sector is likely to drive demand with approximately 200,000 sq ft of live requirements for 2010. This includes the PCT and Leeds City Council.
2010 is likely to be dominated by landlords offering excellent deals to secure new tenants and ensure their vacant space becomes occupied.

There is potential good news amidst the figures. At the end of the fourth quarter, availability in Leeds was 1.8m sq ft, having risen steadily during the course of the year. But this isn't all bad. The main driver of this increase in supply was developers delivering nearly 500,000 sq ft of speculative grade A space to the market in early 2009. This could mean Leeds may see a good recovery as confidence the market builds, where other cities will lack a supply of new office space after development ground to a standstill. Current supply of grade A space is 650,000 sq ft, which equates to approximately three years of average annual take-up. However, CBRE say although there are a number of proposed developments in the pipeline, they do not foresee any speculative starts for at least 12 months.

Rents for offices in Leeds has seen some increase. Following the letting to Zolfo Cooper at Toronto Square in the second quarter, the prime rent in Leeds moved up by £1.00 to £27.00 per sq ft. Tenants can typically expect 24 months rent free on 10 year lease. However, CBRE say the next 12 months will show rental values drop and for landlords to continue offering occupiers very favourable lease terms.

Long-Range Wireless Solves Network Expansion Dilemmas

march 14, 2010

Wireless computer networks are a flexible resource for any business that needs to adapt the size of its connected workforce easily, but what do you if you work for government and security is a key issue, plus your offices are expanding outside of your current building?

Canada’s National Capital Commission (NCC), which administers federally owned lands and buildings in Ottawa,Ontario, is using gigabit wireless links to deliver high-capacity, secure connectivity for its expanded offices down the road.

The NCC had to relocate some of its industrial and graphic designers to a remote office in Ottawa and looked at various options to supplement its existing copper infrastructure. Looking at installing fibre-optics and fiber-equivalent wireless options that could support their remote office and stay within budget proved hard, especially since the NCC had to comply with government data security policies.

It finally selected BridgeWave communications whose sustem has built-in 256-bit AES encryption, the strongest encryption commercially available. The narrow beamwidth of the BridgeWave links create "virtual pipes" making signal interception near impossible, the company claims. The NCC also saved on infrastructure installation costs, working out that the system would pay for itself in as little as a year and a half. It avoided additional servers and the associated backup infrastructure for the new office which would have cost more than the entire wireless solution.

"BridgeWave's high-capacity links enable us to provide better public service at less cost to the taxpayer," said Gary Cotton, Senior Telecommunications Analyst for the NCC. "With network return on investment achieved in 18 to 20 months and no substantial fibre installation or monthly connection costs this network expansion has been a success for NCC."

Virtual Office IT Tools Make Happy And Productive Workers... Well Microsoft Would Say That!

march 14, 2010

Virtual office IT increases productivity, reduces overheads and makes happier workers. It sounds like a dream, well it’s an American dream because it’s come from quite a big survey in the US recently carried out by Microsoft.

Sixty percent of respondents of US office workers to the Microsoft Telework survey, which asked 3,600 employees in 36 American cities, said they are actually more productive and efficient when working remotely. With less time spent commuting and fewer cubicle “drive bys” causing distractions, respondents say, more time can be spent on the task in front of them.

Microsoft say employers aren’t catching on, however. Only 41 percent of those surveyed work for companies with established remote-working policies, while just 15 percent believe their company supports flexible work arrangements. Despite a wealth of new technologies that can facilitate collaboration among workers no matter where they are, employers are still concerned about whether they’re getting the most from employees.

One UK company which has bought into Microsoft big time for virtual office solutions is Liverpool-based Shop Direct Group. It’s one of the largest online and shop-at-home retail companies in the United Kingdom, operating under 11 well-known brands such as Littlewoods, Very, Woolworths, Marshall Ward, Kays and Great Universal.

To address its virtual private network (VPN) challenges, Shop Direct Group evaluated DirectAccess, a feature of Windows 7 that, when combined with Windows Server 2008 R2, enables employees to connect to the corporate network virtually from any Internet connection. The company’s IT staff can also manage computers connected to the corporate network via DirectAccess as if they were locally connected — helping ensure configurations are up to date and secure. This means IT staff can perform IT management tasks like pushing software updates and provisioning new computers, from a central location. It will be able to service remote computers and those at other locations more quickly and without using third-party, onsite IT resources, and is expected to save valuable IT budget.

London Spars With Tokyo For Top Office Rents

march 11, 2010

London and Tokyo fight over the most expensive offices whilst 2010 is expected to see global office rents hit their low this year with the second half of the year seeing recovery.

There is a debate between global reports over whether the Japanese capital has the most expensive prime office rents. The latest report by Cushman & Wakefield puts Tokyo offices top, costing $190 (£126) a square foot per year, whilst an earlier report by property consultant DTZ had London's West End top at an average of $21,420 (£13,184) per annum. Most likely it's down to different measures and assumptions, but what they both clearly show is that London and Tokyo appear to be leading the way in recovery, if high rent is a good indicator. Both cities have been hit very hard with major depreciations in office rents. The trend, however, also means the door could be closing for companies to take advantage of the relatively lower deals around.

Cushman & Wakefield's Office Space Across the World report – well it does what is says on the tin - says rental growth is already being recorded in some of the world’s leading office markets such as the City of London and Oslo CBD whilst there were some surprises in markets which showed resilience last year. The biggest risers in rent rankings was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil moving from 23rd to 13th position with only a slight rental decline and appreciation of the Brazilian Real against the Euro. Seoul, South Korea and Sydney, Australia rose in comparable office costs respectively from 27th to 14th and 29th to 15th with prime rents rising in both.

The largest prime office rental falls included all of the key cities of Asia Pacific with Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo recording falls of -45%, -35% and -21% respectively. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam saw the largest regional rental compression with a fall of -53% recorded.

Kyiv, Ukraine and Dublin, Ireland were the biggest fallers in Europe with more than -50% and -38% respectively knocked off the value of prime office rents by year end. Even previously resilient markets were affected including London’s West End which recorded a -25% decline, and Warsaw’s CBD which recorded a -24% decline.

Gain Class With Office Space New York Has Now

march 04, 2011

Global business is not about spending more, it is about making wise choices and finding creative ways to cut down on those costs that we all worry about. Should you find that you need a way to get the best for your money, you really should make sure that you get a good value. You can now find the best office space New York has in your price range, even if your price range does not go very high at all. Money saving options abound today, but you really need to make sure that you take advantage of them. This is why searching for alternative solutions beats spending vast sums of cash.

We all realize that we have to make smart decisions if we are to expect to succeed and that is true no matter where we might want to have a business. Look at the office space Manchester has these days and you will see that the old fashioned way to rent would cost quite a lot. However, new techniques in saving mean that you can cut your costs in a big way and find a lot of satisfaction much more quickly. That is going to really make life simpler for any businesses' budget. Even if you want to go so far as to try and aim for some quality office space Manhattan has, you are going to be able to get that for cheaper when you use strategy. Put your plan into action today and decide you will save and your options will expand exponentially.

Pocket Virtual Office In A Mobile To Make Laptops A Thing Of The Past - Sounds Like Nirvana

march 03, 2010

A pocket-size virtual office which converts into full-size desktop is on its way. Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs), the leading global provider of embedded virtualisation software for mobile phones, and Citrix Systems have announced the “nirvana phone”, a fully integrated virtual office system that looks like a mobile phone, and is one too.

OK Labs technology is already in 500 million mobile phones worldwide, but the nirvana phone concept goes beyond traditional smart phones by allowing users to access their corporate virtual desktop and applications from a single device. It can then be docked to full-sized displays, keyboards, mice and other PC-type peripherals offering mobile workers a complete pocket virtual office. The developers claim it will make laptops a thing of the past.



The design builds on Mobile-to-Enterprise (M2E) virtualisation and cloud computing but the nirvana phone reference architecture also incorporates emerging capabilities in mobile handsets like full resolution video and HD output.

Chris Fleck of Citrix says the nirvana phone takes smartphones to the next level while OK Labs' CEO Steve Subar says it will provide groundbreaking capabilities without breaking IT budgets with exotic technology. “The nirvana phone represents a near-term paradigm shift – OK Labs, Citrix, and our ecosystem partners envision real-world converged nirvana devices enabled for both mobility and desktop productivity entering the market within 12 to 18 months.”

Citrix Systems is both working as strategic investor and a key partner for OK Labs, w to provide solutions for delivering enterprise applications to mobile with M2E virtualisation. The companies’ combined technologies, including Citrix desktop and the OKL4 mobile virtualisation solutions, will claim easily-deployed and securely-managed access to enterprise and desktop applications, bridging corporate and personal worlds without risk of compromising company data, applications, or networks.

2010 The Year Mobile Advertising Exploded

march 02, 2010

Virtual businesses need to think virtual when it comes to advertising, and there is no bigger developing market than the mobile advertising platform.

Whilst some see mobile advertising as closely related if not smaller (and perhaps more annoying) than online platforms, the reality couldn't be further away. The reach of mobile advertising is far greater – with an estimated global total of 4.6 billion phones as of 2009. Notably computers, including desktops and laptops, are currently estimated at 1.1 billion globally. Mobile phones now outnumber the television three to one.

It is probable that advertisers and media industry will increasingly take account of a bigger and fast-growing mobile market, though it currently only amounts to one percent of global advertising spend.

One company which is riding the wave of expansion is the internationally growing Austrian firm Out There Media, with its head offices in Vienna. It's just announced a mobile advertising reach now encompasses over 150 million subscribers with an expected 100% explosion, reaching 300 million by the end of Q2 2010. In addition, Out There Media has continued its international expansion with new offices in Asia and Europe and has recently opened an office in Singapore.

At Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, the global conference for mobile technology, Out There Media announced its partnership with VimpelCom, a leading mobile operator in Russia with a subscriber base of 64 million users. By comparison, Out There Media is currently small active in only 15 countries, whilst big players like 12snap are active in 53.

Kerstin Trikalitis, CEO of Out There Media, said: "Despite the global economic climate, there is a clear shift towards mobile advertising, as all stakeholders now realize its advantages and revenue-generating potential. I strongly believe that 2010 is the year of mobile advertising, and Out There Media will continue to be at the forefront of this historical paradigm shift".

Danish IT Company NNIT To Build New Copenhagen Head Office

march 01, 2010

Danish IT company NNIT A/S is moving its headquarters and is to construct a new head office building in Gladsaxe, Copenhagen. NTT is one of Europe’s leading IT consultancies, and the move gives the opportunity to expand its lease by up to 10,000 square meters. The total investment in the project amounts to approximately 900 million Sweden Kronor (£83.5m), and is part of a newly built office property of approximately 35,000 square meters.

The project has been developed by NCC Property Development in Denmark and will be built by its Danish construction operation. NCC is one of the leading construction and property development companies in the Nordic region with 2009 sales of SEK 52 billion (£4.8bn).

Most of NNIT’s present employees in Denmark will relocate from its present head office in Lyngby to the new offices in Gladsaxe. The company has a total of 1,200 employees, headquartered in Denmark, but has offices in Switzerland, the Czech Republic and China. It provides IT services to over 180 companies.

From NCC’s viewpoint the development and construction of NNIT’s head office represents one of its largest assignments in Denmark in recent years. When the tenants assume occupancy, the office property will be taken over by PFA Ejendomme and the sale is therefore expected to impact NCC’s earnings during the second quarter of 2012. PFA is the leading supplier of benefit plans to companies and organisations in Denmark, and has a property investment wing.

Copenhagen was the venue of the climate change summit in in December last year, so it's to be expected its offices buildings will take the environment into account. This new office building will be designed to consume 25 percent less energy than the prevailing norm for similar properties.

There Are Alternatives To An Expensive Office Space Soho

june 23, 2011

Manhattan is one of the dream destinations of most individuals who wish to live the high life. It is one of the most urbanized cities in the planet, and is also considered as one of the richest places in the United States. It's not uncommon to see people - even immigrants - move in to New York in hopes of finding a good job or establishing a business. If you are among the hordes of people looking to make a good living in Manhattan, you'll need to find a good office space Soho. There could just be a little problem: it can be very expensive to rent one. But don't let this bring you down. There is a reason for the high price tag on such offices. Manhattan is said to have one of the lowest crime rates; it's also a bustling community where any business is sure to do very well. These things should make the rent you pay worth it.

If you don't have the ability to pay for high rent yet, there are two options for you: get a serviced office space or virtual office. These are more affordable alternatives to renting an office space Soho. The good thing about this is you still get the benefits of having your own office. Startup businesses will benefit a lot from serviced offices. As a matter of fact, even those in other countries, like the UK, do this. Small scale businesses get either a London virtual office or a serviced office London space. It's a less expensive way of enjoying your own office space.

World's Leading Computer Design Company Forecasts Weak Recovery For Offices in Europe

june 20, 2010

Offices in Europe are showing slow signs of recovery according to a rather different market indicator.

Canadian office and home design technology firm 20-20, the world's leading provider of computer-aided design, says fourth quarter office sector sales remained soft reflecting continuing weak economic conditions. They had revenues reaching $2.6 million, down 10.9% over the previous year and essentially flat on a sequential basis. As previously disclosed, the company believes that this sector will lag the others in terms of recovery. Maintenance and other recurring services performed relatively well with revenues of $7.4 million, up 4.6% over the prior year. While revenues from the office sector declined by 4.0% compared to last year, the Home and Manufacturing sectors were up by 5.0% and 11.2% respectively.

The firm, with offices in Quebec and Miami, announced the implementation of the inSight manufacturing solution at Möbelwerk Svoboda, a leading Austrian office furniture manufacture. Over the past year, 20-20 has sold eight manufacturing solutions to European customers of which three were with existing clients.

Perpetual licenses growth for the quarter of 42.6% to $5.7 million was largely attributable to the U.S. Home sector and the contribution of a large one-time contract from a major retailer, with office use of their technologies lagging. During the quarter, revenues from recurring licenses increased by 39.7% to $1.3 million essentially due to its Virtual Planner and Virtual Showroom product sales in the home sector.

For the second quarter, professional services revenues declined by 11.9% to $2.8 million with declines of $0.3 million for both the Manufacturing and Office sectors while the Home sector was up by $0.2 million.

Virtual Office IT and Cloud Computing Dominated By Citrix XenServer

june 20, 2010

Citrix Systems, a leading provider of virtual computing solutions, has announced its XenServer's prowess of the virtual office IT and cloud computing markets, netting 45 per cent of Fortune 500 companies.

The server has been positioned by Gartner's Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure." The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace.

Citrix's XenServer has gained serious market traction in the last year. N. Louis Shipley, group VP, said: "That alone prompted more than 45,000 enterprise datacenters and cloud vendors worldwide - including 45 percent of the Fortune 500 - to activate XenServer for production. In addition, our Advanced, Enterprise and Premium editions are continuing to deliver on that value by providing all of the server virtualisation and private cloud capabilities customers require at a fraction of the cost.

Rackspace, the second largest cloud vendor in the world, just standardized their next-generation cloud strategy on XenServer. The richness and value of the XenServer portfolio is increasingly driving very demanding organisations to standardise on XenServer.

Citrix Systems, with offices in California, is a leading provider of virtual computing solutions that help companies deliver IT as an on-demand service. Founded in 1989, Citrix combines virtualisation, networking, and cloud computing technologies into a full portfolio of products that enable virtual offices and virtual datacenters. More than 230,000 organisations worldwide rely on Citrix to build IT environments. Citrix partners with over 10,000 companies in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2009 was $1.61 billion.

Top 10 Tips for Telecommuting Success

june 17, 2010

The head UK firm Powwwownow, which provides low-cost videoconference facilities for virtual offices, tells us the top 10 tips for working remotely.

Andrew Pearce, CEO of the Surry-based company with offices in Richmond said: “One never knows when disaster will strike next. That’s why it’s important that businesses provide employees with the ability to work from anywhere. Telecommuting not only allows businesses to maintain productivity in an emergency, but is also a beneficial long-term strategy for better employee morale and decreased turnover.”

“Successful telecommuting doesn’t just happen; businesses and employees must understand the challenges and be prepared to adjust their work habits and expectations to make this model work. The tips we’ve shared are proven best practices from our own customers and can help anyone telecommute with success,” continued Pearce.

Top 10 Tips for Telecommuting
1. Give it time. It takes time to adapt to a new strategy. Like any new undertaking, it can be challenging to change work habits, but the positive outcomes are very rewarding.

2. Get organised. Organisation is vital to an efficient home office. Use task lists, calendars, filing systems, whiteboards, or web-based project management tools to help keep your workplace and workload manageable and looking neat and professional. More tips here.

3. Make use of technology. There’s a plethora of free technology available to encourage work-at-home success, such as online collaboration and web conferencing tools. Free conference calling via mobile or landline from Powwownow can create a virtual office anywhere, enabling you to connect with customers or colleagues all over the world. To make mobile conferencing even easier, look for some of the great iPhone apps that make working remotely a breeze.

4. Schedule breaks. Take time out of your day to actually ‘walk away’ from your desk. Often times, working from home can result in constant work mode – it’s important to get up, walk around, and go outside. A little fresh air and sunshine can result in a more productive workday.

5. Keep things quiet. Ensure you have a quiet and functional work area, preferably in a location with a door that can be shut to keep noise and distractions out.

6. Plan your day. Create a list of what you need to do. Use a paper planner, a whiteboard, or software based task list to organise the day’s priorities. As a telecommuter, you are responsible for ensuring your work gets done; be proactive and stay organized.

7. Communicate regularly. Just because you’re dispersed, you don’t need to feel disconnected from your co-workers. Be proactive and schedule check-ins with your teams or colleagues at regular intervals to ensure quality and productivity. Use phone and web conferencing as well as instant messaging for quicker communications.

8. Focus on work. If you’re a parent and want to telecommute, ensure proper childcare is in place. Your workday should be spent working. You not only owe it to your employer, but you’ll feel and be more productive without distractions or guilt.

9. Stick to a schedule. Try to avoid working late night/after work hours. It’s all too easy to get sucked into work when your office is in your home. Your task list will always be there – try to do your best to prioritise and to work smart during work hours.

10. End distractions. If your fingers tend to wander to Facebook or email or you encounter problems staying focused, limit yourself to 1-2 scans daily so you can concentrate on your deliverables. This will increase productivity and help you stay focused longer.
For more tips and advice on telecommuting, working virtually and operating a successful small business, visit the Powwownow or Andrew Pearce blogs.

About Powwownow
Powwownow was founded in 2004, offering customers low-cost conference calling facilities with the ethos of no booking, no billing, no fuss. The customer does not need to book a conference room and never receives a bill from Powwownow. They only pay the cost of their own call, which is added to their standard telecoms bill. For more information or for a free download, visit http://www.powwownow.com/.

Powwownow is Europe's fastest growing free conference call provider and operates in 15 countries including the UK, US and major European markets.

The New Office Space New York

june 15, 2011

Business experts are remarking about this day and age, calling it the best time to be involved in a high tech start-up. The reason for this is that the costs to starting up a business these days are so low, and the barriers to entry so minimal that it's pretty much an open field. This is why we're seeing tremendous competition across the board out there in the marketplace. There isn't any longer an issue about trying to find an office space New York, because literally, you can work from anywhere, at any time. You don't need to expend tremendous resources just to find the properly serviced office London that fits your business. It's true, you do need to abide by professional protocol, and it wouldn't seem super professional to meet with potential investors in your bedroom, while you're in pajamas.

That all said, it is pretty common to find people that are working from home, in garages, but just bear in mind that all legalities are still in place. If you're dealing with employees and not contractors, you do still have to pay out the appropriate fees and taxes out to the appropriate government agencies. This is something that's part and parcel to administering a business. And though you may not require a brick and mortar office space Manchester all the time, eventually you will require a dedicated commercial space in which to host more and more of your daily operations. Eventually that start-up will outgrow the garage, and require true business facilities.

Network Security For The World Cup - The Largest Virtual Office Operation

june 14, 2010

A Californian office-based network security company is enabling World Cup sports reporters to send their news, and other sensitive information, securely back to their home offices in Mexico, in one of the largest operating virtual office operations.

SonicWALL, a leading network security firm, in conjunction with Grupo Antea in Mexico, is providing secure remote access solutions to a major Mexican television network filming on location at the 2010 World Cup games in South Africa.

The SonicWALL secure remote access solution allows the news network to connect more than 100 users simultaneously and creates a secure "tunnel," specifically designed to protect sensitive data, through which proprietary information can be sent. In addition, the SonicWALL / Grupo Antea solution allows managers and system administrators to have full control over the resources within their network infrastructure, such as switches, routers, firewalls, and other devices, enabling remote management of the network.

Using SonicWALL technology, reporters at the 2010 World Cup games in South Africa can send their news anywhere in the world with the assurance that sensitive data is protected. TV correspondents will be able to connect securely from any browser-based computer -- whether in the press room, an Internet cafe, on a hotel network or personal laptop. Through the SonicWALL / Grupo Antea solution, correspondents can send and access the resources of their corporate network with the same level of security as if they were within their corporate firewall.

The Mexican television network chose SonicWALL's Secure Remote Access solution because it offers flexible deployment options and does not require a VPN software client to be installed on each computer. Secure access is as easy as being assigned a user name and password. In addition, the TV station adopted the SonicWALL SSL VPN due to its scalability, since they intend to extend this service beyond the initial 100 users today.
"Using SSL VPN technology, companies can lower costs since they don't need to buy additional software or hardware for each mobile user to assure secure connections. This creates financial and competitive benefits for our customers," said Heldanel Uribe, Antea Group Commercial Director.

"The on-location news staff in South Africa can connect to their home office headquarters securely, remotely and efficiently using our VPN technology," said Francisco Pinto, SonicWALL's vice president in Latin America. "Our technology secures the access to corporate data, while giving companies the option to define policies and access permissions. SSL VPN basically creates a protected 'tunnel' that completely secures access from any type of device."

India Offers Virtual Homes As Well As Virtual Offices

june 13, 2010

A property developer in India is to build the country's first remote-controlled residential properties where appliances can be controlled remotely by text messages. This is in addition to virtual offices in Mumbai.

Lodha Builders, a subsidiary of the Mumbai office-based top property developer, is to build houses controlled by mobile phones. The company hasn't announced there the houses are to be built, but R Karthik, Lodha Builder's senior vice president says they will use state-of-the-art technology to control the properties over a web server.

“If you want the air-conditioner to be switched on 30 minutes before you reach home, you have to send a message to the server. The air-automatically start.

Lights and curtains can also be equally controlled, while swipe cards will ensure security for elevators in planned apartment developments.

Marking something of a trend in selling points for India's modern residential market, Rizvi builders are to include biometric fingerprinting to the doors of its Carter Road project. The beach front properties on central Mumbai are aimed at an exclusive market according to Abis Rizvu, the company's owner who says property developers are striving to offer a higher standard.

“We're striving to get something better than what is already being offered. These applications come at a cost but don't affect the price of the house much. These houses are for the premium class and the new generation wants this.”

But Indian IT expert Vijay Mukhi says the risks are more than financial.

“It might take time for [text] messages to reach a server, and if the mobile phone gets stolen miscreants could weak havoc. There might even be a case where customers are locker out of their own homes.”

European Office Rents Show First Overall Recovery Sign

june 10, 2010

Offices in Europe are showing their first signs of overall recovery after 18 months of office rent declinces.

The CB Richard Ellis EU-27 office rent index registered a 1.0 percent increase in Q1 2010. This was largely the result of changes to offices in London and Paris, where the first signs of genuine expansion activity took place. Rental growth is likely to become more widespread later in the year as other markets strengthen across Europe.

Richard Holberton, director of EMEA Research, CBRE, said: “The severe slowdown in office leasing activity which characterised 2009 appears to be easing across Europe, however most markets continue to be driven by a large number of small and medium-sized deals.

“London has seen an increase in large deals, however, being the market which has seen the most remarkable turnaround of any European office location over the past six months. Offices in the London City financial district registered 10 percent rental growth this quarter alone and a shift in the overall market is clearly evident as landlords across Central London are now also offering fewer incentives to prospective tenants.”



Office vacancy continues to rise across Europe but the rate of increase is now slowing. Further increases are expected at an aggregate level as the overhang of development completions, started before the downturn, comes to a close. However, vacancy is considered to be close to its peak or already beginning to fall in key markets, with demand expected to stabilise or improve slightly this year, accompanied by a reduction in the level of development completions throughout 2010 and 2011.


Cris Tollast, head of EMEA tenant representation, CBRE, said: “As rents level off and market conditions strengthen in more markets across Europe, it will become more difficult for occupiers to secure rent or lease concessions from landlords. There is increasingly limited choice for major occupiers seeking larger floorplates as the amount of new space to be delivered through 2010 and 2011 is low - occupier choice is likely to expand from 2012.

Major Conference In London To Look At Commercial Property Future of Europe

june 08, 2010

The future of commercial property in Europe amid turbulent times will be the topic of a major conference in London.

The 2010 Financial Times Commercial Property Conference will bring together top names in property business to discuss the global context, but focuses on the impact of global development on property markets in Europe and CEE countries. Speakers are to include Martin Wolf, chief economics Commentator at the Financial Times, Michael Brodtman, executive director at CB Richard Ellis and Serena Althaus, managing director Europe for Ferguson Partners Europe.

The UK's capital has lead much of the recovery, especially in the London's office markets, while other European countries like Germany and France have taken the brunt of a rocky foundation as Europe's mainland becomes increasingly concerned about developments in Greece. Office markets in European countries led by the UK, as well as other property markets in many parts of Europe have seen a significant rebound from the fourth quarter of 2009, which had been boosted by an easing in lending and renewed interest from institutional investors in property. Money that was previously heading East has headed back West into the European property market.

But the conference is to cover a number of tough financial troubles that loom Europe. The overall economic outlook in Europe remains uncertain, as evidenced in the property sector by continued vacancies and low rents. Early signs show that the current property market rebound might not be sustainable in the face of impending financial market regulation and maturing commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

The conference will also look at European bank lending, new funding sources and sustainability and its management best practices. It will also discuss how CEOs can restore stakeholder trust in a business climate in which this is at an all-time low. attract and retain the talent needed to drive long-term growth and innovation?

An Office Space New York Can Be Easy To Acquire

june 06, 2011

Running a successful business can be very challenging if your client base is from all over the world. First of all, you have to show your clients that you have a local presence in their vicinity, as this in turn ensures that you are able to build a good amount of trust with them. Of course, by utilizing the right type of services, you will also realize that this facet of the business does not have to be challenging. For example, to have a local presence in New York, it would mean that you would need an office space New York, and to ensure that your business can run efficiently, you would probably also need a telephone answering service. In addition, you might also need an office space Soho, and so the best way to achieve this is by utilizing a service that offers virtual offices. A great way to find these offices is by searching online.

The way in which these virtual offices work is that they give you a prestigious address in any city of your choosing, and will even go as far as forwarding faxes, mail, and telephone calls to your actual address. Therefore, you are not only able to build the right amount of trust with your clients and prospects by letting them know that you have a local address in their vicinity, but you are also able to effectively communicate with them, because you have every tool available to you to achieve this. The only thing to keep in mind when looking for a virtual office is that the service you will be utilizing must have a good reputation. Therefore, always do your research beforehand.

Warwickshire Office To Double Mobile Video Company Turnover

june 06, 2010

Digital video technology company Garland Partners has relocated to new offices in Nuneaton, to put its mobile phone video enterprise in a stronger strategic location.

The company took up new offices in Eliot Business Park, the Warwickshire premier office location. Garlands had it's previous offices in Leicestershire, but company founder Malcolm Harland said the new office location was to take advantage of a rapidly expanding market.

The company provides equipment which is used in the capture and broadcast of digital video images to a wide range of platforms including mobile phones and web browsers.

Technology delivered by the company has been taken up by major national and international television broadcasters as well as higher level education institutes such as Cardiff, Manchester and Lancaster Universities.

The company was set up in 2003 by Lorna Garrett and Malcolm Harland who between them have over 20 years experience of developing business in broadcast, streaming and digital video markets.

Harland also added: “We had always leased space until now but we wanted to invest in our own offices. We were looking for something in keeping with our image, modern and flexible, and in a location which would allow us to grow.”

The company primarily deals within the UK but has close technology ties to providers in the US, Japan and mainland Europe. Following the company’s move to the 2,000 sq ft offices, it now aims to double its business over the next three years.

Eliot Business Park is sited next to George Eliot Hospital and adjacent to the A444 which provides access to the M6 within five minutes drive time.

Major Miami Retail Deal Secures San Francisco and Los Angeles Offices

june 06, 2010

A major Miami shopping centre operator has moved to acquire major offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The $600m deal for Equity One, an owner, developer, and operator of shopping centres, announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire Capital and Counties USA through a joint venture with its parent company, Capital Shopping Centres Group.

30 percent of the acquisition will include a portfolio of medical offices, office, undeveloped land in San Francisco's Bay Area and Los Angeles. Upon completion of the transaction, Northern California will be Equity One's second largest market after South Florida, representing approximately 16 percent of its asset value.

"This is a unique opportunity for Equity One to expand its asset base into one of the most densely populated, supply constrained markets in the country in a transaction that is accretive to Equity One shareholders," said Jeff Olson, CEO of Equity One. "Tenant sales are extraordinarily high within the retail portfolio and many of the assets contain future leasing, redevelopment, and expansion opportunities.

The major part of the sale involves 2.6 million square feet, of which 70 percent is concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and includes Serramonte Shopping Center in Daly City, Plaza Escuela in Walnut Creek, The Willows Shopping Center in Concord, 222 Sutter Street in San Francisco, and The Marketplace Shopping Center in Davis. The retail portfolio was 83 percent leased as of April 30, 2010. Several major leases recently executed brings occupancy rates to 93 percent.

David Fischel, the CEO of Capital Shopping Centres, will join Equity One's Board of Directors following the closing of the transaction. Mr. Fischel stated, "This transaction allows us to focus on our core business in the United Kingdom while providing an expansion platform for Equity One. By retaining a long-term investment in Equity One, we can participate in the significant growth potential of the combined enterprise."

Indian News Channel First For Virtual Mobile Voice Access

june 03, 2010

India is striving to provide a new mobile news services for virtual and remote access for live and up to date news on the move.

IMImobile, the global technology partner has gone into an alliance with Indiavision TV, a leading Malayalam-speaking news channel, one of the main languages spoken in south India, to provide a platform for subscribers in the state of Kerala, to access live news broadcast in Malayalam, on their mobile handsets.

Indiavision TV live news broadcast is the first to provide a voice subscription pack, where users can listen to live news events by dialling a freephone number. This service can be availed at a basic subscription pack for 20 Indian Rupees a month or through other flexible plan options. Once subscribed, user can listen to the live news updates and browse news web pages. Indiavision was the first full fledged News Channel in Malayalam. It has its registered office in southern india.

Madhavan Iyer, Vice President Managed Services, IMImobile said, “We are delighted to offer this unique value proposition for both IndiaVision and Idea Cellular to reach out to their respective target audiences. We at IMImobile always offer innovations and have always emphasized on providing a platform to our clients that enables them in reaching a wider audience.” He further added, “We are confident that our domain proficiency, in-depth industry knowledge and the innovative technology will prove to be a fruitful association for these two established industry players. Our engagement with both the companies is a further confirmation of IMImobile’s deep expertise and clear value add in the delivery of managed value added services.”

With nearly 5.5 million subscribers in Kerala, Idea Cellular is the largest telecom operator in the market.

“We always wanted to associate ourselves with the companies who offer a qualitative return to our existing pack of business. This integration with IMIMobile and Idea Cellular will enable us to reach out to the target audiences in a more personalized manner but will also act as an additional support system for our viewers to get live news feed,” added Jamaludeen Farooquee, Resident Director, Indiavision TV.

MImobile is a global technology partner for operators, media companies and enterprises. The IMImobile products and services portfolio is built on a core modular service platform called DaVinci that delivers a wide range of carrier-grade services including rich address book, social aggregation, mobile advertising, music, messaging solutions, mobile marketing, storefronts, portal management and call completion services.

Virtual Tutors To Train American Hospital Nurses

june 03, 2010

A new virtual tutoring service is to train American hospital nurses, a company has announced.

SMARTHINKING, the Washington DC office -based online tutoring company, has announced its nursing and allied health tutoring program is now available to nursing programs throughout the US. It includes live, online nursing tutoring with expert nursing educators for help with difficult homework assignments and National Council Licensure examinations, the tests that licenses nurses in the United States. The virtual office schooling will provide nursing and allied health students with academic support outside of regular classroom hours from registered nurses who are certified tutors.

The courses were previously available only to select clients, is the first of its kind and will be available from June 13.

“As the demand for nursing professionals increases and as these professionals are required to have more advanced degrees, online education will play a critical role in helping students and educators keep up with these demands,” said Kathy Clark, CEO of SMARTHINKING.

Beth Anne Batturs, director of Nursing and Healthcare Initiatives at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland, said: “Like many nursing programs, we are at maximum capacity, so student achievement and retention are critical to our program’s success. Online nursing tutoring is giving our students additional tools to become successful nursing graduates.”

74 percent of tutors on the online courses hold master's or doctorate degrees in nursing. They will offer training in medical-surgical nursing, pathophysiology across systems, pharmacology, and anatomy and physiology. Its services were given the Software & Information Industry Association award for Best Instruction Solution for Students at Home.

How To Save Money On Your Office Space

july 29, 2011

If you are looking for affordable spaces to move your business in, there are a number of things that you can do in order to save money. One thing that you can do to save money on the office space that you plan on renting is to determine exactly what type of space you need and how big you will need it to be. This will help you to narrow down your search and allow you to find ideal office spaces for your business. Checking out available virtual office services is also another thing that you can do to save money. These virtual offices will enable you to use a prestigious business addresses and even business phone numbers that customers and potential clients can use to get in touch with you, even if you are physically doing business inside a cave somewhere in the Himalayas or wherever it is you are.

If you are going to go with virtual offices though, it is best that you shop around for affordable service providers before you go and decide on a service provider to do business with. So if you want to have a London virtual office that will not break the bank, take your time to compare what different service providers have to offer. Set a budget before you start your search so you can find service providers that are not just suited to the specific need that you have, but also provide services that you can easily pay for every month.

Largest Latino Social Networking Site's Virtual Office Developers Go Gaming

july 25, 2010

Social networking games are fast becoming a product for small virtual office start-up companies that mould work around socialising. A latest Florida office-produced game is cornering the world's Latino community, but has come from one of the larger sites.

Quepasa Corporation who run Quepasa.com, an online social network targeting the Latino community, have launched 'SnapMeUp,' a virtual social networking game developed by Viximo, a leading provider of virtual goods solutions and applications.

Quespasa, headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida with offices in Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, Brazil, is one of the world's largest, trilingual, Latino social networks.

'SnapMeUp' is the ultimate marriage of online flirting and social gaming. Quepasa players can find fame and fortune by buying, selling and trading photos of their friends with other people on the site. Some will become tycoons by mastering the art of buy low/sell high and others will find validation as the hottest person on the market.

"We're excited about how the Quepasa audience is responding to 'SnapMeUp'; while it's been on the site for less than two weeks, 'SnapMeUp' is already one of the most popular apps on Quepasa," said Dale Strang, president and chief executive officer of Viximo. "Both conversion and revenue per user data are tracking ahead of our expectations and the conversion of free users to paying users is one of the best we have seen so far across our publisher base. As a result, we are accelerating plans to launch additional titles on Quepasa, including new titles -- Texas Hold'em Poker and War Metal -- in the near future."

"Our users are showing tremendous enthusiasm for 'SnapMeUp,'" said John Abbott, chief executive officer of Quepasa. "We have already seen rapid adoption amongst our users even though we have yet to launch Spanish and Portuguese versions of the application or promote the availability of this application to our registered user base of 15 million Latinos."
In the coming months, Quepasa plans to release several additional social games through their relationship with Viximo as well as open up their platform to third party social game developers to launch additional social games on Quepasa.com.

Virtual Office Desktop Firm To Double Staff In Continual Growth Trend

july 25, 2010

Virtual Bridges, makers of a suite for virtual office desktop management have announced a third consecutive quarter of growth across the company, including new customers, worldwide partners, and hiring in sales and development.

The company's latest software release, VERDE 4 was launched in April and has significantly increasing sales activity worldwide. Virtual Bridges is establishing itself as the only solution provider with purpose-built desktop virtualisation.

The company continues to expand its partner network, now totaling more than 60 worldwide, with the addition of Dupaco, ACS/Xerox and a soon-to-be announced strategic partnership with a China office-based company. Virtual Bridges say they have grown rapidly, requiring 50% additional office space for its Austin, Texas office headquarters. The company expects to double its workforce by the end of 2010. To support the growing market interest in Virtual Bridges’ approach to desktop virtualisation, the company launched two social media communities for IT professionals and enthusiasts on Facebook and LinkedIn.

“We continue to be gratified with how rapidly organisations are embracing VERDE,” said Jim Curtin, president and CEO at Virtual Bridges.  “As more and more customers and partners become disillusioned with VMware and Citrix and begin to re-evaluate VDI, they are turning to Virtual Bridges. With our ground-up, purpose-built approach to VDI we offer elegance and efficiency together with rapid innovation that customers can’t find with more conservative, slower-moving vendors bent on extending legacy architectures, whether server virtualization or terminal services. VERDE is proving that VDI can make the CAPEX TCO case, it can be easy to deploy and it can deliver integrated solutions to disconnected and remote branch users.”

US Prescription Medicine Giant To Use Virtual Office Tools

july 25, 2010

Verint Systems, has been selected by one of the largest North American prescription medicine providers to implement a large-scale virtual office enterprise strategy.

The company, headquartered in Melville offices in New York, has been sought to provide a unified, enterprise solution that would enable it to maximise its company-wide, pharmaceutical mail order operation. Specifically, it wanted to apply best resource forecasting and scheduling business practices into its mail order workforce planning. It has selected Impact 360 Workforce Optimisation Witness Actionable Solutions for use across its mail order back-office operations, as well as its contact center.

With the software, the pharmacy health care provider will use the solution to combine traditional forecasting, scheduling, resource planning and strategic planning, with monitoring, reporting, variance measurement, and desktop and process analytics. These capabilities make it a practical solution for gaining real-time insight into day-by-day, hour-by-hour activities and workload, actual throughput, and employee productivity to both enhance the customer experience and help ensure accuracy in the order fulfillment process.

"Verint's enterprise workforce optimisation solutions enable organisations to gain a more holistic view and take a more pointed approach to customer service operations," explains Nancy Treaster, senior vice president and general manager, Verint Witness Actionable Solutions. "We're pleased that this industry-leading organisation is deploying workforce optimization across the enterprise."


Around 10,000 organisations in over 150 countries, including over 80 per cent of the Fortune 100, use Verint solutions to capture, distill, and analyze complex and underused information sources, such as voice, video, and unstructured text. The company also has global offices in locations such as France, the UK, Germany and Israel offices.

Global Cloud Application Firm Solidifies Recovery

july 25, 2010

Virtual office developmnet firm, F5 Networks, a global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), focused on ensuring the secure, reliable, and fast delivery of applications for cloud computing, has announced huge revenue growth for Q3 2010. It shows immense recovery from 2009 for the virtual office market.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2010, F5 announced revenue of $230.5m, up 11.8 per cent from $206.1m in the prior quarter and 45.7 per cent from $158.2m in the third quarter of fiscal 2009. GAAP net income was $40.5 million ($0.50 per diluted share), compared to $33.1m ($0.41 per diluted share) in the prior quarter and $22.8m ($0.29 per diluted share) in the third quarter a year ago.

"Strengthening demand for our BIG-IP family of application delivery controllers continued to drive strong year-over-year revenue growth across all regions," said John McAdam, F5 president and chief executive officer.

"BIG-IP product revenue was up 13 per cent compared to the prior quarter and 57 per cent compared to the third quarter of last year. In addition, we saw solid sequential revenue growth from our ARX file virtualisation products.

McAdam said the company also continued to see solid growth in its services business. During the quarter, services revenue grew 9 per cent sequentially and 33 per cent year on year. Reflecting the growth of new and renewed service maintenance contracts booked during the quarter, deferred revenue increased to $239.6m, up 6 percent from the prior quarter and 41 percent from the third quarter of fiscal 2009. Strong revenue growth and further improvement in product gross margin enabled the company to add approximately 80 employees in the third quarter while achieving a non-GAAP operating margin of 33.6 percent.

F5 is headquartered in offices in Seattle, Washington, USA, with offices around the world in locations such as Italy and Holland.

More Power To UK's Largest Engineering Consultancy

july 22, 2010

Atkins, the UK’s largest engineering and design consultancy, has awarded RMD Power and Cooling a three year contract to maintain power protection equipment at all of its UK sites.

The project, which is worth over £200,000, will standardise the provision of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) at the company’s 87 UK locations, with offices in Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich. It is the first time that maintenance of Atkins UPS equipment has been consolidated and RMD won the contract in a competitive tender process after outlining a detailed solution for the large and complex project.

The maintenance programme will begin with a dedicated RMD engineer carrying out a “health check” on every existing UPS. New batteries will be installed on all UPSs over three years old and faulty equipment will be repaired or replaced. The Atkins estate will be completely standardised with APC UPSs.

John Smykala, RMD’s managing director, says: “Atkins required an end to end solution to organise and maintain their UPS systems. The health check will reveal exactly what equipment is being used and the standardisation process will simplify management of this technology. Our warehousing capacity also allows us to hold “hot spares” for Atkins so we can repair and replace UPSs straight away, rather than waiting for delivery from manufacturers.”

Atkins has a turnover of £1.4 billion and has offices throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, the US, the Middle East and India. It is the official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. RMD also provides power and cooling solutions for data centres in the UK.

Paul Hayes, Project Manager at Atkins, says: “RMD provided a solution that met our needs both in terms of value for money and attention to detail. The company has a strong track record in this area and was a clear winner in the tender process.

“RMD are known for their personal approach and it is important that we have a single point of contact, whatever the problem. I know that if I have a question or problem I can pick up the phone and the person I’m talking to will know my site and know our history.”

RMD is a leading force in the provision of innovative, integrated power and cooling solutions for data centres in the UK and Europe. The company has a powerful reputation in the industry and is one of only a handful of UK companies that can design, supply, install and maintain power and cooling.  

Working in the public and private sector, for global brands as well as the SME, RMD’s clients include the NHS, Cairn Energy, Amazon and National Air Traffic Services.

Indian Virtual Office Storage Solutions

july 18, 2010

An Indian virtual office storage firm is providing digital storage for many SMBs to cater for companies' IT data storage requirments.

Virtual NetComm, a key value-added distributor of information security, network, storage and virtualization products in India and Southeast Asia has recently signed an agreement with Dot Hill Systems, a provider of world-class storage solutions and software for OEMs, open storage partners and system integrators, today announced a new distribution agreement with Under the terms of the agreement. Virtual NetComm will provide a variety of Dot Hill storage solutions, including Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and hybrid interface arrays from Dot Hill 2000 and 3000 series product lines.

Based in its Ahmedabad Indian offices, Virtual NetComm, the flagship company of Virtual Group, offers IT security, WAN optimization, application delivery controllers, video conferencing and networking solutions. It also has a network of sales and support offices South East Asia, the UK and Dubai offices.

"With an impeccable reputation for highly reliable, high-performance storage for the SMB market, and exemplary service and support, Dot Hill was the natural choice for our go-to-market partner in storage array solutions," said Sam Chng, executive director for Virtual NetComm SE Asia. "With the introduction of 8Gb Fibre Channel, dual-interface Fibre Channel/iSCSI offerings and a robust suite of disaster recovery applications, Dot Hill provides all the key critical technology elements we require."

"Our agreement with Virtual NetComm expands our global footprint in India and Southeast Asia," said Jim Jonez, senior director of marketing, Dot Hill Systems. "With first-rate customer support and proven logistics capabilities, we expect Virtual NetComm, with its broad range of customers, will be a valuable ally in extending the Dot Hill brand."

Top Transparency For Australian Office Market

july 18, 2010

The Australian office market is the world's most transparent according to new research by a global commerical property consultancy. Meanwhile global transparency is making slow progress.

Jones Lang LaSalle have released their 2010 Commercial Real Estate Transparency Index, which shows that Australia is the world’s most transparent real estate market in 2010, pushing Canadian offices into second place.

Of the top 15 transparency improvements across worldwide markets, nine are in Europe and six are in Asia Pacific. Offices in Turkey top the league table of transparency progress, with China, India, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Greece and Hungary following improvement trends.

Declines in transparency were registered in countries such as Pakistan, Kuwait, Venezuela, Dubai and Bahrain. Although the level of decline was modest in these countries, the reversal of past gains is notable. Over the past two years, the average improvement in real estate transparency across the 81 markets covered by the Index has halved, when compared to both the 2006–2008 and 2004–2006 periods.

Jacques Gordon, Global Head of Strategy for LaSalle Investment Management, the independent fund management arm of Jones Lang LaSalle said: “The 2010 Global Real Estate Transparency Index reveals a notable slowdown in the progress of real estate transparency over the past two years. It suggests that the recent turmoil in global financial, economic and real estate markets has impacted on market behaviour, with real estate players focusing on survival rather than market advancement.  It is interesting to note that the most highly transparent countries experienced illiquidity and volatility over last two years, despite their positions at the top of the transparency rankings.  That said transparency does appear to speed up the restructuring process.

He continued: “Transparent real estate caused problems for investors during the credit crisis because it had been put into opaque vehicles.  The 2010 report found that debt transparency is generally lagging behind overall real estate transparency in many countries.  We expect that a new focus on regulatory and private market-led transparency in the real estate debt markets will be one of the main reforms to come out of the credit crisis.”

Commenting on transparency’s impact on city competitiveness, Rosemary Feenan, Head of Global Research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “While transparency is highly important to real estate investment and occupational strategies, it also increasingly underpins a city's competitive strength. The challenges of the last few years have served to accentuate the need for business friendliness, and improving transparency is certainly a feature that will add to a city's attractiveness as an investment or corporate location.  Our research revealed there is an increasing number of cities where regulations and laws are being enacted to give clarity to the markets; for example in Abu Dhabi plans have been announced to establish a regulator for the real estate market similar to RERA in Dubai, and in Brazil all municipalities must now adopt an approved urban master plan helping to provide solid context for land use futures.

Waitrose Select Surrey Office Based S1 For 4,000 Tills

july 16, 2010

A leading global provider of financial services and payments software solutions, today announced that Waitrose, the supermarket chain of the John Lewis Partnership, has gone live with the S1 Retail Payments solution as part of a major overhaul of its payments infrastructure.

The project, to enhance payments capabilities across its 227 UK supermarkets, comes from S1, the US firm headquartered in offices in Georgia. The company's UK offices in Surrey, counts five of the top ten UK retailers as payments customers.

The selection of S1 followed a thorough vendor evaluation process designed to ensure that the new payments system measured up to Waitrose's high standards of customer service. S1 successfully proved superior levels of system availability, scalability, and reliability for its end-to-end multichannel retail payments solution. The S1 software solution consists of a central transaction switch and back-office system, plus an intelligent in-store payments component which was installed on the supermarket's approximately 4,000 tills.

Kevin Berry, Systems Director of Waitrose explains, "It is important to Waitrose that our new system process card payment transactions at all times, providing the high quality of service expected by our customers. S1 offers a flexible payments platform that integrates easily with our EPOS application and helps simplify compliance with banking standards."

Having historically used a payments infrastructure wholly sourced from a single supplier, Waitrose say they wanted to move to an environment that allowed them to select best-of-breed solutions for both hardware and software, and accommodate future payments and service evolution. S1 was selected to realise the benefits offered by this new approach and unlock greater efficiency and innovation across payments processing.

Israeli Firm To Partner With US Firm For IT Modernisation Contract

july 16, 2010

Israeli office based IT technology firm BluePhoenix Solutions, with offices in Herzliya, has announced that it was awarded a CoolGen to Java migration contract worth $1.8m

BluePhoenix is partnering with a tier-one US based system integrator to convert, and remediate the customer's legacy applications, providing the customer with improved productivity and a lower cost of ownership.

"We are very pleased to work together with our partners on modernisation projects," said Arik Kilman, CEO of BluePhoenix Solutions. "This is another great example of the benefits of migrating applications in order to dramatically reduce operational costs while continuing to leverage valuable business logic. In the last year we are witnessing growth in modernisation projects within the US government sector."


The company's portfolio includes a comprehensive suite of tools and services from global IT asset assessment and impact analysis to automated database and application migration, rehosting, and renewal. Leveraging over 20 years of best-practice domain expertise, BluePhoenix works closely with its customers to ascertain which assets should be migrated, redeveloped, or wrapped for reuse as services or business processes, to protect and increase the value of their business applications and legacy systems with minimized risk and downtime.

BluePhoenix provides modernisation solutions to companies from diverse industries and vertical markets such as automotive, banking and financial services, insurance, manufacturing, and retail. Among its prestigious customers are: Aflac, Capita Group, CareFirst, Citigroup, Danish Commerce and Companies Agency, Desjardins, Los Angeles office County Employees Retirement Association, Rabobank, Rural Servicios Informaticos, SDC Udvikling, TEMENOS, Toyota, and Volvofinans. BluePhoenix has 13 offices in the USA, UK, Denmark, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Cyprus and Israel.

Industry First Virtual Office Training Site For High End Computing

july 14, 2010

SGI, a global leader in HPC and data centre solutions, has announced the industry’s first complete virtual office training portal aimed at the technical high performance computing (HPC) community.

The site, from the Californian office based firm, offers a broad portfolio of courses – from novice to advanced – to help users realize the full potential of their HPC systems. Hpctraining.com offers E-Learning training courses, virtual classroom environments and customized on-site classes. A Technical User Forum enables simplified knowledge sharing around best practices.

Hpctraining.com brings an integrated systems approach to training directly to users from experts on a variety of in-depth technical topics. The site assembles instructors from a breadth of notable server, storage and software companies that span the industry.

“SGI created hpctraining.com as a one-stop shop to streamline training with a complete repository of courses from trusted vendors,” said Peter Luff, professional services director at SGI.

The wesbite provides coursework in system, network, cluster and storage administration. It also provides couses in visualization and app and software development.

Hpctraining.com partners include: Adaptive Computing, CAPS Software, Spectra Logic, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell, Atempo, Intel, LSI, Octality, Panasas and Platform Computing. Additional partners are expected in the coming months.

“Hpctraining.com literally opens the door to worldwide ‘local’ training, delivering courses directly to individual HPC users,” said Derek Burke, channels and marketing director at Panasas. “It eliminates costly and time-consuming travel. We are pleased to be a partner in this industry-first endeavor.”

Users can earn points for the Accreditation for Continued Excellence (ACE) program. Hpctraining.com offers ACE credentials to students who successfully complete examinations on topics presented in one or more classes. Individual and sequence credentials are available.

“With its cross-company curriculum, it will become a very valuable HPC education hub,” said Peter Guyan, production systems manager at Deluxe Digital London, a digital and data post-production company based in the West End. “Previously the training approach in the market was adhoc and fragmented. Now my staff and I can consider all of our training needs and benefit from a breadth of experts in one place, decreasing the time and cost of training and increasing our productivity.”

First Facebook Virtual Office Game For Marketing Graduate Hopefuls

july 14, 2010

Graduates and undergraduates can test their marketing performance and business brains with a virtual office Facebook game.

The first Facebook game of its kind, poweRBrands has come from marketing company Reckitt Benckiser. The leading global household, health and personal care company based in office in Slough, Berkshire, has developed the game designed to mirror the real life experiences of a marketing executive in a leading edge company.

Players begin their progression from 'green' marketing executive and aim towards becoming a global president. How well they do is entirely driven by the strategic choices and tactical decisions players make along the way as they move up the corporate ladder.  Tasks get progressively harder and points more difficult to accrue to make players really think about the decisions and risks they are taking as they move from task to task.

BA Hons in English Literature graduate Jess Chivers who has just become a player said: "I'm currently just doing my Msc Marketing dissertation and I really enjoy problem solving and the advanced marketing strategy simulation competition on my course.I find the game surprisingly addictive."

Postgraduate games player Alexandra McGoldrick also near completion of her Msc Marketing course said: "I really like the 'brain' graphics and emails which show how difficult the tasks are.”

Anna Moulton, northern European regional HR director for RB said: "Until recently, RB has focused communications on our enviable portfolio of iconic 'Powerbrands'. However, over the last two to three years we have been developing a series of initiatives to reach out to talented students and people early on in their career. We aim to show them how RB operates, demonstrate the global nature of our operation. The game is the logical 'next step' in building a strong online presence and totally in keeping with our commitment to continuing innovation."

RB has operations in over 60 countries, with offices in Singapore to South Africa.

AT&T Virtual Network And Office Giant Supports Prince's Trust For British Grand Prix

july 11, 2010

AT&T, the global communication giant based in headquarters offices in Dallas, Texas, today announced it will celebrate its ongoing support for The Prince's Trust by placing the youth charity's logo on the AT&T Williams race cars during the British Grand Prix.

The company, which operates the US' fastest 3G network serving 85.1 million customers and virtual office users, provides the grand-prix team with a full suite of advanced IP-based communications solutions including a virtual private network that enables highly secure and reliable communications from the race track to the team's headquarters and other key locations.
AT&T, which has supported the Prince's Trust since 2005 with £135,000 to support the work of the charity over five years says the visual representation of the charity will provide The Prince's Trust with an opportunity to further raise awareness of its vital work during the race weekend. It's one of the highest profile sporting events held in the UK.

The logo will be placed on the headrest of the AT&T Williams FW32 cars during the race weekend. More than 300,000 visitors are expected to attend the Silverstone circuit, and the event attracts a worldwide television audience of approximately 55 million people.

"This high profile exposure with AT&T Williams is incredibly exciting, helping us to raise further awareness of our work with vulnerable young people," said Julian Barrell, fundraising director, The Prince's Trust. "AT&T has been a great supporter of our work for the last four years, helping us to change young lives across the UK. This support is more important than ever to help thousands of unemployed young people into jobs."

"The Prince's Trust does fantastic work and makes a meaningful contribution to helping a large number of young people across the UK to get the skills, education and opportunities they need to succeed in life," said Dave Langhorn, Sales Centre Vice President for AT&T UK & Ireland. "We are very proud to be able to support their work and I hope this initiative will help the charity, already one of Britain's leading voluntary organizations, continue to garner support and to further enhance the recognition they get for their important work."
The Prince's Trust helps more than 40,000 disadvantaged young people every year, giving them the confidence and skills to get a job. More than three in four young people on Prince's Trust schemes move into work, training or education.

Global Decline In New Office Developments Down 30 Per Cent

july 02, 2010

The global decline in new office developments has declined by more than one third, according to one of the world's leading providers of lighting fixtures.

Acuity Brands, headquartered in offices in Atlanta, Georgia, has announced fiscal 2010 third quarter net sales of $407.6 million, a 3 percent increase compared with the year-ago period. But it is other residential products that have helped to offset declines in other sectors of the non-residential construction market, particularly commercial and office buildings, which were each down more than 30 percent compared with the year-ago. The company has operations in offices in America, Mexico, Canada and across Europe and Asia.

Fiscal 2010 third quarter income from continuing operations was $21.3 million compared with $22.3 million for the prior-year period. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 were $0.48 compared with $0.52 for the prior year.

Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 were benefited by a 4 percent increase in unit volume while acquisitions and the translation impact of the stronger dollar on international sales each contributed 1 percent. These increases were partially offset by unfavorable changes in product prices and the mix of products sold. The increase in volume occurred in key products, such as lighting control devices and energy-efficient luminaires, and in key channels, such as renovation and relight and home improvement, all of which helped to offset declines in other sectors of the non-residential construction market, particularly commercial and office buildings, which were each down more than 30 percent compared with the year-ago period based on independent third-party data.

Hawaii Office Giant Makes Move on Condominiums

july 01, 2010

One of Hawaii's largest office owners has secured high-rise condominium projects for Honolulu.

A&B Properties the Hawaii office based real estate subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin has announced today that it has completed the acquisition of two fully-entitled, fee-simple development sites with prime locations in Honolulu.

A&B Properties is Hawaii's fourth largest private landowner, holding over 88,000 acres primarily on the islands of Maui and Kauai. Hawaii offices are part of A&B Properties' real estate holdings includes projects on Maui, Kauai, the Big Island and in California and a commercial property/investment portfolio comprising 8.2 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space.

The first newly acquired site, comprising 1.7 acres, is located on Waimanu Street adjacent to the Hawai'iki and Ko'olani condominium towers, and is approved for a 43-story residential condominium project. The second site, in close proximity to the first, is a 0.7-acre parcel located at the intersection of Kona and Piikoi Streets, and is entitled for an eight-story residential condominium project.

"Through this transaction, A&B Properties has secured two ready-to-develop, extremely well-located urban Honolulu parcels at favourable pricing," said Norbert Buelsing, president of A&B Properties. "Both sites are within short walking distance to Ala Moana Beach Park and Oahu's main shopping destinations, Ala Moana Shopping Center and Victoria Ward Center. The sites also are within two miles of Waikiki and downtown Honolulu."

Headquartered in office in Honolulu, the company is engaged in ocean transportation and logistics services through its subsidiaries, in real estate and in agriculture businesses through Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Kauai Coffee Company.

Hawaii Office Giant Makes Move On Condominiums

july 01, 2010

One of Hawaii's largest office owners has secured high-rise condominium projects for Honolulu.

A&B Properties the Hawaii office based real estate subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin has announced today that it has completed the acquisition of two fully-entitled, fee-simple development sites with prime locations in Honolulu.

A&B Properties is Hawaii's fourth largest private landowner, holding over 88,000 acres primarily on the islands of Maui and Kauai. Hawaii offices are part of A&B Properties' real estate holdings includes projects on Maui, Kauai, the Big Island and in California and a commercial property/investment portfolio comprising 8.2 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space.

The first newly acquired site, comprising 1.7 acres, is located on Waimanu Street adjacent to the Hawai'iki and Ko'olani condominium towers, and is approved for a 43-story residential condominium project. The second site, in close proximity to the first, is a 0.7-acre parcel located at the intersection of Kona and Piikoi Streets, and is entitled for an eight-story residential condominium project.

"Through this transaction, A&B Properties has secured two ready-to-develop, extremely well-located urban Honolulu parcels at favourable pricing," said Norbert Buelsing, president of A&B Properties. "Both sites are within short walking distance to Ala Moana Beach Park and Oahu's main shopping destinations, Ala Moana Shopping Center and Victoria Ward Center. The sites also are within two miles of Waikiki and downtown Honolulu."

Headquartered in office in Honolulu, the company is engaged in ocean transportation and logistics services through its subsidiaries, in real estate and in agriculture businesses through Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Kauai Coffee Company.

Low Interest Rates Have Allowed Hawaii's Largest Commercial Property Deal

july 01, 2010

Low interest rates are allowing Hawaii to see large movement in its property market, both for offices and residential properties. Now a large investor has more than doubled its Hawaii office portfolio in the state's large commercial property transaction.

Douglas Emmett, a real estate investment trust , has announced that it has acquired Bishop Square, an office project containing approximately 960,000 square feet located in Honolulu, Hawaii for a contract price of $232m. This transaction increases the Company's Grade A office market share to 36 per cent, up from 15 percent in the Honolulu Central Business District.

Bishop Square is the largest office project in the state of Hawaii and is located in the heart of Honolulu's CBD. It is comprised of two Grade A office towers, an above-ground parking structure and a one-acre park, which serves as the central meeting area for downtown Honolulu.

The property is currently 91 per cent leased to approximately 200 tenants with an average tenant size of roughly 4,600 square feet.

Commenting on the acquisition, Jordan Kaplan, President and CEO of Douglas Emmett said, "Bishop Square has been widely viewed as the best business address in Honolulu's CBD ever since it was first developed." Mr. Kaplan continued, "It has been a primary focus of our Hawaii acquisition strategy since we purchased our first property in Honolulu in 2004, so we are extremely pleased that we have been successful in acquiring this premier property - a property that has not traded since it was originally built."

Due to the size of the transaction, Bishop Square was acquired entirely by the company itself utilising its available cash on hand and its revolving credit facility, rather than through the company's fund. Douglas Emmett intends to obtain term mortgage financing in the near future both to fund this acquisition and as part of its strategy to refinance its 2012 commercial loan maturities by the end of this year to take advantage of favourable interest rates.

Douglas Emmett's total commercial portfolio now consists of 57 office properties totalling approximately 14.3 million rentable square feet. The Company also owns 2,868 apartment units in Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Thinking About Starting A London Virtual Office?

january 30, 2012

For people in England, finding alternative ways of running a business are becoming more and more important. The economic crisis is still raging in this country and more and more people opt for a London virtual office. This is particularly true for those who have decided to go self employed following redundancy and are starting small. However, even those who start small and start by having a London virtual office will need certain services and assistance in order to run their business appropriately.

One of the most common types of people who opt to have a virtual office are those who work as a plumber, electrician or other technician. They tend to have a single person in their employment - themselves - and rely on their customers telephoning their mobile phone and phoning back if there is no answer, or at least leaving a message. However, this means they have the potential of losing quite a lot of customers, who would much rather go elsewhere and speak to someone directly. Having serviced offices could resolve all of this. The most basic serviced office London will at the very least have a telephone answering service and a mail forwarding service, which means that anybody that works from home basically has their own Personal Assistant that deals with all important issues, including incoming calls. Someone who works as a private contractor could really see their businesses flourish if they use such a service, simply because they will be able to offer a personalized answering service.

Dublin Gets Double Virtual Boost

january 29, 2010

Dublin office-based virtual world designing company V Rising has teamed up with Ireland’s top university, Trinity College, to produce a virtual learning platform called ‘V-Learning’. The project will see virtual coming into mainstream education, and could produce a new generation of virtual offices in Dublin and across Ireland.

The 3D learning environment, which plugs into existing learning management systems, will enable e-learning providers to harness the power of 3D virtual world technology for teaching purposes. Users will be able to attend classes, seminars and conferences and engage in simulations, virtual role-playing and training taught in an innovative way. It’s been spearheaded by the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC). The NDRC operates as an independent, not-for-profit centre with a focus on converting digital research into marketplace success. It promotes joint ventures between industry and research institutions.

The 3D learning management system plug-in will provide a new medium for content delivery and sets an industry standards in virtual learning. V Rising, who work with enterprises to give them a presence across a range of virtual platforms such as Second Life is using its team which designs, builds, supports and develops virtual offices.

The corporate training market will be able to use this technology by managing clients and courses through a system that integrates seamlessly within existing frameworks. Virtual learning spaces will work alongside existing 2D content and learning management systems.

Meanwhile Dublin also see over 100 new jobs created in an expansion of Japanese online gaming company Gala Networks. It is to expand its European head offices in Dublin, located in the Digital Hub. The company is seeing substantial growth in the technology sector in Europe due to the rise in the popularity of online gaming. It’s website says the company, established in only 2006, is looking at major international growth. “The future is very bright for us as we are eagerly expanding into major markets across Europe and we always welcome you to be a part of our global networks.”

HSBC Shatter London and Flatter Hong Kong

january 29, 2010

HSBC completed its headquarters move from its huge offices in Canary Wharf, London, to Hong Kong in a move seen as a shattering blow to the prestige of London as a financial hub.

Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan walked into his new office yesterday. The bank's Hong Kong staff have waited 17 years for their top man to move to Hong Kong where it all started – HSBC is initials for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

The cherry-on-top came after the global bank announced in September last year that it was shifting to Asia. HSBC agreed the sale of its London office 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, to the National Pension Service of Korea ('NPS') for £772.5 million in cash (I would have liked to see that). It netted HSBC a profit of approximately £350 million whilst retaining full control of occupancy for the remaining 17.5 years of the existing 20 year leaseback period at a current rent of £46 million per annum.

Ken Harvey, HSBC's Chief Technology and Services Officer, said: "We actively manage our global real estate portfolio in accordance with the needs of our businesses and in the interests of our shareholders, and we are delighted the National Pension Service of Korea, one of Asia's largest sovereign investors, will be our new landlord."

HSBC haven’t done to badly with the 700 foot, 44 storey London office block, originally entered into a sale and leaseback of 8 Canada Square in May 2007 for £1.09 billion. In December 2008, HSBC took back ownership of the building for £838 million, resulting in a gain of approximately £250 million.

The current configuration of 1.1million square feet of internal space can accommodate up to 8,500 staff. There are 45,000 square metres, 4,900 panels and 192 curved panels of glass within the structure of the headquarters. The roof has 617 square metres of solar photovoltaic panels to generate green electricity.

Make Your Staff More Productive With A Virtual Office

january 28, 2012

If you have a business, you will probably be thinking about innovative ways to make your staff more productive. One of these ways is by operating a virtual office. The stresses placed on staff because they have to travel to and from work are tremendous and the fact that they have to work with rigidly set working hours only add to this. Having a virtual office can solve all of this, keeping your employees happy and content. Happy and content employees are more productive. More productive employees means more profit. Clearly, the benefits are tremendous.

The fact is that working from an office space has only two benefits: you can see all your employees and your customers can actually come and visit your office. However, this is where it ends. The cost of having an office space are tremendous, particularly for a London office space, where stress levels amongst employees are even higher. By working with a virtual office, your employees will all work from home. You will have good systems in place to allow communication and team building of course. Employees that work from home are able to better balance their home and work life and would generally be more than happy to work later hours if this means they can take a few hours off to pick up the children or get their groceries, for example. Hence, your business will be able to remain open for longer hours, potentially increasing your profits also because you will be able to work with organizations in different time zones.

Las Vegas Virtual Office Tech For 2010

january 28, 2010

Virtual office users that missed the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, 2010 International CES, held in Las Vegas this month can catch up with some cute pieces of tech that go a long way to aiding virtual office users. Here are a few of the gadgets that drew attention from the crowds.

Smartphone DigiMemo - Showcased was the new smartphone add-on to the DigiMemo by Taiwanese company ACECAD, the stand-alone device that digitally captures and stores everything you write or draw with ink on ordinary paper or notepad without the use of computer and special paper. You can then convert it to digital text, Bluetooth it to your phone and then and share your handwritten notes with your virtual office users who couldn’t be there in person.

ALBUM2 - Ever want to show clients images without lugging a laptop to a meeting? ALBUM2 received the International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award at the show. The portable digital photo and video album views and shares video and still images. Available in spring 2010, it has a 7” display (800 x 480 pixels, 130 DPI) with Wi-Fi, ALBUM2 can connect to Web-based content stored on online photo-sharing websites and social networks, including popular sites like Flickr, Picasa, YouTube and Facebook. 2010 expects 87.3 million user-generated video consumers whilst and Flickr is now averaging 1 billion picture uploads a year.

Dominika Nell Applova, ALBUMteam co-founder and creative director is ready to jump on the market. “We developed ALBUM2 specifically to address these new ways consumers are sharing their lives.

ALBUM2 is the size of a slim personal diary and the weight of a fresh apple. With a protective leather case and simply three-button navigation, it can hold 40,000 photos and videos, which can be uploaded directly from your camera, laptop, or any USB device .

The Sound Egg - A surround sound audio chair in the shape of an egg, of course, with in-built speakers and foam sound absorption. The chair is a mobile acoustic chamber which gives high-definition surround-sound, Xbox 360 game play, movies and of course that old technology, music. The Sound Egg is Acousticom's newest innovation in audio, being introduced for the first time this year. Acousticom is a prime military manufacturer that has taken their quality to the consumer electronics market.

New Malaysia Virtual Office Service

january 27, 2011

ServCorp, a virtual office supplier now provides virtual offices in Malaysia for many different companies based all over the world. These virtual office options can provide any company with a solid global reputation via an office address in Kuala Lumpur and other parts of Malaysia.

A virtual office functions as a real office, complete with a receptionist and a support team, even a business address, but minus the real, physical office space. ServCorp provides virtual office services for businesses that want to go global and be seen as successful international firms.

ServCorp offers a variety of different functions for companies interested in virtual office services with business addresses based in Malaysia. Some of the other extra services provided by ServCorp include boardroom packages that allow video conferencing, local business phone numbers, local business addresses, and customer support services. Companies that invest in such services from ServCorp will certainly experience a number of benefits that can generate more profits and better marketing.

Different virtual office packages and services are available from ServCorp. Clients simply need to choose a location and the specific services they want. They can choose the Platinum Package, which includes meetings, address, and communications services. They can also order these services individually. They can get access to global meeting rooms, choose a professional central business district address for their company, or get a dedicated receptionist to manage business calls.

ServCorp also offers a Platinum Plus package, which is simply a platinum package for two locations of choice. Company representatives will contact those who indicate their interest in this package.

East Of England Rivals Other World Regions

january 27, 2010

The East of England is on an economic par with top global regions according to a new report published economic experts at the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).

The region, which includes cities like Cambridge, Peterborough and Luton has an economy worth over £109.9 billion a year spread across 430,000 office-based and other businesses and 5.6 million people. Experts compared the region across 23 measures of competitiveness, which showed that the East of England rivals America’s California, Massachusetts/Rhode Island, Virginia and Japan’s Tokai. The report was designed to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the region’s economy to aid foreign businesses to set up office in the East of England.

Key findings include:

• In 2006 the East of England had the fourth highest value of exports in the UK, worth £20.2 billion
• Total investment in research and development is double the EU average at 3.9 per cent of the value of economic output, of which 80% is carried out by business.
• East of England has seen the highest recorded population growth between 1995-2005, higher than any UK region outside of London
• Over half of us use the internet to buy goods and services , putting us in the top 10 ‘web savvy’ regions compared to 97 European comparator regions

But the report also indicated serious weaknesses in productivity and training:

• £44,423 of wealth was generated per worker in 2005, half that of US comparators such as Massachusetts/Rhode Island and Virginia and only average compared to European regions
• 43 percent are employed in knowledge-intensive services, 15th highest compared to other European regions and just behind South Sweden and the South East of England
• 20.3 per cent of adults have higher level qualifications, ranking below several leading global regions as well as below the UK average.
• It takes quarter of an hour longer than the average traveller in the UK to get to a town or city which is classed as a major economic centre (59 minute average).

Glenn Athey, director of Insight East, the group which conducted the study, said:
“It is clear from this report that if the East of England is to continue to perform strongly against other comparative world-leading regions, skills and infrastructure issues need to be addressed. This is especially important if the East of England is to remain a key knowledge-based economy and capitalise on a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy. “

Want To See The Future Of Mobile Office?

january 26, 2010

If you’re looking to take your virtual offices out wherever you go, look to Tokyo virtual office technology. Japan’s biggest mobile phone company, NTT Docomo, has unveiled its smartphone, the Sony Ericsson manufactured Xperia X10. Scheduled to go on sale in Japan this April, it kicks more power than any mobile virtual office kit seen in Tokyo.

Powered by a 1GHz CPU, the Xperia will morph all your social networking and office apps in one fully integrated view. The 4.0-inch touch-screen, using signature Sony Ericsson application, Timescape, intuitively organizes voice, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and mixi, a popular social network service in Japan. The phonebook also synchronizes with Twitter and Facebook as well.

The docomo Smartphone Xperia will also search the web for all content related to a song you might be playing, intuitive organising music, photos and videos through Mediascape, a Sony Ericsson signature application. It also incorporates extra-fast 2.0 Mbps upload and 7.2 Mbps download, Wi-Fi, for all your web requirements. Its 8.1-megapixel camera using special software will intelligently recognise up to five faces from photos stored in the phonebook and automatically tag them to make phone calls or send emails to an individual by simply touching their pic.

Japanese phones have always been much ahead of American and European mobile markets. They have been sending emails for around 10 years, have had terrestrial television for a long time and now incorporate an Oyster style swipe payment system similar to the London underground. All Tokyo convenience stores and around 60 percent of Tokyo taxis have scanners which allow customers to pay by swiping their phone on a pad.

NTT Docomo has over 55 million customers in Japan, including 48 million using i-mode™, the world's most popular mobile e-mail/Internet platform, and 52 million using FOMA™, the world's original 3G mobile service.

Are You Looking For An Office Space New York?

january 25, 2012

Having a great location for your office is a major selling point for your business. The location has to be just right for your business purpose, of course. For example, there is no point having an office space New York in the middle of the harbor if you are selling cat food. Hence, when looking for office space New York, start by looking closely at the demographics of New York to determine where the customers you are looking for are most likely to be. You may, for example, be looking at an office space Manhattan is you are hoping to reach the high end socialites of the city. This is where you will find customers interested in fashion, politics and arts.

Thinking about the demographics of a city before investing in an office space is relevant all over the world. In the United Kingdom, for example, you may be looking at an office space Nottingham because your customers are mainly students and those interested in history and architecture. If you want to find the best office space, you shouldn't only think about what is included in the office itself and what the office looks like, you need to think about what your customers expect. If you work as an architect, for example, you would be better off using a modern building with straight lines and much glass. But if you work in the art, an older building with a lot of history may be a better choice. Luckily, all sorts of office spaces are available for you to choose from.

More Snow Predictions Blown Out Of The Water By Twitter Helps Birmingham Office Users

january 25, 2010

Virtual office and remote workers who weathered the winter snow of recent weeks with ease can be ahead of the game by a real-time UK snow map. It would especially help Birmingham virtual office users who were spooked by Met Office prediction of more snow last week, which didn’t happen… surprisingly.

Hundreds of thousands of snow spotters turned to a specific Twitter-based application created just across the region by East Midlands resident and freelance web developer, Ben Marsh. The UK Snow Map turns tweets about snow reports into a real-time map, gaining the upper hand over weather satellites, which apparently find it more difficult to detect snowfall through cloud cover.

Anyone with a Twitter account tweets the hashtag #uksnow plus their and a rating of snowfall from 0 (no snow) to 10 (blizzard). Those results are then placed on a map of the UK in real-time and give a visual reference on the local snow conditions as reported by residents on the ground.

The UK Snow Map has been active since last February getting 50,000 UK users last year. This year, the map received 50,000 visits in one day during the height of the snowfall. During the recent wintry weather, the application received over 100,000 unique snow reports from all over the UK with rates of over 100 tweets per minute at peak times… stone the crows!

The intense web traffic forced Mr. Marsh to upload hosting for the application to a virtual server with an office base in Manchester. Web-hosting firm 34SP.com has it up and running within hours.
“The app was struggling to serve content to all users so I asked 34SP.com to upgrad the account to a virtual web server as quickly as they could. Within a few hours the app had been migrated to a new virtual server and the app was then easily able to handle the number of visitors it was receiving,'' he explained.

There is a lot of tweeting going on in Birmingham. The city’s council has set up a special pothole reporting twitter link to its website so residents can report them after the thaw - more virtual tools being employed in Birmingham.

Hong Kong Virtual Office Helps Smokers Quit

january 25, 2010

A virtual office in Hong Kong is the destination if you want to stop smoking there. Hong Kong’s Department of Health has boosted its smoking cessation hotline with a trilingual (Cantonese, Putonghua and English) hotline which will be manned by an Interactive Voice Response System as well as nurses and counsellors. You can also follow-up your smoking enquiries by visiting the dedicated virtual clinic on their website.

The virtual office allows you to develop your own online quit plan and can even boost your knowledge through interactive gaming. Three online games are available featuring lots of cute animated characters. You can even take a nicotine dependence test.

The upgraded service was launched this month as part of the government's continued efforts to chop smoking. The enhancement will enable people to access the smoking cessation services run by the Hospital Authority.

And the service appears to be working. The number of calls to the DH Smoking Cessation Hotline increased from 4,300 in 2008 to more than 15,000 last year. Since the setting up of the virtual Interactive Online Cessation Centre (IOCC) at the DH Tobacco Control Office website last February, more than 24,000 hit counts had been recorded and about 300 people have registered with the IOCC.

The hike in tobacco duty, increasing to 15 percent last year to match international standards, is helping. The 50 percent rise has doubled the number of smokers seeking to kick the habit, with most using Hong Kong's virtual office facility for smoking cessation advice.

Are You Look For An Office Space Dallas

january 23, 2012

Dallas is a fantastic city with an economy that is absolutely booming. More and more companies are trying to settle in Dallas and are hence looking at office space Dallas. Dallas is a city that offers everything, hence there will be a market for any type of business. However, when trying to find the best office space Dallas, it is very important that you find one that meets all your needs and requirements. Firstly, your office is like your business card. If your office is professional and tidy and looks good, people will assume your business is professional and that they will receive a good service from you. Hence, try to only work with office estate agents that can offer you good properties and that have a good reputation. You may want to consider working with national property management companies, for example some that also have an office space Chicago or even an virtual office Vancouver if you want to go even further afield.

Besides the fact that having an office space that is representative of your clientele, you also need to make sure that the space you have is suitable to your needs. For example, there needs to be sufficient room for all your employees and the desks and other furniture that comes with them (think of stationary cupboards, printers, photocopiers and so on) and you need to make sure that a wheelchair user is able to reach all the areas of your office. Once you have all of that in place, you have found yourself your office space.

Canadian Design Software Firm Reports Poor Performance In Office Markets

january 22, 2011

20-20 Technologies, the Canadian office headquartered world leader in 3D interior design and furniture manufacturing software, said office revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 are significantly reduced.

20-20 Technologies is the world's leading provider of computer-aided design, business and manufacturing software tailored for the interior design and furniture industries. It operates in eleven countries with more than 500 employees and offices in Quebec, and US offices in Michigan and North Carolina.

It recorded fiscal 2010 revenues of $65.2 million, up 3.4 per cent from $63.1 million last year
Overall license revenues increased by 18.5 per cent year-over-year at $8.5 million ($11 million in constant dollars) compared to $9.3 million in 2009. But the company reported its office sector remained weak reflecting an oversupply of office space with revenues reaching $10.3 million, down 12.4 per cent over the previous year with most of the impact on professional services and on maintenance and other recurring revenues. License revenues were essentially at the same level as the previous year. 

"As we look back on 2010, the recovery in our main market, the US, proved to be much softer than anticipated as indicated by stable North American revenues when compared to 2009. This in no way reflects our competitive position, but rather a flat line US economy," said Jean-François Grou, chief executive officer. "The situation is brighter in new markets where we are investing for the future, such as China, Brazil and Russia. As for Europe, revenues have increased, reflecting strong momentum in Central Europe, partially offset by Southern Europe. 

Virtual Offices Ruin Relationships Survey Reveals In The Run Up To Valentine's Day

january 22, 2011

Staples, the world's largest office products company, headquarted in offices near Boston, Massachusetts, says 60 per cent of businessmen spend more time holding their mobile virtual office than the hand of their partner.

The company's 5th Annual National Staples Small Business Survey revealed that 60 per cent of small business owners admit to spending more time holding their mobile devices than the hand of their significant others. But that might not necessarily be a bad thing. While this new “phonemance” phenomenon would seemingly have the potential to overtake family time, the increasing popularity of the virtual office actually illustrates how technology is enabling small business owners to achieve both increased productivity and a better work-life balance.

The Internet poll explored the use of technology and social media, and its positive and negative effects on productivity and work-life balance. The results found that the unpredictable economy, continued downsizing and increased responsibilities have pressured US small business owners to mix business with pleasure.

43 per cent of small business owners reveal working during hours spent with family
68 per cent who own a mobile device rely on just one for both personal and business use making it difficult to switch off during family time

“Technology and mobile devices, in particular, can actually be good for family relationships, allowing mum or dad to stay plugged in with work while simultaneously attending events - ball games, school events - that were historically only possible for the non-working parent to attend,” said Dr Seth Meyers, a licensed clinical psychologist, relationship expert and author of a virtual office relationships service. “Though the small business owner's attention may be divided in such contexts, it allows for greater balance than life before such technology allowed.”

Major Atlanta Office Acquisition

january 22, 2011

Parkway Properties, has completed the acquisition of the major Atlanta office and retail portion of 3344 Peachtree for a purchase price of $167.3 million.  

Steven G. Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Parkway, stated, "3344 Peachtree is one of the premier office properties in Atlanta.  We are glad to complete this purchase and officially add this asset to our portfolio.  We believe in the long-term investment value and performance of the Buckhead submarket of Atlanta, and the quality and location of 3344 Peachtree are unmatched within that area.  This is evidenced by the leased percentage increasing from 93 to 97 per cent since our announcement in December."

Parkway Properties, based in focused on the Southeastern and Southwestern United States and Chicago. has an interest in 65 US office properties located in 11 states with an aggregate of approximately 13.7 million square feet of leasable space.

Located in the Buckhead submarket the Atlanta office and retail portion of a 50-story, vertical mixed-use development contains approximately 484,000 square feet of office and retail space and includes an adjacent eleven-story parking structure.  The residential component of the project, known as Soveriegn, contains 82 high-quality residential condominiums and is not a part of Fund II's investment.  The Property is located directly on Peachtree Road within walking distance of a number of hotels, retail venues, and restaurants.  Major customers located at 3344 Peachtree include Jones Lang LaSalle, Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins Gunn & Dial, LLC, SPANX, Littler Mendelson, Fifth Third Bank, Hodges Ward Elliott, The Buckhead Club, Barclays, and Bistro Niko.

£113m For Environmentally Sustainable Office Scheme In Birmingham

january 22, 2010

A £113m deal has been struck to buy the One Snowhill offices in Birmingham by hausInvest europa, one of Europes biggest open-ended real estate funds. Commerz Real AG, which manages the fund, say the deal deepens its commitment to the United Kingdom.

The property boasts a globally recognised sustainability certificate rated "excellent” and is located inside Birmingham’s Central Business District. It was completed in 2009 and has around 263,500 sq ft of office space, which is almost fully let.

Hans-Joachim Kühl of Commerz Real’s Management Board and responsible for real estate acquisitions says the location, site and green-build qualities make this property one of the top locations in Birmingham. “One Snowhill enhances the diversification of our British real estate portfolio. After our acquisition of a project development in Liverpool in 2009, this will be the second office property outside the greater London area to be owned by ‘hausInvest europa'.”

One Snowhill is close to the railway station which offers direct service to London and the West Midlands, whilst Birmingham International Airport provides quick connections to long-distance destinations.

Commerz Real AG is a fully owned subsidiary of Commerzbank AG. With approximately 45 billion Euros in assets, 1,000 staff and 20 locations inside and outside Germany Commerz Real AG counts among the world’s biggest real estate asset managers and providers of structured leasing and investment solutions.

With a volume of more than 10 billion Euros hausInvest europa is among Europe’s largest open-ended real estate funds. The fund’s real estate portfolio includes about 100 properties in ten European countries.

2010 London Office Market Could Be Exception…Considering What We Feared

january 22, 2010

Paralysis griped the office market as widespread tenant disposals, lengthy voids on new stock, falling demand and rental reductions were feared to continue well beyond 2010. However, some commentators are wondering whether commercial property could be the first off the blocks in the race to recovery. Global real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest central London office research highlights that 2009 was an exceptional year – in the end.

From the financial tremors at the beginning of 2009 commentators speculated a flood of bank distressed product being delivered into a market characterised by cautious investors, no debt and rising yields. But Jones Lang LaSalle’s report shows that the outcome was actually very different. Rises in take-up rose, supply shortages and tenant demand joined evidence of lease terms hardening and tenant competition returned.

Neil Prime, head of Markets at Jones Lang LaSalle said: “This was a remarkable turnaround that few would have predicted. But 2009 was not a “great year”, it was simply much better than feared: Take-up, whilst improving was below average, overall supply increased but at a slower rate than anticipated and demand, whilst improving, remained lower than 15 months ago and rents in the wider Grade B market continue to be a significant challenge.”

Neil added: “We believe 2010 will bring a continued improvement in the market and risk will be easier to quantify. It will also be a year of opportunity, particularly for those in a position to build speculatively.”

Key indicators featured in the report were:

West End
Activity increased 70% on the fourth quarter of 2009 with 905,300 sq ft let, 45% higher than Q4 2008. The annual total of 2.2 million sq ft reflected a 32% fall on 2008 and was 37% below the 10-year average. Occupied space also fell 1.8 million sq ft over 2009. Demand was dominated by the Service Industries, particularly Advertising, PR and Publishing, which accounted for 15%. Active demand from the Banking & Finance sector increased 91% over the year to comprise 23% of active demand. Prime rents were stable at £75.00 per sq ft at year end, reflecting an annual fall of 21% (all of which occurred in the first quarter). Further declines are not anticipated due to the limited supply of prime space and sentiment is strengthening.

City
1.7 million sq ft was let in Q4, a 17% increase on Q3. The annual total was 4.5 million sq ft, a 19% increase on 2008 but 20% below the 10-year annual average. Over 2009, Banking & Finance dominated volumes with 39% of floorspace let – the largest proportion since 1997, and 27% of deals. The Service Industry, driven by Insurance & Pensions, drove 35% of deals. Increase in active demand was driven by the Banking & Finance sector, which saw a net increase of 366,000 sq ft. At year end, 1.5 million sq ft was under offer – the most since Q4 2007. Much of this was due to complete in the final weeks of the year which suggests a strong start to 2010. Prime rents remained stable at £45.00 per sq ft, reflecting a fall of 23.1% over the year. All reduction came in the first half of the year.

Lincolnshire Office Celebrating Half Occupancy

january 20, 2011

Business centre offices in Lincolnshire are celebrating two years of opening but are half occupied.

Reggae Reggae Sauce founder Levi Roots shared his Dragons' Den secrets at the launch of Mercury House, a £3.3 million Gainsborough office business centre, in January 2009.

On Friday, centre manager Sadie Weller will join tenants and supporters in marking the centre’s second birthday.

A buffet lunch and cake cutting ceremony will take place at Mercury House at 1pm on Friday 21st January.

“Mercury House is modern, flexible and affordable and it’s made a real difference to the business community in Gainsborough,” said Ms Weller.

“We offer small and medium-sized units to companies on easy in, easy out terms and special incubation rates for businesses that are less than 12 months old.

“Mercury House offers businesses an innovative, prestigious and exciting environment in which to work as well as easy transport links allowing access from neighbouring towns and motorways by both road and rail.”

Twenty-two out of the 48 office units at Mercury House are already let and there are more applications in the pipeline.

Current tenants include design firm Meep Meep Creative, business consultants Bedlam & Mayhem, timber engineers L&L Installations and search engine specialists SEO Traffic Lab.

Mercury House on the Foxby Lane Business Park features a reception area with wireless broadband, a fully managed reception desk, open meeting areas, 28 office units, virtual tenancy options, conference and meeting rooms, video conferencing equipment and a hot desk room.

New British Virtual School Claims To Relieve University Fees

january 20, 2011

A new British virtual office training company is claiming to relieve students forced into university fees and stretched education systems around the world.

Fusion Universal, a new virtual school based in London offices in Mayfair, says more and more students are on the fringes of education provision: left behind by a lack of infrastructure, a dearth of qualified teachers or the inability to attend a traditional school during 'office hours'. Fusion recognises the need to 'think outside the classroom' and to harness advances in technology, multimedia and learning theory to transform the way that knowledge is delivered and processed. 


Fusion Universal is already delivering its ICT curriculum to over 60,000 children and teachers across 13 countries in Africa with an expected reach of 2 million over the coming year. The launch of Fusion's Virtual School programme is the next logical step for Fusion Universal to achieve its 2020 vision of educating 1 billion people.


The inaugural meeting of the Virtual School steering committee, on Thursday January 20 at the Sanderson Hotel in London, will assemble corporate, government and university leaders and learning experts from around the world to try and solve the long standing problem of how to improve education in a sustainable and equitable manner. 



Within the scope of the 'Virtual School' programme, Fusion is proposing the development of an exploratory and engaging user centric self-study academic curriculum that enables primary and secondary school students to receive a high standard of education regardless of their ability to attend school or the standards of teaching in their area. We will develop a platform that puts the student at the heart of the learning experience and will cover all their basic education needs. We intend to ensure that the curricula are appropriate to the academic demands of their local school system and prepare them for the requisite examinations. 


The student will receive the majority of teaching through a bite-sized format of video lessons, supported by interactive games-based exercises and assessments and access to e-tutors. The student will have a personal learning pathway which assesses their abilities and defines their education journey. Access to e-tutors and visibility of progress along their learning journey will provide ongoing support and motivation. All resources will be available through a collaborative learning environment where the student can interact with their peers and e-tutors. 



The video lessons will be created by a team of local teachers who are recognized as being top of their field; they will be trained to use the latest learning technologies to capture and therefore disseminate their best explanations. 


Fusion Universal has been harnessing all the expertise and experience developed from its award winning corporate solutions to change and improve the way children receive and access education across the world. 


M & S Take Manchester's Premiere Office Development

january 19, 2010

The largest city centre office scheme in the UK Spinningfields has netted Marks & Spencer as its latest tenant to the highly-rated Manchester office development.

MARKS & Spencer will move 200 staff of its business and finance support departments from Salford Quays to Manchester city the retailer announced today. Contracts have already been exchanged on a 15-year lease on 21,000 sq ft office space on the eighth floor of 3 Hardman Street. More than 100 M&S HR employees will still remain in Salford Quays.

The building is now 93 percent occupied and was 80 percent full prior to completion attracting Barclays, Bank of New York Mellon, Pinsent Masons, Shoosmiths, the General Medical Council and BDO. It has confiremd Manchester's buoyant commercial property market in the face of a national downturn. The Manchester market for us has proved resilient over the last twelve months with a staggering total of 43 organisations moving its business to it.
Winning five awards last year, the 350,000 sq ft development offers the largest single floor plates in the city ranging from 10,000 sq ft to 35,000 sq ft. is office-led, but mixed use, providing high quality commercial, civic, residential, hotel, leisure and retail space

China Offices Get Huge Boost In Investment After Residential Property Curbs

january 16, 2011

Chinese developers have shifted more investments to commercial properties last year with government curbs on homes, marking the start of an “era” for China offices, malls and industrial buildings, reported Bloomberg.

A press release by commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield said investment jumped 42 per cent last year from 2009, while transaction volume rose 20 perc ent, according to the world’s largest closely held real estate services company.

“2010 saw the first year of the era of commercial property,” Cushman said in a press release. China’s retail, office and industrial properties “delivered another year of strong rental growth with healthy demand from both international and local players,” it said.

Investment in commercial properties picked up last year as the government suspended mortgages for third-home purchases and pledged to speed up trials for residential property taxes. In October, the People’s Bank of China increased interest rates for the first time in three years and raised borrowing costs for a second time on Dec. 25.
Government regulation will remain the main challenge for China’s real estate market, Cushman said. Some investors shied away from the residential property market following the real estate curbs, it said.

“The policies and limitations effectively restricted the speculation and investment in the housing market, resulting in a much smaller turnover in major cities,” Cushman said.
China’s south-western city of Chongqing will impose a property tax on both existing and new homes, Mayor Huang Qifan told the country’s central television in an interview yesterday.

Cushman & Wakefield, based in New York offices, has 230 global offices in 60 countries and more than 13,000 employees.

US Office Firm Reports 2010 The End Of Challenge

january 13, 2011

Franklin Street Properties, an investment firm specialising in US offices, has said 2010 would see the end to challenging years as growth in its directly-owned portfolio of 33 properties showed through.

George Carter, President and CEO of FSP said growth was showing through.

"As discussed in our third quarter 2010 earnings press release and earnings call, we believe that FSP continues to be in an excellent environment to position itself for meaningful future growth in profits and dividends. Our company will continue to use its capabilities and conservative financial structure to take advantage of competitive tenant leasing requirements, opportunistic investment banking situations and attractive real estate investment opportunities.

“They are presenting themselves as a result of the current cyclical downturn in the economy and commercial property market. Since the fourth quarter of 2007, we viewed 2010 as likely our most challenging year in dealing with a broad, financially-precipitated, cyclical, economic downturn. With the fourth quarter of 2010 behind us and looking ahead to 2011 and beyond, we are optimistic that FSP has managed its major challenges, while taking advantage of positioning opportunities that traditionally only present themselves during severe economic downturns. We are very much looking forward to our future growth potential." 

Franklin Street Properties, based in Wakefield offices in Massachusetts, is focused on achieving current income and long-term growth through investments in commercial properties. FSP operates in two business segments: real estate operations and investment banking/investment services. The majority of FSP's property portfolio is suburban office buildings, with select investments in certain central business district properties. FSP's subsidiary, FSP Investments LLC (member, FINRA and SIPC), is a real estate investment banking firm and a registered broker/dealer. FSP is a Maryland corporation that operates in a manner intended to qualify as a real estate investment trust

Manhattan Office Buy Consolidates Property Portfolio

january 13, 2011

New York office firm SL Green has consolidated its ownership of offices in the city.

SL Green Realty announced it has purchased City Investment Fund (CIF)’s 49.9 per cent interest in 521 Fifth Avenue, thereby assuming full ownership of the Manhattan office building. The transaction values the consolidated interests at $245.7m or approximately $502 per square foot.

SL Green President Andrew Mathias stated, “This transaction concludes another successful joint investment with City Investment Fund, which also has been a valued partner at 19 West 44th Street and 485 Lexington Avenue. We recently completed a total building redevelopment at this property, and we anticipate bringing it to full occupancy at increased rental rates that reflect the New York’s improving business environment and the anticipated tightening of Midtown Manhattan office space availability.”

Mr. Mathias continued, “Our joint venture platform continues to serve as a proprietary pipeline for off-market deals that yield sizeable transaction costs savings for both SL Green and our partners who wish to monetize their positions.”

521 Fifth Avenue is a 39-story boutique office building, measuring 490,000 rentable square feet, located on the north east corner of Fifth Avenue and East 43rd Street. SL Green acquired the asset with CIF in 2006. The partners subsequently invested $26.7 million in the asset’s strategic repositioning, substantially improving the building’s infrastructure and curb appeal with a fully renovated lobby and entryway, the addition of premier Fifth Avenue big block retail space, facade enhancements, a new cooling tower and upgrades to all common corridors. The property’s most recent leasing success was the addition of national credit tenant Urban Outfitters in its retail space.

SL Green administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, or REIT, that predominantly acquires, owns, repositions and manages Manhattan office properties.

Virtual Office Used To Monitor Hearts

january 07, 2011

A company that allows heart monitoring to be viewed by doctors via virtual office technology has completed selling six million shares.

CardioComm Solutions, which produces technology enables the recording, transfer, viewing, analysing, reporting and storing of electrocardiograms (EKGs) over a global virtual healthcare network, has announced that it has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement equity financing.

Under the financing, the company, based in Victoria offices near Vancouver in Canada, issued 6,000,000 units at a price of $0.05 per unit for gross proceeds of $300,000. Each unit was comprised of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant exercisable for two years for an additional share at a price of $0.10. The subscriber under the financing was MD Primer Inc., which is controlled by Dr. Anatoly Langer, the Company's Chairman and a control person of the Company. For further information regarding the financing, please see the Company's press release that was issued on December 22, 2010. The gross proceeds from the financing will be used for general working capital of the Company. The shares and warrants issued by the Company are subject to a four month hold period, which will expire on April 30, 2011.

Upon completion of the private placement, MD Primer Inc holds 27,196,666 shares of the Company, representing approximately 40.0% of the Company's outstanding shares, and 16,000,000 share purchase warrants of the Company. Dr. Langer holds or has control or direction over 42,099,581 shares, representing approximately 61.7% of the Company's shares, and 16,000,000 warrants.

CardioComm Solutions has been a consistent provider of ECG management software solutions in the English speaking world for the past 21 years. Its products are marketed as Global ECG Management System (GEMS) and GlobalCardio.

CardioComm is ISO 13485 certified and its products have been cleared for sale in the United States, Canada and the European Union.CardioComm's competitive advantage is built upon 2 ECG patents, a unique FDA approved ECG analysis algorithm, a world class ECG (signal) viewer and a back-end ECG data management control system. CardioComm provides an ECG management solution which complements the majority of the world's cardiac event monitors, including those intended for the home and tele-health market. CardioComm products are sold worldwide to hospitals, call centers and physicians offices through a combination of its external distribution network and its North American based sales team.

Android App Announced For Virtual Office

january 07, 2011

A British company has announced moving its virtual office apps to the android platform.

SMEStorage, based in UK offices in London, has announced its Multi Cloud File Manager Android Application, which lets users work with over 15 storage clouds and provides sync to phones and sync to virtual office capability, has been updated to version 1.6 and now supports the Samsung Galaxy Tab and other Android Tablets.

The SMEStorage Android Application enables users, dependent on account type, to manage several file clouds in one virtual view and offers advanced file sharing, file syncing, and business collaboration features.

Clouds supported include Amazon S3, RackSpace Cloud Files, Google Storage and Google Docs, Microsoft SkyDrive, Microsoft Live Mesh, MobileMe, GMail/Email clouds, plus WebDav file server and many other clouds.

CEO Ian Osborne stated, "Android is a key part of our overall mobile strategy, both for our individual professional, and business customers. We are delighted to have updated the Android application and look forward to offering even further levels of sophistication in future."

MEStorage provides a cloud storage gateway in which file meta-data is synchronised, but all files continue to reside on the original storage platform. In this way SMEStorage can offer value added services and clients to existing cloud storage providers, whilst also providing a single cloud file system which enables files from many different cloud storage providers to be managed in one cloud file tree.

SMEStorage provide services to individual users, and also to corporate users via its Organisation Cloud platform offering, which combines file sharing, user management and collaboration features.

What Is A Virtual Office All About?

january 02, 2012

If we can't afford the cost of a permanent office then we could look for other options. This is where a virtual office comes in. A virtual office is actually a service and it provides you with a local point of contact for your customers. It also provides the benefits of a permanent office without the need to actually be there. That means you are just pretending you have a permanent office but in reality, you don't. That is okay because a virtual office is much affordable than having to rent an office space. It is not advisable to rent one especially if you are just starting in your business. The only way it would be advisable to look for a permanent office is if your parents actually gave you a big capital to begin with. That usually doesn't happen because it is common for parents to not sustain their children anymore when they reach the old age of 18.

A virtual office service will have a team answer your calls so you can focus more on your business. They will also handle your mail and faxes as well as relay messages to you within minutes. That will allow you to not get disturbed by annoying phone calls, e-mails and faxes since other people will be assigned to answer them. These people would usually enjoy the comforts of working at a London office space. The office will also provide meeting rooms so you can arrange meetings with your clients properly.

World's First Science Of Finding Online Information Company Goes To India

january 01, 2011

The world's first company dedicated to the science of finding online information is taking part in a major conference in India.

Findability Sciences, a consulting company focused on sciences of finding information, with offices in Massachusetts, announced its participation in Global Maharashtra conference being held in Aurangabad in India during January 2011. The company is headquartered in Boston offices in the US, focuses on research, ratings and consulting services.

Global Maharashtra Conference and Trade Fair is an attempt by Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture’s (MACCIA) to bring in successful entrepreneurs across the globe and provide a common platform that can culminate in mutually beneficial long term partnerships.  Conference aims to promote interaction amongst all the stakeholders and policymakers and to provide platform to discuss the emerging opportunities and challenges with the objective of strengthening the relationship between Maharashtra & Global Economy.

We chose Maharashtra as our destination to set up offshore development center & we are very excited to showcase the benefits in the upcoming Global Maharashtra conference, said Milind Mahajan , Chief Operating Office of the company. We look forward for interacting with many attending this conference and sharing our rich experience, added Mr. Mahajan.

Umesh Dhekane, CTO applauded the decision of organisers to choose Aurangabad as destination for this type of event. He further added that the special focus on IT business, IT pavilion and IT panel discussions is very encouraging to the IT industry in the town, which is at its nascent stage.

India Business Development Lead of the company, Praveen Babu said that the company looks forward for some interesting and serious business and investment partnership during this event. Mr. Babu felt that the opportunity to interact the policymakers during this event is very unique.

Virtual Office Company Goes Independent

january 01, 2011

Axiatel, an international leader in virtual office, VOIP and FOIP solutions for business executives, entrepreneurs and small business has become recently independent of Axialys Group telecom company for corporations and will soon reveal several new products on various markets.

In advance of these releases Axiatel, based in Vancouver offices in Canada will be changing its look, slashing prices and will release the new Axiatel Newsletter. The newsletter will be available for sign-up directly from the new Axiatelmain website page. It will provide timely news on products, innovations and promotions from Axiatel.

Axiatel believes in forward-thinking and interaction. It is connected and easy to follow on Linkedin.com and Facebook.com. You can learn more about Axiatel's products through its videos on YouTube, and presentations on SlideShare.

Whether you are thinking of getting rid of your old PBX system, a virtual office in London or receiving fax to email, Axiatel has the services you need to stay mobile and optimise your time.
Axiatel Virtual Office Services help you manage your professional image with VOIP PBX, a professional virtual call reception service and manage your faxes with Fax-to-Email, an advanced online faxing service. Axiatel allows you to conduct and manage your business conference calls remotely with the option for audio or video conferencing enabling you to audio or video call your collaborators from anywhere with no special applications to install.

Axiatel is available in nine countries including UK offices, France and Spain, with local numbers and services with advanced options attuned to your business needs such as multi-way, pin-secure conferencing with supplementary local numbers for collaborators to join your conference at the rate of a local call whether they are calling from Vancouver, Canada or Sydney, Australia.

First Virtual Office Week

january 01, 2011

Virtual office assistants from countries all over the world will be able to attend the first annual International Virtual Assistants Week, and 6th annual Online International Virtual Assistants Convention.

These events have joined forces to increase on and offline awareness about the industry and showcase the benefits of partnering with a professional virtual assistant. This campaign is spearheaded by The Alliance for Virtual Businesses (A4VB), a leading VA member organisation whose mission is to boost awareness of the industry, providing industry resources, training, and networking opportunities, and other internationally-based virtual assistant organizations.

“Too many business owners are still unaware of or haven’t embraced the concept of hiring professional, experienced virtual office support providers. This campaign will showcase the advantages of hiring VAs, such as reducing expenses, smart use of technology, and pay-for-services on an as-needed or retainer basis,” says Sharon Williams, founder of A4VB and OIVAC and owner of The 24 Hour Secretary, a virtual assistant business based in Maryland offices in the US.

During IVA Week, VAs will host a local VA meet and greet or networking event on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, and then join in the Online International Virtual Assistant Convention Thursday through Saturday. The Alliance will support the activity by providing media assistance, meet-up coordination, seminars, social media campaigns and other programs geared to raise awareness and increase participation. The OIVAC rounds out the week and serves as the crowning point for the celebration.
“This comprehensive undertaking serves many purposes,” says Williams. “to provide the missing touch and feel that occurs during face-to-face networking; educate business owners in local communities about Virtual Assistants; increase awareness and promote individual VA businesses. IVA Week will catapult the industry into the next millennium and serve as a model for connecting the virtual assistant industry and the small business sector.

New Beijing Base For Virtual Office Firm

january 01, 2011

Officescape, a leading virtual office provider, has opened a new office in Beijing, China. It sees the continuation of Officescape’s global expansion with the new office at the NEWLOGO International Building in Beijing. This latest Officescape expansion is offering the very latest in cutting-edge office and technology services.

NEWLOGO International Building is located in Zhong Guan Cun high-tech zone which is a technology hub in Haidian District, Beijing. Zhong Guan Cun is known as "the Silicon Valley of China", where the majority of major foreign high-tech companies are based. NEWLOGO International Building has easy access to most parts of the city. It is quite close to The National Library of China, the Beijing Exhibition Centre, the Summer Palace and many other attractions. It is just a short 10-minute drive from the subway and 40-minute drive from the Beijing International Airport. NEWLOGO International Building offers excellent convenience, accessibility to facilities, and a total solution to office, meeting and conferencing needs.

The leading office service and technology company, Officescape says integrates the most advanced information technology with the well established "office suites" industry, into a mobile and secure working platform for today's business professionals. Officescape's virtual and physical office services offer incredibly flexible terms and unprecedented efficiency. This unique combination makes Officescape the only service provider that seamlessly combines real world functionality with virtual-world convenience.

For established companies and large corporations, Officescape provides innovative solutions for complex tele-worker management issues. Officescape's Telework Solutions allow them to consolidate all of their tele-office needs into one account, so their telecommuters can work securely from a single platform. Today, with Officescape services, working from anywhere at anytime is no longer a dream. Join the thousands of businesses around the world who are now using Officescape services to improve their mobility, security and efficiency.

Choosing The Best London Office Space Is A Smart Decision

february 28, 2011

Of course we all know that today the economy is not doing quite as good as it once was and there is some element of fear regarding that, even though it is really not necessary because we always find a way to rebound. What is important to consider is that a variety of ways to reduce the cost of business exist today and these are so much easier to find that it is definitely worth making sure we look into them. For people looking to find the right kind of deals on the quality and value they get from fantastic London office space, this is much easier to do now. In fact, you can even find great deals on specific locations and that can help you get the office space Soho offers which is so attractive for a lot of companies. Not only are your choices wider now, you can actually get a huge range of solutions at many different price levels.

However, you may not really need to have a specific kind of price level on an office because you simply need a specific service that is going to make sense for your business. This is when it can be a very smart idea to look into getting a telephone answering service to help you handle the volume of calls you are looking at. This could make things very simple and give you a really good value for the time and effort you put into things. If you want to have the best on your side, this is a great way to go.

50 UK Virtual Office Companies Get A Performance Test

february 25, 2010

Research and Markets, the world's largest resource for market research, has announced the most comprehensive review of the UK's virtual office market and telephone answering services. The 2010 Plimsoll Analysis gives a comprehensive profile of 50 companies operating in the UK, published by the leading industry analysts Plimsoll.

The report highlights that the industry is long overdue for a prolonged period of consolidation to weed out over capacity and weakened competitors. The research is designed for those looking to buy or sell a company in the market or those inside the industry needing to be updated with the latest developments.

Apart from detailing merger and acquisition activity, the report individually assesses each company. Each one gets an individual valuation, a full financial health assessment, a breakdown of the board members and ownership structure and a 10 point takeover attractive rating. The report also predicts a projection of what the company could be worth to a new owner.

The report also charts the best in the business, by providing sales and market performance, details on growth, return on total assets and profitability.

With offices in Dublin, Markets and Research, currently hold over 80,000 major research publications from most of the leading publishers, consultants and analysts. They also provide the latest data and trends on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies. They also boast clients like 3M, Citibank, Coca-Cola, Deloitte and Goldman Sachs.

Plimsoll are the leading industry analysts in the UK, France and Japan.

Dip In Retail Sales Spark Fear of Double-Dip Recession

february 21, 2010

The volume of retails sales in January fell 1.8 percent from December sparking fears it's the first indicator of a double-dip in the recession. The office market has seen steady increases which have carefully been highlighted as the reversal of the slump in the market. London office rents have increased especially in Docklands, whilst offices in the West End still remain the most expensive in the world.

But office market experts have been cautious over-excitement about early recovery signs, like the increase in rents and some big office rentals. The dip in retail sales may send shock waves through all markets, mainly because it was more than the 0.5 percent expected by analysts.

The retails sales, whilst not directly connected to office market indicators, are released by the Office for National Statistics monthly. The data also said the the value of retail sales, even after seasonal adjustments were made to take into account increased Christmas sales, still showed the value of sales in January falling by 1.3 percent.

However, whilst many commentators are jumping to see evidence of the big dip, recovery can still be found. The seasonally adjusted value and volume of retail sales both rose by 3.2 and 0.9 percent respectively when compared with January 2009. The Office for National Statistics was eager to point this out.

The monthly survey collects two figures from each sampled business: the total turnover for retail sales for the standard trading period, and a separate figure for sales made over the internet. The total turnover includes internet sales, which were expected to be less effected by the worst winder condition in 30 years, but online sales were also down.

The Retail Sales Index (RSI) is derived from a monthly survey of 5,000 businesses in Great Britain. The sample represents the whole retail sector and includes all large retailers and a representative panel of smaller businesses. Collectively all of these businesses cover approximately 95 per cent of the retail sector in terms of turnover.

Microsoft Reveal Office For Mac 2011 - Will It Solve Our Mac/PC Problems?

february 17, 2010

Microsoft has revealed its latest Office for Mac 2011 at the Macworld 2010 expo in San Francisco. Whilst some Mac snobs continue to cringe at the idea, whether you work from actual or virtual office, the Microsoft versus Mac dilemma still causes compatibility and practical working difficulties.

Developers of Office for Mac 2011 at Microsofts in-house Mac base MacBU (Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit) say the suite has new connections to Microsoft services including more compatibility on the old favourites like Word, Powerpoint and Excel to new Office Web Apps, a key element for virtual office workers.

Eric Wilfrid, MacBU general manager at Microsoft Corp, says Microsoft have listened to the voice of the people (some may say 'given in'). “You’ve told us that working together across platforms is a priority to you and that’s why we are making Office for Mac 2011 the best, most compatible productivity suite on the Mac.”

New co-authoring software improvements are said to remove the pain of multiple versions, lost edits, and trying to set a time for the group to meet. The Presence Everywhere feature gives real-time status updates on who is working on the document directly in the application.

Office 2011 also delivers a connection to Microsoft Office Web Apps from applications, giving you a simpler way to access and share Office documents from any machine with an internet connection. Similar to the experience in Microsoft Office 2010 for PC users, the Office Web Apps make it easy to get your work done virtually, they claim. Now Office Web Apps are available to both home and business users across platforms and allow documents to be stored via a Windows Live ID account or on Microsoft SharePoint Technologies.

Another big addition is a “ribbon” that uses the classic Mac menu and Standard Toolbar giving you the best of both worlds. You can even collapse the ribbon and the Toolbar for more screen space or for the more advanced users who rely on keyboard shortcuts. Built using the latest Mac OS X technologies, the ribbon delivers a more consistent experience across platforms, which is key to productivity as 75 percent of Mac users also use a PC.


The final big change, saving the best for last, is the arrival of Outlook for Mac. Apart from email it features a reliable, high-speed, file-based database with Spotlight search and back-up support from Time Machine. Outlook for Mac also provides Information Rights Management to help prevent sensitive information from being distributed to or read by people who do not have your permission to access the content. It also includes an integrated solution for managing your time and information and, when it is used in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server, you benefit from increased collaboration capabilities and security enhancements.
Office for Mac 2011 will be available later this year.

Choosing The Right Office Space To Suit Your Needs

february 15, 2011

You can save on anything if you know the right approach to cutting down on your costs. When you make wise decisions about how your company spends, the rest is just a great deal easier for you. We all want the best options for our own business and that is why when we start to consider getting good office space for our company, we have to make sure that we look where it is going to do us the most good. For some, the UK is going to give them the best opportunities and they want to expand with an office space Nottingham can give them so that they have a UK address. This is the way global business is getting done more quickly and it really makes things simple for those of us that are looking to save big. You can always find real results this way.

Being able to lower your cost of doing business is going to make sure you succeed. We all know that if we want to be able to get a great deal the right office space Dallas has is going to give us very key advantages, especially if we can lower its price. You can get so much more for your money this way that you want to be able to do that. If you save big, the rest is going to be so much more simple for you and that is definitely a great thing to have working in your favor these days.

Dinky Virtual Office Photocopier The Size of A Ruler

february 15, 2010

Virtual Office users on the move still need a photocopier, so how about one the size of a ruler? Plustek Technology, the Chinese scanner manufacturer, announced today that CPC, one of the UK’s leading electronic distributors, will make its OpticSlim M12 lightweight scanner available to the UK market.

The portable scanner is about the size of a ruler and weighs less than 500g and converts document into various digital files powered from the USB cable connected your laptop or computer. Mobile virtual office users who need to scan documents on the go will enjoy the versatile image formats available with the touch of just two buttons.

Plustek have done away with complicated computer settings to convert paper-based documents into Word or RTF files, or image formats up to 600dpi such as JPEG, BMP, TIFF and PCX. The scanner also comes with a dedicated stand for your desk and a wall mount that lets you hang the OpticSlim M12 on an office partition, since it's so light.

The scanner is bundled with a decent suite of software applications that includes OCR software ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Sprint, which is designed to recognise various kinds of documents in over 177 languages. ImageFolio is an image-editing tool that enables you to quickly create new images, while PageManager is a powerful personal document manager that converts paper documents into digitised files. It also comes with the rather Chinese-branded Mr. Photo for creating, sharing and managing digital images and videos.

Priced at £76.25 it will sit offering very good value, as long as the image quality is up to scratch. Bear in mind that this is not a high-definition scanner by any stretch but will do what you need on the go.

New Intel 2010 Chips Offer 80% Faster Business Applications And High Security For Virtual Office

february 12, 2010

Offices with large computer networks or companies with virtual office workers on the go will see vast improvements to their computer hardware running speeds, energy savings and security according to Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker.

Intel's 2010 Intel Core vPro processor family is to be taken up by computer manufacturers worldwide, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Toshiba. You'll probably have one of these chips if you upgrade your office computers in the near future. It's useful to understand what's under the hood so you really know if you are getting anything better.

Firstly, Intel’s second-generation high-k metal gate transistors help increase computing speed and battery life. The 2010 Core i7 and i5 processors automatically adjust the speed of the processor when it senses a workload change – faster when the user, for example, is multitasking or watching a video, and slower, more energy-efficiently when the worker goes for coffee and only background applications are running.

Intel Hyper-Threading technology speeds up multi-tasking (running lots of applications at the same time) by interconnecting multiple processor cores with multiple “threads” that enable faster processing of instructions in parallel. Using standard benchmarks, a notebook with the 2010 Intel Core i5 vPro processor can run business productivity applications up to 80 percent faster, multiple applications up to twice as fast, and protect confidential data up to 3.5 times quicker compared to a 3-year-old mainstream notebook.

Data theft and loss has continued to make the headlines in recent years. It's a hot topic for virtual office workers who travel with sensitive information on their laptops. Intel now inlcudes anti-theft technology, which frustrates thieves by locking access to a PC if a central server or built-in intelligence concludes it is lost or stolen. It does it through encryption tools that disable access to cryptographic keys through hardware to completely block access to data, and also makes it simpler to reactivate a PC once in rightful hands. Also, a custom message can be displayed in a pre-OS screen of the disabled PC for anyone who tries to access the computer.

Green Office Make-Overs On The Horizon

february 12, 2010

Office blocks will be getting more green make-overs to meet sustainability goals, according to the results of a survey by CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle, two major global office market players.

According to the survey, 70 percent of corporate real estate executives responsible for portfolios totalling billions of square feet across the globe said that sustainability is a critical business issue. 89 percent reported sustainability playing a role in making leasing decisions, with 46 percent considering energy labels and 41 percent looking for green building certifications.

The results come as the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is researching how green labelling of office space in the UK could be taken forward. The survey backs up projections by RICS that rent premiums are a serious possibility for greener offices. 74 percent of the people surveyed said they would pay a premium (generally 1–5 percent) to retrofit owned space for sustainability criteria. This is up from 53 percent in 2008 and will mean office owners will likely want to recoup the cost in rents.

However, with cost cutting a high priority in the economic climate, the survey revealed that only 37 percent of companies would consider paying a green premium at all and another 21 percent indicated that they would only be willing to pay a premium rent if it was offset by lower operating costs. This was echoed by Dan Probst, Chairman of Energy and Sustainability at Jones Lang LaSalle. “These results clearly show that sustainability as an issue is here to stay, but companies are increasingly aware of the commercial realities. It is no longer enough to simply be ‘green’; organizations want to see the benefits to the bottom line.”

Office Space Scandals Hit The Headlines

february 11, 2010

Office space scandals have hit the headlines today with the National Audit Office accusing the Foreign Office of wasting millions of pounds on vacant office space in its embassies, while The Guardian reports that charity The Royal Institution is under investigation for illegally leasing its Mayfair office space to its chairman's private business. Right or wrong, what this highlights is the market's mood – being lean on office space expenditure is sacrosanct.

Accord to the The National Audio Office (NAO) report published today over half of the Foreign Office posts admitted to having unused office space or staff accommodation. The FCO has offices in some of the world's most expensive office locations like New York, Washington DC, Beijing and Tokyo. The report accuses the FCO of lacking a clear strategy and comprehensive data to manage its overseas estate, worth £1.6 billion. It also costs the taxpayer an annual expenditure of £285m, an increase from £180 million in 2004-05. The NAO also says a third of the projects to improve FCO buildings exceeded their initial approved budget by over 10 percent and two-thirds were delivered late. The total cost overrun since 2002 is approximately £57 million, against a total spent on capital projects of £250 million.

The FCO is looking to plug holes and has appointed director of estates and security to develop a new strategy. The NAO did note that the FCO had done well to respond to changing security threats, including a three-fold increase in the number of countries operating with a critical or severe terrorist threat rating.

Meanwhile, the Charity Commission has launched an investigation into why one of the UK's most prestigious scientific institutions, The Royal Institution, leased office space to its chairman's private equity firm. The RI, famous for fellows like Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday, is only entitled to rent space after authorisation from the commission, and now says it is taking the steps to receive authorisation.

UK Office Takes Control As Major Australian Office Supplies Firm Closes European Office

february 10, 2011

PaperlinX, a global leader in office materials, has announced a further streamlining of its management and head office structure with the closure of its european head office in Amsterdam. Together with recent staff reductions at the corporate head office in Melbourne, the closure of the Amsterdam office will result in ongoing cost savings of approximately A$15 million per annum and will be cost neutral in the current financial year, as the company said in a press release received by Lesprom Network.

The new arrangements will involve the two european regions reporting directly to the CEO and CFO, who will be based at the operational head office in the UK. There are no plans to change PaperlinX's domicile out of Australia.

PaperlinX CEO, Toby Marchant said: "This move is consistent with our stated objective of creating a simpler and more cost efficient head office environment with fewer centres and fewer layers. The relocation of the CEO and CFO from Australia to the UK brings our senior management closer to the geographic centre of our operations, given that nearly 70% of our business is in Europe and 90% is in the Northern hemisphere."

PaperlinX is one of the world's leading global merchants of paper and communication materials. Headquarters in Melbourne offices in Australia, PaperlinX operated regional management teams in offices in Amsterdam, but still maintains a US office in Los Angeles.  As at June 2010, PaperlinX employs around 6500 people in 26 countries and is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. PaperlinX have been making paper in Australia since 1938 and have distributed paper in Europe since the 1600s. Over the last decade PaperlinX has undergone a period of rapid and significant change. In January 2001, PaperlinX acquired Australian listed paper distributor Spicers Paper providing a platform for international growth in fine paper merchanting, with businesses in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Asia.

Major Virtual Office Technology Firms Strategic US Office Partnership

february 10, 2011

Two major virtual office technology companies have partnered their US office operations in a strategic new deal.

Globecomm Systems, a leading global provider of communications solutions and services, announced that it has entered into a strategic teaming agreement with Fujitsu Frontech North America (FFNA) to provide a wide range of advanced technology digital media solutions for commercial and government markets.

The teaming of Globecomm and FFNA includes a strategically focused co-marketing and sales effort between the two companies. It provides potential customers with a new level of capability in solutions and services, based on Globecomm's managed service platforms and system design expertise and the extensive advanced technology in FFNA's digital media hardware and software products. Fujitsu products are recognized by leading media organizations for technical superiority, quality and value. Among these are the field proven IP series of H.264/AVC encoders and decoders, servers and advanced video recognition technologies.

This Globecomm-Fujitsu agreement further expands Globecomm's continuous goal of increasing our range in "best of breed" advanced technology solutions, while adding to our suite of hosted managed service offerings.

Globecomm Systems, or Globecomm, is a leading global provider of satellite-based managed network solutions. Employing our expertise in emerging communication technologies we are able to offer a comprehensive suite of system integration, system products, and network services enabling a complete end-to-end solution for our customers. We believe our integrated approach of in-house design and engineering expertise combined with a world-class global network and our 24 by 7 network operating centers provides us a unique competitive advantage. We are now taking this value proposition to selective vertical markets, including government, wireless, media, enterprise, and maritime. As a network solution provider we leverage our global network to provide customers managed access services to the United States internet backbone, video content, the public switched telephone network or their corporate headquarters, or government offices. We currently have customers for which we are providing such services in the United States, Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Based in Hauppauge offices in New York, Globecomm Systems also maintains offices in Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, the Netherlands, South Africa, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan.

Confidence Boost For Office Development As Huge Square Mile Lease Announced

february 10, 2010

Canary Wharf Group plc (CWG) announces it is letting 292,418 sq ft of space to BlackRock Investment Management on the prestigious Drapers Gardens development in the City of London. BlackRock outbid the global investment bank Macquarie which had been discussing leasing the Central London office.

It's a move that's being seen as a sign confidence is building in the financial prowess of London's Square Mile and bodes well for new developments of its kind, letting just two months after it was completed. BlackRock have taken a lease on the whole of Drapers Gardens for a term of 25 years at a rent of £49 per sq ft taking advantage of a 36 month free rent incentive. CWG acted as development manager on the Drapers Gardens development.


Replacing the original Drapers Gardens 1960s skyscraper, the 75 metres tall, 16 floor building is 25 metres shorter but boasts three roof terraces and a pocket park and, at 270,000 square feet, will have more floor space.

George Iacobescu, Chief Executive of CWG said: “This project has given us the chance to demonstrate our construction skills on a high quality project in the Square Mile.
 There are increasingly few top-quality office buildings available in London. The successful completion and letting of Drapers Gardens further emphasises the position of London as a global business centre.”

BlackRock vice chairman Richard Kushel says the City of London offices fitted the bill.
"Located in the heart of the City of London, the new building provides an environmentally-friendly state of the art facility for our business and an excellent working environment for our employees.”

"Bringing our London offices into a single facility has been a high priority since BlackRock’s acquisition of Barclays Global Investors in December. This will further the integration and fully enable us to leverage BlackRock’s breadth of resources on behalf of our clients."

Free Breakfast In The Cloud - It Could Get Your SME Through The Recession

february 09, 2010

Professionals from small and medium-sized businesses in London will have the opportunity to discover how the latest remote and virtual office IT tools can help profitability this year. Outsourcery, the UK's leading provider of mobile-centric communications and IT solutions for more than 25,000 SMEs, will offer a free “Technology for Business” breakfast seminar at 08:00 this Thursday, Feburary 11, at its London office.

Those that run their SME from an office in or around London will be able to find out how the latest hosted technology, which larger enterprises have been using for many years, is now helping SMEs to cut costs and keep their competitive edge. They will explain “The Cloud” - the new model if internet-based business IT which has received a lot of publicity recently.

The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet and cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers. It saves massive expenditure on servers, hosting and software. In The Cloud you share servers, storage and networks, which are provided centrally, which gives on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. You pay for it pretty much like your utility bills, the more you use the more you pay, or you can pay by subscription. The key is that your office IT infrastructure becomes virtual, and can grow or shrink flexibly without initial outlay for tonnes of kit.

The Cloud is a big lift for new or expanding SMEs which have to shift from home-based computing to a more sophisticated IT setup. SMEs are increasingly being thought of as the pathway for the UK economy to recover, whilst jobless professionals can put their skills into enterprises instead of thumb-twiddling over job applications.

Green Offices In Birmingham And Edinburgh Make £69m

february 08, 2010

The green economy wasn't killed by the recession after all. Climate Change Capital Limited (CCC), a low carbon asset manager which buys offices and gives them green makeovers, has announced that its property fund closed making £69m.

Office rents and property values are increasingly looking set to be determined partly by their green credentials. That's why the fund is 40% invested in two offices in Birmingham and Edinburgh and further investments are on the cards. But that's only its property fund. CCC manages funds with commitments totalling US $1.5 billion, investing heavily in green technology. Tim Mockett, joint founding partner of CCC said: "We are pleased that our investors who are from the UK, Europe and Australia, are prepared to commit to a sustainable investment strategy. Investors are becoming increasingly aware of how the future regulatory landscape will look and are acting accordingly. The trend to more energy efficient buildings, driven by legislation and the wishes of occupiers and investors, is irreversible."

The fund says it generates attractive returns on investments in commercial property by “retrofitting” existing buildings to improve sustainability and reduce operating costs. Stakeholders in commercial property are increasingly attempting to sell space on the potential impacts of climate change, a reflection of their corporate responsibility plus the need to augment the value of their property investments in the future.

CCC says continually reducing the carbon footprint in our portfolio has lead to significant cost reductions for its tenants. Esme Lowe, also a founding partner said: "As a first time fund with no legacy issues this successful closing is a validation of our specialist investment strategy and provides a platform for growth. On a stock selective basis we remain confident of the prospects for UK property."

Fingerprint Children's Websites Team Up With Global Company

february 06, 2011

Dolphin Digital Media, a creator of secure social networking websites for children using fingerprint identification technology, has announced that it has partnered with digital agency Proximity Worldwide to manage branded entertainment and digital marketing duties for all of the Company's new properties worldwide.

Proximity Worldwide is a London-based global interactive marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) network firm that fuses digital expertise with a deep knowledge of consumer data. As a full-service digital agency, Proximity specializes in areas including branded integration, e-commerce, social media and digital entertainment marketing.

Dolphin Digital Studios, a new division of Dolphin Digital Media based in Miami offices, intends to produce original programming that will premiere online. These digital productions will subsequently be distributed in traditional media formats such as made-for-television movies and home video.
"We are very excited to have chosen Proximity as our digital agency partner in launching and marketing our new properties around the world. We believe their high energy, creativity and expertise in branded entertainment and digital marketing are key in achieving success for these properties," said Bill O'Dowd, CEO of Dolphin Digital Media.

The work is being led out of Proximity's Minneapolis office. Responsibilities include strategic development, creative development, social media, sponsorship procurement and digital advertising. Specifically, the scope of work will include the development of digital assets and experiences, mobile games and applications content for the new properties.

"We at Proximity strive to push the envelope constantly in designing and developing ways by which we market and distribute breakthrough content in the digital space. We share the same mission with Dolphin Digital Media in effectively launching their properties successfully in the digital space worldwide," said Lorenz Esguerra, SVP Managing Director at Proximity. "There are so many opportunities to take this partnership places that few others have gone," he added.

Proximity Worldwide, headquartered in London offices is a global interactive marketing and CRM network with offices in more than 50 countries including India offices in New Delhi and Asia offices in Singapore. Proximity has been independently ranked as the world's most awarded integrated marketing services network according to The Won Report. It is part of BBDO Worldwide and a member of the Omnicom group of companies.

Texas Office Vacancy Turn Around

february 06, 2011

Franklin Street Properties, an investment firm specialising in US offices real estate, has turned around a highly vacant Texas office complex.

The company announced it has entered into a new lease for approximately 68,205 square feet at our 155,715 square foot Houston office property known as Park Ten located at 16285 Park Ten Place. This new lease increased occupancy at Park Ten from 48.2 to 92 per cent

Franklin Street Properties, based in Wakefield offices in Massachusetts, says it is focused on achieving current income and long-term growth through investments in commercial properties. FSP operates in two business segments: real estate operations and investment banking/investment services. The majority of FSP's property portfolio is suburban office buildings, with select investments in certain central business district properties. FSP's subsidiary, FSP Investments LLC (member, FINRA and SIPC), is a real estate investment banking firm and a registered broker/dealer. FSP is headquartered US offices in Maryland.

FSP’s portfolio of 33 properties consists primarily of suburban office buildings as well as select Central Business District (CBD) properties.  The FSP portfolio also currently includes one industrial use property.  FSP’s current portfolio contains approximately 6.4 million square feet.
FSP Property Management also provides asset management services, property management services and/or property accounting services to FSP Sponsored REITs, and works in conjunction with FSP’s Acquisitions/Dispositions Department. The amount of space currently being managed by FSP Property Management for FSP’s Sponsored REITs is approximately 4.9 million square feet in 15 different properties, and includes approximately 2.0 million square feet in 3 different properties in which FSP owns a percentage interest.

We're Out Of The Recession But New Offices Will Be A Wait!

february 05, 2010

The economic big dipper may have reached the bottom of the big drop, but it's not going to be a rush out of recession for new offices in the UK or Europe.

According to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm, a lag in recovery by developers will mean a shrivelled choice in offices for the next few years. That's the reality for Europe according to their latest global research.

Across the main Western European markets as a group, the overall scale of development expected over the period 2009-10 is now 5% lower than was expected at the end of 2008, and there will be a larger and more widespread reduction in supply additions in 2011. This will have the effect of constraining occupier choice in the office market, particularly for large new buildings.

Shakey times in the first half of 2009 caused investment activity in the office sector to decline most sharply, mainly as a result of the difficulty in financing large transactions and the uncertainty over the outlook for occupier demand, especially in financial services and associated business services. By the end of 2009 picked up after a number of large office deals, including Blackstone’s purchase of a share in Broadgate and the sale and leaseback of HSBC’s tower and the sale of 5 Churchill Place, both in Canary Wharf, London left rents in better shape. But new developments will take longer to pick up.

The recession is hoped to have bottomed, with some improvement since early 2009 when the Eurozone economy fell by over 1.5% in one quarter, and France and Germany proudly announced that their recessions ended in Q2. CBRE say we appear to be past the low point in the economic cycle, but the risk of a “double-dip” remains real, a number of forecasters are now expecting a resumption of year-on-year growth early in 2010, and positive (if sub-trend) growth for most European economies in 2010 as a whole.

Famine For Manchester Offices According To Mr. Cheap

february 04, 2010

A “famine” of grade A office space in Manchester city centre is due for 2010 according to a leading UK property consultancy.

Chris Cheap, director at GVA Grimley Office, says refurbishment will be the way forward as new-build products have ground to a halt.

"It is clear that Manchester city centre is rapidly moving from feast to famine in terms of larger grade A office schemes. The lack of tower cranes across the city skyline tells its own story in terms of where the pipeline is heading, with 2010 expected to be a baron year for completions”

2010 research by GVA Grimley shows that a shortage of bank finance and demand from potential occupiers for shorter leases has brought speculative, new-build development “almost to a standstill”. Other cities, such as Liverpool, were also highlighted as suffering. Mr. Cheap says it could be two years before new offices become available.

“The city has numerous consented schemes, which could deliver product but with developers understandably reluctant to speculatively construct, we could have to wait until mid 2012 at the earliest, for new product to enter the market. This lack of built product may not help with promoting Manchester to inward investors in the short term, but those larger international occupiers have a longer horizon and the number of potential schemes within the city is strong. A lag in the supply line may have one benefit in terms of bringing headline rents in line with other regional capitals and reducing occupier expectations of incentive packages.”

UK Prime Minister Welcomes Virtual Office High Tech For Olympic Games

february 02, 2011

David Cameron has welcomed a new business partnership designed to use virtual office technology to bring high tech business innovation to the UK for the 2012 Olympic Games.

UK Prime Minister, David Cameron and Cisco Chairman and CEO, John Chambers, Cisco pledged support for efforts to generate a long-term investment of money, technology and manpower that would help support the design and implementation of an initiative called the British Innovation Gateway (BIG).

In line with the government's goals of driving new economic growth through high-tech innovation, fostering an environment of entrepreneurship within the UK and ensuring an enduring legacy from the London 2012 Olympic Games, BIG will mark the start of a five-year effort to catalyse sustainable and scalable growth of innovative high-tech small and medium sized enterprises.

BIG will include two networked Innovation Centres – an open innovation centre in offices in Shoreditch developed in partnership with the local SME community, and another at the Olympic Park providing a 'state of the art connected community' with special focus on developing and demonstrating a new wave of solutions for London and other cities.

Orchestrated by Cisco, these centres will be underpinned by state-of-the-art networked collaboration technologies linking innovation and technology centres and offices across the UK and other global hubs of innovation.

Prime Minister David Cameron said:
"I welcome this major statement of support from Cisco. This will help create many new jobs and opportunities, and support our drive to diversify our economy and generate sustainable economic growth."
"We want to bring together the energy and innovation of Shoreditch and the incredible potential of the Olympic Park to help make East London one of the world's great technology centres. Today this ambition is gathering pace."
"Cisco's goal is a fantastic example of how business is turning this vision into reality, with East London set to become a leading Tech City."

John Chambers, chairman and CEO, Cisco:
"The Prime Minister's Tech City Initiative is an excellent example of how government agencies can spur innovation and growth," said CEO of Cisco John Chambers. "This project is a logical progression of the work we've done in the east of London for the 2012 Olympic Games, and we are delighted to work with the UK Government as it serves as a reminder of how business and government, working together can turn vision into reality."


IT Company Expands To Phoenix Office As It Hits 100,000 Employees

february 02, 2011

Cognizant, a leading provider of business, technology and consulting services, today announced it is increasing its North American service delivery centre capacity to accommodate continuing rapid growth. The New Jersey office headquartered firm recently crossed the 100,000 employee mark and continues to hire talent aggressively within North America as well as Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia.

Cognizant's new delivery centre and offices in Phoenix will accommodate over 1,000 employees, replacing its existing 500-person facility. Cognizant will provide a full range of services from the new centre, including consulting, application services, IT infrastructure services, and business and knowledge process services.

In addition, Cognizant continues to expand employment in its existing delivery centres and offices in the United States.  In addition to the Phoenix delivery centre, Cognizant operates an enterprise analytics centre in New Jersey; a  global Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Massachusetts that supports Cognizant's IT Infrastructure Services business; and delivery centres in Arkansas and Illinois that provide application development and maintenance, testing, and packaged software implementation services. Other rapidly growing North American locations include delivery centres and offices in Canada and Mexico.

"We are proud to have grown to 100,000 employees in just 16 years, with over 17,000 professionals in North America. We are making substantial North American investments in people, facilities, systems, and processes to meet continued strong demand for our services," said Gordon Coburn, Chief Financial and Operating Officer at Cognizant. "Our distributed delivery centre model, globally and locally, helps us attract and retain the world's best talent, both from leading universities and the professional labour market, enabling our customers to address structural changes brought about by the reset economy."

Google-Backed Package Helps UK Virtual Business Abroad

february 02, 2010

There’s a lot to be said for a virtual office if you’re looking to expand your business abroad at a low cost. Key is giving yourself a homely brand rather than shouting out that you’re a foreigner. A virtual business address, telephone number and email all help, but what about advertising, banking and getting on the market place? For that you need an Export Box.

A what? X-box? No, Export Box is quite a good idea from Oldham-based translation company Applied Language Solutions (ALS) to help UK SMEs get on the international export market - and they’ve got some big friends chipping in. Google, Royal Mail, HSBC and UKTI have all offered discount services as part of the package.

You get a translation of part of your website, keywords and adverts designed for the country of your choice, International banking with HSBC, £1000 worth of paid advertising on Google PPC, free Alibaba.com Export Storefront and membership to the Institute of Export - all useful tools to get you on your way. There are two packages to choose from costing either £1,000 or £2,000 plus VAT.

Export Box was an idea by ALS’s CEO, Gavin Wheeldon.
“It is estimated that just 75,000 businesses in Britain are exporting outside the UK which simply isn't enough, especially as the potential revenue gained by successfully tapping into international markets could be a vital lifeline for SMEs during the economic downturn.”

UK government research says that only 19 percent of SMEs are currently trade outside the UK while 51 percent of those that do export expect a 34 percent increase in turnover in the next 12 months.

There’s a good reason why the government want to push such figures, according to Wheeldon. "With the current deficit of £2.5 billion we need a 5.25 per cent increase in exporting activity to equal current importing levels.

Liverpool Office Market Hits Record Take Up In An Eye Of The Economic Storm

february 02, 2010

Offices in Liverpool enjoyed the best annual take up in the city's history, despite the recession. That’s according to the fifth annual Liverpool Commercial Office Market Review (2009).

Total city centre take up was 520,000 sq ft, whilst the out-of-town markets totalled 721,000 sq ft, a 33 percent increase on 2008’s total of 543,000 sq ft.

Two large public sector deals are being heralded as the biggest factors in the upturn - 140,000 sq ft pre-let to Merseytravel at Mann Island and the UK Border Agency’s decision to take 220,000 sq ft in The Capital.

There were major losses in the out-of-town office business parks of North and South Liverpool, Wavertree and Knowsley totalling 131,220 sq ft, compared with 222,000 sq ft in the previous year, a dip of 33.3 per cent.

Jim Gill, Chief Executive of Liverpool Vision, the city’s economic development company which commissioned the research, said: “The figures represent a very good performance in the face of challenging economic conditions.

“Liverpool is still well positioned to resume its growth once the global economic situation recovers, but the private sector is yet to return fully to the market, reflecting the continuing impact of the world financial crisis on occupier confidence.”

Mark Chadwick, Chief Executive of Professional Liverpool, the professional services company that carried out the research, said the results were “very impressive and confirm that Liverpool is re-establishing itself as a business centre of importance following falling figures in 2008.”

The Creative, Media and Information Technology sectors remained relatively resilient, following an excellent year in 2008. Total take up in the Central Business District in 2009 was 14,500 sq ft, compared with 21,500 recorded in 2008, but still above the 2006 figure of 12,000 sq ft.

Like elsewhere in the UK supply of Grade A city centre office space in Liverpool is shrinking with 178,000 sq ft empty and ready for occupation, down from 222,000 sq ft in 2008.

Let Your Business Flourish By Acquiring A Virtual Office

february 01, 2012

In having a business, you must be prepared for all the expenses that you will have to pay for. However, through advancements in technology, specifically internet technology, you can now take advantage of fewer expenses but with great benefits. One of the instances where this would apply is when having an office for your business. Traditionally, you may go for owning a physical office space that would cost you more than the upfront payment for the place because you still have to consider initial expenses for the equipment, furniture, and other things that you will need for your office. However, due to the fact that there is much technological advancement in the online platform, you can save yourself from all the large preliminary investments that you will make. Through having a virtual office, you are sure to have a more convenient time in running your business while at the same time make it easier on your budget.

The virtual office serves its function in cyberspace such that you will not need to pay for the actual space you will need for your business to operate. Your business can run whenever and wherever you want to by acquiring the necessary virtual services. There are packages for communication, meetings and even business addresses. There is a virtual receptionist that will be answering calls for you and forwarding them to you anywhere you are, and this is part of the features that you can take advantage of when hiring virtual services. If you want a London office space, you can do it without renting an actual office. This type of cyberspace office will allow you to have a professional business address as part of the package. And lastly, you will be able to benefit from the meetings package where in you can utilize videoconferencing or telephone conferencing with your clients.

Make Your Virtual Office Undetectable

december 31, 2010

A US security software company has developed a patented security feature which makes a virtual office's location undetectable.

VirnetX Holding Corporation, an internet security software and technology company based in California offices in Scotts Valley, has announced that it has been granted Patent # EP99958693 by the European Patent Office.  The patent for network protocol for secure communications builds upon the company's important patent portfolio that address critical communication security needs of large enterprises, managed service providers and technology OEMs.

The methods in this patent are used to create a special kind of Virtual Private Network (VPN). This VPN not only includes the normal authentication and privacy, but also includes a stealth feature. This stealth feature is achieved by randomly changing the IP packet addresses on a packet-by-packet basis. Methods are described that enable the computers at each end of the VPN to use cryptographic techniques and synchronize the random address sequence. Third party observers cannot predict the sequence and the packets appear to be unrelated and not part of the same network connection. 

"We are very pleased with the issuance of this patent," said Dr Robert Short, VirnetX chief technical officer and chief scientist and one of the inventors of the patent.  "The technologies described in this patent were originally developed for protecting national security assets, but we believe that they could prove equally important for protecting extremely valuable commercial assets.  The issuance of this patent also signifies VirnetX's ongoing commitment to R & D with focus on the challenges facing both national and international security."

VirnetX Holding Corporation, an Internet security software and technology company, is engaged in commercializing its patent portfolio by developing a licensing program as well as developing software products designed to create a secure environment for real-time communication applications such as instant messaging, VoIP, smart phones, eReaders and video conferencing. The Company's patent portfolio includes over 48 U.S. and international patents and pending applications that were recently declared as essential for 4G security specifications and provide the foundation for the Company's unique GABRIEL Connection Technology.

Cloud And Virtual Office Video Provider To Launch China Office

december 31, 2010

A leading IP video management provider is to strengthen presence in China with 30-person team and $3m investment in a China office.

From its office in Prague, Czech republic and Beijing, KIT digital announced it has signed a letter of intent to establish KIT China in partnership with Morse Chen, founder and former CEO of China's first premium content IP video portal, Webs-TV (now called Yam.com). KIT digital plans to officially launch KIT China in the beginning of the first quarter of 2011.

KIT China is expected to become the vehicle through which KIT digital will manage its business in the Greater China area (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau), including service of existing clients in the region, deployment of new clients, customer-driven customization of its industry-leading VX-one software solutions, and the establishment of local channel and re-selling partnerships. Over time, KIT China would also serve as a remote development and delivery center for the company's Prague-based research and development team.

Chen would serve as president and chief executive officer of KIT China, bringing with him 19 years of successful entrepreneurship and business creation, and more than a decade of IP video experience. Chen founded Webs-TV in 1999, building it to nearly US$50 million in annual revenue before exiting the business in 2007.

KIT China is expected to be staffed initially by a 30-person local team centered in Taipei offices and Chengdu, with KIT digital's pre-existing sales offices in Beijing and Taipei becoming part of the KIT China operations.

"The formation of KIT China demonstrates our commitment to the world's highest growth market and our determination to be the global leader in next generation video management solutions," said Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, chairman and CEO of KIT digital. "At KIT digital, we understand that you have to be on the ground and close to clients to succeed in international expansion. Particularly in Asia, you need to be truly local and appreciate the differences between sub-regions."

First UK Hospital To Go Virtual With Microsoft

december 24, 2010

Milton Keynes office staff will be the first hospital workers to use Microsoft's virtual office health software to access patient information.

Microsoft Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) 2009 has been selected by Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to transform its approach to hospital management and patient care. Its will be the first hospital office in the UK using the system.

Microsoft Amalga UIS is Microsoft’s enterprise data aggregation platform for healthcare, enabling hospitals and health professionals to unlock the patient data stored in a wide range of existing systems and make it easily accessible to every authorised member of the team inside and beyond the hospital. The solution collects data from disparate sources, empowering clinical staff with relevant patient information to help them make more informed decisions in relation to patient care - thereby increasing patient safety and service.

The solution allows hospitals and health professionals to build on existing systems to improve quality of care and deliver performance management and reporting that can lead to maximising payments and improved cost efficiencies within the hospital.
“Our environment is changing. We all notice small differences where we live or regularly visit,” said Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of EEA. “Eye On Earth gives all of us the opportunity to inform and be informed of such changes. The Microsoft technology behind Eye On Earth and AirWatch makes environmental information much more accessible. As more people understand what’s happening in their area, more will contribute to solving environmental problems.”

Milton Keynes Hospital will use Microsoft Amalga UIS to bring together clinical and operational data from 10 disparate core business applications and connect key staff to the information needed to carry out vital tasks, from providing patient advice and care through to financial planning and better management of care and performance. This will in turn allow hospital staff to make more informed and effective decisions based on comprehensive evidence. Microsoft Amalga UIS will also make reporting much more efficient and flexible, helping Milton Keynes Hospital to achieve its desire for better performance and reporting, while meeting government mandates, such as 18-week referral to treatment requirements and care pathways.

“The Microsoft solution complements and enhances both our nationally provided systems and other legacy systems already in place, providing a comprehensive view of clinical information from multiple sources within the Hospital,” said David Powell, Head of IM&T at Milton Keynes Hospital.

The Trust’s Finance Director Wayne Preston added: “Making major service improvements while reducing costs looks like a tough proposition at first glance, but we already have the means to achieve this at our disposal. We are now much better positioned to leverage the solutions available through NPfIT. Most hospitals have all the data they need within their underlying systems to make significant service improvements - it is just locked up in data silos.”

Family Buy £37m Office And Industrial Properties To Scoop Low Prices

december 23, 2010

A family acting as its own commercial property investment company has paid $37.9m for American office and industrial properties in a bid to benefit from depressed prices.

The properties in Renton and Kent, California, according to a press release from Grubb & Ellis, a commercial real estate services firm based in Santa Ana offices in California.

The family, which has a background in manufacturing, has been among “the most active” purchasers of industrial properties in the Puget Sound area in recent months, according to Grubb & Ellis senior vice president Matt McGregor, who represented the buyer in the transactions.

Competition to purchase industrial properties has been increasing as buyers try to purchase buildings before the market revives and prices start to climb back up.
The newly acquired properties are the Cedar River Corporate Park, which comprises four buildings totalling 143,400 square feet and theLincoln Distribution Centre, a 170,000-square-foot warehouse/distribution building.

MRS Investments, the company name used by the family, paid $27m for Cedar River Corporate Park, a newly constructed Class A office business park with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification, the third highest ranking for environmentally friendly projects, from the US Green Building Council. Built in 2008, the industrial park is located near Interstate 405 and State Route 167.

The seller, Tarragon LLC, was represented by John Gilliland, a vice president in the Seattle office of CB Richard Ellis, along with Vice President John Sullivan and Associate Charlie Farra of CB Richard Ellis.

The Lincoln Distribution Center sold for $10.9m. Located near Interstate 5 and State Route 181, the warehouse/distribution center is fully leased to Pacific Power Generation and Certified Folder Display Inc. The seller, Lincoln Center LLC, purchased the property for $9.15 million in November 2003 from the Ventura County Employees Retirement Association. Richard Peterson of NAI Puget Sound Properties represented the seller in the transaction.

Family Buy £37m Office And Industrial Properties To Scoop Low Prices

december 23, 2010

A family acting as its own commercial property investment company has paid $37.9m for American office and industrial properties in a bid to benefit from depressed prices.

The properties in Renton and Kent, California, according to a press release from Grubb & Ellis, a commercial real estate services firm based in Santa Ana offices in California.

The family, which has a background in manufacturing, has been among “the most active” purchasers of industrial properties in the Puget Sound area in recent months, according to Grubb & Ellis senior vice president Matt McGregor, who represented the buyer in the transactions.

Competition to purchase industrial properties has been increasing as buyers try to purchase buildings before the market revives and prices start to climb back up.
The newly acquired properties are the Cedar River Corporate Park, which comprises four buildings totalling 143,400 square feet and theLincoln Distribution Centre, a 170,000-square-foot warehouse/distribution building.

MRS Investments, the company name used by the family, paid $27m for Cedar River Corporate Park, a newly constructed Class A office business park with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification, the third highest ranking for environmentally friendly projects, from the US Green Building Council. Built in 2008, the industrial park is located near Interstate 405 and State Route 167.

The seller, Tarragon LLC, was represented by John Gilliland, a vice president in the Seattle office of CB Richard Ellis, along with Vice President John Sullivan and Associate Charlie Farra of CB Richard Ellis.

The Lincoln Distribution Center sold for $10.9m. Located near Interstate 5 and State Route 181, the warehouse/distribution center is fully leased to Pacific Power Generation and Certified Folder Display Inc. The seller, Lincoln Center LLC, purchased the property for $9.15 million in November 2003 from the Ventura County Employees Retirement Association. Richard Peterson of NAI Puget Sound Properties represented the seller in the transaction.

Virtual Office Online Auction Firm Goes Actual

december 18, 2010

A virtual office based internet auction company is moving to actual offices in the form of retail outfits.

BizAuctions, a prime provider of commercial eBay and Amazon liquidation services for excess inventories, overstocks, and returns, announced progress on lease for a second outlet store that is to be located in San Ysidro, California. It's a marked change form running business from its California offices in San Diego.

Delmar Janovec, BizAuctions' CEO, commented "We have entered into a non-binding letter of intent with the landlord on the terms of the lease for our retail store, Lucky 7's Outlet, that is located in San Ysidro, CA. After the necessary tenant improvements and final approval of the lease by the landlord, the outlet-retail space should be available for occupancy on February 1 2011. The new outlet-retail store is located within approximately one half mile of the USA/Mexico border crossing on the 805 highway that averages approximately 35,000 passenger cars per day and approximately 18,000 pedestrians that cross the US/Mexico border in cars and on foot.”

The size of the retail space is about 4,000 sq ft and will allow BizAuctions-Lucky 7's the ability to sell name brand clothing, general merchandise, and electronics. Based upon its sales trend since the mid-August opening of the outlet store located in our current warehouse-office in Otay Mesa, and November sales of $44,982 combined with the traffic count crossing the border each day, Janovec anticipates seeing daily sales from $5,000 to $10,000.

“Our customer base continues to grow briskly due to the variety of name brand merchandise that we offer in clothing, household items, appliances, and name brand electronics such as Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Vizio, Sharp, and Samsung - all at prices significantly below retail. With the progress that has been made since the opening of our current Outlet-Retail store, and the location of this second outlet-retail store, calendar year 2011 and beyond looks positive."

New York Office Acquisitions Solidify Market For Real Estate Firm

december 17, 2010

The purchase of three major Manhattan office buildings solidify a New York office firm.

SL Green Realty have agreed to purchase investments from Gramercy Capital for an aggregate price of $390.8m, including the assumption of $265.6m of debt. The transactions, which are expected to close within the next 90 days also include a 45 per cent joint venture interest in Manhattan offices including 885 Third Avenue, also known as the Lipstick Building, for approximately $39.3m.

The transaction consolidates SL Green’s position and will bring the company full ownership of the property. Based upon the purchase price, the implied total value of SL Green’s interest is $352.0 million.

A 45 per cent joint venture interest in the leased fee of 2 Herald Square, for $25.6m will bring the company’s ownership to 100 per cent in the leased fee. Based upon the purchase price, the implied total value is $247.5 million.

The entire leased fee interest in 292 Madison Avenue, New York, NY for approximately $19.2 million, including pro rations, plus assumed mortgage debt of $59.1 million.
All of the above assets are leased to third party operators.

The companies also announced a $38.7m mezzanine loan secured by equity interests in 601 West 26th Street, New York, NY, also known as the Starrett-Lehigh Building, supplementing an existing SL Green investment in the property.

Andrew Mathias, President of SL Green, said, “These transactions conclude an important consolidation in our ownership of land and improvements representing 1.2 million square feet of prime Midtown properties, all with long–term operating leases to third parties. As the Manhattan market continues its improvement, the depth of our capabilities and reach of our investment platform are an increasingly valuable component of our corporate strategy, which creatively invests with what we believe is unparalleled market knowledge, and with a disciplined risk adjusted return approach.”

Which Commercial Property Positions Have More Jobs Available In The US?

december 17, 2010

New jobs for US office and commercial real estate positions on key job boards in 2010 have been led by property management and accounting, according to the CCIM Institute’s Career Centre Job Barometer.

Both industry specialisations each accounted for 22 per cent of job postings in the period of January – September 2010. In California offices they accounted for 16 per cent of all new jobs posted in the nine-month period, according to the Chicago office based institute.

“With commercial real estate yields now looking comparatively more attractive than other asset classes, employers are taking a hard-line approach to managing costs more efficiently while providing better service at the property level, “ said Frank Simpson, CCIM, the 2011 president of the CCIM Institute and president of The Simpson Company in Gainesville, Georgia. “These job postings reflect the fact that managing and keeping tenants is obviously an essential part of maintaining the integrity and profitability of a portfolio.”

The CCIM Career Centre Job Barometer is researched and published by Cornell University’s Program in Real Estate and the SelectLeaders Real Estate Job Network, of which CCIM is a partner.

“We are seeing activity on the recruiting front,” said Tony LoPinto, founder of SelectLeaders. “Search activity is starting to happen across the board—real estate investors, funds, operators, and corporate users are all back in the hunt for talent. C-Suite and senior executive hiring historically portends hiring of teams and ultimately hiring throughout the corporation.”

From early 2008 until mid-2009, the multifamily sector dominated the job market, but dropped precipitously by September 2009. Banking, responding to the economic stimulus, overtook multifamily for the highest number of jobs of any sector from September 2009 through September 2010.

US office firm to rid $2bn debt

december 17, 2010

A US office and real estate firm has given details of its plan to rid $2bn of debt.

MPG Office Trust, a California office real estate investment trust, has stated it is continuing to implement its strategic plan to own and manage a core set of assets, reduce and modify the company’s obligations, and enhance long-term value for stockholders.

The restructuring initiatives completed to date have seen the firm eliminate several repayment and debt service guarantees and the disposition of certain non-core assets which relieved the company of approximately $2bn of debt obligations and exposure of approximately $150m.
The company has turned its focus to the core downtown Los Angeles office properties, which includes working proactively with lenders and special services to reduce the company’s financial obligations.

As part of this next phase, the company will today deliver a notice of imminent default to the master servicer for the mortgage loan on Two California Plaza in downtown Los Angeles as a first step towards restructuring the loan. Two California Plaza is financed with commercial mortgage-backed securities debt, and as a consequence, in order to comply with real estate mortgage investment conduit rules, the MPG must send a notice of imminent default to enable any discussions regarding a loan modification with the special servicer.

David L. Weinstein, chief executive officer commented: “Two California Plaza is a key asset that is materially over-leveraged. The Company would prefer to include Two California Plaza as part of its core set of assets, and expects to have the opportunity to explore various potential options for doing so once the asset is transferred into special servicing. At this time, we do not believe that funding current and projected operating deficits at this asset with the Company’s precious unrestricted cash is in the best interests of our stockholders.”

South American Office Market Remains Resilient

december 11, 2010

The South American office market has remained resilient compared to other worldwide office markets in the recession and is on the brink of recovery according to experts.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s “Insiders’ Perspectives Conference on Latin America Capital Markets” held in its Chicago office, Pedro Azcue, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Latin America, shared with 100 real estate investors in attendance that Latin America is leading global economic growth in a V-shaped recovery that positions the region to embark on new investment opportunities.

“Latin America is finally on the cusp of capitalising on its vast potential as a true economic growth engine,” said Azcue. “Quick adaptability to the United States-led recession has allowed the region as a whole to remain remarkably resilient during the economic downturn and to confirm bright prospects for the years to come.”

As noted in Jones Lang LaSalle’s Latin America Market Perspective report, economic growth is genuine, highly compelling, sustainable and presents very attractive prospects for real estate investment. In the last year, there has been a seeming groundswell of interest among global investors covering various asset opportunities. The region’s large economies, including Brazil, Mexico, and Chile, among others, are continuing to ignite growth for Latin America.

Offices in Brazil are in an enviable position given the credit crisis turmoil worked to strengthen the high-end office market due to supply constraints, and the market has picked up pace along with rising tides in the global economy. Brazil is showing continuous forward momentum on all fronts including: foreign and capital investment.  São Paulo is leading Brazil with a well-rounded economy, and solid economic drivers are translating into consistent tenant demand for high quality office space.  During the second quarter the São Paulo market gained momentum, and vacancy rates trended downward as demand resume for high-end office and industrial space.

“São Paulo’s strong demand conditions led to a decline in vacancy ratings and the city has exhibited relative stability over the last 18 to 24 months,” said André Rosa, Senior Vice President of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Brazilian Capital Market team. “The city’s low vacancy rate has attracted new development and the strong demand for land is driving prices up.”

The Mexico office market was hit hard in the 2009 recession due to very close linkages to the United States. Mexico City withstood the economic crisis with remarkable strength despite the severity of Mexico’s recession. After slumping 6.5 per cent in 2009, the economy has quickly rebounded in 2010 as year-over-year real GDP growth in the second quarter 2010 was recorded at 7.6%. Mexico City’s office market is projected to increase to nearly 13 million square feet in the next five years.

“Mexico’s economy is highly sensitive to developments north of the border, “said Hector Klerian, Executive Vice President of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Mexico operations. “To date, the recovery has been driven by a sharp industrial growth in the automobile sector to satisfy external demand.”

Intellectual Property Offices Meet To Sign New Agreements On Cooperation

december 11, 2010

Leaders of the world's major intellectual property offices have signed new agreements to assist working with China's IP office.

The deputy director of China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has led a delegation to intellectual property offices in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and France on a working visit at the invitation of UK Intellectual Property Office, WIPO and French Industrial Property Office.

During the visit to the UK Intellectual Property Office, the two offices held the 13th joint working committee meeting. The two sides briefed each other about the latest developments in the two offices, and exchanged views on topics of interest, including the communications among patent examiners, intellectual property management in the process of R&D collaboration, the accreditation of national independent innovation products.

SIPO's He Hua and the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office chief executive officer John Alty signed the 2010 Bilateral Cooperation Framework Agreement.

During the visit to WIPO, He Hua and Deputy Director General of WIPO James Pooley also held talks, and the two sides had a in-depth discussion about the cooperation in the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the latest development in PCT. Mr. Pooley expressed his thanks to SIPO's support to WIPO and spoke highly of China's office in promoting the PCT system. In addition, the delegation also held talks with people in charge of PCT processing service, PCT data services and translation services departments and exchanged views on documents transfer and translation issues during the cooperation. After the meeting, delegation members also visited the PCT documents processing and documents monitoring system.

During their visit to National Industrial Property Institute of France, Deputy General Director Philippe Laval met with the delegation. The delegation had separate talks with people in charge of Business Services Department and the Ministry of patent examination of National Industrial Property Institute of France.

World's Largest Virtual Office Backup And Disaster Recovery Specialist Launched

december 11, 2010

The world’s largest managed online backup and disaster recovery specialist has been launched by a major merger.

Backup Technology Limited and Terian Solutions LLC announced today at the Gartner Data Centre Conference in Las Vegas, the completion of a merger to create the world’s largest managed online backup and disaster recovery specialist.

The combined entity will retain the Backup Technology name and brand to build on its existing international presence. The partnership means that Backup Technology now protect over five petabytes of data for a global customer base which includes The Red Cross, Master Lock, Liverpool Football Club, Energy XXI and the UK government offices.

The new organisation will continue to operate from its existing offices and data centres, with the European head office in Leeds, UK and data centres in Manchester and London offices. The US head office will remain in Houston, Texas along with data centres in Texas and New York.

The merger is expected to significantly increase adoption of Backup Technology’s services in the United States and Europe by allowing multinational organizations to utilize a single centralized Backup and Recovery solution and choose if their encrypted data should reside in European or US Data Center’s. This approach ensures that Backup Technology customers are compliant with European and US Data Protection and Data Retention Regulations such as FIPS-140, Sarbanes Oxley, and PCI- DSS as their data will always reside within their chosen territory.

“Our companies have been working together since 2007 on international joint ventures to ensure that our customer’s data is effectively managed and supported. This led to our hardware and software platforms being identically aligned, which is crucial as it now means that all customers can continue to enjoy the same software and service without migrating any data to a new solution,” said Simon Chappell, Backup Technology's CEO.

Major Internet Provider For Virtual Businesses In US Deal

december 11, 2010

A major provider of virtual office internet and mobile access services has merged in a $500m deal.

EarthLink, a leading US provider of Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure based in Georgia offices in Atlanta, has announced that it has completed its acquisition of ITC^DeltaCom, Inc., a provider of integrated communications services to customers in the south eastern United States, in a transaction valued at approximately $524m.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, ITC^DeltaCom (Deltacom) stockholders are receiving $3.00 in cash per each share of Deltacom common stock in the transaction. EarthLink is paying approximately $199 million in cash as part of the acquisition. EarthLink also is assuming approximately $325 million of Deltacom's senior secured notes.
With the close of the transaction EarthLink will begin integrating its New Edge Networks and EarthLink Business Services operations with Deltacom and will market the combined services under the 'EarthLink Business' brand name.

"With the addition of Deltacom's deep fibre assets and strong customer relationships, EarthLink is creating a leading IP infrastructure and services company. We are pleased to have gained the regulatory approvals required to close this transaction in just ten weeks. We've acquired a business that has meaningful revenue streams, strong gross margins and unlevered free cash flow that positions EarthLink for future strategic value creation," said EarthLink chairman and CEO Rolla Huff. "Our new EarthLink Business division will offer a full complement of voice, data, mobile, and equipment services over a nationwide IP network with regional fibre density and u economics for any customer that has concentration in the Southeast region."

EarthLink has over 1.5 million residential customers across the United States. The company has been providing internet access and communications services for decades and has earned an award-winning reputation for both outstanding customer service and product innovation. EarthLink Business provides voice, data, mobile and equipment services over a Southeast fibre network and MPLS-based services nationwide.

Digital Phone Content Company Reaches Top 50 Ranking In 800% Growth

december 09, 2010

Digital publishing company YUDU Media, which provides digital content to iPhones, has announced that it ranked 35 in the 2010 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the UK.

Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over five years. YUDU grew 868 per cent during this period, making it the third fastest growing company in the North.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 is internationally recognised as being one of the most important business awards in the sector.

YUDU’s CEO, Richard Stephenson, said that rapidly growing demand for digital content online and on mobile devices such as the iPad helped drive YUDU’s phenomenal revenue growth. “We continue to see tremendous interest in our core business, which is helping companies transform static print publications into rich, digital format for online consumption,” said Stephenson. “But more recently we’re also seeing a rush of publishers looking to get their content onto mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone and Android platform.” In fact, a recent YUDU survey found that two out of three publishers plan to create digital publications for the iPad – a trend that bodes well for YUDU’s continued growth and success.

“Being one of the fastest growing technology companies in the UK is an impressive accomplishment. We commend YUDU Media for making the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 with a phenomenal 868 growth rate over five years,” said Jodi Birkett, Deloitte Technology partner for the North West.

YUDU offers ePublishing solutions for the web, iPad and iPhone from offices in London, Lancashire and US offices in Boston

Telephone Answering Service Careers Are Always A Team Effort

december 07, 2011

Are you someone who does not like working with a team? If that's the case then a telephone answering service job isn't for you. That's because one of the job requirements for a telephone answering service job is that you must be comfortable in working in a team. You will be required to cooperate with a lot of people. That would usually depend on which department you will get assigned to. If you are assigned in the sales department then you are going to have to cooperate with the sales representatives. You also must let them teach you about the product you are selling because you wouldn't want the customer to put down the phone on you if he can't get the answers he is looking for. If you are the one taking orders then you must cooperate with the warehouse people. These people may be hard to deal with but you have no choice because that is your job so you have to find ways to deal with them.

If you are someone who loves working with teams then the job is perfect for you because you are going to be working with a lot of people. Some of them can be friendly while some are always in a bad mood. They might be in a bad mood because they were assigned in an office space Manchester even if they wanted to be assigned in an office space Soho. It is important to always concentrate on the job no matter what happens though.

French Software Company To Move Closer To UK Customers

december 04, 2010

Cameleon Software, which provides software for offer design, product configuration, pricing and quoting, has announced the opening of a new office in London. The company's products help virtual office and major sales companies alike streamline their quote-to-order systems.

After years of success building markets and offices in France and the United States, Cameleon in now expanding to the City of London. The company already has a strong presence in Europe and other regions with its software is in use in over 70 countries across the globe.

Mr Lionel Chapurlat, vice president of alliances and business development at Cameleon Software commented, “In an increasingly globalised world, we want to get as close to our customers and partners as possible. The UK market and more generally the Northern Europe market is very dynamic, and having a local presence improves the development of our local portfolio and strengthens our relationships with partners.”
Jacques Soumeillan, CEO of Cameleon Software, said, “Cameleon is the global leader in the product configurator market, and we are growing our business around the world. Opening local offices is part of our development strategy and demonstrates our desire to provide outstanding service by being closer to our customers and partners. The United Kingdom is just a start.”

The company is headquartered in Toulouse offices with US headquarters in Illinois. Its customer base includes leading enterprises in manufacturing, insurance, telco and high tech such as: ThyssenKrupp, CTB, Technip, Gras Savoye, Vodafone SFR, Yellow Pages and IMS Health.

Virtual Offices Help Businesses To Reduce Snow Days But What Are Their Legal Rights?

december 04, 2010

In the current economic climate it is expected that more employers will refuse to pay employees for snow days, making the argument for virtual office working stronger to help businesses cope with disruptions caused by worsening winter conditions.

According to Carly Newport, a member of the Employment Solicitors Team at Trethowans LLP, which has offices in Southhampton and Salisbury, businsses should assess whether or not it is in the best interests not pay employees who take snow days. Deducting money from your staff’s pay packets may save some cash for the business but is likely to have a significant long term impact on morale and productivity. If you decide to close the business because of the snow then you cannot withhold pay from employees unless you have an express contractual right to do so.

There are always a select few who could easily walk to work but choose to stay under the duvet. If staff falsely blame the snow for their failure to attend the workplace then this could be a disciplinary matter. A one off offence may not be worth investigating but the lawyers advise that businesses keep records to see if there are any regular offenders, where disciplinary action may be appropriate.

Businesses cannot force an employee who cannot make it into the office to take holiday because employers need to give notice that is at least double the length of the holiday to force employees to take leave. Since we do not know when adverse weather conditions will occur giving notice is not possible.

$166m Company Takeover Shows Demand For Virtual Office Technology

december 04, 2010

A major American company has showed the strength of virtual office demand after a wireless internet technology company has been sold for $166m.

Zoran Corporation, which is based in California offices in Sunnyvale, has announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Microtune Inc in an all cash merger for $2.92 per share, which equates to a transaction value of approximately $166m. Microtune produce high-performance radio frequency tuners and transceivers to the broadband communications markets.

The acquisition was approved by Microtune stockholders representing approximately 75 per cent of the outstanding shares of Microtune common stock and has received all required regulatory approvals. Microtune shares have been delisted from NASDAQ and trading of the Microtune shares ceased.

Zoran Corporation is a leading provider of digital solutions for the digital entertainment and digital imaging markets. With over two decades of expertise developing and delivering digital signal processing technologies, Zoran has pioneered high-performance digital audio and video, imaging applications and Connect Share Entertain technologies for the digital home.

Zoran's proficiency in integration delivers major benefits for OEM customers, including greater capabilities within each product generation, reduced system costs, and shorter time to market. Zoran-based DTV, set-top box, DVD, digital camera, and multifunction printer products have received recognition for excellence and are now in hundreds of millions of homes and offices worldwide. With headquarters in US offices and additional operations in offices in China, France, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, and the UK.

New Chips To Save Smartphone Batteries

december 04, 2010

Mobile virtual office workers who rely on smartphones will welcome new computer chips which help users save precious battery life.

Magma Design Automation, a provider of chip design software, and Icera, a pioneer in soft modem chipsets for smartphones and mobile broadband devices, have announced joint development of Icera's 28-nanometer (nm) high-performance, low-power system-on-chip (SoC) design flow for its next-generation chipsets 4G LTE/3G/2G cellular modems for smartphones, and mobile broadband devices such as USB sticks, tablets and netbooks.

Icera, which has design offices in the UK, France, USA and China, says it chose Magma's Talus platform because it provides a highly integrated flow that enables Icera to address 28-nm design complexity, improve area efficiency and reduce power consumption while accelerating turnaround time.

"To maintain technical leadership in the cellular modem business, Icera cannot afford to compromise on performance, power consumption or area efficiency," said Peter Hughes, vice president of silicon engineering and operations at Icera. "The advanced technology and tight integration of the Talus platform enable Icera to meet our stringent power and area targets and to reduce time to market for our next-generation 28-nm soft modem chipset."

"The recent enhancements to the Talus platform were developed specifically to address increasing design complexity at the 28-nm node while improving designer productivity dramatically," said Premal Buch, general manager of Magma's Design Implementation Business Unit in its headquarter offices in San Jose, California. "Offering the capacity to process 1 million cells per day, integrating the Tekton-based MX timing engine to ensure correlation and accelerate timing closure, and supporting advanced low-power design techniques, Talus is the clear path to 28-nm and smaller SoCs."

UK Economy Boost And Job Losses To The Relief Of UK Office Markets

december 03, 2010

A New Year boost to the UK economy and halt to job losses will cause a sigh of relief in many markets, especially the UK office market, which is struggling outside of the capital.

Ernst & Young, the tax advisory firm, has said the UK economy will end the year on a high, with the latest forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expected to upgrade GDP growth, lower projections of public sector job cuts and reveal an overshoot in tax revenues.

The company, headquartered in London and New York offices, says its ITEM Club special report, released ahead of the OBR autumn forecast, says an increase of 2010 GDP growth from 1.2 per cent to 1.7 per cent is likely at par with ITEM’s own projections. In reviewing the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), the OBR could revise its estimates of public sector job losses down from 490,000 to around 400,000 – saving 90,000 jobs that would otherwise have been lost, as well as office space shrinkage.

Peter Spencer, chief economic advisor to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club. says since the OBR’s June forecast, the economy and tax receipts have improved, which will be reflected in a more optimistic OBR outlook. Further, buffering departmental budgets with an additional 3% of current spending will have saved some public sector jobs, but this balancing act will not be without its consequences as additional savings made to welfare reform will lead to reduced household incomes. ITEM also expects the OBR to reduce its forecast for consumer spending growth throughout the forecast period.

UK tax revenues may overshoot the OBR’s original forecast by over £10bn this year. This has also meant that Public Sector Net Borrowing (PSNBX) is currently running well below 2009/10 levels. ITEM suggests that there is further potential for the public finances to improve more rapidly. But uncertainties abound for the UK on welfare programs and the feasibility of departmental cuts, which says any revenue overshoots may not lead to bottom line improvements for the UK economy.

City Office Launches New Blog

december 03, 2009

Paris Offices Lead Recovery

august 29, 2010

Offices in France are leading the pack as the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region has gained momentum in the office rental rebound in the past quarter, now closely trailing the Asia Pacific region, which leads the global recovery in this sector.

According to the latest Global Office Rental Cycle report by CB Richard Ellis, which measures prime rents, take-up levels and vacancy rates across 17 global markets, almost half of the EMEA region’s markets are now experiencing rental growth or stability.

Offices in Paris, in particular, experienced a notable increase in rents in Q2 2010. Prime rents rose by three per cent, and CB Richard Ellis expects further rises over the coming months. This has been triggered by improving demand and a shortage of good quality space in core areas where supply pipelines are starting to tighten.

Office rental markets in Asia Pacific remained the driving force behind global real estate recovery, with most markets in the region either stabilising or moving into the growth phase during the second quarter (Q2) of 2010. Office in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are at the top of the Asia Pacific market due to a push for office space from the financial sector in central business locations,

Across the Americas, most major markets were still clustered around the ‘rental decline slowing’
position in the cycle at the end of Q2, meaning that rents are still falling but at a slower rate.

Dr Raymond Torto, global chief economist, CBRE, said: “Despite a generally weaker economic
outlook and the possible impacts of significant austerity measures, Europe is only slightly behind
Asia Pacific in terms of the percentage of office markets registering rental growth.

“The City of London continues to lead the other key global markets in terms of the scale of rental
growth seen to date. This is due to increased demand in the financial sector. Furthermore, despite expectations of a slowdown in growth, rents in London’s West-End remained stable in the second quarter.”

Philadelphia Major Office Towers In Partnership

august 29, 2010

Thomas Properties Group and Brandywine Realty Trust have agreed to establish a partnership to own a major Philadelphia office block.

Commerce Square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is currently owned solely by Thomas Properties Group, which is headquartered in Los Angeles offices. The twin 41-story office towers comprise 1.9 million square feet of grade A office space. Brandywine will contribute a total of $25m of preferred equity to the partnerships that own One Commerce Square and Two Commerce Square, and will become a 25 per cent limited partner in both properties.

Brandywine's preferred equity will be invested $5m at closing with the balance invested by December 31, 2012. The capital will be invested in maintaining Commerce Square's trophy status, with renovations to the buildings' operating systems, common areas and tenant amenities. Brandywine's equity will be used in various capital projects, including upgrades that are intended to achieve LEED status for both properties.

James A. Thomas, Chairman and CEO of TPGI, stated: "This new alliance with Brandywine will bring a highly respected company with deep roots in Philadelphia into partnership with us in Commerce Square and will provide substantial capital to improve these premier properties and maintain their position among the highest quality buildings in the city centre. Brandywine and our firm share common values and objectives and we are confident this will be a mutually beneficial partnership.”
Commerce Square is currently over 89 percent leased and its tenants include Delaware Investments, Ernst & Young LLP and Grant Thornton LLP, McCormick Taylor Co. One Commerce Square and Two Commerce Square were developed by a TPGI predecessor company in 1987 and 1992, respectively. The properties are comprised of 1.85 million square feet of office space and 47,000 square feet of retail space. The towers encircle the award-winning Court at Commerce Square designed by world-renowned landscape architect Laurie Olin in collaboration with Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
TPGI's wholly-owned affiliates will remain the sole general partners in each partnership and will continue as property manager and leasing agent for Commerce Square.

Commercial Property Market Shows Recovery Indicated By Latest Financial Results

august 27, 2010

Jones Lang LaSalle, the leading professional services firm specialising in commercial real estate, has reported financial recovery after large losses in 2009.

The firm, headquartered in offices in Chicago, posted net income of $32m or $0.72 per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. This compares with a net loss of $14m or $0.40 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Adjusting for restructuring and certain non-cash co-investment charges in the second quarter of 2010, net income would have been $37m, or $0.83 per share, compared with adjusted net income of $11m or $0.30 per share in 2009. The firm’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $78m for the second quarter of 2010 compared with $49m for the same period in 2009. Revenue for the second quarter of 2010 was $680 million, compared with $576 million in the second quarter of 2009, an increase of 18 percent in U.S. dollars and in local currency. 
 
On a year-to-date basis net income was $32m compared with a net loss of $76m, or $2.15 per share for the first half of 2009. Results included $4m of restructuring charges in the second quarter of 2010, compared with $15min 2009.

“We are pleased with our second-quarter results, which showed a solid performance based broadly across our geographies and service lines,” said Colin Dyer, chief executive officer of Jones Lang LaSalle from its main US office. “Business prospects for the year remain good, and we are moving forward with confidence while watching market and economic dynamics. Our competitive position is strong in real estate markets, which continue their cyclical recovery.”

Jones Lang LaSalle serves clients in 60 countries from 750 locations worldwide, including 180 corporate offices.

RICS Goes Virtual Office With Online Academy

august 27, 2010

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has announced the launch of its online academy, taking virtual office training into its major teaching operation.

The Online Academy is a virtual learning environment that provides a range of information, resources, e-learning material and free podcasts designed for RICS members, trainees and professionals working in land, property and the built environment.

With around 100,000 qualified members and over 50,000 students and trainees in some 140 countries, RICS provides the world's leading professional qualification in land, property, construction and the associated environmental issues.

Initial RICS Training courses available to study online include our four APC courses; several personal development courses, including Creating Professional Presentations and Preparing for a Successful Interview; and our Professional Ethics for RICS Members course.

It will run from RICS' Central London offices, but since all studying and information access takes place online, the Academy is open to property professionals across the globe.

RICS Training also says it has added to its portfolio, Professional Ethics for RICS Members.

It says “one of the characteristics that distinguishes the RICS member is an absolute commitment to ethical behaviour. To become a member of RICS you will, in addition to demonstrating your professional knowledge and skills, have to show your understanding of, and commitment to, RICS professional and ethical standards.”

The course is designed to develop and test your understanding of RICS ethical standards. Utilising bite-size learning modules and online tests, this content presents a unique, dynamic and interactive user experience. Please find further information about this course within our E-learning section.

Cufflinks for the office

august 25, 2010

We are always looking for cool stuff that we can show off at the office and I found these snazzy cufflinks to wear.



When I see something cool like these cufflinks I have to tell people about it, we got these novelty cufflinks for all our staff and everyone really liked them.

Its not easy to find office related gifts for people so this was something rare and fun to find.

So the three that we found where the Blackberry Cufflinks which there was a choice of black and blue, there was some really cool looking paperclip cufflinks and the computer keyboard keys with Insert on one cuff and Delete on the other.

Xmas is just around the corner now, so I have to start thinking of some new ideas for gifts. Hope you all find these gifts as fun as we did.

Cyber Security Competition Launched To Find The Next Generation Of Virtual Office Security Agents

august 22, 2010

Leading higher education organisations are at the heart of the UK's first national hunt for future cyber security and virtual office professionals.

The Cyber Security Challenge UK is a series of online and face-to-face competitions designed by the Open University, Royal Holloway, Queen's in Belfast. It also involves security companies, trade bodies and government departments. 


It is in response to a worrying shortage of skilled professionals in the cyber security sector, and the growing challenge of how to increase the resilience of the UK's online presence with existing virtual office human resources. 



More than 30 prizes are on offer for successful candidatesincluding bursaries for university courses like £3,300 funding towards an MSc Electronics & Security, Queen's University, Belfast, a two week placement on Detica Cyber Security Academy, which operates offices in Surrey, Gatwick and Gloucester. There are also places on Sans Institute training courses, the largest source for information security training and security certification in the world, which works from virtual and physical locations in North America and globally.


The Open University, a founding sponsor, says t got involved because it understands the value of academia and industry working in harmony to address national challenges according to Kevin Streater, Executive Director - IT&Telecoms. 



"The Cyber Security Challenge UK deals with issues spanning both education and technology. We see it as an excellent opportunity to continue our long-standing partnerships with industry to address the national challenges facing our workforce. Education institutions can only offer cutting edge skills to their students when they understand what the current challenges are, and the skills required by industry to address them. The Open University is committed to helping organisations to find innovative ways to deal with these skills gaps." 



The Challenge is being officially launched by The Rt Hon Baroness Neville-Jones, minister for security.


"Cyberspace is woven into the fabric of our society; it is integral to our economy, our communities and our security. Defending all of our interests in cyberspace is a relatively small cadre of talented and highly skilled public sector and private sector cyber security professionals. This pool of professionals must grow and the Cyber Security Challenge UK offers an innovative and exciting way of attracting talented individuals to take up rewarding careers in this field," she said.


The competitions are in two stages:
1) A virtual competition where participants compete online 
2) A face to face playoff for the most successful participants in the virtual stage. 

The team or individual that performs best in the playoff will become the winner.

A Google Predecessor Bought In Virtual Corporate Deal

august 20, 2010

Google's competitors are not all lost, as a major deal is struck in the virtual corporate world.

Ybrant Digital, a provider of digital marketing solutions with offices in 20 global offices today announced the signing of the stock purchase agreement to acquire Lycos Inc., the leading brand of search based internet properties and services from Daum Communications.

Lycos was well known before the Google revolution, and now averages 12-15 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S. and is a top 25 Internet destination worldwide, reaching nearly 60 million unique visitors globally.

The Lycos Network of sites and services includes Lycos.com, Tripod, Angelfire, Gamesville, and HotBot. Together, these sites and service help bring people together to interact, to find new friends, and to express themselves in positive, powerful ways.

Daum reorganised the business of Lycos in 2009 turning Lycos profitable.

"Brand Lycos needs no introduction, we are excited to bring in the Lycos properties into our fold," said Suresh Reddy, Chairman and CEO, Ybrant Digital. "The quality of content and tools offered by Lycos has always attracted the best of the consumers across the world. Our goal is to combine the benefits of Ybrant's global network with what Lycos has to offer in creating a compelling global destination for our advertising clients worldwide. Coupled with our offerings for advertisers, we do present new products to our local users worldwide."

"Ybrant is the absolute perfect partner for us," said Jungwook Lim, CEO of Lycos. "Combining Ybrant's cutting edge digital solutions for both media buyers and sellers with Lycos's innovative resources and media will bring tremendous value to both our consumers and clients."

"As a result of the sale of Lycos, Daum will be able to devote its energy and corporate resources to core domestic businesses including search, mobile services and map," said William Chao, CEO of Daum Communications Corp.

Ybrant Digital offers Digital Marketing solutions to businesses, agencies, and online publishers worldwide. With over 20 billion impressions a month, our network serves leading brands - SAP, Porsche, Ford, UPS, and 3M as well as comemrcial property and office giant LaSalle. It has a global presence, with offices in North America, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Serbia, Israel, India and Australia, and representatives in Scandinavia, Poland, Italy and Greece.

China Office and Commercial Real Estate Company Posts 2,145% Leap In Revenue

august 17, 2010

A Chinese real estate company has seen a revenue increase of 2,145 per cent despite Chinese government measures to curb the commercial real estate and China office markets

China HGS Real Estate, a leading residential property developer in Hanzhong, and which also has offices in Los Angeles and New York in the US, has reported financial results for the third quarter of its 2010 fiscal year ended June 30.

"During the third quarter of fiscal year 2010, market demand for residential properties in Hanzhong, our core market, continued to exhibit solid growth. Thanks to a larger inventory of units available and our strong reputation, we sold a total of 288 residential and commercial property units and car parks at attractive margins. This resulted in another quarter of significant top line and bottom line growth," said Mr. Xiaojun Zhu, chief executive officer for China HGS Real Estate.

During the three months ending June total revenue increased 2,145 per cent to $7.7m, up from $0.3m during the same period in 2009. The significant growth in revenue was primarily due to the development of several new projects in the quarter and rising levels of local residents' disposable income. During the quarter, the company sold a total of 288 residential and commercial units and car parks, compared to only 14 residential property units sold a year ago. Among the company's new projects, Yangzhou Pearl Garden, Mingzhu Garden and Hanzhong Minpin contributed 69.8 per cent, 16 per cent and 14.2 per cent of the total revenue in the quarter, respectively.

"Despite the Chinese government's tightening policy and regulations to constrain growth in the domestic real estate market, we maintain our positive outlook for the property market in second-tier and third-tier cities in western China. We believe that Hanzhong and the surrounding areas will continue to enjoy the benefits of China's "Go to the West" policy in the coming years," commented Mr. Zhu. "While we continue our efforts to strengthen our market leadership in Hanzhong, we are also actively planning to expand into the neighboring cities in Southern Shaanxi Province and Northern Sichuan Province."

For Virtual Office Users, Try A Virtual Girlfriend For a Change

august 16, 2010

A leading mobile content and service provider in Japan is to launch a new iPhone application which can generate a virtual girlfriend from almost any supermarket product in the world.

CYBIRD, based in Tokyo offices, says the app will create an avatar model or KANOJO (KANOJO means girlfriend in Japanese). It's as simple as scanning any barcode using the iPhone's bulit-in camera. The company's website the gives the following instructions in order to use the app and get your virtually created partner.

The Barcode KANOJO brings you a new encounter with virtual girlfriends called “KANOJO” on your iPhone.
To find her, you just need to scan the barcode attached to any kinds of goods using your iPhone
Once you have your own KANOJO, you can take care of her to increase her love, find another KANOJO, or steal a new one from other users.

First, scan the barcode on your phone and generate KANOJO. After your KANOJO appears, give her a name and save her. You can bring her up, or get a new one to complete your collection.

Barcodes will produce an almost infinite number of girls, 7 trillion to be exact. That should keep even the most unfaithful men busy for a lifetime. There is yet no indication whether a boyfriend version of the app will become available in the future or how the app has been received by women's right groups.

CYBIRD was founded in September 1998 but has grown dramatically as smartphones have taken over the market. The company provides fully integrated content solutions and systems for Internet-enabled mobile phones, covering consultation, planning, content development, operation, and maintenance. As a first-mover in the mobile content space, CYBIRD has benefited from a predominant market. The company currently runs 105 official mobile content sites for NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone provider, au and Vodafone, and its subscribers already exceed more than 3.6 million

US Office Market Still Feeling The Pinch

august 01, 2010

Corporate Office Properties Trust, a office real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on specialised tenant requirements in the U.S. government, defense information technology and data sectors, has reported reduced performance and earnings for Q2 2010. The results indicate many US office sectors are still feeling the affects of recession.

Net income for the company the quarter was $4.4m or $0.07 per diluted earnings per share as compared to $12.6m of net income available to common shareholders or $0.22 Diluted EPS for the second quarter 2009, a decrease of 68 per cent a share. Meanwhile its share prices for the second quarter 2010, excluding the effect of operating property acquisition costs, was $0.54 as compared to $0.67 for the second quarter 2009, a decrease of 19 per cent.

The company attributes the decline primarily to a result of a $7m increase in interest expense and a $1.5m decrease in net construction fees. Net operating income due to development placed in service and acquisitions that occurred late in 2009, partially offset by a $2.3 million decrease in NOI attributable to vacancies in assets to redevelop commercial property in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and a warehouse in Columbia, Massachusetts.

The company, whose portfolio owns 267 office and data properties totalling 20.6 million rentable square feet, is 88.3 per cent occupied and 89.3 per cent. It owns offices in Washington DC, Virginia, and New Jersey. The company also reported 588,000 square feet renewed for a 71 per cent renewal rate for the quarter and 545,000 square feet of development space leased during the six months ending June 2010.

"Our results for the quarter were in line with our expectations. However, consensus was impacted by several estimates that assumed NOI contributions from development placed in service and acquisitions earlier than our guidance indicated," stated Randall Griffin, president and chief executive officer for the Corporate Office Properties Trust. "A few estimates did not include our guidance regarding higher interest expense as a result of our exchangeable notes offering," he added.

US Office Market Still Being Hit Hard In Parts

april 29, 2010

America's commercial property market is still in a recession in parts according to the latest fiscal results from office real estate investment trust Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT).

Results for Q1 2010 showed a net income for shareholders was $5.9m (£3.9m) compared with $12.1 million (£7.9m) in the first quarter 2009, a decrease of 57% per share. The company, with head offices in Columbia, Maryland, said the downturn was primarily attributable to a decrease in lease termination fee revenue of approximately $3m and higher net costs for snow removal of approximately $3m.

The company posted occupancy at 89.6% occupied and 90.2% leased for their wholly-owned portfolio, renewing 359,000 square feet of office and 450,000 square feet of development space leased in the quarter.

"We indicated previously that 2010 would be a challenging year for the industry since the real estate sector lags the economy. Our first quarter results reflect those challenges with some pressure on occupancy and lease rates. Offsetting this pressure was strong leasing volume with 969,000 square feet of overall leasing and good progress on development leasing, signing over 450,000 square feet," said Randall Griffin, president and chief executive officer for COPT.

The results also gave an insight into the debt-heavy Amercian market. As of March 31, 2010, the Company had a total market capitalisation of $4.9bn, with $2.1bn in debt outstanding, equating to a 43% debt to total market capitalisation ratio. For the first quarter 2010, the Company's weighted average interest rate was 4.8% and 73% of its total debt subject to fixed interest rates.

The company is pressing ahead with 3.1 million square feet of office space under construction, development and redevelopment for a total projected cost of $619.5 million.

COPT has a significant presence with offices in Washington DC, with client-driven expansion in Colorado, Texas Alabama.

City Office Demand Surges Says London Office Firm

april 29, 2010

A surge in demand for serviced office space in the City of London is continuing according to Avanta Managed Offices. The firm, with its office in Hammersmith, says it has pre-let more than 50% of available space in its newly-expanded business centre at Devonshire Square.

The centre, which has expanded with the addition of another floor, has also witnessed a 29% increase in workspace enquiries since the beginning of the year highlighting, which the company says is a mark of a resurgence in demand for high-quality managed office space in the City.

“With almost 700 enquires for workspace in the City since mid-January we are in a buoyant mood, comments David Alberto, Avantas managing director. “New serviced office space traditionally takes 12-24 months to fill up, so pre-letting half of the new floor prior to opening is a good indication of a positive shift in demand.”

Devonshire Square, close to Liverpool Street Station, opened for business on April 1st after an extensive interior fit out and has already had six new businesses sign up to take space. The centre is Avantas second City location and, despite only opening in January 2009 it to have 80% occupancy within a few months of opening.

The centre provides high-quality serviced offices, meeting, training and conference rooms as well as virtual office facilities. The building has a fabulous selection of local amenities, including bars and restaurants as well as retail outlets.

Avanta manages office space in prime locations in London, the Thames Valley, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Social Networking Privacy Storm Affects Virtual Office Client Search

april 27, 2010

Privacy on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are at the heart of a storm over which details can be passed to businesses. The issue may affect how virtual offices and remote workers are able to utilise social networking for business

US Senator Charles Schumer announce yesterday that he has urged the American regulator, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to provide guidelines for social networking sites, like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter on how private information submitted by online users can be used and disseminated. It comes only a week after Facebook announced a personalisation feature which lets users share personal profile information with companies.

Schumer’s call to the FTC comes on the heels that Facebook has decided to share personal profile information that users previously had the ability to restrict access to. These recent changes by Facebook fundamentally change the relationship between the user and the social networking site. Under new policies, users must go through a complicated and confusing opt-out process to keep private information from being shared with third party websites. Additionally, Facebook has also created a new system whereby ‘interests’ listed by users on their personal profiles are automatically aggregated and shared as massive web pages, which could use by used for spam and potentially scammers, intent on peddling their wares.

In a statement issued from Schumer's New York Office, he said:
“Hundreds of millions of people use social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter every day,” said Schumer. “As these sites become more and more popular, however, it’s vitally important that safeguards are in place that provide users with control over their personal information to ensure they don’t receive unwanted solicitations. At the same time, social networking sites need to provide easy to understand disclosures to users on how information they submit is being shared.”

New Labs And Offices near Cambridge Research And Development Park Planned

april 26, 2010

An 18th century research and development park near Cambridge has been granted further planning permission to build new office and laboratory suites at Chesterford Research Park in Cambridgeshire.

The Mansion House has already been refurbished to provide a series of office suites and is currently home to 11 tenants. Two office suites at The Mansion House on Chesterford Research Park have been let by agent Carter Jonas.

Planning permission has been granted on the Science Village development, a low energy building which will allow for flexible use as research and development offices and laboratory suites. The occupancy options range from a single approximately 28,000 sq ft net internal area occupier to 16 individual suite occupiers - 8 at approximately 1,510 sq ft and 8 at approximately 1,965 sq ft.

The Robinson Laboratory, for which planning permission has also been granted, will provide two separate wings of laboratory space, linked by an elegant atrium designed to house an impressive reception area and a versatile range of meeting rooms.

The joint venture partners remain keen to see construction getting under way in 2010.

Cindy Ferrari, CEO of Elliott Bauer commented of their decision to relocate to Chesterford: “Elliott Bauer is an International executive search group with offices in South Africa and North America. The relocation of our London and European Head Office to Chesterford Research Park is driven by our commitment to providing a contemporary work / life solution and improving the working environment for our staff.  The Park is strategically positioned and allows for easy access to and from all UK Regions and Continental Europe, which forms a considerable part of our business.  We look forward to working in our new home".

London Leads Economic Recovery Of UK Office Markets, But Regions Looking Healthier Too

april 25, 2010

While the latest figures on the growth of the economy suggest the UK has avoided a double-dip recession, there are also signs of a market turn around for offices in England with London leading the way.

Latest figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) suggest office lettings activity continues to rise modestly across the country. Surveyors still remain cautious over regional office markets suffering a setback as public sector employment cuts depend on whoever wins next month's election.

Offices in London show signs of the biggest turn around in RICS' UK Commercial Property Survey for the first quarter of 2010. Demand is pushing rental expectations for London offices up at the fastest rate in over two years. They rose dramatically above zero for the first time since Q4 2007 as available space declined for the second consecutive quarter.

This is the first time more RICS surveyors have reported an anticipated rise in rents for two years. The positive net balance of 57 percent (compared with the previous reading of zero) for central London offices was the biggest upward jump on record. This contrasts with the picture in the rest of the UK where available space is rising across all sectors and rental expectations are still negative. Regional commercial property lettings activity continued to pick up across office and industrial property for the second consecutive quarter, although investment demand has moderated somewhat outside the London metropolitan area. The retail sector continues to languish, particularly in the capital where rising available space continues to weigh on rental expectations.

Also, there is a changing balance of power between landlords and tenants. Growth in inducements being offered by landlords to secure a letting has moderated across all regions and sectors. In Central London, 45 percent more surveyors reported a fall rather than a rise in inducements for offices compared to 9 percent in the fourth quarter.
But lettings demand has greatly lifted rental expectations for London offices where development has floundered in recent years due to a dearth in development finance.

RICS senior economist Oliver Gilmartin says other factors are playing a role in overall economic recovery in the UK.
“There are some signs that a lower pound and a gradual rebalancing of the UK economy towards greater export activity is starting to feed through into industrial lettings activity most notably in London and the South.

“Growth in investment transaction activity continued in Q1 albeit at a slower pace outside the capital. The stronger the price gains this year the less scope for further rises in 2011 without a corresponding rental recovery. Indeed, the investment recovery may be reined in by rising borrowing costs in the event of a hung parliament."

Microsoft Office 2010 Gives Virtual Office Users and Virtual PAs The Advantage

april 25, 2010

Micorsoft Office 2010, the new update due out next month, will include integrated remote office tools already widely used in virtual offices.

For the first time, Microsoft Word documents can be coauthored in Word 2010 using Microsoft SharePoint Server. The tool allows multiple people to work on a single copy of a document at the same time and from multiple locations. This will help those that rely on a Virtual PA.

Microsoft developer Jonathan Bailer, says it will strikeout the need for confusing multiple versions.
“Before coauthoring, people trying to work simultaneously on a document would get locked out if one person was already working in it. A document sent out for review to multiple people often would come back with edits from each person, leaving one person to have to try to compile everyone's changes. And, although e-mail made collaborating easier in some ways, it also introduced a whole new set of woes, including version control. That's when you'd start to see file names like SpendingReport_final_Tuesday_reallyfinal.do."

In Microsoft Outlook 2010 will group emails as conversations and will inegrate social networking updates into email contacts. Outlook will use a tool featured for some time on Google Mail, which groups e-mails by conversation, letting users more easily navigate, organize, and delete messages from their inbox. The new Conversations View feature in Outlook 2010 can reduce the number of clicks people typically use to deal with their inbox by up to 40 percent, according to its developer Michael Affronti.

The Outlook Social Connector, on the other hand, is a set of features that help users keep track of their friends and colleagues and expand their professional network. The tool lets people see items such as Facebook updates and LinkedIn pictures for their e-mail contacts. It also allows users to add a contact as a friend on social networking sites.

Apple Boost Top Sales With Remote Working Tech Smartphones And MacBook Pros

april 25, 2010

Smartphones have clinched Apple's best ever financial performance for the latest financial period. But their updated MacBook Pro line will also bring in the revenues for virtual office users who rely on rigidity of Apple technology.

Apple Iphone boosts its sales as the company announces huge financial results for its fiscal 2010 second quarter. The Company sold 8.75 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 131 percent unit growth over the same quarter a year ago.

Apple posted revenue of $13.50 billion (£8.8bn) and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion (£1.9bn), or $3.33 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $9.08 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.62 billion, or $1.79 per diluted share during the same period last year. Gross margin was 41.7 percent, up from 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 10.89 million iPods during the quarter, representing a one percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

In the virtual office world where speed and reliability are key, users can expect faster performance from Apple's new range of MacBook Pros. The new budget 13-inch models now include faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 4GB RAM, a 10-hour built-in battery and the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor. With 48 processing cores, the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M is the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market, ideal for graphics intensive applications or high performance games.
The new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models claim 50 percent faster working over the previous systems. Using Intel’s state-of-the-art 32 nanometer process, Intel Core i5 and i7 processors integrate the memory controller and Level 3 cache for faster access to system memory. Hyper-Threading technology improves data throughput by creating virtual processing cores, while Turbo Boost optimizes performance between the two processor cores, accelerating the system from 2.66 GHz to 3.06 GHz for intensive dual core tasks, and up to 3.33 GHz for single core tasks.

Offices In Australia To Be First To Recover Commercial Property Market

april 22, 2010

The Australian office industry will lead the commercial property sector's recovery in the next 12 months, with Melbourne likely to see the fastest bounce back after the recession.

The National Australia Bank's (NAB) new quarterly commercial property survey, released this morning, shows developers, real estate agents and investors are most confident about the recovery taking hold in the third quarter of 2010, when the office sector is expected to bounce back strongly, followed by the retail and hotels markets.

Geographically respondents see Melbourne as the fastest growing market over the next six months, but it will be taken over by the long-term health projections of Sydney, thought likely to do best over the next 12 months.

Credit will be back on the move as market improvements take hold, with respondents indicating that barriers to debt will ease over the next three months – although finding equity is expected to become more difficult. Half of all respondents plan to source more debt over the six months.

The construction sector will be bringing more supply of offices in Australia with 76% of developers surveyed indicating that they will be commencing new works within the next 12 months.

Investors are also confident about the recovery, with capital values expected to rise across all commercial sectors over the next 12 months. The office sector (where a 3.3% rise in capital values is expected) is considered the best investment option, followed by the retail sector (up 2.4%) and the industrial sector (up 1.8%).

Mobile CRM A Growing Must-Have For Mobile SMEs

april 21, 2010

Mobile CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is an emerging mass market of mobile phone tools for virtual office setups and mobile workforces.

California's eAgency has developed a tool for converting any Windows mobile phone into a virtual office. But it does a little bit more than simply hooking you up to your desktop remotely, and will sit nicely with sales managers with who rely on an virtual office setup to work with a mobile workforce.

Nice Office CRM also makes it simple to track sales lead activity by workflows and status levels. It also allows managers its Employee Oversight to assign and transfer employee workflows directly from your mobile device to ensure the whole team stays up to date with the entire mobile team.

Also, as expected, virtual office users can rely on Nice Office to integrate Microsoft Outlook to manage email, calendars and contacts.

There is an undoubtedly useful organisation tool called Auto Journal which automatically record activity performed on a contact, sent emails, calls, appointments and provides a detailed reporting for follow-up, tracking and analysis. The 
Sales and Opportunity Management tracks sales, lead and transactional activity, data and workflows to streamline sales and outreach activities.

eAgency was stablished in 2000 in Newport Beach, California, so an early developer of web integrated mobile applications. There products also allow security solutions, an important feature which is now readily accepted as a must.

Mobile CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has become a big deal for virtual offices. Another US company, Krawler, announced the debut of iDeskera CRM for the Apple iPhone. Users can manage their networks by the intuitive Web-based Deskera Customer Relationship Management application which features Apple tricks you would expect like tap and drag-and-drop functionality, and gives an iPhone interface for sales staff to quickly and easily customize, report, view and update information for their customers.

Cloud Computing Can Boost Revenues For Virtual Sales Teams

april 21, 2010

Cloud computing is becoming an increasingly useful tool for sales teams that use virtual offices and work from multiple locations.

LeadForce1, a provider of next-generation marketing automation solutions, has announced the integration of its marketing automation solution on the the NetSuite cloud computing platform. LeadForce1, which has offices in California, Michigan, and India, was started by software executives from Microsoft. Their automated marketing package assists sales leads by capturing website visitor intent and interest and adds an integrated call-back capability to contact potential clients.

Built using NetSuite's SuiteCloud computing platform, the company's claim the combined solution can help NetSuite customers increase lead-pipeline volume, reach decision-makers and close deals faster than manual methods.

NetSuite's SuiteCloud is a comprehensive offering of on-demand products, development tools and services designed to help customers and commercial software developers take advantage of cloud computing. The complete SuiteCloud offers NetSuite's business suite of applications - Accounting/ERP, CRM and Ecommerce.

"The integration of LeadForce1 and NetSuite brings a new dimension to customer lifecycle management," says Sushil Jha, Chief Revenue Officer at LeadForce1. "It helps marketing and sales teams collaborate more effectively in targeting prospects, and it delivers high-quality, actionable intelligence to identify the most likely buyers."

LeadForce1 performs website visitor-intent and behaviour tracking, as well as lead-scoring, and provides analysis that drives its lead-management and lead-nurturing functions. It then delivers the information to the sales and marketing teams, and can create live connections to the most likely prospects.

"LeadForce1 extends NetSuite's built-in lead generation and nurturing capabilities with an innovative level of marketing automation," said Guido Haarmans, vice president of developer programs for NetSuite. "The integration creates a seamless user experience that can help sales and marketing teams collaborate more closely and effectively."

The announcement was made at SuiteCloud 2010, NetSuite's annual partner and developer conference being held in San Francisco.

TalkTalk Opens Central London Office

april 20, 2010

Broadband firm TalkTalk has opened an entrepreneurial office in Soho, which will afford start-ups and SMEs a swanky and well publicised office.

Talk Talk's first Customer Experience Centre, in Broadwick Street, is a multi-storey complex, primarily designed to entice new customers. A place to try new online products, get broadband advice, people off the street can simply sit down and surf. It's sort of a smartshop, if you like, and with Apple stores more like little customer testing labs, TalkTalk are following an emerging trend.

But on the first floor, they are offering central London offices, up for grabs for monthly rent in its “Incubator” space. Start-ups and entrepreneurs are urged to innovative new technology businesses to thrive and develop. According to the Guardian, which was given first dibs in checking out the space, TalkTalk initially thought of running a Dragons' Den-type beauty parade to decide which companies should get one of the 150 desks on the open-plan floors. In the end word got out, and TalkTalk had a barrage of companies queuing, virtual office style of course, presumably by emails, to take the London office hot spots.

TalkTalk also offer an exclusive ‘customer lounge’ on the first floor. Here TalkTalk customers can enjoy hot or cold refreshments in comfort, whilst taking advantage of the free WiFi in more relaxed surroundings. Customer can even reserve a space in the lounge.

It’s the first time the company has had a physical presence and is offering a new retail stream for the company, which is chaired by Carphone Warehouse's Charles Dunstone who knows a thing or two about retail communication.

Cloud Computing Made Simple On Your Mobile

april 15, 2010

Pocket virtual office just got a little bit smarter. Sharp are collaborating with Microsoft to introduce a cloud-computing capable mobile phone. It supports a new generation of social networking, which allows you to drag and drop anything on your phone, the web or your social networking sites and share information with your contacts, all on one simple screen.

The new KIN smartphones, called ONE and TWO, supports Microsoft’s new cloud computing service with an optimized GUI (Graphic User Interface). Users can view information updated in SNS (Simple Notification System). SNS is a system that allows multiple messages to be sent in a choice of formats, e.g. email, text message or on a website like facebook. Contacts on the phone are simply dropped into Sharps special “spot” on the screen. You then drop into the spot anything you like, from a picture, website, contact details, weblink or tweet, and choose to send them in an email or text.
This is all done in real time, on the phones own interface, without the need to navigate through individual applications like websites, your email client etc. Anything any send you is automatically updated on your screen.

The KINs will be available for the U.S. through Verizon Wireless and the mobile terminal for the European market through Vodafone. KIN ONE, the smaller pop-version features a slide down qwerty keyboard, 5M camera, GPS, touchscreen, whilst its big brother, the TWO, boasts an 8M HD camera, and larger screen.

Cloud Computing Too Risky Says Survey

april 15, 2010

Whilst cloud computing is said to be the next generation of virtual office, close to half of American IT professionals say that the risks of cloud computing outweigh the benefits. This is according to the first survey of its kind by ISACA IT, a US-based information systems watchdog with offices in Illinois.

The survey of 1,809 US IT professionals found that only 10 percent of respondents’ organisations plan to use cloud computing for mission-critical IT services and one in four (26 percent) do not plan to use it for any IT services. Risks may include, technical hitches, problems with viruses, unwanted access or sluggish access slowing down employees' work.

There is increasingly interested in cloud computing because of its potential to deliver lower total cost for business IT systems and increased efficiency and pay-as-you-go services. Analyst firm IDC says that cloud services will outpace traditional IT spending over the next five years and will represent a $44.2 billion market by 2013.

"The cloud represents a major change in how computing resources will be utilized, so it’s not surprising that IT professionals have concerns about risk vs. reward trade-offs," says Robert Stroud, international vice president of ISACA and vice president of IT service management and governance for the service management business unit at CA Inc. "But risk and value are two sides of the same coin. If cloud computing is treated as a major governance initiative involving a broad set of stakeholders, it has the potential to yield benefits that can equal or outweigh the risks."

3D Office Computers Will Brighten Your Day says Sharp

april 15, 2010

If staring at your office's computer screen all-day is gloomy when summer is coming, how about jazzing things up with a 3D monitor?

Japanese-based Sharp Corporation has developed the world’s first four-primary-colour 3D LCD flat-panel screen. You will still need to wear special 3D glasses, but viewers can enjoy impressive 3D images with an exceptionally realistic sense of depth.

In general, 3D LCDs use a system based on time-sequential display technology , meaning that by making your left and right eye see images at a slightly different speed, it gives the impression of depth. Special active LC (liquid crystal) shutter glasses display images intended for the left and right eye on the LCD screen sequentially, alternating between the two perspectives. The LC shutters in the special 3D glasses are synchronized with this display, “opening” (becoming transparent) and “closing” (becoming opaque) in such a way that the left and right eye see separate images. The human brain combines these two slightly different images to create the perception of depth in a three-dimensional image. However, displaying 3D images on a conventional display using this system suffered from low brightness and crosstalk. Sharp say they've solved these problems.

The newly developed 3D LCD by Sharp offers a radical new solution to the above problems by combining four of Sharp’s LCD technologies. The LCD is optimized for 3D TV, as screen brightness when displaying 3D images is 1.8 times higher than that of the conventional displays. Crosstalk is extremely low. Sharp’s four-primary-colour technology utilizes four primary colours, adding Y (yellow) to the three conventional primary colours of R (red), G (green), and B (blue). This technology contributes to brighter, more vivid colours.

Since first mass-producing an LCD for an electronic calculator in 1973, the Japan-based firm, with headquarter office in Osaka, has created a wide range of LCD application products by developing innovative LCD technologies, and has been the driving force in the flat-panel display market. In the future, Sharp will be exploring new 3D markets by further enhancing its four one-of-a-kind LCD technologies.

Would Next To The White House Do For a Good Business Address, Sir?

april 14, 2010

If you ever wanted to know what a decent business address can do to bolster your clientele, not American cyber sercurity firm LIGATT Security International (LSI). They've just announced their new office in Washington DC, one block away from The White House and overlooking The Old Executive Building.

The formidable address, 1701 Pennsylvania Ave, is opening on May 1 as a “strategic location” which its top brass say will afford LSI better focus on building government clients and establishing rapport within the government market.

Kendric Embree, the firm's business development executive, commented, "The opening of the D.C. office will allow us to strategically partner with foreign leaders at the embassies located around our office complex. This will expand LIGATT's standing as an international cyber security firm."

LSI is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia with an office in Los Angeles, California. Staff in the Norcross office will now be working with lobbyist and government officials. The expansion into the US capital signifies LSI's desire to being the leading provider in the internet security industry. In addition, the opening will enable LSI to market its services to other large production companies.

LIGATT Security has steadily built a reputation as one of America's premier hi-tech security companies, and is recognized as a leader in computer security and cyber-crime investigation as well. It is a publicly traded company whose mission is to be the nation's leading provider of hi-tech crime investigations, by protecting their clients against Black Hat Hacking one CPU at a time.

A Cautious Outlook For UK Offices

april 14, 2010

Rentals of offices in London display the resilience of the capital's micro-economy as property rental values recover nine months earlier than expected. But elsewhere, recovery is lagging according to international property consultants and chartered surveyors Cluttons LLP in their latest commercial property market outlook.

There are still concerns about the continuing recovery of all but the very best stock however. The resurgence in commercial property is being driven by a growth in capital values, which have risen by 11 percent since last July, the first rise in growth for two and a half years. But they still remain 38 percent below the high point of June 2007.

According to John Barrett, partner and head of valuation and investment at Cluttons, the initial signs for the beginning of 2010 remain cautiously upbeat. "The first quarter of 2010 should be similarly positive, as current buying activity is being fuelled by increased allocations to property by both institutions and private investors. The s