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PLEASANTON, CA, June 10, 2009 – FrontRange Solutions, the developer of CRM and IT business software, has recognized its top global CRM partners based on their exceptional business performance, revenue growth and overall commitment to providing end users customers with the best solutions, service and support. FrontRange CEO Michael McCloskey commended them for their inventiveness, reliability and uncompromising customer attentiveness.

“FrontRange partners play a central role in our business strategy and in our value proposition to customers around the world,” said McCloskey. “Our Partner of the Year awards give us the opportunity to recognize the hard work and dedication they give to the marketing, implementation and support of our industry-leading customer relationship and IT management solutions.”

The winning partners were chosen for their results in several key categories, including revenue generation, certification and customer satisfaction.

The FrontRange Solutions CRM Partner of the Year award went to Ticomix, Inc of Loves Park IL. Tim Ancona, president of Ticomix, commented: “Fantastic! We have worked hard to serve our customers and earn this distinguished award. Over the past couple of years, we have worked closely with FrontRange Solutions to respond to the changing needs of our users, who are seeking every competitive advantage to win new customers and grow their business with current clients.”

Of the remaining Top Ten partners, seven are located in North America and two in the EMEA region:

NORTH AMERICA:

First Direct (NY)

W-System (NY)

StarCare (MD)

Peak Productions (NE)

Publish or Perish (IL)

The Trainers Advisory Network (CN)

Anton Systems (FL)

EMEA:

Wizard Systems(UK)

Armstrong Consultants(UK)

Greg Anderson, General Manager of GoldMine business at FrontRange Solutions concluded: “Despite the global economic situation, many businesses have…

The Federal Communications Commission is awash in advice from companies, industry associations, and public-interest groups after its Monday deadline for comments on a national broadband plan.

Most observers agree that the FCC’s efforts to make broadband ubiquitous in the U.S. are both timely and laudable, but the devil is in the details. Battle lines are being drawn between network operators and public-interest groups.

Time Warner is advising the FCC to not rock the boat by adopting regulations that could hamper future investments. “At the same time that it acts to stimulate broadband availability and adoption where necessary, the commission must be cognizant of preserving and enhancing the pro-investment and innovation-conducive environment that is responsible for the growth of the broadband marketplace thus far,” the cable-network operator said.

Incentives and Subsidies

However, Free Press is warning the FCC not to simply choose to follow the wishes of the industries it regulates. “The national broadband plan should be designed around aspirations to particular social and economic outcomes, not the business models of the incumbent telecommunications carriers,” Free Press Research Director Derek Turner advised.

The public-interest group is also calling on the FCC to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service. “This will rationalize broadband policy, reduce arbitrage, and give the commission the tools required to promote competition through the reinstatement of network-sharing rules if a competition analysis indicates this is needed,” Turner said.

Others have an eye on the $7.2 billion that the Obama administration has set aside for broadband development. “If we want to get broadband networks and high-speed Internet everywhere in this nation, it will probably require some carefully targeted incentives and subsidies from the federal government,” said Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen.

Comcast also wants to get the FCC to help boost adoption rates among households where cable service is available but which…

The rumors have come to a halt now that Apple has showcased its new iPhone 3GS, touting it as the fastest and most powerful iPhone yet. The iPhone 3GS has all the features that have been leaked over the past several months, including an autofocus camera with video and audio recording, a built-in digital compass, and the ability to copy and paste.

Apple’s Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, showcased the new iPhone at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. The device will be available in the U.S. and a few other countries next week.

The 3GS video-recording feature allows users to record, edit and share videos by tapping on the iPhone’s onscreen controls and sending them through MMS, MobileMe or YouTube.

“It certainly was expected from the leaks, but performance and new features, including video capture and editing, adds up to a very nice upgrade,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret.

Disrupting The Market

One of the newest features for the iPhone is a digital compass. The application is like a standard needle compass that tells the user which direction they are heading and uses the built-in GPS to give users their location.

Other improvements include faster launching of applications. Scrolling, zooming and panning through the iPhone and jumping between apps are also faster. The iPhone also received an upgrade to its battery, which is now designed to last longer.

One feature that has had iPhone users frustrated is the inability to cut, copy and paste from messages and photos. Apple has included this feature in the 3GS.

One surprise from Apple is its $99 price point for the 8GB iPhone 3G, which will be a very disruptive move in the smartphone market, according to Gartenberg.

Apple may have also caused some disruption by stealing some of the thunder from competitor Palm and…

Palm has officially debuted its much-anticipated Pre smartphone complete with the webOS mobile platform. Early reports indicate a shortage of both the handset and the accessories.

Some view this as bad news for Palm, a brand that’s trying to resurrect itself in light of heavy competition from Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. Others view the shortage as a potential brand booster in the short term.

“It’s always a balance. Having a little bit of a shortage is a good thing if it inspires people to want to get hold of a product. People always want what they can’t have,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. “On the other hand, if it gets too frustrating and people really can’t find what they are looking for, they eventually decide to purchase something else. The question is, at what point does their patience become tried?”

Not an iPhone Killer

With the Pre, Palm is betting consumers will be patient. The webOS platform is a strong innovation in the mobile space. It automatically brings user information from the many places it resides — on the phone, at work, or on the Web — into one integrated view.

“For a company that most people were writing off six months ago, Palm came back very strong. There’s definitely a lot of buzz about the device,” Gartenberg said. “The early reviews were very positive in terms of the innovation that Palm has brought to the table. The Pre isn’t an iPhone killer, nor is the iPhone a Pre killer. It doesn’t have to be. There’s certainly room in the market for more than one device.”

Palm Synergy, a key feature of webOS, brings information from all the places it resides into one logical view. Users don’t have to worry about tracking multiple calendars, contacts and messaging applications. Synergy…

The hustle and bustle in Los Angeles is over for this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show, which closed Thursday, and the future of video gaming can be summarized with one word: Motion.

After letting Nintendo’s Wii have most of the motion-sensing fun for some time with its revolutionary motion-detecting sensor, this year Microsoft and Sony showed their own initiatives to get players moving.

‘Make the Controller Disappear’

Microsoft’s innovation was introduced by movie director Stephen Spielberg, who proclaimed that interactive entertainment’s next step is “to make the controller disappear.” Microsoft’s Project Natal — pronounced “nuh-tall” — uses speech and facial recognition,
along with navigation by bodily motion, for game control.

The system combines a RGB camera, a depth sensor, a multi-array microphone, and a custom processor running proprietary software. It is compatible with any Xbox 360 system.

“It can recognize you just by looking at your face,” Microsoft said, “and it doesn’t just react to key words, but understands what you’re saying.” And, again following Nintendo’s lead of including the family, Microsoft set the bar for using its system quite low. “If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips, or speak, you and your friends can jump into the fun.”

“Clearly,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret, “Nintendo’s success with the Wii has resonated with the industry.” He added that, if Project Natal “can be delivered to the market in a timely fashion,” it could be “potentially a huge thing.”

Nintendo, which began the motion craze, previewed its soon-to-be-released Wii Motion Plus, which enables smaller hand motions and better targeting for players. It is also continuing to expand the Wii into new directions with, for instance, the Wii Vitality Sensor, which detects the pulse in your finger and could be used for relaxation feedback — or, as Nintendo’s president suggested to…

Hulu may go from offering free online access to TV shows, movies and clips to a fee-based model, according to an executive from News Corp. Hulu is a joint venture between News Corp., NBC Universal, and Disney.

Over time, paying for some of the content on Hulu is a logical thing, said News Corp. Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Miller during an Internet Week event earlier this week. Miller, who was formerly at AOL, prefaced his comments by saying he won’t attend his first Hulu board meeting until Monday, June 8, so his opinions are his own.

“I don’t see why over time that shouldn’t happen,” Miller said. “I don’t think it’s on the agenda for Monday {but} it seems to me that over time that could be a logical thing.”

“It was essentially a throwaway comment and more a reflection of whether they would,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. “The question is what they’ll pay for what content and under what consequences.”

Money, Money

Celebrating its first year recently, Hulu went from being in beta to offering users access to online videos, television shows, and clips from various providers of content and has had tremendous growth. In the past year, the company has gone from 50 content partners to more than 130, has grown the number of advertisers from 30 to 175, and has increased the number of streams from 63 million as of May to 308 million.

Although the service has gained a lot of momentum, and has been backed by top players, including Fox, MGM and Sony Pictures Television, moving from a free model to a fee-based model may put the brakes on Hulu’s momentum.

“Of course you’ll have to pay for it,” posted one blog poster with the screen name bloominoctober. “Hulu was too much of a good thing to…