Companies news

Universal Technical Institute Names Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Campus Admissions

PHOENIX, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Universal Technical Institute Inc. , a provider of technical education training, today announced the promotions of Sherrell E. Smith to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Robert K. Adler to Senior Vice President of Campus Admissions, effective September 17, 2008.

Mr. Smith has been employed with UTI for 22 years serving in a number of leadership roles with increasing responsibility, most recently as the Executive Vice President of Operations with direct responsibility for admissions, financial aid, student support services and the custom training group. In his role as Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Smith will continue to drive the operational improvements necessary to enhance customer service levels for UTI students and customers.

"During his tenure as the Executive Vice President of Operations, Sherrell has successfully aligned the campus operations, admissions and financial aid functions resulting in operational improvements and enhanced customer service levels for our students. I believe that in his new leadership role, Sherrell will continue to drive significant improvement in these critical functions," said Kimberly J. McWaters, President and CEO of UTI.

Mr. Adler joined Universal Technical Institute in May 2006 as Campus President of its Norwood, Mass. campus and in 2007 he served as the Campus President of the Avondale, Ariz. campus. Under his leadership, both campuses experienced improved operational performance and student satisfaction and in September 2007, he was promoted to Vice President of Campus Admissions. In his new leadership role, Mr. Adler will continue to implement and refine our sales strategies related to adult career changers and prospective students in local campus markets.

"During his time as the Vice President of Campus Admissions, Bob has renewed the energy and focus of our campus admissions teams through new ideas and perspectives. He has successfully continued the implementation of our new marketing and sales strategies capitalizing on the changing market dynamics and student profiles. I look forward to Bob's continued leadership in this area," said Ms. McWaters.

About Universal Technical Institute

Universal Technical Institute is a provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians. The company offers undergraduate degree, diploma and certificate programs at 10 campuses across the United States, and manufacturer-sponsored advanced programs at 18 dedicated training centers. Through its campus-based school system, Universal Technical Institute offers specialized technical education programs under several well-known brands, including Universal Technical Institute (UTI), Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and Marine Mechanics Institute (MMI) and NASCAR Technical Institute (NTI).

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this news release concerning the future business, operating results and financial condition of the company are "forward-looking" statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties that could cause actual performance and results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the company's actual results include changes to federal and state educational funding, possible failure or inability to obtain regulatory consents and certifications for new or expanding campuses, potential increased competition, changes in demand for the programs offered by the company, increased investment in management and capital resources, the effectiveness of the company's recruiting, advertising and promotional efforts, changes to interest rates and low unemployment. Further information on these and other potential factors that could affect the company's financial results or condition may be found in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Universal Technical Institute Inc.

CONTACT: Jenny Swanson, Director, Investor Relations, +1-623-445-9351,
or Valerie Monaco, Public Relations Manager, +1-623-445-0841, both of
Universal Technical Institute, Inc.

Web site: http://www.uticorp.com/

SRA Awarded $35 Million Contract by U.S. Department of StateProviding Services to Refugee Processing Center

FAIRFAX, Va., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SRA International, Inc. , a leading provider of technology and strategic consulting services and solutions to government organizations and commercial clients, today announced it has won a contract with the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) Refugee Processing Center (RPC). The contract has an estimated value of $35 million over three years, if all options are exercised.

SRA will manage and operate the Refugee Processing Center and will be responsible for processing refugee applications, facilitating reception and placement of arriving refugees in conjunction with voluntary agencies throughout the U.S., and for providing flexible responsiveness for the PRM Bureau to world events that relate to refugee and migration issues. Under the contract, SRA will also operate and maintain the RPC's primary software application, the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS), including developing enhancements to the software and deploying it worldwide.

"With this new program, SRA will directly serve our nation's humanitarian efforts, as well as expand our support to the Department of State," said Peter Trick, SRA vice president.

The RPC has been in operation since 2001. Its mission is to provide technical, data and refugee processing support in achieving the President's annual U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) objectives.

About SRA International, Inc.

SRA and its subsidiaries are dedicated to solving complex problems of global significance for government organizations serving the national security, civil government and global health markets. Founded in 1978, the company and its subsidiaries have expertise in such areas as air surveillance and air traffic management; contract research organization (CRO) services; cybersecurity; disaster response planning; enterprise resource planning; environmental strategies; IT systems, infrastructure and managed services; logistics; public health preparedness; strategic management consulting; systems engineering; and wireless integration.

FORTUNE(R) magazine has chosen SRA as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" for nine consecutive years. The company and its subsidiaries employ more than 6,400 employees serving clients from headquarters in Fairfax, Va., and offices around the world. For additional information on SRA, please visit http://www.sra.com/.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans, and prospects for SRA, including statements about the estimated value of the contract and work to be performed, and other statements containing the words "estimates," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of September 23, 2008. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to September 23, 2008.

SRA International, Inc.

CONTACT: Media Relations, Sheila S. Blackwell, +1-703-227-8345,
sheila_blackwell@sra.com, or Kelly Batalle, +1-703-284-5083,
kelly_batalle@sra.com, both of SRA International, Inc.

Web site: http://www.sra.com/

Integral Systems Appoints Ernst & Young as Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

LANHAM, Md., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Integral Systems, Inc. ("Company") today announced that on September 22, 2008, the Audit Committee of the Company's Board of Directors engaged Ernst & Young LLP ("E&Y") as the Company's new independent registered public accounting firm.

The Company also announced that on September 19, 2008, the Audit Committee dismissed Bernstein & Pinchuk LLP ("B&P") as the independent registered public accounting firm for the Company following completion of services related to review of the Company's financial statements for the third quarter ended June 30, 2008. The reports of B&P on the Company's consolidated financial statements and on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting and management's assessment thereof for the years ended September 30, 2007 and September 30, 2006, did not contain an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion, nor were such reports qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope, or accounting principle.

"We are very pleased to have the depth and experience of Ernst & Young as our auditors moving forward" commented Bill Bambarger, Chief Financial Officer. "This change will enable us to grow our operations rapidly while ensuring that our systems, controls and procedures remain sufficient to support our growth strategies."

About Integral Systems

Founded in 1982, Integral Systems is a leading provider of satellite ground systems and has supported more than 205 different satellite missions for communications, science, meteorological, and earth resource applications. Integral Systems was the first company to offer an integrated suite of Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) software products for satellite command and control: the EPOCH Integrated Product Suite (IPS) product line. EPOCH IPS has become the world market leader in commercial applications with successful installations on five continents.

Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, SAT Corporation, Integral Systems provides satellite and terrestrial communications signal monitoring systems to satellite operators and users throughout the world. Through its Newpoint Technologies, Inc., subsidiary, Integral Systems also provides software for equipment monitoring and control to satellite operators, broadcasters, and telecommunications firms. Integral Systems' RT Logic subsidiary builds telemetry processing systems for military applications, including tracking stations, control centers, and range operations. Integral Systems' Lumistar, Inc., subsidiary provides system- and board-level telemetry acquisition products. Integral Systems has approximately 560 employees working at its headquarters in Lanham, MD, and at other locations in the U.S. and Europe. For more information, visit http://www.integ.com/.

Integral Systems, Inc.

CONTACT: William M. Bambarger, Jr., Chief Financial Officer of Integral
Systems, Inc., +1-301-731-4233, Ext. 1244, Fax: +1-301-731-3183, or Media,
Shany Seawright of Strategic Communications Group, +1-240-485-1081,
sseawright@gotostrategic.com

Web site: http://www.integ.com/

After Effects CS4: Insight from Gurus Trish and Chris Meyer

BOSTON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Feature set changes in After Effects CS4 that concern motion graphic artists are detailed in an article by Trish and Chris Meyer on http://www.cmg4cs4.com/. As is often the case with After Effects, the real news isn't just in big new features, but in refinements to existing features, which help you get your work done faster.

Here's an excerpt from the article, which includes visuals from CS4: We'll start with some instant gratification: new effects.

The one that will get all of the headlines is the new Cartoon effect, which creates the cartoon-from-live-action look that's been popular in some commercials and even movies the past few years. What's special about the After Effects CS4 version is that it's very easy to use with few parameters to learn, plus is GPU-accelerated so that it's much more responsive than the third-party effects we've used in the past.

Compared to a normal blur, the new Bilateral Blur effect has built-in edge detection. This means it blurs connected areas of an image that are similar, but keeps transitions sharp. This is useful for tricks such as blurring lines and wrinkles in a person's face, or for more highly stylized looks. By default, it reduces the saturation in an image; enable the Colorize switch to get the color back. At higher Radius or Threshold settings, its GPU acceleration really kicks in; if you find yourself using lower settings to get more subtle results, it can slow down considerably ... (read the complete article at http://www.cmg4cs4.com/)

The complete article may be reposted or printed for free, with credit back to http://www.cmg4cs4.com/.

The announcement of CS4 also means a special update for the Meyers cornerstone book, Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects. "We want to make sure we ... protect your investment in the current edition," said author Chris Meyer, "So we are working on a bonus chapter that covers what's changed between CS3 and CS4."

This chapter will be available for free download at http://www.cmg4cs4.com/ later this year. Register on this site now to be notified when the new chapter is available.

With Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, 4e and the complementary web chapter on CS4, you'll gain the tips, gotchas and sage advice needed to survive whatever your next motion graphics project throws at you.

About the publisher: Focal Press is marking its 70th Anniversary this year. Starting out as a photography publisher in 1938, Focal has grown through the years to meet the needs of many creative communities, including film, postproduction, motion graphics, audio, animation, and gaming.

Contact Bob Dodd for a review copy, author contact information, or electronic material.

Contact: Bob Dodd

781-313-4726 or r.dodd@elsevier.com

Elsevier, S&T Books

CONTACT: Bob Dodd of Elsevier, S&T Books, +1-781-313-4726,
r.dodd@elsevier.com

Web site: http://www.cmg4cs4.com/

Photoshop Guru Martin Evening on the Release of Adobe Photoshop CS4

BOSTON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Focal Press is pleased to announce two brand new books covering Adobe Photoshop CS4 from best-selling author Martin Evening. In the article below, Martin discusses several of the new and exciting features offered in Photoshop CS4.

"This latest release of Photoshop has a lot of interesting new features. The new Camera Raw has all the new tools that were featured in Lightroom 2, allowing you to work more smoothly between the two programs. The interface refinements incorporate a task-based workflow approach in which image adjustments like curves can be edited via an Adjustments panel. The new Masking panel means that you can edit masks, such as increase the feathering, as well as the usual Refine Edge command that you could use in CS3 to edit a layer mask. Color Range employs a more sophisticated color selection algorithm and now allows you to generate color-based masks more easily. There is also a new Content-Aware scaling feature that allows you to resize images without distorting the shape of important components within a picture.

Bridge has been given a makeover too. Among the most significant changes is the task-based workspace menu that makes it easier for you to switch between different Bridge workspace settings. You can now click with the Spacebar to toggle displaying a full-screen preview of a selected photo. The output panel for Web or PDF is in some ways a small improvement on the Web Photo Gallery and Contact Sheet features. Although some will find these to be something of a backward step, if you have Lightroom 2, it is unlikely that you would ever need to use these anyway.

The problem with Photoshop is that Adobe keeps adding stuff into the program without taking much out. This, in turn, has made it harder to keep updating the Adobe Photoshop for Photographers book series without the book becoming too bloated. The release of Photoshop CS4 has provided a good opportunity to update Adobe Photoshop for Photographers. The new book will be the same size as previous editions and concentrate on the essentials of image editing in Photoshop as well as all that's new in Photoshop and Bridge CS4. Meanwhile, I have been collaborating with Jeff Schewe to work on a joint book that will be called Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop. This new book means that the Photoshop for Photographers series has now expanded to offer a spin-off book in which readers can gain more in-depth expertise about how to use Photoshop, written by two of the world's leading experts in digital imaging and Photoshop."

-- Martin Evening 9/23/2008

The complete article may be reposted or printed for free, with credit back to http://www.focalpress.com/. For a look at all of the new Focal Press Adobe Photoshop CS4 titles coming January 2009, visit http://www.focalpress.com/cs4.aspx .

Author Bio: Martin Evening is a professional photographer and digital imaging consultant. He is an Alpha tester for Photoshop and key demo artist for Adobe and a Photoshop Hall of Fame inductee. He is based in London, UK.

Contact Bob Dodd for a review copy, author contact information, or electronic material.

Contact: Bob Dodd

781-313-4726 or r.dodd@elsevier.com

Elsevier, S&T Books

CONTACT: Bob Dodd of Elsevier, S&T Books, +1-781-313-4726,
r.dodd@elsevier.com

Web site: http://www.focalpress.com/
http://www.focalpress.com/cs4.aspx

SST NANDrive Solid-State Storage Device Wins 2008 Golden Mousetrap Award From Design News MagazineNANDrive Honored for Reliability, Space Savings and Ease-of-Use Benefits in the Digital Control/Embedded Computing Category

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.) , a leader in flash memory technology, today announced that its NANDrive high-performance, fully integrated, embedded flash solid-state drive has been selected by Design News Magazine (http://www.designnews.com/) as a winner of a 2008 Golden Mousetrap Award. NANDrive contains an integrated ATA controller and NAND flash die in a multi-chip package and is designed for data storage in embedded or portable applications. It has built in microcontroller and file management firmware that communicates with ATA-standard interfaces, so the NANDrive does not require additional or proprietary host software such as Flash File System (FFS) and Memory Technology Driver (MTD) software. NANDrive products are available in capacities ranging from 512 MByte to 8 GByte and support industrial temperature ranges.

For more than two decades, the Design News Awards Program has recognized engineering innovation and creativity in product design. This year, awards were given in four major categories: Electronics, Motion Control/Automation, Hardware/Software, Materials/Fastening/Joining/Assembly and 24 subcategories. Design News, Executive Editor, Liz Taurasi gathered a record number of entries, distributing them to the magazine's editors for judging. Based on their expertise in each technology area, 75 finalists and 16 winners were selected.

"Our Golden Mousetrap Awards give innovators the recognition they justly deserve," said Design News editor-in-chief, John Dodge. "The awards span Design News' five coverage areas and we extend our sincerest congratulations to the winners and finalists. Their perseverance in these challenging economic times is admirable, indeed."

"We are delighted that our NANDrive product has won Design News' Golden Mousetrap Award," said Bing Yeh, president and CEO, SST. "NANDrive continues to gain strong traction in the industry and this award is a testament to our technology expertise and engineering prowess. We are proud to have NANDrive become the latest of our products to earn accolades from the editorial community."

About SST NANDrive Devices

By leveraging SST's proven NAND controller technology, innovative multi-chip packaging expertise and a widely used industry standard ATA/IDE interface, the NANDrive family manages all NAND flash complexities and allows designers to quickly integrate mass data storage solutions into their designs without having to make any firmware changes. Because NANDrive complies with the standard ATA protocol supported by all standard embedded operating systems, embedded system designers no longer face the risk of host software revalidation cycles. In contrast, some other solid-state mass data storage solutions require changing host-side vendor-specific software whenever there is a change in the controller or a change to new NAND flash devices. To further ease integration and reduce inventory management, SST NANDrive solves the issues of pairing a NAND controller with new NAND flash devices. This is especially beneficial as NAND flash devices continue to migrate to new process geometries every year. As an integrated multi-chip package solution, NANDrive eliminates the need for long qualification cycles when there is a change of NAND flash technology; customers need only qualify the NANDrive as a mass storage subsystem.

In addition to its ease-of-integration, SST NANDrive offers high performance along with several advanced security protection features. SST's industry-first hardware 8-bit ECC engine and its firmware programmable multi-tasking NAND interface help solve the slow performance problem that is typical when using lower cost, multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash. SST NANDrive offers a unique 20-Byte serial ID number for data encryption as well as up to four protection zones that customers can use to store boot code. By using the NANDrive to store boot code for the customer's device, system designers can eliminate the use of certain discrete devices, thus reducing bill of material costs.

For more information on NANDrive please visit the SST Web site at: http://www.sst.com/products.xhtml/nand_flash_storage/

About Design News Magazine

Design News (http://www.designnews.com/), founded in 1946, is the leading technical resource for design engineers, who create everything from planes, trains and automobiles to cellular phones, medical devices, and, well, just about every other product on the planet. To be successful in their jobs, our readers need information on new technologies and products. They need and want to know how new solutions compare with existing products and how and where their engineering peers are using them. In particular, they are interested in the specific trade-offs and issues that are inherent in the adoption of new technology in a design effort and how other engineers manage those trade-offs.

Design News is the only engineering resource to provide this kind of highly useful, practical editorial content both in print and online. We are committed to packaging and delivering that content in a format that is both quick and intuitive for busy engineers to access, whether it's within our print publication, supplements, bi-weekly technology e-Newsletters, RSS feeds or our extremely popular website.

About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of memory and non-memory products for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. Leveraging its proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, SST is a leading provider of nonvolatile memory solutions with product families that include various densities of high functionality flash memory components and flash mass storage products. The Company also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its broad network of world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees, including TSMC, which offers it under its trademark Emb-FLASH. SST's non-memory products include NAND controller-based products, smart card ICs and modules, flash microcontrollers and radio frequency ICs and modules. Further information on SST can be found on the company's Web site at http://www.sst.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding memory and non-memory market conditions, SST's future financial performance, the performance of new products, growth opportunities, SST's licensing business, SST's ability to diversify its business, the transition of SST's products to smaller geometrics, SST's ability to bring new products to market and shareholder returns, all of which involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms, conditions and revenue recognition issues associated with licensees' royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect SST's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in SST's SEC reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, SST disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

For more information about SST and the company's comprehensive list of product offerings, please call 1-888/SST-CHIP. Information can also be requested via email to literature@sst.com or through SST's Web site at http://www.sst.com/. SST's head office is located at 1171 Sonora Court, Sunnyvale, Calif.; telephone: 408/735-9110; fax: 408/735-9036.

The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks and NANDrive is a trademark of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

For More Information Contact: Ricky Gradwohl Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. 408/720-6512 rgradwohl@sst.com Bob Nelson Tsantes Consulting Group 408/426-4905 bnelson@tsantes.com

Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

CONTACT: Ricky Gradwohl of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.,
+1-408-720-6512, rgradwohl@sst.com; or Bob Nelson of Tsantes Consulting Group,
+1-408-426-4905, bnelson@tsantes.com, for Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

Web site: http://www.sst.com/

Oracle Teams with Intel and Net Optics to Provide Prevalidated Server Solutions for Oracle(R) Real User Experience InsightGlobal Collaboration Offers Tested Configurations for User Experience Monitoring Solutions

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oracle OpenWorld --

News Facts -- Delivering on its commitment to top-down application management and enhancing the end user experience, Oracle today announced a collaboration with Intel and Net Optics to ease customer adoption of high-performance server solutions for passive real user monitoring with Oracle(R) Real User Experience Insight. (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oem/prod_focus/uxinsight.html) -- A variety of enterprise reference configurations spanning high availability and fault tolerant capabilities are now globally available, providing uniquely customizable solutions based on the Intel(R) SR2500 and SR1550 server chassis with Intel(R) Xeon processor-based platforms and non-intrusive network regeneration Taps from Net Optics. -- The reference configurations developed for these server solutions are part of Intel(R) Enabled Server Acceleration Alliance (ESAA) program whose large base of trusted partners offer deep expertise in software and hardware services and turnkey solutions for customers worldwide. -- Today's announcement supports Oracle's strategy of delivering complete, integrated and end-to-end product suites on an open, standards-based middleware and database architecture. Oracle's approach helps customers to simplify computing environments, lower cost and risk, and provides greater choice and flexibility. Supporting Quotes -- "Teaming with Intel and Net Optics to provide prevalidated server solutions of Oracle Real User Experience Insight enables tangible business benefits at lower risk to the end-user," said Stephen Boyle, vice president, Global Platform Alliances, Oracle. "Leveraging Oracle's long relationship and technical knowledge through the Intel ESAA program to deliver proven server configurations, plus the industry-leading regeneration Tap technology from Net Optics allows Oracle to raise the bar in delivering comprehensive passive real user monitoring solutions for our global enterprise customers. Three companies, one great solution, the strength of Intel, Oracle and Net Optics to meet our joint customer needs." -- "Intel ESAA is an alliance in which Xeon-based server solutions are validated and certified by independent hardware and software vendors to provide an interoperable, supported solution stack," said David L. Brown, General Manager of the Channel Platforms Group, Intel. "With the combination of Intel hardware, Oracle Real User Experience Insight software and Net Optics regeneration Taps, customers can easily acquire thoroughly tested 'recipes' for complete solution stacks." -- "Providing prevalidated solutions for the complex Web and enterprise monitoring environments is important to our global customers," said Bob Shaw, President and CEO, Net Optics. "We are pleased to be working with Oracle and Intel to create a versatile passive monitoring solution to help enterprises maximize the value of their business critical applications without requiring application modifications or instrumentation." Availability -- For more information on Oracle Real User Experience Insight prevalidated server solutions, please click here -- Reference configurations are currently available for full production and as well as 30-day free trial for proof-of-concept. -- Customized solutions requiring fault tolerant and high load setups are also available for purchase. -- Oracle Customer Services provides complete coverage of Oracle Real User Experience Insight with the world's leading portfolio of IT lifecycle- based service and support offerings. Oracle Customer Services is focused on helping customers maximize their success with Oracle solutions while lowering the total cost of ownership through continued advances in providing personalized, proactive support and knowledge management capabilities. Terms, conditions and restrictions apply. Supporting Resources -- Register here to discuss the solution with an Oracle Expert (http://www.oracle.com/goto/ruei) -- Oracle Real User Experience Insight (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oem/prod_focus/uxinsight.html) -- About Intel ESSA (http://www.esaa-members.com/) -- About NetOptics (http://www.netoptics.com/) About Oracle

Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com/.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO) Trademarks

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE INCORPORATED INTO A CONTRACT OR AGREEMENT.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Oracle Corporation

CONTACT: Teri Whitaker, +1-650-506-9914, teri.whitaker@oracle.com, or
Carol Sato, +1-650-633-5551, carol.sato@oracle.com, both of Oracle

Web site: http://www.oracle.com/

Verizon Business' Global IP Network Ranks No. 1 as Most Connected Public Internet Network, for the Tenth Consecutive YearIndependent Research Firm Recognizes Verizon Business for More Closely Connecting Customers to the Internet

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Sept 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Verizon Business global IP network has been recognized for the tenth consecutive year as the world's most connected Internet backbone.

In its annual "Global Internet Geography Study," TeleGeography found that the Verizon Business global IP network continues to serve the Internet with the greatest number of autonomous system (AS) network connections of any public IP network in the world.

"The autonomous system ranking is a measure of the connectedness of an IP network to the rest of the public Internet," said Alan Mauldin, TeleGeography research director. "While all networks can reach each other on the Internet, the AS ranking demonstrates the closeness of a network to the rest of the Internet, as in the number of 'hops' (segments on network route) data must take to reach its destination."

The complete 2008 TeleGeography Global Internet Geography Study can be found at http://www.telegeography.com/products/gig/index.php.

Since TeleGeography began tracking AS connectivity in 1999, Verizon Business and its predecessor companies, including UUNET and MCI, have ranked first every year.

"Verizon Business' expansive IP footprint and direct interconnections enable large-business and government customers to reach more destinations directly through its global IP network than any other service provider," said Fred Briggs, Verizon Business executive vice president of operations and technology. "Our continuing commitment to innovation really began 20 years ago when our legacy companies helped build the commercial Internet. Verizon Business will never stand still. We will continue to provide our customers with a leading global backbone that serves as the foundation for innovative services and applications -- now and into the future."

Verizon Business delivers critical IP traffic for its customers and the entire Internet community worldwide. Customers depend on the global IP network to be accessible to carry large amounts of IP traffic quickly and reliably round the globe. Verizon Business IP solutions have transformed the way global companies operate, enabling customers to better serve their customers.

As the first company in the industry to offer service level agreements (SLAs) for Internet traffic among key global business centers, Verizon Business set new standards for Internet service around the world. Through the years, Verizon Business has raised the bar on Internet service by increasing its performance threshold. These service level agreements reinforce Verizon Business' commitment to deliver high-performance IP-based services and provide additional confidence for businesses evolving their communications to an increasingly IP environment.

Verizon Business owns and operates a global fiber-optic network that spans six continents and has more than 485,000 route miles delivering services to customers in more than 150 countries and 2,700 cities throughout the world.

Verizon Business participates in more than 65 submarine communications cable systems to help route IP traffic on its global network. Verizon Business is the only founding U.S. service provider involved in a new submarine cable system recently activated to open up high-speed direct Internet routes between the United States and mainland China. The new undersea cable, called the Trans-Pacific Express (TPE), uses the latest optical technology to provide greater capacity and higher speeds to meet the dramatic increase in demand for IP, data and voice communications in the Asia-Pacific region. Verizon Business has also announced another major submarine cable build called the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable. When completed in 2010, the EIG will provide multinational customers with high-speed routes that connect the United Kingdom and India and that support next-generation IP applications.

As a leader in global mesh networks, Verizon Business is the first to offer seven-way trans-oceanic mesh diversity across both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Meshing provides alternate paths for rerouting traffic in the event of a cable cut or network disruption. When a service interruption occurs and meshing is needed, the equipment housed in network buildings on land allows the rerouting of voice and data traffic within 50 to 100 milliseconds.

About TeleGeography

TeleGeography Research is a supplier of data-driven telecommunications research, analysis and consulting services to carriers, equipment makers, investors and regulators worldwide. For more information, go to http://www.telegeography.com/.

For more information regarding TeleGeography's Global Internet Geography Research Service, visit http://www.telegeography.com/products/gig/index.php

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications , operates the world's most connected public IP network and uses its industry-leading global-network capabilities to offer large-business and government customers an unmatched combination of security, reliability and speed. The company integrates advanced IP communications and information technology (IT) products and services to deliver leading enterprise solutions including managed services, security, mobility, collaboration and professional services. These solutions power innovation and enable the company's customers to do business better. For more information, visit http://www.verizonbusiness.com/.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at http://www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

Verizon Business

CONTACT: Linda Laughlin, +1-918-590-5595,
linda.laughlin@verizonbusiness.com, or Jo Perrin, +44-770-252-5868,
jo.perrin@verizonbusiness.com, both of Verizon Business

Web Site: http://www.telegeography.com/
http://www.telegeography.com/products/gig/index.php
http://www.verizon.com/news
http://www.verizonbusiness.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/094251.html

Verizon Wireless Celebrates Grand Opening of Regional Headquarters in Franklin, TennesseeNew Facility Fuels Economic Growth and Brings New Jobs to Middle Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Lowell McAdam, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless, and Jerry Fountain, Verizon Wireless Carolinas/Tennessee region president, today joined with dignitaries and guests to celebrate the official grand opening of the company's $54 million regional headquarters facility in Franklin, Tenn.

"We are thrilled to officially open the doors of the new Verizon Wireless regional headquarters and celebrate our commitment to both employment and economic growth in the Middle Tennessee technology corridor," said Fountain. "We currently have 85 new employees in training this month alone and will hire an additional 500-600 employees over the next three to five years at this state-of-the-art green facility."

Verizon Wireless currently employs over 2,200 people in the state of Tennessee. Nearly 700 Nashville, Tenn.-area Verizon Wireless employees relocated to the 191,142 sq. ft. regional headquarters facility, building capacity to over 1,300 when it is fully operational.

"The mission of our office is to create higher skilled, better paying jobs for all Tennesseans, and the opening of the Verizon Wireless regional headquarters today is indicative of Tennessee's success in that regard," commented Matthew Kisber, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. "In a five-year period, we have brought more than 145,000 new jobs to Tennessee and attracted more than $22 billion in new capital investments. Our state recently earned the 'National Competitiveness Award' from Site Selection magazine, ranking Tennessee first among the 50 states for economic development performance."

The new regional headquarters facility falls squarely in line with Verizon Wireless' workforce development efforts to provide competitive compensation and outstanding benefits to employees. Verizon Wireless currently operates a $26 million Customer Contact Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., which was built in 2003.

"The job growth and the economic infusion into the area will have a positive, lasting impact on this state," said Tennessee Department of Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr. "The fact that Verizon Wireless chose to expand here in Tennessee speaks volumes for our state and is a positive message for others seeking to live and work in our thriving community."

In an effort to maximize energy efficiencies in the new Verizon Wireless headquarters complex, architect SPACE NELSON incorporated several "green" design initiatives, including:

-- All windows are tinted and feature sunshades. -- The rooms have light switches with motion sensors to automatically turn off when empty to conserve electricity. -- 30 percent of the parking spaces are made of pervious pavement, which helps to collect storm water runoff efficiently. This approach creates more efficient land use by eliminating the need for retention ponds, swales and other storm water management devices. In doing so, pervious concrete has the ability to lower operating costs. This effort is considered a Best Management Practice by the EPA and other agencies and geotechnical engineers across the country. -- The building walls (that are not glass) are concrete, adding to energy efficiency. -- The building features an R-30 roof that increases energy efficiency by 50 percent and decreases utility costs by 50 percent.

Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network. As the state's leading wireless provider, Verizon Wireless covers all 95 counties and approximately 41,898 square miles of the Tennessee landscape. Since 2003, Verizon Wireless has invested $634.5 million to enhance voice and data services and coverage throughout Tennessee.

Today, over 95 percent of Tennessee residents have access to Verizon Wireless' high-speed broadband service, an increase of over 22 percent since 2007. Verizon Wireless' high-speed Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) network provides high-speed business and entertainment-based services on wireless phones, laptops and other wireless devices with Verizon Wireless' BroadbandAccess and V CAST multimedia services.

In addition to economic growth, Verizon Wireless is an active community supporter of domestic violence awareness and prevention in the state of Tennessee, a grassroots component of the company's national HopeLine(R) program. Over the past five years, the company has contributed to programs in the greater Nashville, Tenn., area such as You Have the Power, Andrea Walks and The YW of Middle Tennessee, to name a few.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 68.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 70,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to: http://www.verizonwireless.com/. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Sheryl Sellaway of Verizon Wireless, +1-678-339-5564,
Sheryl.Sellaway@verizonwireless.com

Web Site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/094251.html

General Dynamics Awarded $4 Million for Landsat Data Continuity Mission Integration

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics , has been awarded a five-year, $4 million contract by the Hammers Company, Inc., to provide the systems engineering and integration services needed to build the ground-based command and control system for the Mission Operations Element (MOE) of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite.

The Hammers Company, Inc., of Greenbelt, Md., is the prime contractor with the National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center for the LDCM-MOE command and control system.

General Dynamics C4 Systems will ensure that LDCM-MOE ground systems are compatible with those aboard the new LDCM satellite, which is being built by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (Fairfax, Va.) under a separate contract to NASA. LDCM is scheduled to be launched in 2011.

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission will succeed the current Landsat 7 mission and provide expanded detection, differentiation and characterization of manmade and natural changes of global land surfaces.

The Mission Operations Element will reside in the LDCM mission operations center at the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Data Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. The MOE system will handle spacecraft command and control, memory management, mission planning and scheduling and orbit dynamics.

Since the first Landsat satellite, Landsat 1, was launched in 1972, Landsat satellites have continuously captured images of the Earth's land surface as seen from space. Used by agriculture, education, business, science and government agencies, Landsat imagery supports global-change research and applications.

General Dynamics C4 Systems is a leading integrator of secure communication and information systems and technology. With more than 10,000 employees worldwide, the company specializes in command and control, communications networking, computing and information assurance for defense, government and select commercial customers in the United States and abroad.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 84,600 people worldwide and anticipates 2008 revenues of approximately $29.5 billion. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies. More information about the company is available on the Internet at http://www.generaldynamics.com/ .

General Dynamics C4 Systems

CONTACT: Fran Jacques of General Dynamics C4 Systems, +1-480-441-2885,
Cell: +1-480-586-1886, Fran.Jacques@gdc4s.com

Web site: http://www.generaldynamics.com/

Bankrate, Inc. Announces the Acquisition of BankaholicConference Call Scheduled Today At 4:30 P.M. ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bankrate, Inc. announced today it has acquired Bankaholic ( http://www.bankaholic.com/ ), a Web site owned by Blackshore Properties, Inc. Bankaholic provides rate information on savings products, such as certificates of deposit, savings accounts, and money market accounts, as well as insurance quotes and a comparison of the best credit card offers, which are currently powered by Bankrate. In addition, Bankaholic offers consumers advice and information that allows consumers to comment and rate banks and their promotions through social networking features. Bankrate paid $12.4 million for Bankaholic, with up to an additional $2.5 million earn-out payment available for the attainment of certain performance metrics in the next 12 months.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040122/FLTHLOGO )

"We have been working with Bankaholic in a co-brand relationship since July and have seen first-hand the volume and quality of its traffic," stated Thomas R. Evans, President and CEO of Bankrate. "Bankaholic is ranked high in natural search for both deposit and credit card keywords. We believe their organic traffic will increase our deposit and credit card revenue, and with a high composition of free traffic, will help to improve margins," Mr. Evans added.

Bankrate will take over the operation and management of the Bankaholic Web site immediately. John Wu, the founder of Bankaholic, is the sole employee and will work with the company for a specified period of time during the transition.

Bankrate will hold a brief conference call today at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the Bankaholic acquisition and provide an update of the current state of the company's business.

Conference Call Dial-In Information:

To participate in the teleconference please dial: (913) 312-1483. International callers should dial: (888) 245-0987. Please access the call at least 10 minutes prior to the time the conference is set to begin.

Conference Call Replay Information:

A replay of the conference call will be available beginning September 23, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT through October 6, 2008. To listen to the replay, call (719) 457-0820 and use the pass code: 7324962. International callers should dial (888) 203-1112 and enter the pass code: 7324962.

About Bankrate, Inc.

The Bankrate network of companies includes Bankrate.com, Interest.com, Mortgage-calc.com, Nationwide Card Services, Savingforcollege.com, Fee Disclosure and InsureMe. Each of these businesses helps consumers to make informed decisions about their personal finance matters. The company's flagship brand, Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes, debt management and college finance. Bankrate.com is the leading aggregator of rates and other information on more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees. Bankrate.com reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in 575 markets in 50 states. In 2007, Bankrate.com had nearly 60 million unique visitors. Bankrate.com provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 75 partners, including Yahoo! , America Online , The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times . Bankrate.com's information is also distributed through more than 500 newspapers.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

Certain matters included in the discussion above may be considered to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company and members of our management team. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements made with respect to future revenue, revenue growth, market acceptance of our products, and profitability. Investors and prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward- looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the following: the willingness of our advertisers to advertise on our web site, interest rate volatility, our ability to establish and maintain distribution arrangements, our ability to integrate the operations and realize the expected benefits of businesses that we have acquired and may acquire in the future, our ability to maintain the confidence of our advertisers by detecting click-through fraud or unscrupulous advertisers, the effect of unexpected liabilities we assume from our acquisitions, the effects of expanding our operations internationally, the ability of consumers to access our Online Network through non-PC devices, our ability to manage traffic on our Online Network and service interruptions, increased competition and its effect on traffic, advertising rates, margins and market share, our ability to protect our intellectual property, the effects of facing liability for content on our Online Network, the concentration of ownership of our common stock, the fluctuations of our results of operations from period to period, the accuracy of our financial statement estimates and assumptions, our ability to adapt to technological changes, the impact of legislative or regulatory changes affecting our business, changes in consumer spending and saving habits, changes in accounting principles, policies, practices or guidelines, effects of changes in the stock market and other capital markets, the strength of the United States economy in general. These and additional important factors to be considered are set forth under "Introductory Note," "Item 1A. Risk Factors," "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and in the other sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results or expectations.

For more information contact: Bruce J. Zanca SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer bzanca@bankrate.com (917) 368-8648

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040122/FLTHLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Bankrate, Inc.

CONTACT: Bruce J. Zanca, SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
of Bankrate, Inc., +1-917-368-8648, bzanca@bankrate.com

Web site: http://www.bankrate.com/
http://www.bankaholic.com/

Bankrate, Inc. Announces the Acquisition of BankaholicConference Call Scheduled Today At 4:30 P.M. ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bankrate, Inc. announced today it has acquired Bankaholic, a Web site owned by Blackshore Properties, Inc. Bankaholic provides rate information on savings products, such as certificates of deposit, savings accounts, and money market accounts, as well as insurance quotes and a comparison of the best credit card offers, which are currently powered by Bankrate. In addition, Bankaholic offers consumers advice and information that allows consumers to comment and rate banks and their promotions through social networking features. Bankrate paid $12.4 million for Bankaholic, with up to an additional $2.5 million earn-out payment available for the attainment of certain performance metrics in the next 12 months.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040122/FLTHLOGO )

Bankrate will hold a brief conference call today at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the Bankaholic acquisition and provide an update of the current state of the company's business.

Conference Call Dial-In Information:

Conference Call Replay Information:

About Bankrate, Inc.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

For more information contact: Bruce J. Zanca SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer bzanca@bankrate.com (917) 368-8648

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040122/FLTHLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Bankrate, Inc.

CONTACT: Bruce J. Zanca, SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
of Bankrate, Inc., +1-917-368-8648, bzanca@bankrate.com

Web site: http://www.bankrate.com/

Gameloft proposera des jeux pour la plateforme Android de Google

PARIS, September 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Dix titres annoncés pour 2009

Gameloft, éditeur et développeur mondial de jeux vidéo pour téléphones mobiles et consoles, annonce aujourd'hui son intention de développer plus de 10 jeux pour AndroÃ¯d, la plateforme de téléphonie mobile libre de Google. Bubble Bash, le premier de la liste, est prévu pour le premier trimestre 2009.

AndroÃ¯d est une plateforme logicielle libre pour terminaux mobile dotée de fonctions multimédia étendues qui permettent d'offrir une excellente expérience de jeu grâce à des graphismes optimisés, un écran tactile et un accéléromètre. L'équipe de développement de Gameloft a créé un catalogue de jeux bien fourni dont plusieurs des titres phares seront disponibles lors du lancement des offres d'applications payantes sur AndroÃ¯d.

<< La plateforme AndroÃ¯d suscite intérÃªt et enthousiasme depuis un certain temps>> a déclaré Michel Guillemot, Président de Gameloft. << Nous lui apportons notre soutien car elle représente une ouverture formidable pour les utilisateurs tout en leur permettant de vivre une très bonne expérience de jeu>>.

En plus de Bubble Bash, Gameloft prévoit de sortir une offre complète de jeux pour Android, qui sera proposée tout au long de l'année 2009. La société développe des jeux à la fois simples d'accès et ambitieux, destinés au plus grand nombre et reste fidèle à ses engagements au travers de son offre développée pour la plateforme Android.

Pour toute information, merci de contacter:

Gameloft :

Aude Fouquier - +33-(0)1-58-16-21-55 - aude.fouquier@gameloft.com

Pour plus d'informations, visitez http://www.gameloft.com

Gameloft

Pour toute information, merci de contacter: Gameloft : Aude Fouquier - +33-(0)1-58-16-21-55 - aude.fouquier@gameloft.com

Verizon Wireless Gives Chris Cornell Fans Reason to 'Scream'Score unreleased music through gift-with-purchase program; plus, get a chance to win tickets to exclusive album launch concerts

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless and Chris Cornell are giving fans a preview of new music from Cornell's highly-anticipated and soon-to-be-released album, "Scream," produced by Verizon Mobile Producer-in-Residence, Timbaland.

Rock icon Cornell, former front-man for Soundgarden and Audioslave, has teamed with super-producer Timbaland for a unique new sound that is sure to spearhead a brave new world of cross-genre collaboration.

Additionally, an enter-to-win program gives fans a chance to see Cornell and Timbaland in eight exclusive performances and meet the stars at eight in-store appearances. "Scream" is scheduled for release on November 4.

"Verizon Wireless is always looking for opportunities to bring together fans with their favorite music artist," said Gregg Yacovone, Verizon Wireless director of Marketing.

"Fans can connect with Chris Cornell and Timbaland through a series of album launch in-store events and performances, and downloads of the limited edition mobile EP of 'Scream,' available only through V CAST Music."

"Working with an artist like Chris Cornell who is willing and excited to cross genres and find new ways to share his music is exactly why I signed on to be Verizon's Mobile Producer-in-Residence," said Timbaland. "It is only natural that we bring our new music to fans in this unique way and using the latest mobile technology."

"I am excited to be working with Verizon Wireless to reach both new and old fans with my music," Cornell said. "My new work with Timbaland has allowed me to evolve artistically and with mobile technology, we are able to deliver 'Scream' directly to our fans to their cell phones as well as experience it live before its release."

Limited edition Chris Cornell Mobile EP

Between September 22 and October 13, 2008, Verizon Wireless customers in the western United States who purchase or upgrade to any V CAST-enabled phone with a new 2-year agreement at a participating location will be the first to get the limited edition Mobile EP of Chris Cornell's new album, "Scream," before the album's November 4 release.

The limited edition Mobile EP includes Cornell's single, "Scream;" the theme song to the new V CAST Music with Rhapsody commercial track, "Watch Out;" "Ground Zero," currently featured in ABC's "Life on Mars;" plus "Long Gone;" "Never Far Away;" "Enemy;" and exclusive video and photos.

Exclusive "Scream" album launch events

Fans can be a part of music history and experience Chris Cornell and Timbaland who for the first time ever will perform songs from the new album "Scream" live together at one of the eight exclusive album launch events.

For more information, visit a participating Verizon Wireless store. Album launch performance dates Date City Venue Oct. 17 Denver, CO Ogden Theater Oct. 18 Salt Lake City, UT The Avalon Theater Oct. 19 Tempe, AZ Marquee Oct. 24 Las Vegas, NV The Joint Oct. 25 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues Oct. 26 San Diego, CA House of Blues Oct. 31 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore Nov. 2 Seattle, WA Showbox Meet Chris Cornell and Timbaland

In addition to the album launch performances, Chris Cornell and Timbaland will also meet fans and sign autographs at pre-launch in-store events at select Verizon Wireless stores.

Date Store locations City Oct. 17 2073 S. Colorado Blvd. Denver, CO 80222 Oct. 18 987 W. 500 N Bldg A American Fork, UT 84003 Oct. 19 2040 E. Rio Salado Pkwy. Tempe, AZ 85281 Oct. 24 7300 Arroyo Crossing Pkwy. Las Vegas, NV 89113 Oct. 25 13455 Washington Blvd. Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 Oct. 26 3505 Sports Arena Blvd. San Diego, CA 92110 Oct. 31 150 El Camino Real South San Francisco, CA 94080 Nov. 2 960 Park Ave. North Renton, WA 98057 About Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell has been astonishing fans with his vocal talent for nearly two decades. As the architect of grunge and the lead singer of Soundgarden, he brought the Seattle sound to the masses with songs such as "Black Hole Sun," "Rusty Cage" and "Outshined" from classic albums "Badmotorfinger" and "Superunknown."

Later, Cornell joined with former members of Rage Against the Machine to form Audioslave, whose albums include "Audioslave," "Out of Exile" and "Revelations."

In recent years, Cornell has also established himself as a solo star, with the albums "Euphoria Morning" and "Carry On."

Cornell was the first American male solo artist to be commissioned to do the Bond theme in 2006 with Casino Royale. An artist who thrives on contradictions, Cornell is once again moving boldly forward, working with Timbaland on "Scream."

About Timbaland

For more than a decade, Timbaland has dominated the pop charts thanks to an endless stream of hits for the likes of Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent and Nelly Furtado.

So prolific a hit-maker is Timbaland that in the span of a single year -- 2006 to 2007 -- he produced more than ten #1 international hits, among them Furtado's "Promiscuous," Timberlake's "Sexy Back" and 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology."

Timbaland's touch extends to his own solo work -- he scored three top ten singles alone from his 2007 solo album, "Shock Value." In February of this year, Verizon teamed with Timbaland as the first ever Mobile Producer-in-Residence.

One of today's most influential music producers, Timbaland spans genres in commercial and radio success, and now intends to use Verizon Wireless' V CAST service to deliver music directly to fans through their mobile phones.

V CAST Music

V CAST Music is available exclusively with Verizon Wireless. Through the service, customers can download music over-the-air directly to their V CAST Music-capable wireless phones and straight to Windows(R) XP PCs. Customers can also transfer new and existing digital music from the PC to a wireless phone and compatible portable music players.

For more information on mobile music from Verizon Wireless, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/music. For more information on the Chris Cornell program click on http://www.screamliveconverts.com/.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Jenny Weaver of Verizon Wireless, +1-480-763-6321,
Jenny.weaver@verizonwireless.com; or Monique Idlett of Mosley Music Group,
+1-305-389-1082, monique.idlett@mosleymusicgroup.com, for Chris Cornell and
Timbaland

Web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/
http://www.screamliveconverts.com/

SAP and Business Objects Positioned in Leaders Quadrant for Data Integration Tools

SAN JOSE, Calif. and PARIS, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAP and Business Objects, an SAP company, today announced they have been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant of the "Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools" report (1). This report was based on an evaluation of Business Objects and SAP's completeness of vision and ability to execute.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050310/SFTH009LOGO-a)

According to Gartner, "leaders in the data integration tools market will be front runners in the convergence of single purpose tools into an offering that supports a range of data delivery styles. The leading vendors will be strong in the more traditional data integration patterns such as extract, transform and load (ETL), they will support newer patterns such as data federation, and will provide capabilities that enable data services in the context of service-oriented architecture (SOA). Leaders have significant mind share in the market, and resources skilled with their tools are readily available. These vendors establish market trends, to a large degree, by providing new functional capabilities in their products, and by identifying new types of business problems where data integration tools can bring significant value. Examples of deployments that span multiple projects and types of use cases are commonplace in their customer base."

Business Objects' data integration products are part of a comprehensive information management offering, which provides customers with a foundation of trusted information for any data-driven business or strategic IT initiatives, such as data migration, enterprise resource planning or business intelligence. Together, SAP and Business Objects empower customers with an unmatched set of solutions that deliver decision-quality, unified and well understood information across the enterprise. Customers benefit from this best-of-breed portfolio that supports diverse, heterogeneous environments, complete with capabilities for data integration, data quality, master data management and metadata management.

Business Objects also continues to demonstrate its market leadership with the release of BusinessObjects(TM) Data Services software, the industry's first product to combine enterprise-class data integration and data quality.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted September 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. 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, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius and other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. in the United States and in several other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

For customers interested in learning more about Business Objects products: Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24 United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727) Contacts: Dorit Shackleton, Business Objects +1 (604) 974-2444, dorit.shackleton@sap.com, PDT Jeff Shadid, Burson-Marsteller, +1 (214) 224-8419, jeff.shadid@bm.com, CDT

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050310/SFTH009LOGO-a
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com SAP AG

CONTACT: Dorit Shackleton of Business Objects, +1-604-974-2444,
dorit.shackleton@sap.com, PDT; or Jeff Shadid of Burson-Marsteller,
+1-214-224-8419, jeff.shadid@bm.com, CDT, for SAP AG

Web site: http://www.sap.com/

Verizon Wireless Upgrades Network for Customers at University of Michigan Football GamesCompany Doubles Capacity for Big Crowds at The Big House

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- With more than 100,000 people converging on Ann Arbor during Football Saturdays, Verizon Wireless has activated a COLT (cell on light truck) that doubles capacity in and around Michigan Stadium. This temporary site is a fully functional mobile cell site that enhances wireless capacity in a given area.

The COLT enables more Verizon Wireless customers to use their wireless phones concurrently to make voice calls; send email and text, picture and video messages; access the Internet; view high-quality videos; and download music, games and ringtones while enjoying fewer dropped calls and clearer reception. This is the third consecutive year Verizon Wireless has herded a COLT to Ann Arbor for Football Saturdays.

"Whether our customers are inside The Big House cheering on either team or just enjoying an afternoon of tailgating, we are committed to delivering the same reliable service they have come to expect from Verizon Wireless wherever they use our network," said Greg Haller, president -- Michigan/Indiana/Kentucky Region, Verizon Wireless.

This enhancement is part of Verizon Wireless' continual effort to expand coverage, increase capacity and enhance the quality of its wireless voice and data network in Michigan and throughout the country. Verizon Wireless has invested more than $45 billion since it was formed -- $5.5 billion on average every year -- to increase the coverage and capacity of its national network and to add new services. More than $1.7 billion of this investment has been spent in Michigan since 2000. In 2007, the company invested more than $145 million in Michigan network improvements.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 68.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 70,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to http://www.verizonwireless.com/ . To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia .

Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Michelle Gilbert of Verizon Wireless, +1-248-915-3680,
michelle.gilbert@verizonwireless.com, Michael Kern, +1-248-855-6777,
mkern@marxlayne.com, for Verizon Wireless

Web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia

New Introductory Accounting Content Increases Student Comprehension Through Innovative ApproachFinancial Accounting Teaches Students Principles of Accounting Using Conversational Writing Style and Sequential Methodology

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- With 75 to 90 percent of students in introductory financial accounting today taking the course as non-majors, instructors struggle to motivate and engage their classes. This situation calls for content and instruction that presents real-life examples, which are relevant to students' lives in and out of the classroom. Financial Accounting (McGraw-Hill Higher Education) is new introductory level accounting content designed to interest and stimulate accounting students through highly engaging instruction and ample problem-solving opportunities.

Written in conversational style, Financial Accounting fosters a dialogue between the professor, the content, and each student, making the material easier to understand. Written by professors David Spiceland, Wayne Thomas and Don Herrmann, the technique employed in Financial Accounting presents fundamental accounting concepts in a concise logical sequence, enabling students to better comprehend the material and concepts behind the numbers, rather than simply memorizing formulas and definitions. Professor Spiceland is also the author of Intermediate Accounting, a best-selling college text frequently cited for its conversational and engaging writing style.

"Collectively, Spiceland, Thomas and Herrmann have more than 50 years of financial instruction in the classroom," said Kevin Kane, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Business & Economics Group. "Based on their vast experiences, the author team developed this content to keep students engaged in accounting, instead of the traditional, one-way presentation of information. Financial Accounting presents this complex subject in a way that ensures students will master the material for the course, and be able to apply this knowledge to experiences and challenges well beyond graduation."

Financial Accounting contains several features that promote learning to introductory level accounting students:

-- "Common Mistakes" encourages students to avoid making common accounting errors and to gain a deeper understanding of chapter material by identifying these errors. -- "Flip Side" demonstrates how each participant is involved in a particular transaction. This feature enhances the student's understanding of how each party is involved. -- "Stop-and-Review Problems" immediately follows each topic within each chapter, and reviews main concepts before moving on to the next. -- "Continuing Problem," presents a comprehensive case study, which progresses throughout the text by using accounting issues from each chapter. This feature gives students an opportunity to understand the connections of introductory accounting from beginning to end.

Financial Accounting combines the teaching of best practices with unique pedagogical elements designed to motivate, engage and challenge students. All three authors personally created the text's key supplements, which include the instructor's manual, custom PowerPoint materials and test bank to ensure high quality and consistency in alignment with the textbook.

For more information, visit http://www.mhhe.com/succeed . About McGraw-Hill Higher Education

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a premier provider of print and digital teaching and learning solutions for the post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide. It is a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of print and digital instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 60 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com/.

Contact: Tom Stanton McGraw-Hill Education (212) 904-3214 tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

McGraw-Hill Higher Education

CONTACT: Tom Stanton of McGraw-Hill Education, +1-212-904-3214,
tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

Web Site: http://www.mheducation.com/
http://www.mhhe.com/succeed

Tyco Electronics Increases Quarterly Cash Dividend

PEMBROKE, Bermuda, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of Tyco Electronics Ltd. has approved an increase of the company's quarterly cash dividend from $0.14 to $0.16 per common share -- an increase of 14 percent. The new $0.16 per share dividend is payable on Nov. 4, 2008, to shareholders of record as of Oct. 14, 2008.

Tyco Electronics Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tom Lynch said, "This dividend increase reflects our solid results since separation and the company's strong financial position."

ABOUT TYCO ELECTRONICS

Tyco Electronics Ltd. is a leading global provider of engineered electronic components, network solutions, undersea telecommunication systems and wireless systems, with 2007 sales of $13.0 billion to customers in more than 150 countries. We design, manufacture and market products for customers in industries from automotive, appliance and aerospace and defense to telecommunications, computers and consumer electronics. With over 7,000 engineers and worldwide manufacturing, sales and customer service capabilities, Tyco Electronics' commitment is our customers' advantage. More information on Tyco Electronics can be found at http://www.tycoelectronics.com/.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks, uncertainty and changes in circumstances, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance or achievements. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature are forward-looking and the words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "estimate," "plan," and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release include statements addressing the following subjects: future financial condition and operating results. Economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Tyco Electronics' businesses are examples of factors, among others, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward- looking statements. Tyco Electronics has no intention and is under no obligation to update or alter (and expressly disclaims any such intention or obligation to do so) its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. More detailed information about these and other factors is set forth in Tyco Electronics' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2007, as retrospectively adjusted to reflect the Radio Frequency Components and Subsystem and Automotive Sensors businesses as discontinued operations in the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed June 27, 2008, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended December 28, 2007, March 28, 2008 and June 27, 2008, as well as in current reports on Form 8-K filed by Tyco Electronics.

Tyco Electronics Ltd.

CONTACT: Media Relations: Sheri Woodruff, +1-610-893-9555, Office, or
+1-609-933-9243, Mobile, swoodruff@tycoelectronics.com, or Investor Relations:
John Roselli, +1-610-893-9559, Office, john.roselli@tycoelectronics.com, or
Keith Kolstrom, +1-610-893-9551, Office, keith.kolstrom@tycoelectronics.com,
all of Tyco

Web site: http://www.tycoelectronics.com/

CashEdge Enhances Risk Management for Online Money Movement with Knowledge Based Authentication System

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- CashEdge, Inc. (http://www.cashedge.com/), the leading provider of online financial applications to banks, credit unions, brokerage and wealth management firms and the pioneer in online account opening and funding, announced today that it has enhanced the risk management capabilities of its leading online money movement solutions with the deployment of RSA(R) Identity Verification knowledge-based authentication system from RSA, The Security Division of EMC .

CashEdge's online money movement solutions include TransferNow(TM) and FundNow(TM). These solutions allow transfers between customer accounts held at any of more than 23,000 banks, credit unions and brokerages. TransferNow automates the verification of held away accounts, manages risk and moves funds via multiple payment networks. FundNow is an account funding solution that enables financial institutions to increase their new funding rate by simplifying the account funding process. Utilizing RSA Identity Verification, a new account can be approved and funded in a single session through CashEdge's automated verification and funding solutions.

CashEdge leverages the RSA Identity Verification knowledge-based authentication system designed to help assure user identities in real-time via an interactive question and answer process utilizing relevant facts on the individual obtained by scanning dozens of public record databases. This system is engineered to deliver a confirmation of identity within seconds, without requiring a prior relationship with the user. The technology helps enable financial institutions to implement instant identity verification for consumers attempting to conduct funds transfers, while greatly reducing the opportunity for fraudulent transactions. The knowledge-based authentication system simultaneously provides consumers with added confidence while protecting the integrity of the user experience.

With the addition of knowledge-based authenticated ID checks prior to outbound transfers, CashEdge has enhanced its industry-leading risk management capabilities.

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an identity is stolen every 4 seconds, and identity theft topped the list of consumer fraud complaints filed with the FTC in 2007. Fraudsters who possess valid identity information are able to perform account takeovers, accessing an identity theft victim's bank accounts with real credentials, and perform fraudulent transactions as if they were the authentic owner of the ID. As a result, banks are becoming more vigilant in providing safeguards for online banking services, particularly for online money movement, to help prevent fraudulent transactions from occurring.

"With this technology you can identify potentially fraudulent transactions much closer to the point of compromise, thus preventing downstream cost of fraud and customer impact; it makes the risk management process a lot more efficient," said Amir Sunderji, Senior Vice President of Payments & Chief Risk & Payments Officer at CashEdge. "This level of protection is absolutely essential when you are combating organized and sophisticated fraud rings."

"Identity assurance is the foundation of a continuous trust and facilitation model that provides the basis of how an identity is used at all times and what it can do. Our knowledge-based authentication system is a key part of this model and is critical for organizations that need to regulate and verify user identities to help prevent acquiring fraudulent parties within their customer base," said Sam Curry, Vice President, Identity and Access Assurance Group at RSA. "RSA is pleased to be working with CashEdge to help increase revenue from new accounts and repeat transactions, provide an enhanced user experience, and reduce operational costs and the potential for fraud."

About CashEdge

CashEdge(R) provides innovative, online financial applications to banks, credit unions and wealth management firms. CashEdge's solutions include end-to-end online account opening and funding, funds transfer, small business payments and invoicing, and data consolidation. These proven solutions are flexible, scalable and supported by extensive risk management capabilities. The company currently serves hundreds of leading financial institutions including 23 of the top 100 banks, and 20 of the top 100 credit unions. CashEdge has offices in New York, Silicon Valley and India. For more information, visit http://www.cashedge.com/.

RSA is a registered trademark of RSA Security, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. EMC is a registered trademark of EMC Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

CashEdge, Inc.

CONTACT: Jennifer Moritz, Zer0 to 5ive, +1-917-748-4006,
jmoritz@0to5.com, for CashEdge

Web site: http://www.cashedge.com/

Richard Dagnall Joins TechWeb's Light Reading as Managing Director of Events, Driving Growth of Focused Communications Industry Events

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- TechWeb's Light Reading Communications Network (http://www.lightreading.com/), the leading online media, events, and research company serving the global communications marketplace, today announced that Richard Dagnall has joined as Managing Director of Events. Dagnall will be responsible for driving Light Reading's leading Ethernet Expo shows in New York and London, TelcoTV, Tower Summit, Optical Expo, and 12 focused, one-day conferences with pre-qualified attendees on subjects ranging from mobile backhaul to advanced cable video strategies. Dagnall will report to Joseph Braue, Group Director and SVP of Light Reading.

"Richard is the ideal person to drive our Light Reading events throughout the world," said Braue. "His industry expertise, close relationships with telecom equipment manufacturers and professional associations, plus comprehensive knowledge of the events industry, will energize our team and drive our growth strategy. Richard's global marketing and event experience will be particularly important in light of our recent acquisition of Pyramid Research, which is the leading communications market researcher focusing on the hot developing markets in South America, Asia, and EMEA."

Dagnall has a long relationship with Light Reading. A one-time Light Reading customer, Dagnall was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Iometrix and was featured on Light Reading TV (LRTV) (http://www.lightreading.com/tv/tv_popup.asp?doc_id=137549).

Previously, Dagnall was employed with Richmond Events and then Penton Media, where he organized the LightSpeed conference series on Carrier Ethernet and Triple Play in Western and Eastern Europe. Dagnall served as Co-Chair for Events Marketing and Technical Marketing with the Metro Ethernet Forum and was Chairman for the Marketing Awareness and Education Committee for the Multiservice Forum.

Dagnall is based in London and can be reached at Dagnall@lightreading.com. About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/) is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. It reaches an extensive audience of executives and technologists within the telecom and enterprise networking communities, as well as the financial/industry analysts and investors who track these sectors. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a member of its TechWeb division.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (http://techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events, Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, and Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services including next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

About United Business Media Limited

United Business Media Limited is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print, and with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/.

Contact Amy Averbook TechWeb's Light Reading 212 925-0020 ext.112 averbook@lightreading.com

TechWeb

CONTACT: Amy Averbook, TechWeb's Light Reading, +1-212-925-0020,
ext.112, averbook@lightreading.com

Web Site: http://techweb.com/aboutus
http://www.lightreading.com/
http://www.lightreading.com/tv/tv_popup.asp?doc_id=137549
http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/

BB&T to host free webinar on employer services

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BB&T Payment Solutions on Oct. 7 will host a free educational webinar for employers on the advantages of offering a full range of employee services from a single financial services provider.

"Employee Services: Hire-to-Retire Solutions for Business," the eighth in an ongoing series of payments-related webinars from BB&T, will be presented from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. (EDT) by Jack Ducanis, business development manager for BB&T Payroll Services. Online registration is available at http://www.bbt.com/paymentswebinar .

"Participants will learn how comprehensive employer services solutions can meet the needs of their employees throughout their entire life cycle," Ducanis said. "They'll discover the benefits to their company and their employees by consolidating all human resource processing, such as 401(k), Section 125, workers' compensation and employee benefits, under one roof."

The BB&T Payment Solutions webinar series features industry experts and is designed to help businesses explore new developments in payment processes. The webinars focus on the ongoing transformation of payment systems from traditional paper-based methods to more streamlined, secure and convenient electronic-based products and services.

With $136.5 billion in assets, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Corporation is the nation's 14th largest financial holding company. It operates nearly 1,500 financial centers in 11 states and Washington, D.C. More information about the company is available at http://www.bbt.com/ .

BB&T Corporation

CONTACT: Jack Ducanis, Business Development Manager, BB&T Payroll
Services, +1-410-230-4393, or Jeff Nichols, Vice President, BB&T Corporate
Communications, +1-336-733-1472

Web site: http://www.bbt.com/paymentswebinar
http://www.bbt.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/809325.html

Northrop Grumman Introduces New Widescreen Technology for Ship Navigation Systems

LONDON, September 23 /PRNewswire/ --

At the 2008 SMM maritime technology exhibition this month, Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit will unveil the newest enhancement to its VisionMaster FT(TM) lineup of marine navigation systems -- a widescreen high-resolution display with 25 percent more viewing area.

A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://media.primezone.com/noc/

Sperry Marine's WideView(TM) display console is designed to improve situational awareness for bridge watch officers by providing additional information alongside the radar or electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) picture. The iWindow display on the left-hand side of the display is user configurable to show split-screen and window inset views of conning information, closed-circuit TV images and other operational modes.

A unique feature being introduced for the first time in the WideView product is the iView3D display, which shows underwater topography matched to the electronic chart. This will augment the two-dimensional chart display by providing the watch officer a three-dimensional graphic picture of underwater hazards to navigation.

The WideView display console is available with all Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT products, including standalone radar, chart radar, ECDIS and TotalWatch multi-function workstations. VisionMaster FT is the first of a new generation of marine navigation systems, synthesizing multiple functions, such as radar and electronic charting, into a highly integrated navigation network sharing a common database.

"WideView is part of our continuous improvement program for the VisionMaster FT product line," said J. Nolasco DaCunha, vice president of Sperry Marine. "The open-architecture Ethernet-based design for VisionMaster FT allows for practically infinite upgradeability to add new functions and features."

"In 2009 we intend to introduce new value-added solutions that will leverage the power of the VisionMaster FT network with intelligent communications and higher-bandwidth satellite connectivity to integrate shipboard navigation with shoreside business management," said DaCunha.

Sperry Marine, headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., and with major engineering and support offices in New Malden, United Kingdom and Hamburg, Germany, provides smart navigation and ship control solutions for the international marine industry with customer service and support through offices in 16 countries, sales representatives in 47 countries and authorized service depots in more than 250 locations worldwide.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.

For commercial sales inquiries, contact Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine by phone, +1-434-974-2656 or by e-mail, sales_commercial@sperry.ngc.com. For military sales inquiries, call +1-434-974-2134 or e-mail sales_military@sperry.ngc.com. Visit our Web site at http://www.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com.

Web site: http://www.northropgrumman.co.uk

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Ken Beedle, mobile, +44-7787-174092, or +44-207-747-1910, ken.beedle@euro.ngc.com, or Tom Delaney, +1-410-993-6454, thomas.delaney@ngc.com, both of Northrop Grumman Corporation

Gameloft to Develop Games for the Android Platform10 Games Coming to the Android Platform in 2009

NEW YORK, September 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gameloft, a leading developer and publisher of video games on mobile phones and consoles, today announced plans to develop 10 plus games for Android, an open source mobile platform. Bubble Bash will be the first title scheduled for launch in Q1 2009.

Android is an open mobile platform that incorporates extensive multimedia features and supports handsets that allow an enhanced gaming experience thanks to optimized graphics, touch screen and accelerometer. Gameloft's development team has created a strong line-up for the platform, with several of its flagship titles available at the launch of Android's paid application offerings.

"The momentum and excitement for the Android has been building for some time," said Michel Guillemot, president and CEO, Gameloft. "We plan to fully support this platform since it provides another great outlet for an enhanced gaming experience for consumers."

In addition to Bubble Bash, Gameloft has several diverse offerings lined up in 2009 for the Android platform. The company has been developing mass market games for casual audiences and continues its commitment with its offerings for Android.

About Gameloft

Gameloft is a leading international publisher and developer of video games for mobile phones and consoles. Established in 1999, it has emerged as one of the top innovators in its field. The company creates games for mobile handsets equipped with Java, Brew or Symbian technology. The total number of games-enabled handsets is anticipated to exceed four billion units by 2012. Gameloft games are also available to players on WiiWare and DS, Microsoft's Xbox LIVE Arcade, Apple's iPod, iTouch and iPhones, and PCs.

Partnership agreements with leading licensors and sports personalities such as Ubisoft Entertainment, Universal Pictures, ABC, Dreamworks Animations SKG, Endemol, 20th Century Fox, Viacom, Sony Pictures, Touchtone Television, Warner Bros., FifPro, Ferrari, Paris Hilton, Gus Hansen, Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter, Reggie Bush, Chuck Norris, Jonny Wilkinson or Robinho allow Gameloft to form strong relationships with international brands. In addition to the partnerships, Gameloft owns and operates titles such as Block Breaker Deluxe, Asphalt: Urban GT and New York Nights.

Through agreements with major telephone wireless carriers, handset manufacturers, specialized distributors and its online shop, Gameloft has a distribution network in over 80 plus countries.

Gameloft has worldwide offices in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Montreal, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Sao Paulo, Santiago Paris, London, Cologne, Milan, Madrid, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Helsinki, Vienna, Bucharest, New Delhi, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney. Gameloft is listed on Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0000079600, Bloomberg: GFT FP, Reuters: GLFT.PA)

http://www.gameloft.com/

Gameloft

CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Sanette Chao -
+1-212-994-2495 - Sanette.chao@gameloft.com

GameTech Announces Extension of Stock Buy Back

RENO, Nev., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GameTech International, Inc. ("GameTech" or the "Company") , a leading designer, developer and marketer of electronic bingo equipment, bingo systems and video lottery terminals, today announced that its board of directors has authorized an extension until December 31, 2008 of the stock repurchase program previously announced in September 2007. The stock repurchase program originally allowed for the repurchase of up to $5.0 million of the Company's common stock over a one year period and the extension will retain that original cumulative dollar limitation. Pursuant to the Company's previously announced stock repurchase plan, the Company has repurchased to date a total of 576,185 shares at a combined cost of approximately $3.6 million. This repurchase amount represents 4.6% of the fully diluted shares outstanding as of July 31, 2008. The actual number and timing of subsequent share repurchases will be subject to market conditions and applicable SEC rules.

GameTech International, Inc. is in the business of designing, manufacturing, and marketing computerized bingo and gaming equipment, systems, and services. Under the GameTech(R) brand the Company provides electronic bingo systems and equipment. Under the Summit Gaming(TM) brand the Company provides video lottery terminals and slot machine gaming devices. The Company also provides other gaming related equipment and services. GameTech International, Inc. is an innovator in advanced wireless gaming applications and devices as well as software and content for traditional slot machine games. GameTech International, Inc. serves customers in 41 U.S. States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, and the United Kingdom. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.

Such forward-looking statements include the final amount that is expended on share repurchases, the actual number of shares of common stock repurchased, changes in the market price of the Company's common shares of stock. GameTech cautions that these statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by the forward-looking statements contained herein. Such factors include change in cash availability to the Company, our dependence on the bingo and video lottery terminal businesses, risks associated with rapid technological change, our ability to retain customers and secure new customers, and other factors disclosed in documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements.

GameTech International, Inc.

CONTACT: John Harvatt of GameTech International, Inc., +1-775-850-6115,
jharvat@gtiemail.com

Web site: http://www.gametech-inc.com/

Alcatel-Lucent and Deutsche Telekom Launch Web User Interface for Smart Metering Trial in "T-City" Friedrichshafen

AMSTERDAM - Metering, Billing/CRM Europe 2008, September 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Deutsche Telekom today announced that they launch a web-based Smart Metering user interface for the E-Metering field trial, which is running in the German city of Friedrichshafen.

In Friedrichshafen, local utility provider "Technische Werke Friedrichshafen" is piloting an innovative Smart Metering product, named "TWF:CleverZÃ¤hler" ("clever meter"), based on an end-to-end metering service jointly developed by Alcatel-Lucent and Deutsche Telekom's business customer segment, T-Systems. The service gives consumers and utilities a near-real-time view of energy consumption for each connected household. About 1,000 smart meters for electricity as well as gas are planned to be supplied to 700 households until mid 2009.

Smart Metering helps consumers to use electricity more efficiently and reduce energy costs and carbon emissions into the environment. Local utilities profit from the service with an exact overview of the actual energy consumption in all parts of their network. This enables better forecasting and offers a lever to give incentives to consumers to control demand to a certain extent.

Consumers get a view of their energy consumption over a web user interface - as launched today in Friedrichshafen -, which they access over a DSL connection. They can initiate ad-hoc measurements of their energy consumption anytime. Otherwise, the web user interface visualises the energy consumption curve along defined timelines, for example - per hour, per day or per month.

Utility providers also have a remote view of the smart meters. Since the metering service updates data on energy consumption every 15 minutes, utilities can react very quickly and for example, propose incentives to consumers to consume energy at a certain time. This helps them to reduce their peak loads and better utilise their network assets, which potentially reduces network investments.

"By partnering with Deutsche Telekom, we have developed a Smart Metering solution that is likely to further develop this market segment. Alcatel-Lucent is providing network integration and other professional services for this end-to-end solution that is providing communications between consumers and their utility providers," says Michael Fabian, President of Alcatel-Lucent's Industry and Public Sector business. "We have experience in managing complex projects and deploying multivendor solutions. This experience from consumers and the utility provider in this trial will advance our network design and application integration knowledge and enhance our solution."

The T-City partners, Deutsche Telekom and Alcatel-Lucent, provide an end-to-end metering service -- based on the IP-based Open Service Platform of Alcatel-Lucent. Besides providing and operating the metering platform in a managed service centre, Alcatel-Lucent designed the web user interfaces.

Deutsche Telekom not only rolled out the broadband network infrastructure that makes Friedrichshafen and its citizens future-ready. Within the E-Metering trial, Deutsche Telekom provides field service for the installation, is operating the smart meters' communications network, and is handling the data processing, provisioning and visualisation. The metering platform relies on a robust distributed network of meter boxes, interconnecting the various meters to the central data management. This happens via a secure network, which is independent from the consumer's regular Internet access.

The local utility provider is responsible for the installation of the meters and takes care of customer relationship activities, including selling and marketing the smart metering service, and providing end-user service. Software integrator Bittner & Krull, an expert in software solutions for utilities, provides the business logic for the meter data from Friedrichshafen and processes these towards the utility's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

The end-to-end smart metering service of Deutsche Telekom and Alcatel-Lucent is based on Alcatel-Lucent's Open Service Platform (OSP), which is widely used in mobile networks to process data in real-time. The OSP has been adapted to the energy market, now offering meter reading, meter management, infrastructure and data management. It is highly scalable up to 30 million subscribers; supports open standards and several ERP systems. In this way, it supports further liberalisation of the energy market. It also gives utility providers the option to introduce pre-paid services in the energy market, which could reduce debt collection issues.

Alcatel-Lucent is a trusted services partner to leading energy providers round the world. Through its active participation in the European Utilities Telecom Council (EUTC) and the European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association (EICTA), Alcatel-Lucent develops its thought-leadership to ensure the pervasiveness of ICT to face societal challenges. The solution provided by Alcatel-Lucent clearly meets and promotes the EU top challenge of addressing energy efficiency though ICT.

T-City project

Friedrichshafen became Germany's first T-City as the result of a competition, which Deutsche Telekom launched at CeBIT 2006. The objective of the T-City project is to increase the quality of life for the T-City citizens through implementation of IT and telecommunications projects that involve innovative technology and new applications related to all areas of city life. As exclusive premium partner, Alcatel-Lucent provides products and innovative technologies and supports the implementation of project ideas. Furthermore, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its know-how on service development and introduction.

About Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) provides solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. As a leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent offers the end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for people at home, at work and on the move. With operations in more than 130 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The company has the most experienced global services team in the industry, and one of the largest research, technology and innovation organisations in the telecommunications industry. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 17.8 billion in 2007 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent Press Contacts: Régine Coqueran, Tel: +33-1-40-76-49-24, regine.coqueran@alcatel-lucent.com. Mark Burnworth, Tel: +32-3-240-38-81, mark.burnworth@alcatel-lucent.com. Alcatel-Lucent Investor Relations, Rémi Thomas, Tel: +33-1-40-76-50-61, remi.thomas@alcatel-lucent.com, Tom Bevilacqua, Tel: +1-908-582-7998, bevilacqua@alcatel-lucent.com, Tony Lucido, Tel: +33-1-40-76-49-80, alucido@alcatel-lucent.com, Don Sweeney, Tel: +1-908-582-6153, dsweeney@alcatel-lucent.com

Laser Energetics Makes Strategic Acquisition of Light Transmitter Technology

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Laser Energetics, Inc. (Pink Sheets: LNGT) announced today that the Company has completed the acquisition of a strategic light transmitter technology. The technology, which is referred to as TRT, has a superior way of transmitting and diffusing light which is utilized in consumer products, ranging from mobile phones, and PDA's to computer screens, as well as signage applications.

The recently acquired TRT technology took many years and over fifty million dollars to develop (development started formerly at Allied Signal Corporation (now Honeywell International) under their micro optic devices technology development program) which was purchased by LEI and consists of several PCT patents pending.

Dr. John Magno, one of the inventors of the TRT and now Vice President of Research & Development at Laser Energetics, stated, "TRT (Totally Reflecting Transmitter) is a new optical film which couples light more efficiently by redirecting light from a source and/or LGP (light guide plate). TRT's many benefits consist of brightness enhancement of the display, longer battery life because of improved transmission of light through the film, and reduction of costs in the manufacturing process of LCD's."

Magno lead his team, to the advancement of this technology by producing parallel optical microstructures on an optical film to couple the light from a waveguide via these microstructures which improved total light transmission by 30%, thus improving overall efficiency of the display. This improvement leads to longer battery lifetime and greatly reduces the cost to manufacture the display. As an example, the TRT can be used to replace the present brightness enhancement and diffuser films found in all mobile phones and most PDA's.

Robert D. Battis, Founder and CEO of Laser Energetics, stated, "The cost to manufacture the TRT is under $0.10, versus multiple films costing over $1.00. The cost of assembling the TRT film into a mobile phone is also reduced because of the reduction of many films currently found in a mobile phone, to a single TRT film."

Battis further commented, "TRT" is Better-Faster-and Cheaper than the current utilized technology. The applications of the TRT technology for light transmission are breath taking. Global mobile phone giant Nokia predicts the global handset market will grow 10% in 2008 to 1.1 billion units. Samsung Electronics, the world's No. 2 handset maker, recently forecasted the market to 1.28 billion units. In the annual meeting of investors held in Amsterdam, Nokia executives projected that industry wide mobile device volume growth in 2008 will be above 15% in Asia-Pacific, China and Middle East and Africa but below 10% in North America, Europe and Latin America. Nokia also said the four billion mobile subscriptions mark now is expected to be reached in 2009, rather than in 2010 as previously forecast. Keeping this in mind, if TRT for mobile phones with its superior qualities is utilized in only 10% of the market for over 1 billion mobile phones, this equates to over $100 million is sales with a 90% gross margin. This does not include other consumer devices such as PDA's, digital cameras, digital video recorders, GPS systems, signage and larger screen displays. We look forward to announcing some very significant sales of TRT products in the near future."

About Laser Energetics, Inc.:

Laser Energetics has and continues to develop a comprehensive and strategic laser product line that addresses laser applications in Industry, Science, Medicine, Homeland Security and the Military. The Company has had a primary focus on its Alexandrite laser technology.

Safe Harbor: Statements regarding financial matters in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company intends that such statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, technology efficacy and all other forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. The Company is a development stage company who continues to be dependent upon outside capital to sustain its existence. Since these statements (future operational results and sales) involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results may differ materially from expected results.

Laser Energetics, Inc.

CONTACT: Dan Schall, Investor Relations, Laser Energetics, Inc.,
+1-877-736-6907

Web site: http://www.laserenergetics.com/

Raytheon Team to Provide U.S. Navy with Precision Aircraft Carrier Landing System

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company has been awarded a $232.8 million contract for the system development and demonstration phase of the GPS-based Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) program for shipboard applications. JPALS provides all-weather shipboard landing capability to assist the Navy with pinpoint landing accuracy on aircraft carriers.

The Raytheon team's solution for JPALS improves safety, lowers the total cost of ownership during the program's lifecycle and provides greater flexibility and efficiency. A modular design and open system approach minimizes costs of future applications.

"When our service members are conducting missions in hostile environments or inclement weather, we want them to have confidence that their aircraft will land exactly where they should each and every time," said Andy Zogg, Raytheon vice president of Airspace Management and Homeland Security.

The team, led by Raytheon Network Centric Systems, includes Rockwell Collins, Northrop Grumman and SAIC. The award represents more than a decade of developing and demonstrating that GPS-based satellite navigation technology works.

"In addition to the Department of Defense application, this award adds valuable experience to our ongoing development of space-based augmentation systems in air traffic management," said Zogg. "Raytheon has certified this type of system in Japan and the U.S. and is the only company with that distinction. In India, Raytheon will provide satellite-based navigation for civil aviation across South and East Asia for the safest and most accurate air navigation system deployed in the region."

Raytheon Company, with 2007 sales of $21.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 86 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 72,000 people worldwide.

Contact: Lynford Morton 703.284.4446 lynfordm@raytheon.com

Raytheon Company

CONTACT: Lynford Morton of Raytheon Company, +1-703-284-4446,
lynfordm@raytheon.com

Web site: http://www.raytheon.com/

Standard & Poor's Introduces a New, Quick-Response Data Integration Solutions TeamCompustat's Custom Solutions provides tailored data management solutions to meet the unique workflow requirements of financial professionals.

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Targeting institutional investors that need expert help with data feed management and content integration and are faced with a lack of technical resources, Standard & Poor's Compustat has created Compustat(R) Custom Solutions. This internal team of software developers and data specialists is uniquely qualified to respond quickly and efficiently with solutions for data integration needs, regardless of technical platform.

According to Brian Wiberg, Sr. Director of Information Technology for Standard & Poor's Compustat, this new specialized group was established in response to requests from institutional investment firms seeking assistance integrating large financial databases, such as Compustat, with data from other providers and platforms. Custom Solutions is uniquely positioned to undertake projects of any scope or size. Custom Solutions can extend or enhance existing data integration platforms, develop unique tools, create customized one-time data packages or subscription feeds, and accommodate specific technical environments.

"We realize the expensive proposition of creating an in-house staff with the expertise required to create unique analytical systems capable of managing multiple data feeds," said Wiberg. "As a Compustat team, Custom Solutions has direct access to both Compustat data and applications and can partner one-on-one with clients to provide the technical solutions needed to adapt either to meet their organization's operational needs."

About Compustat Data

Standard & Poor's Compustat(R) data is used by institutional money managers and analysts around the world. With fundamental and market data on 75,000 global securities, Compustat provides vital company, index and industry information that supports financial models and proprietary company and industry analysis.

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies , is the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates, located in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com/

Standard & Poor's

CONTACT: Media Information: Christopher Capot of KNB Communications,
+1-212-505-2441, CCapot@knbpr.com; or Standard & Poor's Compustat, Monique
Helfer, Public Relations of Standard & Poor's Compustat, +1-303-721-4760,
monique_helfer@standardandpoors.com

Web Site: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/
http://www.standardandpoors.com/