8 Mart 2009 Pazar

SAS® Analytics

Analytics delivering greater insight

SAS Analytics provides an integrated environment for predictive and descriptive modeling, data mining, text analytics, forecasting, optimization, simulation, experimental design and more. From predictive analytics to model deployment and process optimization, SAS provides a range of techniques and processes for the collection, classification, analysis and interpretation of data to reveal patterns, anomalies, key variables and relationships, leading ultimately to new insights and better answers faster.

SAS Analytics can be applied to a vast range of business challenges across many industries and departments. To learn more about what you can achieve with SAS Analytics, explore our
Analytics Info Kit.

SAS® Solutions for Regulatory Compliance

Compliance with regulations has always been a reality of business. Now, thanks to a continuing line of corporate scandals, compliance more than ever connects directly to market performance.

And regulations have seemed to multiply over time. All public companies that trade on U.S. markets must comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Financial services firms in Europe must comply with the Basel II accord. U.S. financial services companies face security requirements outlined in the USA Patriot Act.

The list is long and the regulations complex, regardless of your industry. Failure to comply now bears more serious penalties than ever, including the loss of corporate integrity and shareholder confidence.

SAS understands the complexity of your compliance needs – that they are vast, interconnected and vital to your success. For this reason, we offer solutions for a variety of specific compliance requirements. All these solutions are built on a common platform that allows you to pull together complex compliance data from multiple systems and then quickly analyze it, report on it and deliver the required information to regulators.

With SAS, you can comply with even the most challenging aspects of:

  • Anti-money laundering regulations – Automatically identify, classify and surface suspicious activities so you'll be able to meet stringent government regulations, protect shareholder confidence and maintain a strong reputation.
  • Basel II – Satisfy the requirements of all three pillars of Basel II, calculate and aggregate market, credit and operational risk measures, and minimize efforts and investments in risk management.
  • Fair banking regulations – Boost analytical capabilities to know materiality, set priorities and enhance risk controls associated with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), Equal Credit Opportunity, Home Owner's Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) and more.
  • MiFID – Meet MiFID requirements for client classification and trade transparency, and aggregate information to support execution and client reporting.
  • Sarbanes-Oxley – Track, store, document and audit every financial process and control within your business more effectively.
  • 21 CFR Part 11 – Effortlessly ensure compliance with the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 requirements, as well as other life sciences regulations.

7 Mart 2009 Cumartesi

Client Onboarding and KYC Compliance


The GoldTier product incorporates all of the functionality required to effectively:

  • Manage the onboarding and maintenance of new and existing clients across a variety of teams including sales, relationship managers, operations, compliance, documentation, tax, credit and legal
  • Integrate compliance controls into the client onboarding process
  • Deliver Know Your Customer (KYC / AML), Customer Identification Profile (CIP), MiFID client classification, USA PATRIOT Act, and related client regulatory due diligence
  • Create transparency to stakeholders throughout the client lifecycle.

'GoldTier is creating a standard to address both the tactical and strategic challenges arising from the processes of client onboarding.' HSBC

The solution empowers financial institutions to:

  • Meet regulatory compliance demands: with automated due diligence processing and comprehensive client audit profiles on-demand
  • Improve time to revenue: with the reduction in paperwork and tightening of account opening cycle times
  • Control costs: with the automation of manual tasks, elimination of expensive repeat tasks, and real-time management dashboards
  • Enhance the client experience: with the minimization of touch points and repeat requests to your clients.

Each onboarding activity is tied back into a common onboarding framework, meaning client knowledge can be leveraged across all activities. GoldTier enables financial institutions to set policies, adopt regulations and then implement and enforce them throughout these activities.

To receive a complimentary copy of the GoldTier KYC and Client Onboarding Solution brochure with key client commentary please select Contact Us from the menu on the right.

6 Mart 2009 Cuma

ASC process systems

ASC is a leading manufacturer of specialized process equipment, control systems, and custom manufacturing software used in the composites, plastics, glass, solar, lumber, and concrete, coatings, and finishing industries. Our product lines include composite autoclaves, glass-laminating autoclaves, concrete autoclaves, industrial ovens, composite ovens, electroplating automation systems, process control software, autoclave control software, oven control software, and crane and hoist control software including scheduling. We're located in Los Angeles, CA and support thousands o
Autoclaves and other equipment
ASC manufactures a range of process equipment, including autoclaves, ovens, presses, heating systems, cooling systems, vacuum systems, and specialty pressure equipment. We also buy and sell used equipment.
systems and hundreds of customers w
Control & power systems
ASC is a leading supplier of control and power systems for a wide variety of equipment and industries. We specialize in PC-based and PLC-based control solutions. Our PC-based systems typically feature our industry-standard CPC control software package.
orldwide.
Software for controls and manufacturing
ASC can develop custom software solutions for a wide variety of manufacturing applications. Our CPC software is the world's leading software for control of autoclaves, ovens, and many other applications. Our FLEXTIME software is also the leading PC-based solution for electro-plating and anodizing control

precision gantry system

Anorad is the world's leader in precision gantries with an installed base of several thousand systems reliably operating around the world. The success of these products is due to Anorad's ability to competitively meet the aggressive performance demands of OEMs in an ever-increasing array of precision manufacturing processes.


Hercules Series Gantry X-Y stages

Anorad's standard low cost Hercules Series Gantries are designed for economy and performance. Their highly efficient layout provides the best utilization ratio of system X-Y travel to overall gantry footprint.

The Hercules family of gantries are designed to address a multitude of performance requirements for inspection, pick-and-place, assembly or dispensing applications. Taking advantage of economies-of-scale, the Hercules gantry stages are based on a single platform design. Many linear servo motor selections, linear encoder options and several travel lengths allow Anorad to uniquely support a variety of applications with a cost effective solution.

The standard model Hercules gantries feature Anorad's new LC iron core linear motors. These motors are ideally suited to meet the rapid point-to-point motion common in the electronics assembly industry. These high force LC motors, combined with a low mass, ridged webbed X-axis crossbeam, allows high acceleration to help maximize throughput.

Additional design features include cable carriers terminating at a fixed bulkhead connector. This provides for easy integration. Travel limits for both the X and Y axes are adjustable to optimize total work area. A variety of optical encoders with multiple resolutions can be selected based upon application requirements.

The Hercules Gantry is the first of its type to offer a standard modular base plate to reduce total gantry cost in a standard base configuration. This innovative design offers user flexibility with work surface fixturing and interchangeability. The modular base allows the machine builder to utilize the same machine on differently tooled multiple lines.

In addition to all these features, the Hercules Series Gantries can be supplied with many desirable value-added options including Z axis or Theta axis modules, servo drive and control packages, machine frames, enclosures and the complete line of over 500,000 world-class industrial automation products available only from Rockwell Automation.

Product Features

  • Low-cost modular design
  • Optional modular base plate offers flexibility with work surface fixturing
  • XY travels from 250-to-650 mm
  • High output iron core or zero cogging motors
  • Dual-motor Y axis options for high-speed precision applications
  • Compact Footprint maximizes use of production area
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5 Mart 2009 Perşembe

hymarkets




HY Markets has its global headquarters in London and is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority of the United Kingdom. The Group has over 30 years of operational history and is the trading platform of choice for investors seeking fast and direct access to the world's capital markets.

This long-standing expertise has enabled us to develop our revolutionary web-based Internet trading platform, which enables clients to invest in all major capital markets from one integrated account in an easy-to-use interface.

HY Markets is a division of the Henyep Group, a global diversified conglomerate with business in financial services, property, education, and charity spanning 3 continents and 20 countries worldwide. The Henyep Group of companies are registered and authorized in world-leading jurisdictions including London, Dubai, and Hong Kong. This provides clients with the comfort and security of a global institution.

HY Markets provides investors with efficient and direct access to all their trading needs. Start trading with the security of an FSA regulated company.

Advanced Online Trading Platforms


The heart of the HY Markets service is our state-of- the-art trading platform. We offer our clients with the choice of an easy-to-use web-based online trading platform, and advanced users download platform with mobile phone trading integration. These cutting-edge multi-product platforms integrate live tradable prices, charting tools, real-time news and market commentary, and complete account information all in easy-to-use revolutionary interfaces.

Start trading in less than 5 minutes
Open an account with just US$50
Forex, oil, gas, commodities, metals, stocks and more
2 trading platforms to suit your trading needs

Complete product offering

While many online trading companies only provide Forex trading, HY Markets clients are able to take advantage of our deep product offering including oil/gas, metals, commodities, stocks and more. All traded within a single integrated account. Such access to multiple markets gives our clients a competitive edge to trade all markets and diversify an investment portfolio.

Continuous market information

Live prices, Live Reuters news, market information, advanced charting systems, and technical analysis tools to give you a competitive edge.

Live customer support

HY Markets online trading platform is supported by 24 hrs. live dedicated customer support professionals via phone, email and chat.

Online account status

Technology driven back-office systems that let you check your open positions, equity and P&L online 24hrs a day


SHADYSİDE INN SUİTES


Shadyside Inn Suites is different. Your idea of staying in a hotel is about to change. Our suites are not typical hotel rooms. In fact we do not have rooms; we only offer suites. Why are we different? Your suite is a fully furnished apartment with the same amenities as a hotel located in a residential neighborhood. It’s not just any neighborhood, it's Shadyside, Pittsburgh’s most quaint, trendy, and upscale urban area. Picture Boston’s Newberry Street, or New York’s East Village and you will get an idea of what the Shadyside area is like.

Imagine having your own apartment in the best location in Pittsburgh for as little as a day or for as long as a lifetime. Shadyside Inn Suites is as flexible as you need. Only going to be here for a night? Why not have your own fully equipped apartment? Need somewhere to stay for a month while your house is renovated? Shadyside Inn Suites is your answer. Looking to attend the University for only nine months? Shadyside Inn Suites can accommodate. Think this is going to cost you more than a hotel? Not even close. Our rates are lower, our suites are double the size of any hotel in the area, our parking is free, and our location is unrivaled.

Our suites are located within a block or two of some of the best dining, entertainment, and shopping in Pittsburgh. At your door are 135+ shops, 15+ restaurants and some of the best nightlife in the area. Shop in small boutiques, visit your favorite national store, and dine on cuisines from all over the world. Shadyside living is unmatched.

Stay in Shadyside and still be approximately 4 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh and the Convention Center and less than 1 mile from the following hospitals: Presbyterian, Montefiore, Magee Women's, Falk Clinic, West Penn, Children's, Shadyside Hospital, and Western Psychiatric

Within 1 mile of the Shadyside Inn Suites is The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Museum of Natural History, The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University Chatham College, and Carlow College.

Besides coming for a visit, the best way to learn about our story is read what other people have said about us. Please click on the following links to read what the professionals have to say.

2 Mart 2009 Pazartesi

THE LAST DAYS OF PRIVACY

As technology makes life richer and easier, we leave a trail of information that is susceptible to prying eyes


Within the next four months, a major Bay Area supermarket chain plans to introduce a payment system that uses biometric fingerprint authentication to verify customers' identities. Under this system, shoppers in checkout lines won't need to use cash, checks, debit cards or credit cards. Instead, they can place their fingers on scanners that read fingerprints, and once the device links to their bank or credit card accounts, they can buy groceries, get cash back and do everything else shoppers do.



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[Podcast: Insight Editor Jim Finefrock and reporter Jonathan Curiel talk about how Americans might as well face up the fact that there is little privacy left.]

The system is already used in cities around the United States, including Portland, Ore., and Chicago, where one shopper says it has changed his life for the better. Linc Thelen, a 37-year-old interior designer, says the fingerprint system -- known commercially as Pay By Touch -- is convenient to use and expedites his way through grocery lines at Jewel-Osco, where he shops. Thelen says the system lets people leave their wallets behind, so they don't have to worry about being robbed or losing their credit cards.

"I had no reservation," Thelen said in a phone interview. "It's a safe way to store information."

But no system is 100 percent foolproof.

Despite the fact that armed men guard the computers that store the customers' virtual fingerprints, despite the fact that Bank of America's former security chief now heads Pay By Touch's security division, and despite the fact that Pay By Touch hires people to try to expose vulnerabilities in its computer system (so those vulnerabilities can be eliminated), Pay By Touch President John Morris acknowledges that "it's not impossible" for computer hackers to figure out how to tamper with its information.

And therein lies one of the 21st century's most vexing problems: More and more of our personal data are captured and stored by corporate and government interests, and are potentially available to anyone with the technological, legal or financial means to access that information.

Whether it's phone calls we make, library books we check out, CDs we buy on the Internet or divorces we finalize in court, we leave a trail of information that becomes susceptible to prying eyes. For the price of a bus pass, you can pay a company to supply anyone's address, phone number, political affiliation, estimated income and property history. For $20 more, you can find out if that person is married or divorced, has a criminal record, and what sort of jobs he or she has worked.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., says she will introduce a "privacy bill of rights" because identity theft and security failures of personal records have become "one of the most important issues facing us as individuals and as a nation."

The availability of personal information -- downloadable onto laptop computers, which are increasingly being fitted with fingerprint technology -- is changing the culture in ways that may seem trivial but are really benchmarks for a new society already in its formative stages.

A small example: Unbeknownst to the men who date her, Judy runs background checks on all of them, using a private investigator to dig out any "red flags" that would presage troubling behavior. A businesswoman in Southern California, Judy, 50, uses a company called DateSmart, whose client base has boomed in the past five years as more people confront the perils of online dating.

"I'm glad the information is out there," says Judy, who did not want her last name used because of concerns her suitors would read this article. "The men I'm talking to online are complete strangers. And I have absolutely no knowledge of their character other than what they're saying in their profiles. I need to feel comfortable knowing that they're not an ax murderer. The people you meet might be well dressed, but you never know if they have any criminal history. It's for (my) safety."

Background checks are nothing new. What's changed are the speed with which you can obtain them, their relatively small price (some companies advertise free checks) and their growing public acceptance. The information revolution has transformed the background check into a common and casual tool, and those being scrutinized probably don't have a clue. More obvious are the security cameras embedded in nearly every major American city, including New York, Milwaukee, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and, yes, San Francisco, where lenses record people's activities in such crime-ridden neighborhoods as Bayview-Hunters Point and the Western Addition. The spread of these cameras is championed by authorities, who say it reduces criminal activity, and criticized by the ACLU, which says the equipment is an unnecessary intrusion into public spaces.

Civil liberties groups have joined the widespread outcry against the government's monitoring of Americans' phone-call records. Two weeks ago in federal court, the ACLU challenged the legal rationale behind the National Security Agency program, arguing that the NSA's actions -- involving "data mining" of records provided by AT&T and other telephone companies -- violate Americans' rights to free speech and privacy as guaranteed under the First and Fourth Amendments. Last week, privacy experts raised questions about the U.S. government's monitoring of international bank transfers -- previously secret data surveillance officials say is justified by the fight against terrorism.

Americans' rights to privacy will be tested even more in the next few years as biometric technology creeps increasingly into everyday arenas. For example, on the campus of UC San Diego, biometric experts are testing a soda machine that uses both fingerprint and face-recognition technology. The machine is in a lounge for grad students in UC San Diego's computer science building.

"The students are very excited about getting it working," Serge Belongie, a UC San Diego associate professor of computer science, says in a phone interview. "People think it's very cool. ... No one uses money. They have accounts. What would be fun is if (the machine) recognizes you and says, 'Would you like your usual?' "

If UC San Diego students are reluctant to use the machine, their privacy concerns are outweighed by convenience -- a sentiment echoed in survey after survey on biometric technology. In March, Unisys Corp. released a report on public perception of "identity management" that said convenience and efficiency were the two biggest reasons consumers would use biometric technology. (The most preferred biometric methods are fingerprints and voice recognition, according to the survey. The least preferred, because of its perceived intrusiveness, is an iris or eye scan.)

Two of the biggest turnoffs for those who shun biometric technology: suspicion of how the technology works and loss of privacy. Among respondents from North America, just 56 percent said they'd be willing to share their fingerprint with a government organization such as a post office or tax authority. Among respondents from the Asia-Pacific region, 71 percent said they'd share their fingerprint with the government.

"As consumer confidence grows in the large-scale usage of (biometric technology) and standards are more generally comfortably adopted, you're going to see a pretty rapid migration" to it, says Mark Cohn, Unisys vice president for homeland security solutions.

Cohn, a principal architect of the Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT Exit system, which uses fingerprint technology to run background checks on visa applicants and verify their entry to and arrival from the United States, says Malaysia offers a preview of how the United States may change in the coming years.

Since 2001, the Malay government has issued a biometric "multipurpose card" to Malaysians 12 years and older. The card, which features a thumbprint and photograph, acts as a passport, driver's license, ATM card, toll and parking pass, and medical record that lists blood type and any allergies.

The card is convenient to use -- but it's a nightmare for Malaysians who lose it or have it stolen. Crime syndicates in Malaysia have altered cards with different photographs and used them to give members new identities, though the Malay government insists these identity thieves can't access the original cardholders' personal information. Special chip technology and other password features prevent this, they say. Also, the cardholder's fingerprint -- rather than being visible on the card -- is encrypted in the card itself: To reveal the fingerprint, the card must be inserted into a special biometric device that compares the encrypted print with that of the person claiming to be the cardholder.

For anyone who has read Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four," where "telescreens" keep track of people's lives, this new biometric technology will seem like fiction come to life. It's showing up everywhere. By the end of this year, U.S. passport agencies hope to issue "electronic passports" with computer chips that have digital photos of the holders. With the help of face-recognition machines, airport security can compare a photo with the face of the passport holder. For two years, an American corporation, VeriChip, has sold government-approved electronic chips that are inserted under people's skin to give doctors instant access to patients' medical histories.

In 2008, as mandated by the Real ID Act, states plan to issue driver's licenses linked to a database that includes each license holder's photo and Social Security number. These licenses (civil liberties groups call them national identity cards) will likely include a biometric photo of the driver accessible by authorities.

In the meantime, banks are considering using iris scans and even palm scans at ATMs in an effort to cut down on fraud. (In 1999, Bank United in Texas adopted iris-scan technology at three of its ATMs in a test that was discontinued when Washington Mutual took over the bank.)

Some people love the new technology. Others shun it.

Pay By Touch admits it has encountered some resistance among shoppers it approached in supermarkets that already use the company's fingerprint service. But Morris, its president, says many of these customers are quickly won over by the convenience of Pay By Touch, which is free for consumers, and that the company keeps data points based on users' fingerprints, not actual fingerprints. So far, supermarkets in 40 states use the Pay By Touch system.

Pay By Touch, which is based in San Francisco, wouldn't say which Bay Area supermarket chain will start using its fingerprint system in the next four months -- only that the chain will use the system in just a handful of its Bay Area stores. Pay By Touch users sign up voluntarily and are under no obligation to use it at the checkout line.

Pay By Touch says it takes great care to safeguard its users' data. After fingerprints are converted into algorithms, they're encrypted, then stored in IBM computers. Those algorithms can't be reconverted into an exact copy of the fingerprint, though Pay By Touch may eventually store users' actual fingerprints if the technology improves, Morris says. The company insists it will never sell users' personal information or fingerprints to anyone else -- a pledge that's backed up in writing when users sign up with the company. But what if federal authorities, citing national security, insist on the finger scan and payment history of a Pay By Touch user?

Pam Dixon, who heads the World Privacy Forum, a public research group, went to Chicago to warn potential Pay By Touch users about possible dangers.

"It didn't stick," she says. "People were (more) concerned with (convenience than) the potential risks. People can put their thumb on a pad and be done with it. But meanwhile, their biometric data is sitting with another company, a third party, that's subject to subpoena. One argument that I made: Let's say that every supermarket in the country, particularly the large chains, (use) a biometric payment system. It's a law enforcement dream because who needs a biometric database run by the U.S. government when you've got one being run by private companies?"

Citing the recent disclosure by the Veterans Administration, which said a computer with credit information on millions of veterans had been stolen, Dixon says, "The second issue is information security. If the VA can't keep its records secure, which is a government agency that has all sorts of strict controls that are supposed to be in place, how on Earth can a private company without the resources of something like the VA manage to keep something secure? When we have a credit card stolen, we can call the credit card company and say, 'Give me a new number.' But you can't do that with your biometric. You can't say, 'Give me a new fingerprint.' "

Morris dismisses such concerns, saying that Pay By Touch will actually decrease the likelihood that consumers' credit information is stolen or misappropriated. "I think (Pay By Touch users) get pretty rapidly that it's the ultimate way to secure their private data," he says. "It connects (their accounts) to something that's uniquely them, as opposed to handing a credit card over to a stranger or writing a personal check that seven or eight humans touch before it gets in their statement. Securing information by a biometric is a giant leap forward. (Users) like that they don't have to pull their card out anymore. They (tell us they) like that they don't have to carry their (purses or wallets) through the parking lot of an urban supermarket. There's a physical security benefit. Their numbers are never displayed. The safety of securing their data is the No. 1 thing they like."

The marketplace will determine whether the public is ready to accept commercial fingerprint identification. Investors in Pay By Touch believe that day is here, capitalizing the company with $190 million in the past 12 months. More than 2.5 million shoppers already use the Pay By Touch system. Morris envisions a day when all stores -- even mom-and-pop ones -- offer a Pay By Touch option.

Soon, customers will be able to use Pay By Touch from home with the help of fingerprint readers attached to their computers. In ancient China, rulers would put their fingerprints on documents to give them an official seal. Artists would also mark their work with prints. It wasn't until the late 1800s that authorities realized they could use fingerprints to catch criminals. Their evolution as a way to pay for groceries is a 21st century twist fueled by technology. It's also a trade-off between privacy and convenience. Welcome to the brave new world in Aisle 5.