CenterBeam

Saint John Telegraph: Kevin Francis Speaks on Economic Development in New Brunswick

The new lieutenant; Economic development Greg Byrne, Graham's Business New Brunswick minister, pledges to make N.B. business friendly

By Nathan White

New Brunswick's new economic development lieutenant went to work Wednesday and he's promising to be an aggressive salesman for the province.

"That's certainly one of the things that excites me," said Byrne, who spent Wednesday being briefed on various Business New Brunswick files after being sworn in as BNB minister on Tuesday.

"I want to make sure to present myself at every opportunity as a salesperson for the province. I want to be as visible as I can be and do everything I can to sell the province as a place to do business," said Byrne, who's also the minister responsible for Service New Brunswick and the Immigration and Repatriation Secretariat.

"Our priority is to say 'Here's a province that's open for business.' We're going to work hard to establish a reputation as a business-friendly province both inside and outside."

With the Liberals returning to the legislature, many observers expect a return to the hustling ways of former premier Frank McKenna, with Byrne acting as Premier Shawn Graham's right-hand man in that regard.

"I think he'll do that but he'll do it in his own way," said Robert Gamble, the former president of Service New Brunswick, which Byrne also oversaw as a minister in the McKenna government. "He's certainly got good judgment and a good sense of the province," said Gamble, who's now retired from the civil service. "He's very positive and I was always impressed with his availability and willingness to help get things done. He seemed to have a good sense of priorities."

Charlie Bird, Byrne's former law partner at Whitehead, Bird and Miles, also had good things to say about the new minister.

"I think he's probably a good guy for that job from what I understand the job to be, which is (to be) out hustling work," said Bird. "He's a good people person and a good big picture guy. I think that people that are dealing with him will have a good feeling when they're done with him."

When it comes to hustling business, Byrne said his sales pitch will highlight the province's loyal, bilingual workforce, quality of life and infrastructure, including technological infrastructure such as broadband access.

Byrne is on the right track with that type of strategy, said Kevin Francis, CEO of IT outsourcing company CenterBeam. CenterBeam, based in California's Silicon Valley, has its North American Solutions Center in Saint John, which is expected to employ 300 New Brunswickers by next year.

Francis said the potential is unlimited for the province to lure similar firms, but it needs more presence in IT meccas such as Silicon Valley.

"It's still too much of a well-kept secret," said Francis, who also brought Xerox to Saint John when he was CEO of that company. "Still to this day I will say 'New Brunswick" to people and half the time they think it's in New Jersey."

Ultimately, said Francis, the responsibility for selling the province lies with Graham, not Byrne.

"At the end of the day, my personal feeling is that the premier has to be the chief salesperson for the New Brunswick advantage. I think that was one of the critical differentiation factors when Frank McKenna was premier, he was the 'CEO of New Brunswick.' "

Francis said his first recommendation to Byrne and Graham would be to establish a small office in Silicon Valley.

"That would make a significant difference in terms of getting that message out," said Francis, a Sydney, N.S. native who befriended McKenna when the two attended St. Francis Xavier University.

"I think the government could do more in terms of telling the story," he said. "You have to be able to tell your story on the ground here and go out and build those relationships so when companies are considering relocating, they know and understand the level of capability that exists."

"It's all about target marketing," said Francis. "Who do I need to target? What are my advantages? Get out and start selling."

Battery Recall May Ding Dell Reputation

Link: Battery Recall May Ding Dell Reputation.

HP's Memory Spot presents security risk | InfoWorld | News | 2006-07-19 | By Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service

Link: HP's Memory Spot presents security risk | InfoWorld | News | 2006-07-19 | By Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service.

Microsoft, Nortel Set Business Communications Pact

Link: Microsoft, Nortel Set Business Communications Pact.

Microsoft Advises Users To Shun Unexpected Office Docs - News by InformationWeek

Link: Microsoft Advises Users To Shun Unexpected Office Docs - News by InformationWeek.

Microsoft Advises Users To Shun Unexpected Office Docs

Also: Microsoft says the patch for the most recently attacked Office application, PowerPoint, will be issued no later than Aug. 8.

By Gregg Keizer

What keeps IT up at night? | InfoWorld | Analysis | 2006-07-17 | By Dan Tynan

Link: What keeps IT up at night? | InfoWorld | Analysis | 2006-07-17 | By Dan Tynan.

Exploiting everyday end-user behavior | InfoWorld | Column | 2006-07-17 | By Steve Fox

Link: Exploiting everyday end-user behavior | InfoWorld | Column | 2006-07-17 | By Steve Fox.

Can mature organizations cut security spending?

Link: Can mature organizations cut security spending?.

InformationWeek | Windows Vista | Top 10 Windows Vista Hits And Misses | July 17, 2006

Link: InformationWeek | Windows Vista | Top 10 Windows Vista Hits And Misses | July 17, 2006.

Hunting Down Search Spammers

Link: Hunting Down Search Spammers.

Two Excel Flaws Are Unpatched

Link: Two Excel Flaws Are Unpatched.

Most CFOs Harbor Security Concerns

Link: Most CFOs Harbor Security Concerns.

Microsoft Confirms PowerPoint Zero-Day Attack

Link: Microsoft Confirms PowerPoint Zero-Day Attack.

Dell to cut promotions, simplify computer pricing

Link: Dell to cut promotions, simplify computer pricing.

Kevin Francis Remarks on Behalf of ACOA

Download SharedServices.wav

Saint John Telegraph Journal, 4/10/6: CenterBeam project impresses architects

Heritage preservation work can be tricky business, says Fredericton architect

By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon
Telegraph-Journal

Saint John's CenterBeam Place was showcased to architects from across the country over the weekend as an example of a successful heritage revitalization and restoration project.

About 32 architects, who were in Saint John for the New Brunswick Architects Association's annual general meeting, toured the uptown facility with lead architect Tom Johnson on Saturday.

"We want our members to take high-level knowledge home with them for use on heritage properties in their own communities," said association president Gaye Kapkin, of DFS Inc. Architects of Saint John.

Any architect who does business in the province, not just those who call New Brunswick home, have to be members of the association, she said.

Ed Goguen, of Goguen and Company in Fredericton, was impressed by what he saw.

"It's a very nice project," he said of the block of historic buildings being rehabilitated by Irving-owned Commercial Properties Limited.

He pointed to the installation of elevators, a modern heating system and ventilation system as examples of work that's been done while still maintaining the historic integrity of the buildings bound by Prince William, King, Grannan, and Canterbury streets.

Heritage work can be tricky business, said Mr. Goguen, an architect for 25 years. The goals of a client and historic preservationists are often at odds and the architect is usually "caught in the middle."

It's also very expensive and government funding has been lacking, he said.

Meanwhile, the latest push for so-called green buildings, or energy-conserving buildings, has made the work even more complicated, said Mr. Goguen.

Drafty old windows, for example, are easier and cheaper to replace with new replicas, but heritage groups prefer that original windows be maintained.

"I'd like to do more (heritage work), but it's a real challenge," Mr. Goguen said.

Peter Fellows, of Fellows and Company in Fredericton, agrees.

He recalls bidding on a job on a federally owned building in Fredericton and "butting heads" with the officials in Ottawa. It was an early 1900s building with a 1950s extension. Mr. Fellows wanted to tear off the addition because he felt it had ruined the original building. But new guidelines prohibited that because the addition showed the evolution of the building over time.

"I don't think you'd get every architect agreeing on that," Mr. Fellows said.

Even CenterBeam Place, which he described as "well done," didn't follow all of the guidelines. It couldn't, he said.

In the lobby of 14 King St., for example, four esthetically pleasing wooden columns probably shouldn't have been covered up, said Mr. Fellows, who's been in the business for 34 years.

But the original cast iron columns underneath weren't strong enough to hold the new floor loading of the building.

"There has to be more give and take between what the pure people want and what's real, what's feasible," he said.

With phase one of CenterBeam under his belt, Mr. Johnson, of Thomas Johnson Architect Inc., admits the work along Prince William Street and half of King Street has been a balancing act.

"The government is offering money for conservation, but sometimes, on a big project like this, conservation is not really how you want to go."

The new brick wall that faces the Grannan Street courtyard, for example, was the "dingy back end, service yard and parking lot.

"Historically to conserve that would have been pointless. It wouldn't have given it the lift that it really needs," he said, noting that the courtyard is the focal point of the project.

"We had to do some things for the good of the project which were not really what the federal government had in mind" and didn't qualify for funding.

Still, Mr. Johnson, who blushed at the applause at the end of the tour, is clearly proud of the work to date. "It's been a tough job bringing these buildings back to life, let me tell you."

Phase two, which includes the second half of the portion of CenterBeam Place facing King Street and all of the Canterbury Street side, should be ready to accept new tenants in about four months, he said.

Dianne VanDommelen, of Architects Four in Moncton, is anxious to apply what she learned about the project to work her firm is doing for the Association Regional de la Communaute francophone de Saint-Jean (Saint John's regional francophone association) on the old Bank of New Brunswick building at 125 Prince William St.

ARCf hopes to use the five-storey building, located in the Trinity Royal heritage preservation area, for a variety of French services, including a live-music club, a bistro or café-style restaurant, retail space, a welcome centre, office space and meeting rooms.

Renovations to the 14,000-square-foot heritage building are expected to cost more than $1 million.

Mrs. VanDommelen, in the business for 22 years, could not say whether ARCf plans to apply for federal funding, but "there are some basic good principles to follow" on heritage projects, she said. "It's made me more aware."

The 74th annual general meeting of the architects association also included a Building Green in 2006 trade show and educational workshops.

Architects attending the New Brunswick Architects Association’s annual meeting took a tour of the newly restored CenterBeam Place Saturday. They ended the tour here, in the courtyard on Grannan Street.

Saint John Telegraph Journal, 4/10/6: Architects salute restoration project

By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon
Telegraph-Journal

Irving-owned Commercial Properties Limited has been recognized by the New Brunswick Architects Association for the revitalization and restoration of CenterBeam Place.

Jack Irving accepted the certificate of recognition Saturday night on behalf of his son, company president John Irving, who was unable to attend.

CenterBeam Place includes nine heritage buildings located in the Trinity Royal heritage preservation area.

Association president Gaye Kapkin, of DFS Inc. Architects in Saint John, presented the certificate as part of the association's 74th annual general meeting.

Phase one of the CenterBeam project, along Prince William Street and half of King Street, is already complete. Interior renovations have included major structural, mechanical and electrical upgrades, leaving original brick walls and wooden ceiling beams exposed.

Phase two, which includes the second half along King Street and all of the portion facing Canterbury Street, should be ready to accept new tenants in about four months.

Commercial Properties plans to lease office space on the upper floors and continue to lease retail space at ground level.

The buildings were originally occupied by a bank, two dry goods businesses, a hardware store and a variety of mercantile businesses.

They are significant as a collection of Italianate and Second Empire style commercial buildings, all built between 1877 and 1881 after two-thirds of the city was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1877.

Saint John MP Paul Zed has commended John and Jack Irving for their vision, leadership and commitment in "breathing life" into the old buildings.

He contends the project will create employment, foster the renewal of Saint John, enhance the vitality of the city, encourage growth, add economic security to the uptown core and increase the tax base.

Last November, John Irving thanked local architect Tom Johnson for his "guidance, creativity and insight."

He also praised the hundreds of local craftsmen and artisans who have worked on the project over the past couple of years for creating "truly magnificent, outstanding work."

He also thanked his father for making it all possible. "My father has always believed in the importance of the downtown core of cities, particularly in Saint John," he said.

CenterBeam Place is named after its major tenant CenterBeam Inc., an IT solutions company.

Kâté LeBlanc/Telegraph-Journal)
Jack Irving receives a certificate of recognition for the revitalization and restoration of CenterBeam Place from Gaye Kapkin, president of the New Brunswick Architects Association. Mr. Irving accepted the award on behalf of his son, John Irving, president of Commercial Properties Limited.

Global Atlanta, 3/31/6: California Firm Outsources to Eastern Canada

When Kevin Francis, a native of Nova Scotia, was hired as CEO of a California-based information technology management company in 2002, he had many valid reasons for setting up an outsourcing center in his native eastern Canada, he told businesspeople in Atlanta last week.

Marketing Professionals, 3/28/6:

Lead-Generation Case Study: How Multiple Touches Can Lead to Profit Multiplesby Paul McKeon
March 28, 2006
It's Friday afternoon. Phil, the top sales rep for a technology company, is catching up on his paperwork.

Reluctantly, he picks up a stack of leads awaiting follow up. He rifles through them looking for the hot ones that have budgets and plan to buy within 90 days. He finds none. Among the discards: a prospect indicating an estimated budget of $200,000 to be possibly spent next year. Phil, however, needs to make his numbers this year and decides the decision-making timeframe is too far out. This "lead" goes into the circular file.

This is a fictionalized episode of an all-too-frequent occurrence. Salespeople are notoriously poor in following up on qualified leads. In fact, experts say, sales does not follow up on more than 70% of leads.

Why? Field salespeople in most organizations are compensated, motivated, and managed to focus on short term opportunities, not on the pipeline. Phil is paid to close—he's a "hunter," not a "farmer." But Phil's company has no one running the farm.

Contrast that scenario with the strategic marketing experts at CenterBeam, a San Jose-based IT outsourcing firm that provides sophisticated, yet affordable, IT outsourcing services on a fee-for-service basis. At CenterBeam, the closers are supported by expert "farmers" who cultivate leads into relationships.

Press Release, 3/28/6: CENTERBEAM CEO ADDRESSES WORLD’S LARGEST SHARED SERVICES CONFERENCE

Francis Speaks on “Shared Values, Shared Success”

March 28, 2006, San José, Calif. – Kevin Francis, CenterBeam’s president and chief executive officer, will be today’s luncheon speaker at the tenth annual Shared Services Week, the world’s largest shared services conference. “Shared Values, Shared Success,” is Francis’ first-person account of how relationship-based service businesses succeed when they are built on a foundation of shared values.

“Selling a service is selling a relationship and a successful relationship must be founded on shared values,” said Francis. “The absence or presence of shared values will determine if a relationship will fail or prevail. And the energy invested in nurturing those values will shape whether a business will merely survive or genuinely thrive.”

The luncheon is sponsored by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, a federal government business development agency serving the country’s Atlantic Provinces. CenterBeam’s North American Solution Center is based in Saint John, New Brunswick. Opened in June 2003 the center now employs more than 100 people.

Hayward Speaks @ IBDNetworks Event

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Press Release, 3/14/6: KA CHING! SPOTLIGHT ON CENTERBEAM

EVP of Sales Shares Strategy for Success

SAN JOSE, CA - March 14, 2006 -- Karen Hayward, CenterBeam’s executive vice president for sales and marketing will speak tonight at the IBDNetworks event, Getting to Ka-Ching! How to Shake Up Your Startup's Sales Strategy.

Hayward’s topic will be Time: The Most Precious Resource. She’ll explain how she has created tightly-managed sales methodologies that win business. “Too many sales people waste too much time chasing too many prospects who couldn't care less. A tightly-managed, methodical approach -- how many calls, how many emails, etc. -- ensures a more efficient use of a sales person's time and a standard methodology that can be measured and tuned over time.

Since Hayward joined CenterBeam four years ago, she has completely re-engineered how the company goes to market. Hayward’s methodology has won CenterBeam many new clients, awards, and international recognition. She has been profiled in Investor’s Business Daily’s Leaders & Success column and Selling magazine named her its annual “All Star” in 2004.

Under Hayward’s leadership, CenterBeam regularly attracts the attention of important opinion makers such as leading IT industry analyst Gartner. Gartner has published a case study on the CenterBeam service and cited CenterBeam’s innovative approach when the firm named CenterBeam one of the “Cool Vendors” in IT management. A book by Cisco Press, The Business Case for Virtual Business Processes, includes a case study of CenterBeam as an example of how companies can use IT outsourcing to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and focus on their core business. Most recently, the prestigious KIRA award was presented to CenterBeam for its achievement and to Kevin Francis for his industry leadership. Microsoft awarded CenterBeam its “Winning On Value” award recognizing CenterBeam’s outstanding sales growth and superior customer satisfaction.

About CenterBeam, Inc.

CenterBeam is an award-winning North American-based IT outsourced services company that delivers more than 60,000 services daily for mid-sized clients in eighteen countries across four continents. Founded in 1999, CenterBeam pioneered the application of quality management techniques to IT and currently earns a 95% client satisfaction rating as measured by Quality Resource Associates. CenterBeam's Total Satisfaction Guarantee and month-to-month contracts make the company unique among IT outsourced services companies. CenterBeam is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and can be reached at 408.750.0500 or www.centerbeam.com.

Selling, February 2004: Karen Hayward: Sell!ng All-Star

Passionately Pursue Prospect Information

By Jenny McCune
1 February 2004

Like other Xerox sales people in the early 1980s, Karen Hayward was vested with selling the company's first personal computer.

What's left untold from the larger story is the role Hayward played in launching the product in her native Montreal. "We ended up selling more in Montreal than the rest of the country combined," Hayward recalls.

She outsold her fellow Canadian salespeople because she's always stuck to a basic rule: "Follow the voice of the customer."

[more]

Network World, 2/21/6: SMBs see outsourcing as growth tool

By Jennifer Mears, NetworkWorld.com, 02/21/06

Encharter Insurance, headquartered in Lexington, Mass., prides itself on its hometown appeal. It’s that neighborhood feel that has contributed to its rapid growth, doubling in size in the last few years to 55 employees and about $8 million in revenue.

But while business boomed, like many small companies, Encharter paid little attention to developing an IT strategy to support expanding technology demands.

“I came into this job and found that there was no IT department,” says Michael Sher, who was named president and CEO of the group of seven insurance agencies spread across Massachusetts and Connecticut last year.

As a result he started looking for outside help, a somewhat maverick decision for the head of a small company. For the most part, small and midsize businesses remain reluctant to hand over IT functions to outsourcers, in large part because of a lack of familiarity with the idea of outsourcing, as well as a fear of losing control.

In addition, while some smaller outsourcing vendors such as CenterBeam and Everdream have built their businesses by focusing on SMBs, big name providers such as EDS and IBM have yet to carve out a niche in the low end of the market, creating a supply side issue that is holding back more widespread demand, analysts say.

Gartner estimates that about 90% of all new business created in the U.S. is small or midsize. It’s a huge opportunity for outsourcers as these small firms begin to recognize that they can achieve the same kind of benefits that large organizations enjoy when handing over non-core IT functions to outside service providers.

“There is a small but growing legion of SMBs that are considering outsourcing,” says Robert Brown, a research director at Gartner.

Brown notes that the base is small. Companies with between 100 and 499 employees, for example, account for just 7.8% of the $50.5 billion business process outsourcing market today, but that number is expected to grow to over 8% of a $78.8 billion market by 2009, according to Gartner.

“For most SMBs, there is an unfamiliarity with outsourcing that dictates that when they make technology buying decisions, the first thing they are going to think about is buying hardware and buying software and then trying to integrate those through internal resources and staff, as opposed to turning to an outsourcer to help,” Brown says.

Indeed, Sher says that when he left Plymouth Rock Insurance to run its subsidiary Encharter, he could hardly believe the situation when it came to IT.

“The offices weren’t networked. And it was all supported by one guy who if he was sick our whole system could be down. He was also charging us for travel between the seven offices in two states,” Sher says. Encharter turned over the bulk of its IT infrastructure, including its Microsoft Exchange servers, to CenterBeam last year.

“Now we have nightly backups. We have servers that are in a Class 1 data center. We have all the things that you would want a growing insurance agency with aspirations for further acquisitions and expansion to have,” says Sher.

ZDNet, 2/15/6: Yes. You should outsource your e-mail

Posted by David Berlind @ 10:43 am

In response to yesterday's post about how Google may soon let you host your email systems (under your domain names) on its servers (powered by GMail), ZDNet reader JM James thinks I was off my rocker when I wrote:

In fact, I'm willing to bet that better than 90 percent of the businesses currently in-sourcing their email can't legitimately justify the practice.

But let's not put words in my mouth. There are other ways to outsource e-mail. Centerbeam for example would be happy to take over the management of your Exchange Servers (if that's what you have). According CenterBeam spokesperson Brian Johnson:

What we offer to do is the hard work for people that they can't afford to do themselves. We manage their Exchange Servers, their desktops, every point on the network, the temperature inside every server. When you have the infrastructure for thousands of customers, we can offer them a high level of service for very little money. We charge $45 per user per month. That covers desktop management (anti virus, backup and restore everyday, 24/7 800# dial up helpdesk, server management, email management, VPN services, etc.). The last thing a banker wants to do is have anybody on staff running an Exchange server. All a banker wants is more bankers and salespeople on staff. They don't want a Microsoft Certified Exchange Engineer on staff who is only available for one shift a day. Even if you do run an Exchange Server with three shifts of engineers 7 days a week, they'll be advising you on best practices such as backup and restore. They'll say you need a Storage Area Network (SAN) and need to send tapes to Iron Mountain everyday. The economic model for a banker to do that is very intimidating. But when you spread a best practice across thousands of customers, it allows a company like ours to offer the service the banker needs at a reasonable cost. We built a SAN. One storage area network that we build supports thousands of users. But none of those customers on their own could afford a SAN.

[more]

Infoworld, 2/6/6: Outsourcing the desktop

Outsourcing desktop management can shave costs while bringing relief to an assortment of infrastructure management headaches

By Dan Littman
...

Last March, Michael Sher went from Plymouth Rock Assurance’s headquarters to take over as CEO of Plymouth subsidiary Encharter Insurance Group. He found a loosely knit group of seven insurance agencies spread across Massachusetts and Connecticut that lacked an internal IS department and an IT strategy. The company, says Sher, “had offices that were down for days at a time because we were dependent on a guy in a truck ... a home-town fix-it guy ... who was charging us money to drive around to all the offices.”

Sher says, “When I got there I said, ‘no way; this is too Rube Goldberg.’” He hired CenterBeam to take over.

Between CenterBeam’s off-site servers and Encharter’s in-house client machines plus paper records, the agencies have triple backup. Also, Sher says, CenterBeam’s communication and storage is certified compliant with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which regulates protection of personal information — an important consideration for an insurance company.

Another CenterBeam customer, Henry Svendblad, CIO of Millennium Partners Sports Club Management, says that CenterBeam confers SAS 70 (Statement on Auditing Standards 70) compliance, which will help him obtain a “cyber insurance” policy against data theft. His company, which runs 10 sports clubs in six cities and has 1,500 employees, is a recent acquisition of a bigger real estate development firm. He adds that CenterBeam’s operations also maintain Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance, which trickles down to his organization.

...

[Read the whole story]

Saint John Telegraph Journal: N.B. has its work cut out attracting outside interest

Province does well in job numbers, but lags in dollar terms

By Kevin Barrett
Telegraph-Journal

In a very tangible way, Kevin Francis' Maritime roots have played a significant role in the Saint John economy.

In 2002, Mr. Francis, a Sydney, N.S. native took over as chief operations [sic] officer of the San Jose, California-based CenterBeam after years of executive experience with Xerox Canada.

Once thrust into the leadership position at CenterBeam, Mr. Francis convinced the firm's board of directors that Saint John would provide an affordable centre for its customer support services.

Two years later, it became a reality.

Recently, the information technology outsourcing company hired its 100th employee in the city, eclipsing its staff requirements at its San Jose office.

In many ways, CenterBeam is the poster company for attracting foreign investment to the province - a success story that Business New Brunswick minister Peter Mesheau likes to point to when trumpeting New Brunswick's efforts to lure foreign investment.

Press Release: CENTERBEAM CITRIX SERVICES OFF TO FAST START

Award-Winning Service Now Include Thin Clients
January 24, 2006 – Today, CenterBeam announced its service offering for the Citrix Access Platform is winning very rapid market success. In the few months CenterBeam has offered the service, it has very quickly won six clients.

“CenterBeam’s preëminent value is Customer First,” said Kevin Francis, president and chief executive officer of CenterBeam. “Many of CenterBeam’s customers are so pleased with our PC infrastructure management that they’ve asked us to extend our support to their Citrix servers and clients. And as Citrix continues to build its market success, more and more of our prospects are requesting our support. CenterBeam is answering this call for support by extending our enterprise-class management service to the Citrix Access Platform.”

CenterBeam uses its sophisticated tools, deployed and managed by its experienced engineering staff, to monitor Citrix servers around the clock. Servers are kept up-to-date and performing at maximum efficiency. CenterBeam managed every aspect of Citrix servers, from configuration and performance to fault management. This same approach is applied to Citrix clients. The people using Citrix systems are supported by CenterBeam’s Express Access team of engineers and technicians. For CenterBeam clients that run both Citrix and Microsoft platforms, CenterBeam is a single point of responsibility that simplifies overall management if the IT infrastructure.

VentureWire, 12/29/5: CenterBeam Names Jeffrey Eberts To VP Of Sales Post

By VentureWire Staff Reporters

San Jose, Calif. – CenterBeam Inc., a provider of automated IT outsourcing services, has named Jeffrey Eberts vice president of sales for the eastern United States.

Eberts joins the company from Dell Inc., where he worked on such accounts as General Electric Co., Unilever PLC and AXA Advisors LLC. Eberts has also held various posts at Digital Equipment Corp. and BF Goodrich Aerospace.

CenterBeam offers automated IT services designed for small and mid-sized businesses across a range of sectors, including engineering and architecture, health care and nonprofit.

The company combines desktop and server management, network and system administration and end-user support with a variety of other options. With about 120 customers, CenterBeam sells its services on a monthly subscription basis.

Formed in 1999, the company has raised $175 million in venture capital from Apax Partners, Patricof & Co. Ventures, Equity Office Properties Trust, Merrill Lynch, Charter Growth Capital, EDS Ventures, Comdisco, Microsoft, Meier Mitchell & Co., Accel Partners, Crosspoint Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Impact Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Silicon Valley Bank and Tangent Fund Management.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company has about 175 employees and an office in Saint John, New Brunswick. The company is hiring customer support and engineering staff.

Press Release, 12/20/5: CenterBeam Chief Security Officer Earns Accreditation From (ISC)²

Premier Global Information Security Organizations Awards Eric Arnold Highest Professional Ranking

SAN JOSÉ, CALIF., December 20, 2005 – CenterBeam’s chief security officer, Eric Arnold, has been recognized by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc., (ISC)², and awarded its most coveted accreditation. The (ISC)² has named Arnold a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

“Hundreds of businesses and thousands of users entrust CenterBeam with their most important information,” said Kevin Francis, CenterBeam’s president and chief executive officer. “CenterBeam’s responsibility is to earn that trust every day by delivering the most secure IT infrastructure commercially available. Eric’s accomplishment is significant and is another brick in the wall CenterBeam is constantly reinforcing to protect its clients from internet threats. Few of our clients can afford a CISSP on staff, but all of them need it.”

Arnold: Valuable Resource for CenterBeam Clients

As vice president of technical engineering operations and chief security officer, Eric Arnold is responsible for the development and engineering of CenterBeam’s technology infrastructure, as well as oversight of the ongoing operations and service delivery teams. In addition, Eric oversees the implementation of the CenterBeam service for new clients. As CenterBeam’s chief security officer Arnold is frequently referenced in the media as an expert on the IT aspects of SOX compliance. Recently Arnold published The CFO's Guide to SOX IT Compliance: Top Line Information Delivering Bottom Line Savings that CenterBeam makes available free-of-charge. Arnold frequently consults with CenterBeam clients on their SOX and HIPPA certifications. Earlier this month, Arnold spoke at Gartner’s 24th annual data center conference on the business value of IT. In addition to being a CISSP, Arnold is a black belt in Lean Six Sigma.

“Becoming a CISSP is equal parts accomplishment and commitment,” said Arnold. “Earning it demonstrates a documented level of competency. Deserving it requires constant education and development through the (ISC)2 network. But the real value of the CISSP isn’t about what it says about me. The real value is what it enables me to do for our clients. Something that I’ve learned and applied might mean the difference between our clients thriving in the information age or not surviving. For me, it’s all about our clients.”

Press Release, 12/7/5: CENTERBEAM SPEAKS AT GARTNER DATA CENTER CONFERENCE

VP of Technical Engineering Operations & Chief Security Officer Invited to Present on Creating Business Value Through IT

SAN JOSÉ, CALIF., December 6, 2005 – Eric Arnold, CenterBeam’s vice president of technical engineering operations and chief security officer, will present a case study on CenterBeam’s state-of-the-art IT infrastructure during Gartner’s 24th annual data center conference in Las Vegas. Hewlett–Packard selected CenterBeam from all of its customers to represent how organizations can use that company’s products to create business value.

Saint John Telegraph Journal, 12/5/5: McKenna worked his Maritimes connections

An excerpt from Gordon Pitts' just published book, The Codfathers, looks at the McKenna miracle

By Gordon Pitts
Special to the Telegraph-Journal

When Frank McKenna was luring a Royal Bank centre for Moncton, he talked it over with then chairman Allan Taylor while fishing on the Restigouche. Then vice-chairman Gordon Feeney came on board, because after all, he was a native New Brunswicker. When Air Canada needed a reservation centre, Frank got a call from chocolate tycoon David Ganong, who is on the airline's board, and "I immediately landed the centre for 500 big jobs in Saint John." Every business he went after, he would check the board, find out who was on it, and work the Maritime relationship.

Sometimes he didn't have to look very far. By the time Frank was lining up call centre customers for New Brunswick, his old friend Kevin Francis had risen through the Xerox ranks and had become the copier company's Canadian president in Toronto. Out of the blue, Frank called him one day and said, "Why don't you put some Xerox call centre jobs in New Brunswick?" McKenna explained that he needed some brand names to get the call centre thing off the ground. Francis was receptive to at least talking to his old friend about it. "He was up to Toronto in a flash with a couple of officials," Francis says. "He sold his little heart out. He is probably one of Canada's great salesmen."

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San Jose Mercury News, 11/16/5: Foundation Urgest Civic Involvement

At CenterBeam, a San Jose enterprise that manages other companies' computer systems, employees have worked with the Bill Wilson Center, which provides resources and counseling to youth and families in need.
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Canadian Business, 9/26/5: Saint John vs. Moncton

The CEO of CenterBeam Inc., a California-based IT firm, opened an advanced client-support centre in Saint John in 2003 and is now searching for more employees. "Saint John has diversified its economy," says Francis. "It has become a major centre in terms of technology and the new economy."

Complete story here.

Press Release, 10/26/5: Entrepreneurs Foundation Hosting November Leadership Summit on Corporate Citizenship in the Bay Area

SUNNYVALE, CA Entrepreneurs Foundation will host its second Leadership Summit on November 15, 2005 at Synopsys in Sunnyvale. The Summit will provide an opportunity for Bay Area corporate leaders to discuss the importance of corporate citizenship in the Bay Area and the need for more business leaders to become community leaders. Speakers will highlight how they and their companies have developed community benefit initiatives and how these programs have been beneficial to their companies and employees. With the Bay Area lagging behind other communities in philanthropy and corporate community involvement, Entrepreneurs Foundation is staging this Summit to expand the dialogue around this issue, raise awareness about how and why companies should be supportive of our community, and inspire companies to take action.

Saint John Telegraph Journal, 10/27/5: Board of Trade announces business award finalists

The Saint John Board of Trade has announced the finalists for the Greater Saint John Outstanding Business Achievement Awards.

From a field of 40 nominees, a judging panel selected Fitworks Equipment, Fundy Engineering and Consulting Ltd. and Millennium Mist Springs Ltd., as finalists for the Entrepreneurial Achievement award.

Finalists for the Business Excellence award include ADI Limited, CenterBeam and T4G.

The finalists for the Emerging Enterprise award are Brovada Technologies and Claire Driscoll & Associates.

Tao Tao Liu, of the East Coast Chinese Newspaper is the recipient of this year's Young Entrepreneur Award.

The awards dinner and presentations will take place on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre.

Click here to see the press release

CIO Update, 9/30/5: Sharing the Burden of Compliance

...

For CenterBeam, a San Jose, Calif.-based IT outsourced services company, the decision to pursue SAS 70 Type II certification was an easy one, according to Eric Arnold, vice president of security, engineering and operations.

First, clients expect it and second, it allows them to provide clients with the value-add of taking on the responsibility of a least a portion of their customers’ compliance requirements.

“We had one customer who brought in an army of guys, including their auditors. They were loaded for bear,” said Arnold. “I asked them to show me their SOX (Sarbanes Oxley) criteria for the audit and, after going through it line by line, I came up with a matrix of three things we could do for them” that encompassed consultative, enabling and providing roles. “If you imagine a line with two end points, where one end is empty and the other is full, that’s the SOX criteria. We were able to cover the first third.”

The entire process took CenterBeam about two months and 25 hours a week of Arnold’s time, but he said the ROI is more than worth the effort and expense. For starters, the certification has enabled the company to close deals that were otherwise out of reach, and they realized an improvement in overall productivity.

Finally, said Arnold, who still spends about 15% of his month working with auditors from client companies, the SAS 70 lets him respond quickly to those requests. “Before we had certification … it was a nightmare.”

[complete story]

Saint John Telegraph Journal, 9/28/5: CenterBeam adds to Saint John workforce

Commitment to hire made as part of government loan requirement

By Kevin Barrett
Telegraph-Journal

CenterBeam, an IT outsourcing firm, is increasing its Saint John workforce to 150 people because of a doubling of its client base over the past year.

The California-based company opened its Saint John office in April 2004 and will hire 50 new staff over the next two months.

It manages automated networks and servers and the new jobs are for engineers, both to run the systems and to provide customer support.

"Staffing frontline positions with such senior professionals means each member of the staff can solve more problems faster for more people," said company CEO Kevin Francis in a prepared statement.

Microsoft recently named CenterBeam as a gold partner in recognition of the company's management and technical expertise.

That accolade puts CenterBeam in the top 4 per cent of Microsoft's partners worldwide.

Mr. Francis was named the industry person of the year at the New Brunswick Knowledge Industry Recognition and Achievement (KIRA) Awards last May.

CenterBeam also won a KIRA award for employment growth in 2004.

"We make more money the faster we solve problems for our customers," said company spokesman Brian Johnson. "It costs us less money. That's why we need to have highly educated, highly trained people like the folks we find in Saint John to get that work done."

Last April, the province gave CenterBeam a $1.7 million forgiveable loan if the company creates 300 jobs by April 2007 and maintain them until 2012.

Press Release: CENTERBEAM EXPANDS CLIENT SUPPORT STAFF 50%

Francis: More Staff Delighting More Clients With Faster Solutions

SAN JOSÉ, CALIF., September 27, 2005 – Today, CenterBeam announced it is expanding its client support staff in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada by 50% to keep pace with a client base that doubled in 2004 and continues to grow. CenterBeam’s Express Access team, its front line of client support, will be drawn from New Brunswick's deep reserve of experienced IT professionals.

"CenterBeam’s clients are supported by IT professionals with more than three years of experience and many have at least one Microsoft professional certification," said Kevin Francis, CenterBeam's president and chief executive officer. “Staffing frontline positions with such senior professionals means each member of the staff can solve more problems faster for more people.”

If a problem needs to be escalated, CenterBeam leverages its engineering staff in Saint John and San José, California which has multiple technical certifications. As part of today’s news, CenterBeam is announcing it is streamlining its escalation process based on the result of a Lean Six Sigma quality programs coordinated by CenterBeam's in-house Lean Six Sigma manager.

The Channel Insider, 9/20/5: Get an Edge With Compliance Certification

By Martha Young

...co-founder of Nova Amber LLC, a business-consulting firm based in Golden, Colo. She co-authored The Case for Virtual Business Processes, published by Cisco Press. She has extensive global expertise in the outsourcing and managed services market intelligence arena. Young can be reached at myoung@novaamber.com or (303) 642-0941.

Opinion: In the new regulatory environment, solution providers with SAS-70 Type II certification can instill confidence in their clients and save them money at audit time.

Several service providers and collocation facilities have recently announced receipt of Type II certification, including CenterBeam, CyrusOne, and Terremark Worldwide. SAS 70 Type II certification is valuable to service providers of all sizes. HP Global Services and Unisys, two of the largest global service providers, also are certified.

Eric Arnold, vice president of engineering, security and operations at CenterBeam said, "Nearly all of our clients have complex business environments requiring extensive information security. With our Type II certification we can save each and every one of them substantial time and money in their audit process, whether they are going through SOX or HIPPA, or any other compliance audit. We anticipate this certification will aid the decision process for prospective clients to select CenterBeam as their outsourced service provider over competing non-certified providers."

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