(Gastbeitrag von Gina Gerold)

Die Stiftung Mercator ist eine der größten deutschen Stiftungen. Sie initiiert und unterstützt Projekte für bessere Bildungsmöglichkeiten an Schulen und Hochschulen. Sie fördert Vorhaben, die den Gedanken der Weltoffenheit und Toleranz durch interkulturelle Begegnungen mit Leben erfüllen.

Wer könnte diesen Vorgaben besser Realität verleihen, als die lebendige Sprachwissenschaftlerin Dr. Angela Guadatiello, die lacht und strahlt und tut, was ihr offensichtlich Freude macht:

sie organisiert Studentinnen und Studenten, die an verschiedenen Münchner Schulen Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund zusätzlichen Förderunterricht erteilen.

Das Mercator-Projekt der InitiativGruppe läuft erst neun Monate, also seit Februar diesen Jahres, zu früh für offizielle Evaluation, doch nicht für viel Lob, Erfolgsmeldungen und wachsende Nachfrage von Seiten der Schulen und Lehrkräfte.

Partner des Projekts ist neben der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München auch die Landeshauptstadt. Von dieser ging die Ausschreibung an die Schulen aus.

Es wurden sechs Hauptschulen, vier Realschulen, zwei sonderpädagogische Förderzentren und fünf Gymnasien miteinbezogen, die Sprachförderbedarf bei Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund festgestellt haben und bereit zur interkulturellen Öffnung sind.

Unterrichtet werden Kinder des Sekundarstufenbereichs I, d.h. ab der 5.Klasse bzw. ab ca. 10 Jahren.

Lehramtsstudentinnen und -studenten (auch aus dem Bereich Deutsch als Zweitsprache), die interkulturelle Lehrerfahrung erwerben wollen, bewerben sich bei der Initiativgruppe.

Derzeit sind 69 studentische Lehrkräfte (anfänglich 32) im Einsatz, 2-6 in jeder Schule. Sie unterrichten in Kleingruppen mit maximal sieben Kindern und machen viel breitere Erfahrungen als die der bloßen Sprachvermittlung.

• Sie lernen zum Beispiel Förderklassen kennen, wo Kinder mit mangelhaften Deutschkenntnissen mit geistig zurückgebliebenen Kindern zusammengewürfelt sind.
• Sie hören von Kriegsgeschehnissen und Emigrationsgründen.
• Sie lernen auch, Kinder, die eine andere Schrift schreiben, in der lateinischen Schrift zu alphabetisieren.

Die Kosten des Projekts sind geteilt: Die studentischen Förderlehrerinnen und -lehrer erhalten ein Honorar von der Stiftung Mercator, die Projektleiterin Dr. Guadatiello wird von der Stadt München, der Stelle für Interkulturelle Arbeit, gezahlt.

Dr. Guadatiello und eine Klosterfrau

„Die Universität braucht die Praxis“ sagt Dr. Guadatiello.

Dabei ist sie selbst das ausschlaggebende Element, um den Kreis zu schließen. Sie lehrt an der Uni im Wechsel mit einer Dozentin pädagogischen Sprachtransfer aus interkultureller Sicht und bereichert ihre Zuhörerschaft durch ihr praktisches Wissen. Dadurch hat die InitiativGruppe zum ersten Mal die Verbindung zu Forschung und Lehre hergestellt.

Was hat nun eine Klosterfrau mit der ganzen Geschichte zu tun?

Sie hat eine Begabung genährt. Als Dr. Guadatiello, als Kind italienischer Eltern an der Donau geboren und nach Italien umgezogen, im Alter von zehn Jahren und ohne Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache wieder zurück nach Schwaben kam, nahm sich diese Klosterfrau, die Lehrerin der größeren Schwester, um sie an.

„Es ist ganz wichtig, dass jemand an dich glaubt.“ sagt sie jetzt. Sie erzählt, wie diese Klosterfrau sie nach eigenem Gutdünken Texte auswendig lernen ließ – auch in Latein – „damit hat sie mein phonologisches Arbeitsgedächtnis gefördert“.

Jetzt glaubt Dr.Guadatiello an die Migrantenkinder, deren Situation sie durch die eigenen Erfahrungen umso besser nachempfinden kann, und gibt weiter, was sie damals erfahren hat, und zwar auf professionelle Art.

„Und was wünschen Sie sich?“

Wieder dieses Strahlen in Dr.Guadatiellos Gesicht, obwohl sie es doch noch nicht bekommen hat: einen Scanner und „Lesesätze“ – je 10 Auflagen von Büchern, damit in den Gruppen gelesen werden kann und die Kinder die deutsche Sprache nicht nur üben, sondern auch deren Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten entdecken lernen. Und weiter „ihre Persönlichkeit entfalten, Engagement entwickeln und Chancen nutzen“, wie es bei der Stiftung heißt.

Es heißt auch „im Sinne von Gerhard Mercator“, dem es gelang, die Erde kartographisch auf eine Kugel zu projizieren. Dass sie rund und vielfältig bleibt und Kulturen, Talente und Bildungsbereiche gefördert und verbunden werden, dafür sorgen mit diesem Projekt auch ein kleines Stück weit die InitiativGruppe und Dr. Guadatiello. Dank auch dieser Klosterfrau.

Gina Gerold

Mario Freese writes to pimp his Air Lines art project. “Every single scheduled flight on any given day is represented by a fine line from its point of origin to it’s port of destination, thereby forming a net of thousands of lines. Hubs like JFK, FRA or DXB turn into dark knots where lines meet, lesser served local services are only are a subtle hint.” He’s selling posters in three different versions. Interesting to see the curves of great circle routes on a Mercator projection.

The dark and sinister side to this art work is the planet-warming emissions generated by these flights – notwithstanding the carbon offsets that are available for travelers. The fact of the matter is that while carbon offsets might help travelers feel virtuous, they do not help reduce global emissions. The mindset is “It’s $4 and I am carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.” Whereas a truer price for a flight from London to New York is closer to between $200 and $300, far above what any airlines are now charging.

“The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Justin Francis, the managing director of Responsible Travel, one of the world’s largest green travel companies to embrace environmental sustainability, said in an interview. Even private jet companies and helicopter tour operators, which generate very high emissions per passenger have jumped on the bandwagon.

I am not advocating an end to flying, but simply more reflection on the environmental impact of such journeys. A recent study in Britain concluded that one flight from London to Los Angeles produced more carbon dioxide per person than the average British commuter produces in a year by traveling by train, subway or car.

Photographed by gadl

Oblique mercator "projection" of this equirectangular panorama.

La caverne aux livres is a secondhand bookshop in Auvers-sur-Oise (30km to the North of Paris). The entrance of the bookshop is an ancient railway hangar, but from there you’ll quickly find yourself in an old postal train whose cars have been reconverted into giant bookshelves.

– License

Mercator : the man who mapped the planet
GA923.5.M5 C73
526.092

Un mapa al que he llegado de refilón a través de Fogonazos. 

Refleja una proporción distinta a la que acostumbramos a ver en el mapamundi más utilizado, conocido como proyección de Mercator (de Gerardo Mercatus) creado en 1569:

Esa proyección tiene una alternativa desde 1855, realizada por Peters y publicada por Gall. El cálculo matemático en que se basó Peters dio como resultado una representación que refleja correctamente las áreas de los países.

Y por algún motivo impresiona ver qué pequeña es Europa. No sé cómo toda África no nos ha aplastado ya hace tiempo.

One measure of a successful event is the number of people who stay after it’s over and how long they stay to talk, network, and ask questions of the panelists and speakers. Yesterday’s event – Jump Start Your Job Search – hosted by St. Mary’s College Graduate School of Business Alumni and MassMutual had over 100 people attend the 4 hour event.

15 minutes after the event, all of the speakers were there and about 2/3 of the attendees. 30 minutes after the event, all of the speakers were still there and about 25 people remained. The feedback was very strong – even from veterans who had seen many of the speakers at other events – but the value, as reported by some, was having all of them together and the questions by Susan Dittmann, moderator of the first workshop along with questions from the audience, really uncovered new ideas and tactics.

Especially relevant was the first panel of Kim Litton, Lee Hecht Harrison Senior Career Coach and Career Management Professional, Tom Loarie, Co-Founder of St. Isidore’s Networking Group and Chairman & CEO of Mercator, a medical device company, and Dean Tracy, co-founder and Executive Director of CPC Job Connections.
Susan asked each of them several questions that generated many more questions from the group. Each brought a bit different perspective from their experience answering questions, but the overall effect was powerful. The questions could have continued far longer, but had to be cut short due to time.

Jud Walsh from the SF Business Times went through how to use the paper to generate business leads. As a research tool, he demonstrated page by page how to identify companies and business owners or leaders to contact for jobs (and hidden jobs) – a very creative approach.

Finally, Dennis Thompson, Executive Recruiter and Career Management Coach, in a very interactive and lively session, showed how to get an interview with the Queen of England… OK, if not the Queen, then at least Barack Obama, by being able to offer them something of value and using the 6 degrees of separation technique. He then translated this into working groups of 6, following a simple, yet powerful script to identify people others know at a target company, or people who may know people at that target company.
While the event ended at noon, several groups continued to stay together and share information. A very powerful close to the event. I mentioned that of the past two events at SMC targeting those in transition, virtually every speaker emphasized – in different, yet emphatic ways – the need to network to stand out from the millions of others who are unemployed. Susan Dittmann said that to be successful in your job search, you must do two things each week that are uncomfortable and one thing that terrifies you. This was also echoed by many of the speakers.

Thanks to each of the speakers for volunteering their time and experience in helping those in attendance!

Ons firma “Mercator Verzekeringen” viert tees joar zijnen negentigste verjoardag en watten dus een fiestjen te goed. Dus de vrijdagoavond tegen hallef zeven wierren we allemoal verwacht in den Hilton in Antwerpen.
Zatten een poar mond geleen een feestkomiettee opgericht en die atten doar veur ne gesloagden oavond gezuirgd.
Der was sfeer, muziek, goe eten en drinken…. dus onzen oavond konnie kapot. Doar woarren wa speechkes en huldeginskes moar die wieren kuirt gaan zudda den ambiejans nie verloren gink.
Kwa muziek begon het iest nog ruistig mee Johan Verminnen…. en doarnoar wasset tijd veur wa teten en as ons buiksken wa gevuld was, wasset tijd veur de Expendables, een covergroepken mee in euder rangen Sofie van Moll. Goeje muziek zuwel van de joaren zeventig as tachtig die noadluus overgink in iets nief …… da was dus al neig in orde.
Tein wasset tijd veur een dessertjen, we konnen nie kiezen, zuveel verschei goeje dingskes woarren der te krijgen.
En tein wasset tijd veur Les Truttes, veur sommigen wasset iet te luid, moar den gruutsten huup vonnet geweldig goe ….. en zatten nog geruist nen tijd veurt mogen doen….. moar nen DJ zuirgde nog veur de gepaste muziek tot in de vroege uurtjes.
Den deezen moest noar nieks kijken, want hij bleef ter ploatse sloappen (stoeffer !!!) moar smens deed mijn hoar toch een bitje zier.
En eede gien fotoos huurek euder vroagen…… kat wel mijnen kodak bij, moar het was zu plezant dannek der totoal nie oan gedacht em om fottookes te trekken – da zal veur de noste kier zijn

Les Truttes

Johan Verminnen

the Expendables met Sofie van Moll

Hilton Antwerpen

]]> http://brandsquare.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/gouden-welp-golden-lion-cub/ Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:02:29 +0000 brandsquare http://brandsquare.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/gouden-welp-golden-lion-cub/

The Vepec – Vereniging voor Promotie en Communicatie – awarded the agency LDV United with the “Gouden Welp” for their commercial ‘Living in Antwerp’. (See video below)

Gouden Welp

The “Gouden Welp” is an award, presented each year to the best Belgian commercial that made it to the “Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival”.

The winner was elected by the audience. In the weeks before the event took place, the audience had the possibility to vote for their favourite commercial on Vepec’s website. The votes casted on the website, along with the votes of the people present,  who also got to see the nominees, determined who deserved to win the award.

‘Living in Antwerp’

The winning commercial ‘Living in Antwerp’ was made for the city Antwerp itself and is only a small part of an entire image campaign. The purpose of said campaign is to improve the city’s image, not only to the people already living in Antwerp, but to other Belgians as well.

This campaign might just convince other Belgians to move to Antwerp, as its very touching and plays onto people’s emotions. After all… Moving to another city is not exactly a decision that can be made without involving emotions, right?

LDV United managed to win several awards for this campaign, more specifically this commercial where a little boy inivtes us on a tour of his home. His dining room, which is actually a restaurant. His bathroom, which we know as a pool and his backyard where we can see ‘Max’ walking around, his giraffe. He tells us how his home, Antwerp, has everything anyone would need.

Here’s a question though. Is it me or are children popping up way more often in commercials these past few years than they were before? I’ve got a couple of examples for you: Douwe Egberts, Electrabel, ‘Living in Antwerp‘, Nutella, … And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s a lot more. The way I see it… Businesses are trying to get succesful by using an emotional appeal. What better way to do that than by using innocent kids in their commercials and communication towards their audience?

2nd & 3rd place go to…

The agency Duval Guillaume was awarded with a second place for their ‘Milk Man’ commercial, developed for Mercator. This commercial shows us the greatest moments in the life of a ‘Milk Man’. It proves us how fast life flashes by and encourages us to make life worth while, even after our retirement. Mercator can help, by assisting when planning the retirement.

The way I see it, they definitely deserved their second place with a very original commercial. It’s not easy to promote a rather uninteresting product as an insurance, but they managed to do it in a very fun way. I actually had a good laugh at it. Let’s just hope it has its desired effect and makes sure that people will try to make the last flashes of their life as interesting and as fun to watch as the first flashes of their life. Life is just too precious to be wasted.

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It was a big night for the agency LDV United as they were not only the winners of the “Gouden Welp”, but were also awarded third place. This time it was for the commercial ‘Crush’ for IDA and Druglijn.be.

The commercial reminds us, once again, that there are NO positive consequences to consuming too much alcohol.

It’s a good commercial, but I can’t exactly say I’m awed. I don’t see it as anything exceptional or extraordinary. But then again, that’s only my opinion. Considering the fact that there are a lot of professionals that think otherwise, I just might be wrong.

Nominees that didn’t make the podium!

This post was starting to get ridiculously long… Which is why I decided to put this part under a ‘more’ tag. I’d just like to share the other nominees with you…

Something that immediately caught my attention, was the fact that the ‘Euro Millions’ – commercials were nominated three times but did not win. They didn’t even end up in the top three. It’s a shame, really, because I always thought they were pretty awesome.

Then there’s also the campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels for the Vlaamse Liga tegen Kanker. I love their commercials for this organisation, because they manage to communicate an important message without ‘preaching’ about it. They’re simply trying to ensure that people are aware of the consequences of their actions… Which is not always the case.

Volkswagen – ‘Gas Station’

Agency: DDB

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Euro Millions – ‘Van Gogh’

Agency: Lowe

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Euro Millions – ‘Boat’

Agency: Lowe

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Euro Millions – ‘Paul’s World Tour’

Agency: Lowe

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MTV – ‘Cover’

Agency: Lowe

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Vlaamse Liga Tegen Kanker – ‘Cloud Boy’

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels

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Studio Brussel – ‘Music For Life’

Agency: Mortierbrigade

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Europese Commissie – ‘Safer Internet’

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IDA – ‘Company Party’

Agency: LDV United

Marko Vuković

The Slovenian corporate landscape is being reworked by two men who are no strangers to controversy. Boško Šrot and Igor Bavčar, the bosses of Laško brewery and Istrabenz respectively, with interests in the food and drink industries, tourism and energy, are trying to consolidate the ownership structure of their companies. They are likely to end up owning significant stakes in them.

To grasp the contours of the whole story, one needs to recall the infamous understanding of autumn 2005 about the sale of government’s stake in Mercator, Slovenia’s biggest retailer, to Messrs. Bavčar and Šrot. Istrabenz, and Laško acquired the controlling stake in Mercator from two state-run funds, but only after they had apparently agreed to sack Zoran Jankovič, now the mayor of Ljubljana and Prime Minister Janez Janša’s political opponent, as Mercator’s CEO.

When the details about the sale became public, the opposition and some economists cried foul. In their view, “the government should have demanded a takeover premium from the buyers for its controlling stake in the grocer. By not doing that, the taxpayers in effect subsidized the takeover, allowing Istrabenz and Laško to get Mercator on the cheap.” There were also concerns that selling Mercator, a retailer, to its suppliers would lead to higher food and drink prices.

Settling the score

It seems, however, that the government was willing to brush aside these concerns only to get hold of Delo, Slovenia’s leading daily, and get rid of Janković. Apparently, Laško, then the majority owner of the newspaper, agreed to put a government-friendly editorial board in charge of Delo in exchange for the government’s stake in Mercator.

Two years later, the deal unravelled. Šrot, confident that he could outmanoeuvre the prime minister himself, squeezed out the remaining stakeholders of Delo and installed a new editorial board. The reaction was immediate. The competition watchdog started investigations into alleged collusive practices between leading Slovenian grocers and their suppliers, amid accusations that Laško, a majority owner of Mercator, is in part responsible for food price increases in Slovenia.

Undeterred by this, Šrot is proceeding to consolidate the ownership structure of the company he leads. Infond Holding, a financial firm close to Laško’s management, will soon figure as a dominant owner of the Laško empire; in addition to Mercator and Delo it also includes Slovenia’s second biggest daily newspaper, Večer. The firm is itself a takeover target. The investment firm Center Naložbe, the majority owner of Infond Holding, is in the process of being taken over by a shell company Kolonel. It is not yet known who really stands behind it, but some observers say that they would not be surprised if Laško’s management was pulling the strings.

Allies

Bavčar, the boss of Istrabenz, has, according to media reports, already earmarked Istrabenz’s share in Mercator to be sold to Laško’s owner Infond Holding. This became clear when investment firm Poteza Nalozbe sold 24.46 percent of Istrabenz, and Istrabenz temporarily, in a repurchase agreement, offloaded 2 percent of its stake in Mercator. Istrabenz got some EUR 100m at the most for the stake instead of the market value of EUR 116m. The price was set so low so that the company which the stake is really intended for, Infond Holding, could purchase it later. After selling its 12.56 percent stake in Mercator to Infond Holding in September of last year, Istrabenz will apparently sell the remaining ten percent to the firm soon.

Part of Poteza Nalozbe’s stake in Istrabenz (13.99 percent) was acquired by financial firm NFD Holding, part (5.63 percent) by the investment firm Maksima Invest. Both firms are said to be close to Bavčar. The purchaser of the remaining 4.84 percent stake remains unknown, but the media landscape is ripe with speculation that Bavčar may be standing behind it.

Ugly privatization secrets

Zoran Janković, one of Slovenia’s most renowned managers and now the mayor of Ljubljana, is obviously holding a grudge against Šrot and Bavčar who ousted him as the boss of Mercator in what seemed like a government-orchestrated deal. Janković says, and Šrot and Bavčar concur, that the three of them signed an agreement in September 2005 to share the stake in Mercator that Laško and Istrabenz were at the time in the process of acquiring from two state-run funds. However, Šrot and Bavčar reneged on the deal, prompting Janković to sue them. The court proceedings started last month, focusing on whether the bosses of Istrabenz and Laško had the authority to enter into such deals in the first place.

Janković’s ambition was to set up, as he called it, the ideal ownership structure of the grocer, with the management holding a 25 percent stake and other three quarters of the company shared in equal parts between a strategic partner, suppliers and minority shareholders. Not only did Bavčar and Šrot scupper Janković’s ambitions, they apparently agreed to sack him in return for a lower price for government’s stake in Mercator.

Janković is a good friend of Slovenia’s ex-president Milan Kučan. The animosity that exists between Kučan and the Prime Minister Janša is well-known. While the deal with Bavčar and Šrot might have brought Janša a government-friendly editorial board at the leading daily, this was only temporary. Now Janković is quickly becoming a popular politician, while Delo has taken to criticizing the government in no unequivocal terms. It seems that honeymoons between capital and politics have a short life-span.

(published on 31 March, The Slovenia Times)

Dubai, U.A.E. – – Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that the Emirates Group IT, operating under the brand name Mercator, a global provider of business technology solutions, delivering business transformation, process improvement and return on investment to more than 100 customers in over five continents, has standardized its IT operations on a combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss Enterprise Middleware after a three month pilot program..

In an effort to simplify its datacenter and reduce the total cost of operations for web server technologies, the Emirates Group migrated approximately 80% of its comparable servers to Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss Enterprise Middleware. Red Hat’s middleware solution portfolio offers a certified and supported platform for other open source technologies, a critical factor for the Emirates Group when deciding to standardise on open source technologies.

“Migrating to a new standard can be highly complex in an organisation the size of the Emirates Group/Mercator,” said Patrick Naef, Divisional Senior Vice President, Emirates Group IT and head of Mercator said. “Change management and confidence in vendor support are critical factors to successfully adopt a new standard- this is why we chose Red Hat.”

The Emirates Group IT/Mercator supports a global enterprise of approximately 40,000 employees as well as more than 100 customers outside of the Emirates Group under the brand name Mercator. Consequently it has a complex IT infrastructure made up of a variety of software and hardware technologies.

The Emirates Group IT / Mercator strategy to migrate to JBoss was to first divert new applications for deployment on this platform. This allowed Emirates Group IT to quickly build capability, before applications were promoted to the production environment. The migration occurred seamlessly with Red Hat providing training and support to the Emirates Group IT department to ensure a more gradual adoption process.

For more information about Red Hat, visit www.redhat.com. For more news, more often, visit www.press.redhat.com.

About Emirates Group IT / Mercator
Emirates Group IT supports a global enterprise of approximately 40,000 employees as well as more than 100 customers outside of the Emirates Group under the brand name Mercator. Consequently it has a complex IT infrastructure made up of a variety of software and hardware technologies. The IT infrastructure supports a diverse and complex business from the Airline, to Cargo Handling, Hotels, Travel Agents, Tours and Catering.

© 2009 Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat, the Shadowman logo and JBoss are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Onlangs mocht ik de huwelijksreportage doen van Sarah (Schotte) en Bart (Tommelein).
Het was geen reportage van 7 am tot 1 am. Enkel de burgerlijke trouw en de receptie + deel van het feest moesten in beeld gebracht worden.
We vertrokken bij Sarah thuis waar Bart door zijn toekomstige schoonmoeder nog even de les gespeld werd…

Om dan naar het stadhuis te rijden.

Tot dan verliep voor mij alles vlekkeloos maar op het stadhuis werd ik plots geconfronteerd met een 6-tal persfotografen en een tv-ploeg. Miljaar. Telkens ik een bepaald standpunt wou innemen moest ik constateren dat mijn plekje al werd ingenomen door een andere fotograaf. Om een mooi plaatje te krijgen, begonnen die persfotografen dan nog eens naar het koppel te roepen om in de lens te kijken. Heel vervelend, zeker gezien het feit ik een slappe druif ben en als gevolg niet kon / wou opboksen tegen die perslui.

Nu goed, het was mijn taak hun dag in beeld te brengen en die fotografen bleken onderdeel te zijn van die dag.
Getuige hiervan:

Op de receptie kwam zelfs een aantal persfotografen mee, gelukkig niet de hele tijd.
Toen de fanfare waar Bart nog in gespeeld had langskwam, waren ze godzijdank al weg.

Door het grote aantal gasten had ik weinig bewegingsruimte en was ik voornamelijk aangewezen op mijn telelens.
Enkele bekende koppen.

Aangezien Sarah en Bart geen aparte reportage van zichzelf wensten, maar ik toch wat foto’s van hen wou, moest ik het wel “stiekem” doen. Het leuke hiervan is dat je wel heel spontane foto’s krijgt.

Finland is tucked away on the top edge of Europe – so why would anyone want to fly through it to get to Asia?

Even today, many people perceive the Earth as flat. The greatest difficulty in explaining Finnair’s strategy is still presented by a man who lived 500 years ago, Gerardus Mercator, who projected the world in a flat map format. Great for printed products but a drastic alteration to the proportions of the globe.

When you look at the world as a map on the pages of a book, it seems absurd that anyone would fly first across Scandinavia and from there ‘down’ to Asia.

But when you look at the same routing on a globe, the shortest journey from A to B traces the so-called Great Circle routes. This is the route you will see if you connect two destination ‘pinheads’ with a piece of thread.

Finnair salesmen over the years have drawn continents and flight routes across an orange to convey the idea, or then demonstrated our flight routes with the help of a beach ball globe.

It’s a fact that most air traffic between Europe and Asia passes over Finland. On clear days Finns can see the flock of aircraft way up in the sky, following a flight path running from Hanko in the south-west Finland to Joensuu in the east.

Flights to about a dozen Asian ‘super-hub’ airports operate from about a dozen airports in Europe. All passengers who are from places outside the reach of these centres have to change planes somewhere. It can take a ludicrously long time to find connections at the ‘mega-hubs’. At uncongested and efficient Helsinki-Vantaa airport we can offer connection times as short as half an hour. Finnair’s so-called ‘Via’ transit connections are nearly always the fastest available. This kind of speed and efficiency is especially important for business travelers. Time is money.

Another major plus is that Helsinki is located at a perfect distance from Asia from the point of view of operating a long haul aircraft fleet.

A single aircraft unit is capable of covering return flights to all Finnair Asian destinations within a day, while those other airlines which have to fly longer distances cannot be as efficient. An aircraft is like a factory which only produces while it’s actually in the air. Other airlines are not able to cover two Asia flight legs in the same day.

Helsinki’s geographical location makes it possible for the long haul fleet, the company’s most valuable production asset, to be put to the most efficient use. The right distance also makes it possible for Finnair to employ more affordable aircraft types. Only Finnair can fly on Airbus A330-300 aircraft to all destinations in Japan and Thailand as well as several others with full loads of passengers and cargo. In terms of operational cost competitiveness, the aircraft is less expensive and more eco-efficient.

Finnair’s operational logic is to exploit these natural competitive advantages, to attract our passengers from 40 European destinations and bring them to Helsinki, then onwards to our Asian destinations – and vice versa. At present as much as 90 per cent of our long-haul passengers come from outside Finland. Finnair accounts for about four per cent of the growing intercontinental traffic. This relatively small figure is sufficient for the company as long as they come from so many places.

In Finnair’s newly reorganized corporate structure, route strategy and use of capacity are being elevated to a high priority level across the whole group, while scheduled and leisure traffic units are being merged. The company’s traffic network is thus extended from 50 scheduled destinations to also cover 110 leisure flight destinations. This will give Finnair completely new options for offering route combinations.

Ville Iho

Hän on Finnairin Aasian strategian suurin vihollinen

Suomi sijaitsee Euroopan ylänurkassa. Miksi ihmeessä tätä kautta lennetään Aasiaan?

Moni ihminen taitaa nykyään hahmottaa maailman litteänä. Finnairin strategian selittämisen suurin vaikeus taitaa johtua 500 vuotta sitten eläneestä Gerardus Mercatorista, joka litisti maapallon karttatasoksi, jota on helppo käyttää painotuotteissa.

Kun katsoo maapallon mittasuhteita kirjan sivulle litistetyllä kartalla, näyttää absurdilta, että Euroopasta lennettäisiin ensin ylös Pohjoismaihin ja sen jälkeen taas alas Aasiaan.

Mutta kun tarkastelee samaa välimatkaa pallokartalla, lyhyin matka paikasta A paikkaan B kulkee ns. isoympyräreittiä pitkin. Tämä on reitti, joka löytyy laittamalla nuppineulan kyseisiin kaupunkeihin ja virittämällä lanka kireälle niiden välille.

Finnairin myyntimiehet ovat kautta vuosien piirtäneet mustalla tussilla maapallokarttaa appelsiiniin tai sitten demonstroineet lentoreittejämme puhallettavien rantapallojen avulla.

Itse asiassa suuri osa kaikesta Euroopan ja Aasian välisestä lentoliikenteestä kulkee Suomen päältä. Koneet näkyvät korkealla taivaalla, kun ne liitävät noin Hangosta Joensuuhun kulkevaa reittiään pitkin.

Euroopasta lennetään Aasiaan noin tusinalta suurelta lentoasemalta, Aasian noin tusinalle superkentälle. Kaikki matkustajat, jotka tulevat näiden keskusten ulkopuolelta, joutuvat vaihtamaan konetta jossain. Megakentillä jatkoyhteyden etsiminen voi kestää tolkuttoman pitkään. Tehokkaassa ja ruuhkattomassa Helsingissä pystymme tarjoamaan jopa puolen tunnin vaihtoaikoja. Konetta vaihdettaessa, ns. via-liikenteessä Finnair on lähes aina nopein yhteys. Erityisesti liikematkustamisessa nopeus ja tehokkuus ovat valttia. Aika on rahaa.

Ylimääräinen plussa on vielä, että Helsinki sattuu sijaitsemaan täydellisen sopivan etäisyyden päässä Aasiasta katsoen, kaukolentoja tekevää lentokonekalustoa ajatellen.

Yksi lentokoneyksilö kykenee tekemään edestakaisen lennon Helsingistä kaikkiin Aasian reittikohteisiimme vuorokauden aikana, siinä missä muiden yhtiöiden pidempi matka pakottaa ne tehottomampaan koneenkäyttöön. Lentokone on tehdas, joka tuottaa vain kun se on ilmassa. Muut yhtiöt eivät ehdi tehdä toista Aasian-keikkaa saman vuorokauden aikana.

Helsingin maantieteellinen sijainti mahdollistaa kaukoliikennelaivaston, yhtiön arvokkaimman tuotannontekijän erittäin tehokkaan käytön. Oikea etäisyys mahdollistaa Finnairille myös muita edullisemman konetyyppivalinnan. Vain Finnair voi lentää A330-300 koneella kaikkiin kohteisiinsa Japania ja Thaimaata myöten, ja useimmiten vielä tuoden täyden matkustajakuorman lisäksi rahtia. Kone on operointikustannuksiltaan kilpailijoitaan edullisempi ja ekotehokkaampi

Finnairin toimintalogiikka on hyödyntää näitä luontaisia kilpailuetuja, kerätä matkustajia 40 Euroopan-kohteesta ja tuoda heidät Helsinkiin ja viedä edelleen 10 Aasian-kohteeseen. Ja paluussa sama toisinpäin. Nykyisin jopa 90 prosenttia kaukolennon-matkustajistamme tulee muualta kuin Suomesta. Finnair kerää noin 4 prosenttia maanosien välisestä kasvavasta liikenteestä. Meille riittävät pienetkin virrat, kun niitä tulee monesta kohteesta.

Aasian reittien vuoksi Finnair on investoinut mittavasti Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasemalle, kehittänyt syöttöliikennettä ja hankkinut uusia koneita. Mikäli Aasian-ulottuvuudesta Finnairin strategiassa jouduttaisiin luopumaan, kutistuisi myös Euroopan-verkosto murto-osaan. Yhtiössä olisi tämän jälkeen ainakin 4 000 työpaikkaa vähemmän. Suurin vaikutus kohdistuisi kuitenkin Helsingin yhteyksiin maailmalle ja sen kilpailukykyyn maailman dynaamisten alueiden joukossa.

Finnairin uudessa organisaatiossa reittistrategiat ja kapasiteetin käyttö nostetaan koko konsernin päätoimintojen tasolle, samalla reittilennot ja lomalennot yhdistyvät. Yhtiön liikenneverkko laajenee 50 kohteesta kattamaan myös lomalentojen 110 kohdetta. Tämä antaa yhtiölle aivan uusia mahdollisuuksia tarjota lentoyhdistelmiä.

Ville Iho

Annak ellenére, hogy talán ebben a városban láttam a legkevesebb látnivalót, legyen az vízesés, templom, vagy egyéb természeti, illetve kultúrtörténeti érdekesség, a város mégis szívembe zárta magát. Egyébként nem teljesen az én hibám, hogy nem láttam semmit, a város ugyanis elég friss, és létezésének egyetlen indoka, hogy a régi Gorica anno átköltözött Olaszországba.

Még el sem értem a várost, és máris egy világrekorder vasúti híd alatt találtam magam (ilyenkor feldereng bennem, hogy talán mégis hídépítészetre kellett volna adnom a fejem, mert nagy találmány a híd, összeköti a partokat, utakat, városrészeket…), nyilvánvalóan a Monarchia idejéből. A második dolog, amivel újabb elismerésre tett szert, az a buszhálózat. A térképét nem tanulmányoztam, és ránézésre rettentő ritkán (fél óránként) jár, de hát ingyen. Bizony, a városi busz használata Nova Goricaban ingyen van és bérmentve. Nem csak egyetemistáknak és nyugdíjasoknak, hanem mindenkinek.

Figyelem, ha a városodban gondot okoz a túlságosan nagy forgalom, olvasdd újra az előző bekezdést! Elrejtettem benne egy utalást a lehetséges megoldásra.

Én közben sétáltam egyet az olasz oldalon. Első lépéseim a taljánok földjén. Látványosan szemetesebb volt, és az alakok is gyanúsabbak, én pedig éhes és fáradt, úgyhogy jobbnak láttam visszatérni a szép, tiszta és kedves Szlovéniába. Betértem a Mercatorba, szlovén hypermarket, de minden kicsi városkában ott vannak, és egy zseniális megérzésem hallgatva, csak egy adag kekszet vásároltam. Egészen késő estére járt, mire a szálláshelyre érkeztem, de magam is csodálkoztam a megérzés zsenialitásán, ugyanis a vacsora nem egyéb mint pršut (házisonka) volt, egyenesen Belgrád környékéről, házi paradicsommal, egyenesen a ház hátától.

Így visszagondolva, aznap este rengeteg süketelést végig kellett hallgatnom, de szerencsére a vacsora által felszabadított boldogsághormon kitartott annyira, hogy a házigazdám kifárasztotta magát a sok mondandójával, és végül az ő ötlete alapján tértünk nyugovóra. És újra igazi kanapén aludtam, igazi CS szellemben.

Kissé meglepődtem, amikor rögtön ébredés után 11est mutatott az óra, de mit volt mit tenni, elfogadtam a helyzetet, és átalakítottam az aznapi tervemet, mint utólag kiderült, még zseniálisabbra. Nem reggeliztem ugyanis (pedig a sonka ott mosolygott a hűtőben), hanem elmentem meglátogatni azt a büfét, amit Alenka azelőtt való nap annyira ajánlott. Kaptam ajándékba egy studenteknek járó cédulát (bónt), aminek az értéke 3 euró, és adnak rá egy teljes ebédet. Ez egy piszok jó ár ebben az országban. Szóval feltöltődtem bécsi szelettel és szalmakrumplival, és hála nékik kibírtam egy újabb adag beszédet, ezúttal a facebook közösségi oldal barátjelölési fokozatairól. Egyébként mindenhol csodálattal néznek rám, amikor megtudják, hogy nem vagyok rajta, és ennyi ember nem tévedhet…

Délután a Garfield bar terasza következett, de itt legalább vicces társaság gyűlt össze, és megkóstolhattam valamelyik környékbeli domb fehérborát. Ha jó lett volna, bizonyára megjegyeztem volna a nevét…

Este egy etno-jazz-rock-improvizációs színpad adta az elviselhetőségi palástot a beszélgetésre, és újra bebizonyosodott, hogy a határfeszegető emberek határait is lehet feszegetni, csak nem biztos, hogy érdemes. Kényelmesebb meghagyni mindenkit a saját kis világában, de ha erre csak utólag jönnél rá, az ilyen helyzetekben számomra még mindig megnyugtató és hatásos olvasmány Borgesnek a Deutsches Requiem-je.

A konyhába visszatérve viszont újra sonkára volt szükség, még akkor is ha közben a háttérben ment a Family Guy, és bár nem voltam éhes szinte egyáltalán, azért jóízűen belaktam füstölt sonkával. Na ezt ne próbáljátok ki otthon.

A sok furcsaság között, amit álmodtam, volt egy eredmény is, történetesen a Levski – Debrecen szerdai bajnokok ligája selejtező eredménye. Konkrétan 1-4 volt, így utólag remélhetőleg az összesítés lesz ennyi, mert az első mérkőzést „csak” 1-2re hozta a Loki. Szerdán tehát egy szelet gombás hús és valami puliszkaszerűség után elcsoszogtunk a benzinkúthoz, fogadni. Eddig szép és jó, csak én arra nem gondoltam (mivel életemben most fogadtam először, és 99,99 százalék, hogy utoljára (azért nem 100, mert semmi sem biztos)), hogy legkevesebb három mérkőzésre kell fogadni. Na mindegy, ott a lista, kiszúrok egy O. Lyon meccset, ők otthon tutira nyernek, (Khm, 5-1 verték meg az Anderlechtet…), de mi legyen a harmadik? Így utólag persze sajnálhatom, hogy nem a Maccabi vagy a Zürich győzelmére tettem, de az igazán szomorú az, hogy nincs semmiféle mentségem. Arra gondoltam, hogy a Man City biztos nyerni akar majd a Camp Nou-ban, még akkor is ha csak barátságos meccs, míg a Barcelona valami gyerekeket fog pályára küldeni, hogy gyakoroljanak. Így aztán legyen Barcelona – Man City döntetlen, négyszeres szorzóval. De nem így lett, a vendégek nyertek (ötszörös szorzó, hazai győzelem 1,5ös), és nekem a kétszáz eurós profit helyett maradt a tíz eurós tanulság.

No de közben jól elkanyarodtunk a témától, hiszen ezeket az eredményeket én már egy teljesen másik helységben tudtam meg, és az már egy teljesen másik történet…

After our four day holiday when I visited Prague, things at The Bubble (as we affectionately call our home/ studio) started to heat up.  We were prepping for our final presentation to show the bigwigs what we’ve been working on.  We were prepping to move out and head home or wherever.  We were working like crazy with longer and longer hours.  We were also still trying to have as much fun as possible.

A rousing game of football

As the evenings grew longer and longer, we started hanging out on the Terrace more and more often.  Just to share a beer or two after a long day.  As mentioned, we all live and work in same building.  Therefore to talk to one another, we just stick our heads out of the window.

The sunsets got later and later but kept on being beautiful.

We still had time to make a few quick trips to nearby places.

Sailing with the Doctor

Our Clinic Doctor invited a group of us to join him and his friends on a sailing trip on the Oosterschelde.  It was WINDY and COLD but we managed to have fun.  We sailed until we got to a small town (I forgot to write down the name and now I have totally forgotten).  We walked around the town and then stopped for a lunch time treat.

After lunch and a quick handstand from Marshall, we were all revitalized enough to sail back home.

I even got to drive (steer, sail, whatever) a little bit!

More photos from the Dutch sailing trip can be found here.

Visit to Oostende and the Three Masted Ship

On the first of June, a large group of us (including the ever-present documentary team from Exqi) went on a trip  to the Belgian town of Oostende to visit the Mercator, a three masted ship.

Me, Marshall, Anne-Caroline and Anaelle at our brief stopover in Ghent

The ship serves as a museum and you can view the crew quarters, infirmary and mess hall.

A nice collection of sailing knots

For some reason, no one cared that our acrobats went a little crazy crawling and climbing all over the boat.  (And the documentarians loved  it, of course.)

Beata, Janusz and Klodi climb

Godfrey is Superman

Janusz puts Beata down the tube

I try to rescue her

After the ship, we split up to explore the town and grab some lunch.

Marshall, Aya, Anaelle, Anne-Caroline and her sister eat some seafood

More Oostende photos here.

Still to come our last few nights at the Bubble!

tWas weer zuveir: net as de veurige joaren onderbraak “Franky, de ijsboer”, specioal veur ons – de minsen van Mercator Verzekeringen – zen roet. Giesteren parkeerde hij zen kerreken achter ons Mercator-gebaa en schepte de bollen kremgellas in ons favoriete smoaken op nen toeter alsof het een lieve lust was ! En kat den niesten, want ik stond op punt noar huis te goan – kat gedoan iet veur den tween.

En zeg nou ies ierlijk: of het nou ne weirme zommerdag es, of tweer weirrekt nie mee; ne lekkere kremgellas smoakt toch atijd?

Wemmen der van genoten,…..kweste van euder wa jaloes te moaken….. of ge keunt da misschien loaten lezen oan euderen boas zu dattem uuk zuiet kan organiseren.

I recently started this new blog, determined to write an average of 3 posts a week and now I have my doubts again about whether I can keep it up. It happens all the time, it’s like in a marathon when you hit ‘the wall’.

Anyway, I am now on holidays, at least for a few days, and I’ve spending my time reading magazines, books and of course browsing online. And here are some of the things I’ve read about (and learnt about):

Mercator vs. Peters Projection: Since the 16th century and up until very recently the most accepted world map was drawed using the Mercator projection, this is, a quite distorted vision of the real area of continents. For example, Greenland looked very similar in size to Africa, when in reality Africa is 14 times bigger than Greenland. This is a typical world view of the colonial times. This projection is also used by Google Maps.

Peters projection

Peters Projection in the other hand, it shows a more accurate reflection of the world, at least in terms of area. However, America and Africa look considerably big for our Western-oriented / Europe-centric culture. These are interesting facts as even nowadays most world maps are still based on the Mercator projection.

During my flight, I was reading Esquire magazine where they had a full article about Jason Rohrer and his videogames creations. His first game was Passage, what he described as a ‘memento mori‘ game, where the player has to make life decisions and death is impossible to avoid. He has been praised by industry experts as the only one capable to create a game that triggers emotions in the player. He even cried while first playing the game and has now been recruited by Steven Spielberg to work with him in the development of a new form of gaming. I am now about to play Passage (it only takes 5 minutes) and will write about it.

Then, these 2 past days I’ve been finding little tiny things that have made me smile. For example, today “My Milk Toof” has got me over 10 minutes smiling and I’ve been sharing it with friends. It’s so cute and refreshing.

It’s a great comic about 2 milk teeth that wander around the house and out. And that’s all for today really.

Like so many of my students, I too was “geographically ignorant.”

At least that was the epithet hurled at us by our professor in a freshman course titled “Map of the Modern World.”  Everyone who didn’t score above a certain cutoff on a placement test was forced to take this class.  The doors were locked promptly.  The teaching assistants stood like bouncers.  We had to learn the placement of ALL 200+ states in the international system, plus all colonies, territories, associated territories, crown dependencies, etc.   At the beginning I didn’t even know where Curacao was.  Now I know the position of every Antille, from Bonaire to Aruba and everything in between.

If only our students in public schools had such an intensive class–or a psychotic professor to teach it. 

Our pitiful knowledge of geography has been well documented for the last decade.  Among the most notable studies was the 2006 Roper study sponsored by the National Geographic Society, a copy of which is linked here.  I will spare a detailed analysis, but some of the highlights include that ”most young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 demonstrate a limited understanding of the world beyond their country’s borders, and they place insufficient importance on the basic geographic skills that might enhance their knowledge.”  

Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.

6 in 10 young Americans don’t speak a foreign language fluently.

20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It’s the largest country in Africa.)

48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It’s Hindu—by a landslide.)

Half of young Americans can’t find New York on a map.                                                                                                                       - from 2006 National Geographic/Roper Survey 

What is even more disturbing–even as a three-year old study–is the declining attitude towards geography.  21% of respondents said that knowing where countries were in the world is “not too important.”  38% of respondents said the same about learning another language.  As our ability to understand the world grows more and more, we want to know less about it.  The results are scary.

One need not look further than my own students to see the results of such thinking.  Many of my fifth graders, even as late as December, still thought the Bronx was a country.  Many didn’t even know how many states comprised the United States, where our capital is located, or even its name.  One kid even alleged that Puerto Rico was a borough of New York City–though considering the demographic, he may be on to something.   

Yet they all knew where the Chuck-E-Cheese is located.  Most have an encyclopedic knowledge of the shops in Co-Op City, or the amusement possibilities of New Rochelle (dubbed “New Roc City”).  They also have exact bearings on where to find the nearest McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC, which would also become their future employers, if they’re not careful.

Our culture has not helped, on both sides of the political spectrum.  The extreme right-wing ding-dongs who belittle “book learning”, as education is so often called, as un-American do our children a grave disservice.  It is not patriotic to be dumb, no matter what Sarah Palin tells you.  Yes, she can see Russia, but Lord knows if she can pick it off a map.  Even those conservatives who preach American exceptionalism–and I do, to a certain degree–have to have a working understanding of world geography to form a basis for arguments.  You can’t tell a liberal to “go the hell to Russia!” and then point to the Ukraine.  I’ve seen this happen with Young Republicans, and it isn’t pretty. 

The left is no saint, either.  For all their hemming and hawing about the “guilt” of European populations and their parasitic attack on American peoples and environments, they seem to overlook the need to use geography to see why we came here in the first place.  Geography played a huge role in the creation of the American landscape.  There’s a reason why Arizona and New Mexico weren’t settled by large numbers of European settlers until later in the 19th Century (Here’s a hint: you drink it).  If Ms. Cannabis wants to preach about the rape of the continent, she better  make sure the class can find it on a map.  Otherwise you get renderings of the Atlantic slave trade with ships coming from Detroit into Jamaica, which plays havoc on your civil rights lessons. 

Geography is essential to our education.  Not just knowing how to read a map, but at least a basic understanding of where countries, states and continents are located on a map.  The maps do look nice on the wall, at least before Jose decides to tag them with a Sharpie.  Yet the study of our world has many other implications as well:

• It’s multidisciplinary – You have to read maps, and understand what symbols mean.  Distances, angles, and rates of speed for travel all need to be calculated.  Borders between states or countries can change or shift over time for different reasons.  The natural boundaries–mountains, rivers, oceans, etc.–serve ecological, social and economic purposes.  Geography extends to every discipline.
• It informs our history — New York City isn’t where it is because of dumb luck.  Verrazzano and Hudson both stumbled into the greatest natural harbor on the Atlantic coast.  Boston started as a peninsula sheltered by the inland water of Cape Cod.  New Orleans sprang up at the terminus of our continent’s most important river system.  These were no accidents–geography played a huge role in the development of civilization.
• It informs our perceptions, both true and false — one need look no further than the greatest tool of white supremacy in world history, the 1569 Mercator world map.   Yes, a map.  Gerardus Mercator’s wildly popular map was created with a huge distortion: the areas farthest away from the Equator were abnormally larger.  Europe, North America and Russia are all greatly oversized.  Europe is also placed squarely in the middle, as if the world revolved around it.  Now, this was probably unintentional–Mercator was European, after all, and used a familiar vantage point–but this map has helped to color our perceptions of people and countries for many years.  It’s important for kids to understand this.
• It’s tactile — Geography is one of the few parts of social studies that’s hands-on.  The best way to get a kid excited about the world is to put a map or globe in their grubby little mitts.  To actually see where the United States is compared to the rest of the world can often be a shocking experience.  It also helps the student understand the world doesn’t always revolve around us–even though that’s how it seems.

Students should have access to as much geography as humanly possible.  The more kids understand the world, the more curious they get about how the world works–especially its problems.  The geography problem, in many ways, is the most urgent problem, as it colors almost every other aspect of social studies.  Extending knowledge of world geography will help our students make a positive mark on that same world later in life.

At the very least, students can argue that Puerto Rico is not a borough of New York–but it ought to be.  Along with Santo Domingo, Mexico, parts of Ecuador, Israel, Russia, Sicily and southwest Ireland.

The following are some helpful geography websites:

National Geographic for Kids - this is a great site to start.  Maps, activities, videos, you name it.

National Geographic Xpeditions -  this site is a big help to teachers, as it has lesson plans, interactive media and a fully interactive atlas for students to explore.

KidsGeo-Geography for Kids - this is more of geography skills site than a true study in an atlas nature.  It does have a massive amount of information.

Sheppard Software’s Geography Games - truly for the geography fanatic, these games really test your country and state identification skills.  Warning: for advance students only.

dr. Jože Mencinger

Dr. Jože Mencinger: “Vsa ta tajkunska gonja začenja škodovati gospodarstvu. Mislim, da se morajo banke pač same odločiti, kateri kredit bodo podaljšale in kateri ne.”

Dr. Jože P. Damijan

Dr. Jože P. Damjan pa: “… Ta zadeva je navadna fama, s katero želijo pomagati Šrotu oziroma prisiliti državo, da pomaga Šrotu, da izvede svoj načrt privatizacije Laškega do konca.”

O Mercatorju, ki da naj bi ga kupoval g. Roglić (OrbiCo):

Milan Kučan

Milan Kučan:  “Jaz sem se srečal z gospodom Roglićem, z njim pa nisem govoril o Mercatorju, kar vas verjetno najbolj zanima, ker nisem gospod Janša, ki bi Mercator prodajal… Moje stališče glede Mercatorja pa je znano: da Mercator pač mora, zaradi svojega pomena, ostati v slovenskem lastništvu.”

Dr. Mencinger: “Ne vidim nobenega razloga, zakaj bi dobiček nekdo vlekel iz našega gospodarstva.”

Damjan: “Mislim, da država tega deleža Mercatorja ne bi smela prevzeti, ker je povsem vseeno, v katerih rokah je Mercator.”

Zanimive izjave. Strinjamo  se z Mencingerjem (tako glede kreditov kot Mercatorja) in Kučanom, čudimo pa se Damjanu. Da je vseeno, kdo je lastnik Mercatorja? Pojdite malo v Leclerc pa poglejte, koliko slovenskih izdelkov je tam v primerjavi z Mercatorjem. Ali obratno, pojdite na Hrvaško pa primerjajte, koliko slovenskih izdelkov je v Mercatorju in koliko drugod (pa ni potrebno iti v Konzum, ki javno bojkotira slovenske izdelke). Slovensko mleko in jogurti so verjetno povsem primerljivi s hrvaškimi…slovenska voda pa s francosko…trgovci pa vseeno forsirajo vsak svoje znamke, neredko tudi po nacionalnem ključu. Dr. Damjan, ni torej vseeno, čigav bo Mercator! In ne, če pride v hrvaške roke in se bo v njem prodajalo dosti manj slovenskih in precej več hrvaških izdelkov, še ne bo avtomatično pomenilo, da je slovenska živilskopredelovalna industrija nekonkurenčna (enako začuda meni tudi dr. Tajnikar). Ne, v ozadju so pogodbe lastnikov z drugimi predelovalci in ekonomije obsega v dosti večjih gospodarstvih (primer: francoska mlečna industrija in industrija pijač proti slovenski…).

 Why there is a need for Integration?

Organizations have found a host of compelling reasons to do this. Some have discovered that they must share order and shipment information in real time between legacy systems and existing production applications located in warehouses or manufacturing facilities. Others have come up with equally compelling diverse scenarios.

What Integration solutions do?

-Integrate systems that were not designed to work together

-Accommodate various elements of information technology that may be dissimilar and incompatible

-Integrate across an increasingly broad organizational scope, perhaps encompassing multiple separate businesses

-Make maximum use of information

-Accommodate and even proactively exploit change

-Support the way the business operates, not the other way around

 Why integrate systems and applications?

A successfully integrated enterprise can reward your organization with significant cost, resource, and time savings. Enterprise Applications Integration (EAI) connects existing and new systems to enable collaborative operation within your entire organization.

A successfully integrated system allows information to work harder and smarter, increasing the speed of business reaction time, and facilitating seamless, straight-through transaction processing.

Although a number of Integration solutions-Middleware technologies are available in the market. Some of them are briefly discussed here.

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

Tibco

BizTalk

Web methods

IBM MQSeries/WebSphere

See Beyond

Mercator

Oracle fusion

Vitria 

1. Sap XI

XI is well suited for connecting SAP systems with each other and with non-SAP. SAP XI provides an integrated workflow engine that allows defining adapters to non-XML protocols and mappings to convert data content from source to target format.

XI comes handy particularly incase of SAP – Non SAP interfaces where you can import standard integration content. Also XI has got sophisticated open standard adapter framework which is very easy to implement and custom logic can be implemented using Adapter module programming.

Monitoring is better than any other middleware product. It offers exhaustive monitoring features like message, performance, component monitoring etc, all of which can be used to track and rectify the errors. It follows a hub and spoke model.

When you need to integrate with an SAP system XI has an advantage in supporting various SAP components and so on.

Process functionalities inside XI to modify content in the communication channel on own defined rules for business purposes.

Mappings and adapters are good as comparable with any other middleware product.

Synchronous & Asynchronous communication is possible.

2. Tibco

TIBCO is described as having the most advanced BPM features overall, spanning both integration-centric and human-centric features due to the company’s aggressive strategy to sustain competitive advantage by adding leading-edge features, whether via internal development or strategic acquisition.

For the integration of custom applications into the e-business infrastructure, TIBCO makes available a comprehensive Software Development Kit that enables enterprises to build their own adapters.

Tibco has many adapters that are built by their own.

Tibco simple and productive User Interface is much more matured than XI.

Tibco does publish/subscribe very well. Available messaging types include request/reply, publish/subscribe and publish/reply interactions.

Improves overall system performance by eliminating repetitive batch requests to packaged application systems.

Lowers cost-of-ownership through general n-way rather than point-to-point integration.

Simplifies administration with data transparency provided by subject-based naming.

Enhances networked applications based on component or object development models.

Choice of message delivery service levels for optimal resource utilization.

3. BizTalk

 BizTalk is a business process management (BPM) server that enables companies to automate and optimize business processes. This includes powerful, familiar tools to design, develop, deploy, and manage those processes.

 While planning for the integration scenario BizTalk takes care about tasks like Gathering information, Defining naming conventions, planning team development, setting up and working with source control.

BizTalk 2004 is completely built on .Net.

Recoverable Interchange. In BizTalk, an Interchange can contain two or more messages, such as a batch. With the introduction of Recoverable Interchange in BizTalk Server 2006, only messages that fail validation are suspended, and the messages can be resumed after the error is corrected.

Failed message routing. New functionality is available to allow orchestration and send ports to subscribe to failed messages. When used appropriately, failed message routing can be used for notifying users of failed messages or building rich error handling and message repair capabilities.

Lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). BizTalk Server reduces the cost and complexity of automating and managing business processes with a single, unified solution for Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi), and Business Process Management (BPM).

Enhanced productivity through integrated management and development tools.

Supports Computer Telephony Interface (CTI) through TAPI.

4. Web Methods

Web Methods was one of the first vendors to realize the significance of XML interactions, bringing its first generation of XML-based B2B integration software to market in 1999. Since that time, the vendor has expanded its scope to include enterprise application integration (EAI), electronic data interchange (EDI), and, most recently, business process management (BPM), giving it the most comprehensive and easy-to-use integration suite on the market.

Connectivity from legacy applications to Web delivery channels is core strength.

Web Methods provides strong monitoring features, as well as comprehensive support for vertical-industry accelerators.

Web Methods has been a strong proponent of the concepts underlying SOA since its inception.

Web Methods Fabric is priced in the midrange compared with other products in this category.

Web Methods Extended Enterprise Solution Suite software focuses on supply chain management to facilitate order processing and inventory management.

Web Methods will extend its current universe of ERP adapters to address the needs of financial services by offering full FIX adapters and SWIFT libraries.

Web Methods Fabric provides a well-integrated, comprehensive collection of capabilities for supporting many foundational requirements for advanced integration and BPM in the SOA world.

5. IBM MQSeries/WebSphere

The WebSphere MQSeries allows you to integrate back-end and external systems with WebSphere Commerce using WebSphere MQ as middleware. The supported software is MQSeries Version 5.2 or higher, with the MA88 product extension.

WebSphere MQ enables you to reliably and consistently integrate your applications, allowing you to fully leverage your existing software and hardware assets.

WebSphere MQ eliminates the need to write complex communications code and offers a choice of simple APIs (Message Queue Interface (MQI) and JMS) that are consistent across the range of more than 80 supported operating environments, provided both by IBM and business partners.

WebSphere MQ can reduce the risk of data being lost when applications, Web services, or networks fail. It also helps ensure that data is not duplicated and completes as a single unit of work or transaction.

WebSphere MQ has Powerful development facilities that simplify integration tasks by providing a functionally rich and consistent application programming interface (MQI) across all its supported platforms. It helps make integrated programs portable.

WebSphere MQ supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for authentication, message integrity checking, and encryption for data sent across the Internet.

WebSphere MQ reduces the time and skills required to be productive with a new File Transfer application that provides a simple GUI tool to move files across the MQ network with reliability.

WebSphere MQ supports clustering for dynamically distributing messaging workload across available MQ resources.

6. See Beyond

From a technology, functionality, and architecture standpoint, See Beyond should be considered one of the top performers in the EAI market. See Beyond has entered the low end integration market with their new release of eInsight Enterprise Service Bus 5.0. This is fully J2EE compliant, allowing business processes and logic to run natively within an application server. This capability is unique as compared to the other pure-play EAI vendors (which provide connectivity to applications services, not pure integration).

Support for technical standards, including J2EE, .Net, and Web services.

See Beyond also provides portal builder, Business Activity Monitor (BAM), Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) facility, Extract Transform and Load (ETL) product, and other tools to provide a full-service EAI offering.

Another positive aspect of its architecture is that it has developed its integration components as an integrated suite rather than retrofitting components acquired from third parties.

See Beyond has made support for ISO 15022 messaging and connectivity to market infrastructures such as DTCC a top priority.

See Beyond faces many of the same challenges inherent to EAI vendors that target multiple vertical with their integration solution.

Despite a strategy built around vertical solutions and depth of domain expertise and “key person dependency” is still a problem for See Beyond because it targets so many verticals.

7. Mercator

Mercator is a leader in offering SWIFT messaging and enabling tools in the marketplace. Beginning with TSI and Braid, Mercator built much of its franchise in financial services by offering an extensive library in support of SWIFT. It is likely that more SWIFT messages are generated by Mercator software than by any other financial messaging vendor, and half of its relationships, particularly with the custodian bank community, started as a result of a SWIFT messaging initiative.

A broad universe of adaptors remains a key strength of Mercator today and spans a wide variety of market infrastructures, including central securities depositories such as CREST and DTC, and payment clearing systems such as CLS and CHIPS.

Transformation – Mercator was designed as an EDI tool, but its core design allows for further flexibility into any data format with the concept of a ‘tree’ which is a graphical representation of a data object.

Transport independent – non intrusive integration, if you already have WebSphere MQ, JMS or a Tibco Bus, Mercator readily plugs into the existing transport infrastructure with standard adapters. There is no additional programming required.

Embed-ability – You can plug Mercator interfaces into any application server and allow your existing EJB’s to leverage Mercator transformation and connectivity.

Mercator provides a rich set of APIs to hook existing code – these include the ability to develop fully functional custom adapters in either Java or C/C++, and execute Java Classes, JCA, cobra, and com objects within a map.

 8. Oracle fusion

 Oracle is using Oracle Fusion Middleware as the foundation for Oracle’s next-generation applications, codenamed “Project Fusion.” The use of standard technologies such as BPEL and Java will provide this next generation of applications with critical flexibility and management advantages.

 Oracle Fusion Middleware ensures that information gets handed off to the right people and the correct business applications–accurately and efficiently– even when data resides at many different places.

Access management and security, BPEL Process Manager, Identity Management, Business Intelligence, Web services.

Using the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) standard, this component of the Oracle Fusion Middleware family ensures that you can develop, monitor, and improve processes over time with optimal portability and reuse potential.

Oracle Fusion Middleware is modular (allows you to install, configure, and use only those services that you need) open, and extensible to work in a heterogeneous environment. 

An automated upgrade from one product to another is devilishly hard to provide by considering the customization of PeopleSoft that will have gone on out there.

Unless Fusion has the same data model as PeopleSoft there may be a need for manual analysis, mapping and data integration work to get it right.

 9. Vitria

 Vitria offers off-the-shelf connectors/adaptors for most of the popular databases. Vitria performs data level integration using JDBC/ODBC drivers. You can either run SQL queries against the database or you can retrieve data based on add/delete/update triggers.

The data transformations are quite robust in Vitria.

Vitria’s graphical interface to define custom transformers makes defining transformations pretty easy.

In addition, you can also create simple java classes to build your custom transformers.

Vitria has been a leader in the EAI segment in terms of its BPM.

To help expedite its penetration of the back-office it is constructing adapters to the most common third-party applications found in this environment.

Ar ddydd Llun Ebrill 27ain, mae Sefydliad Mercator yn trefnu digwyddiad arbennig yn yr Adran Astudiaethau Theatr, Ffilm a Theledu. Eisoes, cafwyd trafod mawr ynglyn a sut i greu gwefannau, meddalwedd, a dyfeisiau sydd yn gallu darparu profiad ar y we trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg. Fe fydd y sesiwn syniadau yn gyfle i arbenigwyr – megis Canolfan Bedwyr, Daniel Cunliffe ac Iwan Standley - rannu syniadau a datblygu prosiectau. Bwriad syml y sesiwn fydd creu gofod i rgyflwyno ein syniadau am beth fyddai’r prosiectau delfrydol ar gyfer cynyddu’r posibiliadau o ddefnyddio’r Gymraeg mewn ffordd hwyl, diddorol a defnyddiol ar y we.

Bydd Suw Charman-Anderson, blogiwr ac ymgynghorydd ar y we gymdeithasol, yn bresennol hefyd i roi dechrau i’r drafodaeth ac i gyfrannu o’i phrofiad.

Dyddiad : Llun, 27 Ebrill 2009
Amser : 12:00-14:00
Lleoliad : Adran Astudiaethau Theatr, Ffilm a Theledu
Adeilad Parry-Williams
Prifysgol Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth SY23 3AJ
I gadw lle cysylltwch â Rhodri ap Dyfrig ar 01970 621982.