Laurent is a Certified ScrumMaster!

As you may know, we are more and more using Scrum as a team-based framework for developing our Skye® standard software product (front-end solution for insurances) at Innoveo.

What is Scrum? (ScrumAlliance definition)

Scrum: A team-based framework to develop complex systems and products.

Scrum is an iterative, incremental framework for developing any product or managing any work. It allows teams to deliver a potentially shippable set of functionality every iteration, providing the agility needed to respond to rapidly changing requirements.

The Scrum framework constantly challenges its users to focus on improvement, and its Sprints provide the stability to address the ever-changing needs that occur in any project.

These characteristics have led to Scrum becoming the most popular method in the world of agile software development.

We are consequently very proud to inform you that Laurent Kempé, who is acting as our Innoveo ScrumMaster besides being our internal “Scrum champion”, has successfully passed his ScrumMaster certification!

Congratulation to Laurent for this nice step and recognition.

Next step is now to apply for the next level: Certified Scrum Practitioner, as shown below (ScrumAlliance certification process):

cross-posted on the Innoveo blog

Seesmic has acquired ping.fm

Loic LeMeur, the CEO of Seesmic, announced yesterday that his company has acquired ping.gm. As a “happy-user” of both services, I find this acquisition definitely interesting ;-)

I am using Twhirl as a Windows Twitter client, and the ping.fm service to spread my updates to LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, Plaxo and FriendFeed.

We're happy to share with you very big news if you have not heard. We've acquired Ping.fm. Get ready to update 50 social networks from Seesmic.

[…] Ping.fm has more than half a million active users who post daily from any device just by sending an email, a text message or chat - simple tools that existed since the early stages of the Internet are available on all connected devices. This is why Ping.fm is extremely easy to use and access -just send an update and it can touch on 50 social networks including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Ning, WordPress, TypePad, Yammer, Status.net and many more. Ping.fm is compatible with every single Internet device in the world, which is why it has become so successful among thousands of users. 

[…]

Thanks to its powerful and simple API, more than a hundred applications already use Ping.fm to update all the main social networks and Seesmic commits to maintaining and improving the Ping.fm platform. Not only has Twhirl supported Ping.fm for about a year, but we are also preparing to open Seesmic apps with our own plug-in architecture so we understand and care about the developer community. Ping.fm co-founders, Adam Duffy and Sean McCullough, are joining the Seesmic team full time and will keep improving Ping.fm as well as integrating it with our Seesmic applications. The number one request from Ping.fm users is to have more powerful clients support postings to their social networks, so they should be pleased to know Seesmic applications will be adding this functionality.

Seesmic is also welcoming ping.fm angel investors as shareholders and advisors Joi Ito (@joi), Reid Hoffman (@quixotic) who was already a Seesmic shareholder and Mohamed Nanabhay (@mohamed). Seesmic applications on Blackberry,  Android,  Web,  Windows  and OSX via Air will all have advanced Ping.fm integration very shortly and therefore will instantly support 50 social networks.

[via Loic’s information mail]

Full employment

via Seth Godin

So true…

You will never be out of work if you can demonstrably offer one of the following:

• Sales
• Additive effort
• Initiation

Sales speaks for itself. If you can sell enough to cover what you cost and then some, there will always be someone waiting to hire you.

Additive effort is distinguished from bureaucracy or feel-good showing up. Additive effort generates productivity far greater than the overhead you add to the organization. If your skills make the assembly line go twice as fast, or the sales force becomes more effective, or the travel office cuts its costs, then you've produced genuine value. That surly receptionist at the doctor's office--she's just filling a chair.

The third skill is the most difficult to value, but is ultimately the most valuable. If you're the person who can initiate useful action, if you're the one who makes something productive or transformative happen, then smart organizations will treasure you.

Vincent Bolloré

I have the chance to be a member of the “Four Seasons Club” (in French: le club des quatre saisons), which is a private business club founded in 2003 and based in Zurich, Switzerland. It is a French-speaking club, gathering personalities from the economical, political, academic, cultural and media worlds.

The number of members is limited to 120. For me, a quite unique opportunity to speak French, my mother-tongue, and not (broken) English or (broken) German!

The Club is also an opportunity to see and to meet extremely interesting people, coming from different horizons, and not “just” the business.

On last Wednesday, we could see, listen to and meet Mr. Vincent Bolloré (wikipedia):

Vincent Bolloré (b. 1 April 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France) is a French industrialist, corporate raider and businessman.

He heads the family investment group Bolloré and is ranked 451st richest person in the world according to Forbes, with an estimated fortune of US$1.7 billion. He is married, with 4 children.

Vincent Bolloré is from a well-off family from Brittany, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Université Paris X Nanterre. Bolloré started his investment career as a bank trainee at investment bank Edmond de Rothschild.

His personal investment career began when he took over the reins at his family-controlled conglomerate Bolloré, which deals in maritime freight and African trade, and paper manufacturing (cigarette and bible paper). The company he leads today employs 33,000 people around the world.

He is a well-known corporate raider in France who has succeeded in making money by taking large stakes in French listed companies, in particular the building and construction group Bouygues, where he left with a sizeable capital gain after a power-struggle.

In late 2004, his investment group started building a stake in advertising group Havas, becoming its largest single shareholder. He mounted a coup and replaced Alain de Pouzilhac as Havas Chief Executive Officer on July 12, 2005.

In 2005, through his family company, Bolloré expanded his media interests by launching the Direct 8 television station. Towards the end of 2005, he began building a stake in independent British media planning and buying group, Aegis. As at 19 July, 2006, his stake in Aegis stood at 29%. Direct Soir, a free newspaper, was launched in June 2006. In January 2008, he manifested interest in becoming a shareholder of famed, but troubled, Italian car manufacturer Pininfarina.

He is a close personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

I haven't known any detail about the Bolloré Group before this meeting. Actually very interesting! As Vincent Bolloré, a very charismatic and fascinating person, with quite a lot of distance and humility with his business successes. And a definitely not common strategic approach (“we do what the others don’t want to do”), with a very diversified group founded in 1822!

It was also the last day of the very long Indian Summer in Zurich.

VMware/SpringSource – About PaaS

VMware announced on August 10, 2009 its willingness to acquire SpringSource for $362 million in cash and equity, plus $58 million of unvested stock and options (press release). The process should be closed in Q3 2009.

How can this acquisition be interpreted? What are the goals of VMware/SpringSource?

Some interesting inputs and analysis found on Internet.

A post from Rod Johnson, CEO of SpringSource

About the merge itself

[…] We have signed a definitive agreement with VMware, who will acquire SpringSource. Subject to regulatory approval, we expect the transaction to close in Q3. SpringSource will become a division within VMware. I will continue to lead SpringSource, reporting to VMware CEO Paul Maritz.

About the opportunity

[…] But the broader transformation in IT goes beyond Java frameworks, tooling and runtime infrastructure. The way in which people think about software stacks is changing. Virtualization is reshaping the data center, and cloud computing is set to drive far-reaching changes. Significantly, cloud computing blurs the division between development and operations, bringing new power (and responsibility) to developer.

And so the question becomes, what is the most simple, powerful, pragmatic way of utilizing SpringSource technologies in the data center, and in the cloud?

About the vision

Working together with VMware we plan on creating a single, integrated, build-run-manage solution for the data center, private clouds, and public clouds. A solution that exploits knowledge of the application structure, and collaboration with middleware and management components, to ensure optimal efficiency and resiliency of the supporting virtual environment at deployment time and during runtime. A solution that will deliver a Platform as a Service (Paas) […]

About the vision (said in other words)

The next chapter of our work at SpringSource is tackling those challenges: Building on our Build/Run/Manage solution to provide the industry’s best solution from developer desktop to cloud deployment. Bringing Spring’s power and simplicity to enabling the millions of Java developers to benefit from the full power of cloud computing. […]

About the representation of this vision

About the open source community

Our commitment to open source practices, licenses and traditions will remain unchanged. We expect our contributions to open source to increase. Our open source projects will retain their commitment to enabling user choice. Spring will retain the portability between deployment environments that empowers users. […]

An analysis from 451 CAOS Theory

Part I

[…] VMware is clearly in need of a story beyond virtualization, even if we are still relatively early on in enterprise adoption. Still, looking into the future, it sees clear skies, and that does not fit with the multi-billion dollar opportunity shaping up in cloud computing. Thus, VMware is willing to invest a significant amount in SpringSource, which does represent a crossover in customers without much, if any, crossover in competition.

Part II

VMware is working to address its increasing competition from all sides. While it may seem somewhat odd for VMware to want to get involved in enterprise Java application development and deployment, it may want to take advantage of SpringSource’s relatively quick climb in the enterprise Java development and support business. VMware may also be looking to offset any gain in enterprise Java influence and control by Oracle, which may do so with its more than $7 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

Part III

VMware is also facing increasing competition from OS vendors, including Microsoft, Novell and Red Hat, which is among SpringSource’s biggest competitors with its JBoss business. Again, SpringSource may not seem the most likely suitor for Java application development, but VMware may see this as an area where it can most effectively integrate its own technology and talent to differentiate in virtualization and cloud computing.[…]

Open source?

Although SpringSource’s open source nature has been critical to its developer reach and success, this is likely not as important to VMware, which may view SpringSource more as a subscription software company than as an open source software company. Either way, it seems VMware, similar to Oracle, may have somewhat limited vision when it comes to open source software, seeing it for its development and time-to-market advantages, but missing other community benefits — including user and customer communities, feedback and contributions — that help make things work.[…]

Disclosure: Innoveo Solutions is using Spring in its Innoveo Skye™ software product.

cross-posted on the Innoveo blog.

Lifelong learning & “growth mindset”

via Jeff Busgang

I personally like the idea that we are all able to learn during our entire life, thanks to our family and private life, thanks to our social and business activities.

I am also convinced that it is extremely important to be able to change your goals (without being frustrated) and, at the same time, to be very resilient, which is totally antinomic :-) A question of balance perhaps.

Anyway, super food for thoughts from Jeff!

[…] If you aren't facile at adjusting your goals, and they're overly ambitious goals, it can lead to depression.

[…] As investors, we VCs are always attracted to entrepreneurs who set big, hairy audacious goals (BHAGs).  Who wants to invest in an entrepreneur whose pitch is, "I'm going to make a nice living in a small niche," as opposed to, "I aspire to achieve world domination"?  Yet are those entrepreneurs more susceptible to depression and defeatism when they're unable to achieve those outrageous BHAGs?

To reconcile these two views I am reminded of an excellent book I recently read by renowned Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, called Mindset .  Dweck's research shows that successful people in business, sports and life have "growth mindsets" rather than "fixed mindsets".  The "growth mindset" is one in which a person believes that one's world view is less about ability and more about lifelong learning.  "Growth mindset" individuals feel they can always learn from experiences (failures and successes) and develop resilience because they're focused on personal growth rather than achievement tied to rigid objectives.  When a "growth mindset" individual faces adversity, they focus on the learnings and the self-improvement opportunities that come from adversity.

I have seen in my own work that the best entrepreneurs do set BHAGs, sometimes outrageous and unattainable ones (create a $100 million company in 5 years from scratch?  Is that really possible?), and push themselves to achieve excellence.  But the ones that really distinguish themselves are the ones who embrace the "growth mindset".  They embrace life long learning, no matter how great their achievements, and allow themselves to occasionally hit the reset button and adjust their goals […]

IBM Rational conference

via Judith Hurwirtz

Judith has attended to the last IBM Rational Conference and is sharing with us some noteworthy aspects of the “changing landscape of software development”.

1. Rational is moving from tools company to a software development platform. […]
2. More management, fewer low level developers [were attending the conference] […]
3. Rational has changed dramatically through acquisitions. […]
4. It’s all about Jazz. Jazz, IBM’s collaboration platform was a major focus of the conference.  Jazz is an architecture intended to integrate data and function.  Jazz’s foundation is the REST architecture and therefore it is well positioned for use in Web 2.0 applications. What is most important is that IBM is bringing all of its Rational technology under this model. Over the next few years, we can expect to see this framework under all of the Rational’s products.
5. Rational doesn’t stand alone. […] What I found quite interesting was the emphasis on the intersection between the Rational platform and Tivoli’s management services as well as Websphere’s Service Oriented Architecture offerings. Rational also made a point of focusing on the use of collaboration elements provided by the Lotus division.  Cloud computing was also a major focus of discussion at the event.[…] The one area that IBM seem to have hit a home run is its Cloud Burst appliance which is intended create and manage virtual images. Rational is also beginning to deliver its testing offerings as cloud based services. One of the most interesting elements of its approach is to use tokens as a licensing model. In other words, customers purchase a set number of tokens or virtual licenses that can be used to purchase services that are not tied to a specific project or product.

Cross-posted on the Innoveo Blog

Mark this day :-)

Yesterday (Thursday) was an absolutely important and central milestone in the life of our company - Innoveo.

I am very proud, totally exciting for the coming steps, exhausted, and also in a way - relieved. First confirmations that our vision, strategy, and tactics are not sooo bad ;-)

As usual, a bit of luck, plus a great help and support from very smart people (hello René), and from our Team!

I remember a thought of one of my former boss, saying that:

Good stuff needs time to mature

This is absolutely true ;-) I would just extend it a bit:

Good stuff needs time AND a lot of energy to mature

Nick, mate, a big thought in your direction, you did such a great job!

Coming challenges are big, again, but first … there are coming! And second, they are super interesting!

A last one now, about “vision” :-)

(© Despair, Inc)

 

But gosh, now, I just want to sit down with a good grappa, and to appreciate this moment.

Software maintenance

via Judith Hurwitz

Judith is bringing, as usual, interesting feeds for thoughts, this time in the field of software maintenance fees.

[…] As the world slowly moves to cloud computing for economic reasons there will be a major impact on how companies pay for software. Salesforce.com has indeed proven that companies are willing to trust their sales and customer data to a Software as a Service vendor. These customers are also willing to pay per user or per company yearly fees to rent software. Does this mean that they are no longer paying maintance fees? My answer would be no. It is all about accounting and economics. Clearly, Salesforce.com spends a lot of money adding functionality to its application and someone pays for that. So, what part of that monthly or yearly per user fee is allocated to maintaining the application? Who knows? And I am sure that it is not one of those statistics that Salesforce.com or any other Software as a Service or any Platform as a Service vendor is going to publish. Why? Because these companies don’t think of themselves as traditional software companies. They don’t expect that anyone will ever own a copy of their code.

The bottom line is that software will never be good enough to never need maintenance. Software vendors — whether they sell perpetual licenses or Software as a Service– will continue to charge for maintance. The reality is that the concrete idea of the maintenance fee will evolve over time. Customers will pay it but they probably won’t see it on their bills. Nevertheless, the impact on traditional software companies will be dramatic over time and a lot of these companies will have to rethink their strategies. Many software companies have become increasingly dependent on maintenance revenue to keep revenue growing. I think that Marc Benioff has started a conversation that will spark a debate that could have wide ranging implications for the future of not only maintenance but of what we think of as software.

Interesting!

Cross-posted on the Innoveo Blog.

Oracle buys Sun

via Between the Lines

As everybody already knows, Oracle is buying Sun for about $7.4 billion, including Sun’s debt ($9.50 a share in cash). Some interesting thoughts from Larry Dignan, Editor in Chief of ZDNet.

• [Oracle] added that the acquisition of Java “is the most important software Oracle has ever acquired.”
• Oracle also becomes a full-fledged hardware player.
• Oracle and Sun have been long-time partners. […] “More Oracle databases run on the Solaris Sparc than any other system,” said Ellison, noting Linux was second. “We’ll engineer the Oracle database and Solaris operating system together. With Sun we can make all components of the IT stack integrated and work well.”
• Oracle with Sun appears to be the Apple of the enterprise. Indeed, Oracle President Charles Phillips noted that the company is looking to offer everything from apps to the disk.
• Oracle’s stack of IT stuff now includes:
  • Java;
  • Solaris;
  • Enterprise applications ranging from CRM to ERP to business intelligence;
  • The database (Oracle and MySQL);
  • The middleware;
  • The storage hardware;
  • Cloud computing services;
  • And servers.
• Art of War approach:
  • Oracle gets to annoy IBM—and own Java—over a few pennies a share more than Big Blue was willing to pay.
  • Oracle gets to kill MySQL. There’s no way Ellison will let that open source database mess with the margins of his database. MySQL at best will wither from neglect. In any case, MySQL is MyToast.
  • Sun has a big installed base. All the better to upsell applications into.
• Sun was relatively cheap compared to Oracle’s other acquisitions. The price was above the Hyperion buyout but below PeopleSoft and Siebel.
• Oracle saves Sun management from what could have been a complete debacle following the IBM takeover talks. The Sun board had been split on the IBM deal. Today, it’s all roses.

The official Oracle press release can be found here.

It is clear that this deal will change the IT landscape quite massively. And the consolidation is definitely not finished…

Cross-posted on the Innoveo Blog.

Marten Mickos, former MySQL CEO, is to depart Sun

via 451 CAOS Theory

It seems that SUN will not communicate on that, but Marten Mickos, the former MySql CEO, is leaving SUN, after about 1 year... I remember one of my post in February 2008 with some explanations about the “why” of this merge, directly from Marten. Outch. Something didn’t work as planed there.

Some more information below.

I just got news that Marten Mickos, former MySQL CEO, is to depart Sun amid a reorganisation of its infrastructure and database business units. Don’t expect an announcement from Sun on this, but the news is confirmed.

[…] Marten will be transitioning out of Sun by the end of the company’s (current) third quarter.

Marten’s departure is a big loss for Sun and follows quickly after the departures of Monty Widenius and David Axmark.

[…] Matt Asay is right, Marten’s departure “is likely to lead to an exodus among MySQL’s deep talent pool”. This needn’t be a complete disaster - the same thing happened at JBoss and Red Hat has recovered from that, but this is going to be a serious test for Sun’s ability to maximize on the potential of MySQL and its other open source assets.

Matt also writes that “Mickos was the backbone of MySQL’s rising revenues, as an open-source pragmatist and visionary. He was the face of MySQL, but also of the rising open-source industry.” This is true, and for that reason I hope it’s not too long before we see him taking charge at another vendor.

Good luck to Marten, hope to see him asap in a new role!

What is a great software company

via Judith Hurwitz

Judith is discussing the difference between a good and a great software company.

Interesting insights!

1. Great companies start with a predictable business model and turn the model upside down. They look three years ahead and experiment with innovation. They have to have a combination of intuition, risk, and innovation. These companies are willing to take enough risk to win big but smart enough to know the difference between great opportunities and pipe dreams.

2. Great companies find new areas to position themselves for leadership. This is very tough to pull off. The area has to be important enough for the market to pay attention to but not too big that they look silly.  Great companies never try to take a big existing market with established leaders and try to claim primacy.

3. Great companies build great relationships. Management at these companies builds an ecosystem of influencers including great customers who will talk about the value, press, analysts, and partners who together help the company create a persona of innovation and greatness while the company is still building.

Great software companies are complicated to build.   The software business a complicated and brutal with  lots of failures at every turn.  […] It isn’t easy. Great software companies are even more difficult and scary to build.

Comparison of Open Source Application Servers

I have found - by accident really! – a very interesting presentation on SlideShare concerning the different leading Open Source Application Servers on the market.

This very solid evaluation is proposed by OpenLogic.

I have summarized parts of it below.

Goal of the presentation /

Help you choose which open source application servers to evaluate more thoroughly:

• JBoss
• GlassFish
• dm Server
• Geronimo
• Tomcat

Which open source application servers are your using or considering using /

J2EE Didn't Fill the Need /

• EJB 2 is difficult to use
  • Many people consider it unnecessary difficult
  • Entity Beans were especially problematic
  • But even session beans earned bad reputations
• The Open Source community responds
  • OSS packages mitigating the problem
    • Hibernate instead of Entity Beans
    • Spring as a component model
  • They were very successful in the marketplace
• Many Spring/Hibernate applications
  • Required only Tomcat to run but also work in full app servers

When Tomcat Is Not Enough /

• Tomcat doesn't support
  • JMS
  • EJBs
  • Other...
• Enterprises need integration
  • The more mature the app is, the more likely it is to be added
• Add-ons
  • It was possible to add things that Tomcat was missing
  • But this became a “build your own Frankenstein” exercise

Java Enterprise Edition in the Meantime /

• Weaknesses in EJB 2 model were recognized
• Work on new specification was completed
  • J2EE → JEE 5
  • EJB 2 → EJB 3
    • Entity Beans → JPA
• EJB 3
  • Simple annotation-based programming model
  • Not everybody adopted EJB 3
• JEE 6 will embrace modularity
  • Profiles, including web profile

Choices in 2007 /

• Use Spring
  • Start with full app server
  • Start with Tomcat, build from there
• Use EJB 3
  • Requires full app servers
• Full application server
  • Pros – everything you are likely to need, could use EJB
  • Cons – complexity, might use more resources then Tomcat
• Tomcat
  • Pros – small, simple, low resource usage
  • Cons – you might need to build your own app server, no EJB

OSGi /

• Started in 1999
  • Recently got a lot of exposure
  • In particular, R 4.1
    • JSR-294
• OSGi brings
  • Dependency management and modularity
  • Ability to load only parts it needs
• OSGi currently has a lot of mindshare

The central questions /

• Decisions, decisions
  • EJB 3 or Spring
  • Spring on dm Server or on J2EE/JEE server?
  • OSGi or not OSGi
  • Do I need EJB 2 compatibility?
  • In addition, there are many “old” considerations
• Servers are not “all inclusive”
  • EJB 3 apps won't work on SpringSource dm Server or Tomcat

Assessment JBoss /

JBoss Thought Leadership Complete ecosystem Portal ESB BPM JBoss has history of innovation Pioneer of EJB 3 Seam Application Framework Web Beans OSGi Support in JBoss 5	JBoss for Developers Excellent customizability JMX-based, don't deploy what you don't need Seam is worth a look for developers JDK 6 with 4.2.3 and 5.0 GA JDK 5 compiled binaries work on both JDK 5 and JDK 6 JBoss IDE Eclipse-based JBoss Tools Free version (RHDS is paid version)
JBoss in Production Dependability Excellent clustering and failover capability Reliable in production Monitoring and deployment capabilities Not really oriented toward system administration out of the box Command line/file edit flavor of configuration GUI tools (Tomcat manager and JMX Console) are fairly basic Excellent 3rd party tools available for monitoring Hyperic GroundWork IT JON *	JBoss – Conclusions Strengths Mature, scalable and reliable Good support for J2EE and EJB 3 Seam framework Weaknesses Limited GUI-based configuration in open source version LGPL License may be a concern for ISV's embedding app servers

Assessment SpringSource dm Server /

SpringSource dm Server Newcomer Released in April of 2008 GPL license Incorporates many mature components Spring Framework Tomcat Equinox dm Server users are very early adopters Different take on app server OSGi support No support for EJB No JMS out of the box	dm Server for Developers Server works well with Spring Framework IDE Spring IDE - IDE for Eclipse platform Support for NetBeans and IntelliJ OSGi support Resolves “dependency hell” But requires application migration to take advantage of it Supports Java 5 and 6
dm Server Thought Leadership OSGi-based Good OSGi implementation OSGi discussed a lot in their documentation No support for EJB No support for EJB 3 or old EJB 2 spec Spring offers similar functionality to Seam Which is somewhat more mature Although some of the Seam ideas might be somewhat more powerful Bijection	dm Server – Conclusions Strengths Support for Spring Framework Support for OSGi Weaknesses Newcomer No EJB Limited experience among workforce

Assessment Tomcat /

Tomcat First release (3.0.x) in 1999 Apache license Servlet container Lightweight server Used in many other app servers JBoss dm Server Geronimo	Tomcat – Conclusions Strengths Lightweight Well known and tested Fast startup/deployment for development Weaknesses No support for EJB, JMS or almost anything else outside of “web side”
Tomcat in Development and Production Tomcat 6 supports Clustering Failover Widely used for both development and production Supported in most popular IDEs

Conclusions /

• App servers are not just about the JEE specs
• Make some high-level decisions before evaluation
  • Do I need EJB 2 compatibility?
  • Do I intend to follow EJB 3 and other industry standards?
  • Do I need something fast, lightweight, and easy to use?
  • Do I have a need for lifecycle management of server components (through OSGi)?
  • Do I need support for dynamic languages like Groovy and JRuby?
  • Am I an early adopter of new technology?

Recommendations /

• “I’m using EJBs and I’m conservative”
  • JBoss, GlassFish
• “I don't need XA/JMS/EJB”
  • Tomcat, JBoss, GlassFish, dm Server
• “I’m using Spring”
  • Conservative - JBoss, Tomcat, GlassFish
  • Leading edge - dm Server
• “I need to embed an app server in my commercial code”
  • Tomcat, Geronimo
• “I use Spring heavily and I need OSGi”
  • I need it today and don't need EJBs - dm Server
  • I need it soon and/or need EJBs – GlassFish, JBoss
• “I use Seam”
  • JBoss
• “I want ActiveMQ/Spring/Hibernate preinstalled”
  • Geronimo
• “I need dynamic language support”
  • Groovy/Grails – dm Server, JBoss, GlassFish
  • JRuby/Rails - GlassFish, Geronimo

Innoveo Skye – Product strategy workshop

Yesterday and today, workshop with the Innoveo Management Team near Zurich for refining and documenting our Innoveo Skye™ (content, scope, roadmap) software solution for insurances (front-end and distribution).

More information there about Skye™.

 

Innoveo at the InsuranceCom conference

Innoveo was again this year partner of the InsuranceCom congress in Zurich.

Lot of very interesting presentations (main topic was innovation this year) and many very good contacts and exchanges!

International IT market is resisting the downturn

via EITO

Despite the weakness in the international economy, demand for information technology (IT) will continue to increase in the coming year. According to the new forecast of the international market research institute EITO, turnover of computers, software and IT services in Western Europe will increase by 2 percent in 2009, to a round 315 billion Euro. "IT expenditure of businesses will continue to grow even in an economic recession", said EITO chairman Bruno Lamborghini. "Information technology is of strategic importance for companies in a crisis situation because it makes operations more efficient and more economic." Increasing demand for IT was also to be expected from contractors working in the public sector, where investment has limited dependence on economic fluctuations. According to the latest forecast, providers of software and IT services in Western Europe will achieve a substantial increase in turnover of 3.2 percent in the coming year, to 228 billion. In comparison, manufacturers of IT hardware are facing a loss of 1.3 percent, to 87 billion Euro.

The EITO market researchers are expecting development of the IT market in Western Europe, which includes the 15 core countries of the EU with the addition of Switzerland and Norway, to be more robust than in the USA. IT turnover in the United States is forecast to grow by 0.8 percent to 347 billion Euro. Before the global financial crisis became more acute, EITO was assuming growth of the IT market at a level of 4.4 percent in the USA.

The global IT market for the year 2009 will grow, according to the EITO forecast, by 2.7 percent to 983 billion Euro. As in Europe, suppliers of software and IT services around the world are growing particularly strongly. Their turnover world-wide is forecast to grow by 3.4 percent to 677 billion Euro in the coming year. The hardware market is increasing by 1.3 percent to 305 billion Euro. The driving forces are emerging markets like China, India and Russia, which still have some ground to make up in developing their IT infrastructure.

So, summarized, concerning turnover forecast for 2009

• Worldwide:
  • Overall: +2.7%
  • Software and IT services: +3.4%
  • IT Hardware: +1.3%
• Western Europe (15 EU countries, Switzerland, Norway)
  • Overall: +2.0%
  • Software and IT services: +3.2%
  • IT Hardware: –1.3%
• USA:
  • Overall: +0.8%
• Western Europe more robust than in the USA
• Driving forces internationally: China, India, Russia (generally speaking: emerging markets)

Innoveo - A real life example of productive SOA solutions

Two years ago a first version of the publication “Service Oriented Architecture for Dummies” has been published. Therein our reference customer, the Helvetia Insurance Group, was mentioned together with the solution we have successfully put in place for them.

In the second, reviewed edition, Innoveo has been dedicated again one full chapter of the book. Still our solution is considered to be a practical, state of the art example of how SOA can work in real life, creating both, an enhanced efficiency and cost optimization on the IT side as well as real business benefits on the customer side.

We are proud of having been selected by Judith Hurwitz for her book and we wish Judith again an amazing success with this new publication.

Find more information about the book on Judith Hurwitz’s Weblog. Judith is one of the authors and we’ve had the pleasure to be directly in contact with her to discuss the content and the progresses we’ve made in the time between the first and the second edition.

You can order the book at Amazon.com.

Get additional information about our consulting services and our insurance frontend solution Innoveo Skye™ by visiting our company website.

cross-posted as Innoveo News.

Defining goals is a pain in the neck, BUT…

via Seth Godin

A good one, to (re)start properly the new year with some inspiring quotes from Seth!

Having goals is a pain in the neck.

If you don't have a goal (a corporate goal, a market share goal, a personal career goal, an athletic goal...) then you can just do your best. You can take what comes. You can reprioritize on a regular basis. If you don't have a goal, you never have to worry about missing it. If you don't have a goal you don't need nearly as many excuses, either.

Not having a goal lets you make a ruckus, or have more fun, or spend time doing what matters right now, which is, after all, the moment in which you are living.

The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run.

It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact... those people have goals.

Scenarios For 2009: How CIOs Should Prepare (Forrester research)

via Ed Cone

Ed is pointing to a very interesting document from Forrester about the reactions of CIOs, classified by sectors. Including the Finance &  Insurance industries.

For the Insurance Industry, the analysis of Forrester is quite aligned with what we are perceiving at Innoveo.

The analysis is very recent and was presented during a webinar on December 11, 2008.

What is the insurance industry doing to address the downturn?

• Anticipating more cut backs for 2009.
• Insurance has already made significant cuts in IT spending early in 2008.
• Growth in IT purchases for Finance & Insurance:
  • 2007: +8%
  • 2008: -2%
  • 2009: -3%

How will the recession affect the Insurance Industry?

• Shallow recession: GOOD
• Deep recession: NEUTRAL

What are firms in these sectors doing to address the downturn?

• Most firms focus on IT’s traditional cost-cutting tactics.
• New investments (30% of the overall costs):
  • Portfolio segmentation
    • Use commodity / low-cost resources
    • Eliminate large-sized efforts
    • Focus on short-term returns
  • Adopt lean thinking, reduce complexity
  • Shorten planning horizons
• Operational costs (70% of the overall costs):
  • Consolidation/standardization, consistent with the business model
    • Data centers, server/storage virtualization
    • Consolidate and squeeze vendors
    • Centralization of IT contracts
  • Lean thinking — reduce complexity,
  • Staff and asset utilization optimization
    • Delay upgrades and refresh
    • Downgrade for lower volumes
    • Automate where it makes sense

The Finance & Insurance sectors are considering to invest in the following actions in 2009:

• Retiring older applications or technologies to save support costs 50%
• Adjusting project portfolios to increase near-term return on investment 55%
• Assessing the IT organization structure to improve efficiencies 60%
• Investing in technologies such as automation to reduce IT operating costs 70%

Leading firms take multiple alternative approaches:

• Traditional IT tactics to deliver short-term results
• Agility to offer alternatives in the long run — providing a lasting ability to rapidly shift partners, customers, and markets
  • Focus on increasing ability to change: adding/removing services, reselling services from third parties, channel integration
  • Focus on external interfaces to data and systems
    • Apply SOA for strategic flexibility
    • Look to third parties for flexible interfaces
  • Increase flexibility of contracts
  • Employ agile development methodologies
• Innovation to accelerate out of the downturn — new business models and product/service offerings in addition to operational improvements
  • Accelerating out of the downturn requires a strategic focus, but without higher overall costs
  • Use a portion of CapEx for innovative ideas
  • Focus innovation criteria on business strategies
  • Use Web 2.0 technologies to farm ideas from across your Innovation Network — internal and external
  • Employ a different idea pipeline / steering committee
  • Keep investment performance metrics

Summary for the Finance & Insurance sectors:

 

2009 will be a complicated year for software

via Judith Hurwitz

One of the first “predictions list” for 2009 for software companies.

Very interesting insights!

1. Software as a Service (SaaS) goes mainstream. It isn’t just for small companies anymore. […]
2. Tough economic times favor the big and stable technology companies. […] The only way emerging companies will survive is to do what I call “follow the pain”. In other words, come up with compelling technology that solves really tough problems that others can’t do. They need to fill the white space that the big vendors have not filled yet. […]
3. The Service Oriented Architecture market enters the post hype phase. […]
4. Service Management gets hot. […]
5. The desktop takes a beating in a tough economy. When times get tough companies look for ways to cut back and I expect that the desktop will be an area where companies will delay replacement of existing PCs. […]
6. The Cloud grows more serious. […] Just as companies are moving to SaaS because of economic reasons, companies will move to Clouds with the same goal – decreasing capital expenditures.  Companies will start to have to gain an understanding of the impact of trusting a third party provider. […]
7. There will be tech companies that fail in 2009. […]
8. Open Source will soar in this tight market. […] Companies that offer commercial open source will emerge as strong players.
9. Software goes vertical. I am not talking about packaged software. I anticipate that more and more companies will begin to package everything based on a solutions focus. […]
10. Appliances become a software platform of choice for customers. […] More software solutions will be sold with prepackaged solutions to make the acceptance rate for complex enterprise software easier.
11. Companies will spend money on anticipation management. […] Companies will need to understand not just what happened last year but where they should invest for the future. They cannot do this without understanding their data.

Wow, good food for thoughts!

I am excited also to be able to read the new version of the book “SOA for Dummies”, written, among others, by Judith Hurwitz. Innoveo should have there its own chapter, hopefully ;-)

10 characteristics of software companies that will fail

via Judith Hurwitz

Extremely interesting post from Judith. She is listing the 10 characteristics of software companies that will make them fail in the coming economical downturn phase.

1. My technology is so revolutionary everyone will want it.
2. The platform we offer to our customers is a complete architecture and we’re going to build an ecosystem.
3. We don’t plan to try to partner with the big players; it’s too hard.
4. We’d love to partner with a large vendor if they are willing to put our product on their price list and sell for us.
5. We sell a great tool.
6. Our technology sells itself.
7. We sell an entire turnkey environment.
8. We are implementing precisely what our customers tell us they need.
9. We are thinking about Software as a Service (SaaS)…but…
10. We are limiting our outreach in the market. It is too expensive to advertise or market. We’re going to wait until things get better.

So, are you “in” or “out”?

Innoveo Skye, a Swiss made software!

At Innoveo, we are member of the swiss made software community, since our creation.

"swiss made software" is the new label of the Swiss software industry. International software companies like Google, IBM or Microsoft have discovered the Swiss values - quality, reliability and precision - in software development and have established important research and development centers in Switzerland. If you are looking for Swiss values and innovation, openness and flexibility in software, choose your partner from this site.

Our software product – Innoveo Skye – is now also listed in the new product part of the swiss made software website.

Description: Innoveo Skye is a generic, flexible insurance sales solution. It supports an unlimited number of products and services, all lines of business (life and non-life) and all sales channels. Industrialize  
Technology: Insurance-specific, J2EE (TM) based IT solution on commercial (Weblogic (TM), Websphere (TM), ...) and open source (JBoss (TM)) infrastructure stacks, together with a wide range of business-oriented services. 

sugarCRM

via ITRmanager.com (in French)

At Innoveo, we are using intensively sugarCRM since the start of our company, for managing in a structured way our contacts, leads, opportunities and marketing material. At the end, our sales-funnel is managed in sugarCRM.

We are using the professional version of sugarCRM, which is a commercial open source CRM software. This allows us to connect in a very easy way Microsoft Outlook and sugarCRM (archiving of emails of example). Below you can have an idea about the different versions of sugarCRM:

ITRmanager has just posted an interesting interview with the CEO of sugarCRM, John Roberts:

• founded in 2004
• 180 employees
• 4’000 customers of the commercial editions of the product, more than 500 in Europe
• 450’000 users
• 5 million downloads
• one of the biggest PHP project, with more than 600’00 SLOC (Single Lines Of Code)
• 40 software developers that are working full-time on the product
• published under GPL v3
• 4 founding rounds for a total of $46 million
• their goal is not to propose free software, but a very good functional product for a cheaper price than its competitors, because of a different sales and marketing structure
• 80% of license sold, 20% on-demand
• only the software engineers of sugarCRM are developing the core-product, which represents 50 to 60% of the overall code
• about 100 external developers are contributing actively
• about 12’000 developers are representing the sugarCRM community and developing extensions (about 500 extensions so far)
• about 80’000 users are building the overall community, participating to the forums, roadmaps, tests, etc.
• IPO was planned for 2009, will be postponed
• about $20 million cash-reserve
• positive cash-flow planned for Q1/2009

Research & Development investments in 2007

via ITRmanager.com (in French)

An interesting study showing the amount of the investment in R&D at different technology-oriented companies.

Besides the amount of investments, I think that it is interesting to have a look at the investment in R&D as a % of the revenues of the company. This % is showing how far R&D and innovation is central or not for these companies.

Company	Revenues 2007 (in mio EUR)	R&D 2007 (in mio EUR)	R&D in % of the revenues
Symbian	264	128	48%
IONA	53	14	26%
Dassault Systems	1'259	292	23%
Adobe	2'160	419	19%
Alcatel-Lucent	18'005	3'368	19%
Yahoo!	4'767	818	17%
Intel	26'219	3'936	15%
SUN	9'489	1'384	15%
SAP	10'256	1'458	14%
Microsoft	41'325	5'584	14%
Cisco	23'885	3'077	13%
Google	11'350	1'450	13%
Oracle	15'341	1'875	12%
Nokia	51'058	5'281	10%
SunGard	3'352	203	6%
IBM	67'566	3'931	6%
Apple	16'419	586	4%
HP	71'130	2'470	3%
Swisscom	6'699	45	1%

 

Some surprises, no?

Articles, conferences, reports, books, collaterals and video

Above an updated list (per October 18, 2008) of the different publications, articles, conferences, reports, books, collaterals and video linked with my work in the last years by Helvetia, ecenter solutions, and now, innoveo!

 

	ARTICLES
1	31.10.2002	German, English	Switzerland	Schweizer Versicherung	pdf DE, pdf EN, url
2	26.11.2004	French	France	01 Informatique	pdf, url
3	06.01.2006	English	USA	CIO Insight	pdf, url
4	01.02.2006	English	Rusia	The Insurer	pdf, url
5	11.04.2006	English	USA	FinanceOnWindow	pdf, url
6	11.04.2006	English	USA	Finextra	pdf, url
7	12.04.2006	English	USA	CRMtoday	pdf, url
8	13.04.2006	English	USA	InfoWorld	pdf, url
9	20.04.2006	English	Australia	ComputerWorld Australia	pdf, url
10	24.04.2006	English	USA	ComputerWorld	pdf, url
11	30.04.2006	English	USA	Enterprise Networks&Servers	pdf, url
12	15.05.2006	English	NewZealand	ComputerWorld NewZealand	pdf, url
13	30.06.2006	German	Switzerland	Netzwoche	pdf, url
14	01.07.2006	English	USA	Insurance Networking	pdf, url
15	10.07.2006	English	USA	Computerwire	pdf, url
16	24.07.2006	English	USA	GlobalServices	pdf, url
17	04.09.2006	German	Germany	ComputerZeitung	pdf, url
18	06.11.2006	English	USA	Baseline	pdf, url
19	01.11.2007	German	Switzerland	ICT in Finance	pdf, url
	CONFERENCES
1	16.04.2003	German	Switzerland	Euroforum - VersicherungsIT	pdf, url
2	15.09.2005	German	Switzerland	IT-Strategie-Forum	pdf, url
3	29.11.2005	English	Russia	International Conference	pdf, url
4	15.05.2006	English	Italy	HP Enterprise Executive Summit	pdf, url
5	19.09.2006	English	Belgium	euroOSCON	pdf, url
	REPORTS
1	19.11.2005	English	USA	Thoughtware Worldwide	pdf, url
2	01.11.2006	English	USA	Hurwitz & Associates	pdf, url
3	01.12.2006	English	USA	Butler Group report	pdf, url
4	16.01.2007	English	USA	Celent	pdf, url
5	01.06.2007	English	USA	ovum report	pdf, url
	COLLATERALS
1	01.01.2001	German, English	Switzerland	HP Success Story	pdf DE, pdf EN
2	01.01.2002	German, English	Switzerland	HP Success Story	pdf DE, pdf EN
3	23.10.2006	English	USA	HP Success Story	pdf
4	01.08.2008	English	Switzerland	HP Marketing Collateral	pdf
	VIDEOS
1	01.10.2006	English	USA	HP Video	url

Innoveo Solutions, already one year - Part II

After the “who” of the “First who, then what”, let’s have a look at the “what” ;-) And let’s start with what I would like to call the “prerequisites”

 

Prerequisites

 

The prerequisites are quite “simple”! You have a business and the right people to address it ;-)

In other words: you have a business plan with clear ideas about:

• the status quo (current situation where you are in the founding, acquisition from customers, productizing, financing, etc.)
• you product and services
• the market you would like to address
• the competitors (no competitor, no market)
• marketing and sales
• administration & organization
• productizing
• management
• risk analysis
• finances

At the end, all this should be translated in a clear “values, vision, mission, industry and markets targeted, capabilities”.

As others, I like to speak about differentiation and customers’ pains, as from product positioning.

The best is still to confront your perception of the market with…the market itself! And to correct, iterate, improve, learn, make failures, learn, improve, etc.

We had the chance to start with a big customer contract with a well-known and established company, for quite a long duration. On top, we had also a huge asset, the IP (Intellectual Property) of our software product, coming from a 7 years development and big former investment.

 

Founding

Pfffuu, not so easy. Quite a lot of steps to do, and the first steps are extremely important!

• First you need to fix the name of the company. The name is representing your new venture. It is central for your identity, your marketing and communication future activities. If you have already tried to find a name for a product or a company, you should know that it is very difficult to find a name which is not already used or reserved. As everybody, you then try to combine names, to use Latin or Greek names, etc. We were lucky because after a lot of tries, Nick found the name INNOVEO. At this time, 34 results on Google! And no company registered in Switzerland under this name. Furthermore, Innoveo is a great combination between INNOvation and VEO which means “to see” in Latin. At the end, we decided also to add “Solutions” to our company name because we are delivering software solutions. The domain-name was already reserved. So we had to buy the different main domains (for “innoveo”) and to transfer them. The name is also usable internationally and doesn’t seem to mean something in another language.
• For the office location, it was clear that we wanted to stay in the Zurich/Switzerland area. As we are coming from different places, Zurich remains central and very attractive for hiring A-level international employees. Zurich is designated since years as one of the best place to live. On top, Zurich is a well-know financial place internationally. Concerning the office itself, we wanted to stay near a train-station. The building we were in before was ok. So after having evaluating other opportunities, we decided not to move.
• Our Team was fully integrated in the evaluation and decision process for the choice of the name, as for the office location.
• So, you have the name and the location, you need to choose the form of the company. This is also impacting a lot your venture! Accounting, Corporate Governance, legal obligations, etc. are very depending from this form. We mainly had two possibilities: “GmbH” (limited liability) or AG (Incorporated). As we have started with more than 14 people and we have very big companies as customers, it was quite clear that we need an “AG” form (incorporated). As for liabilities reasons (we deliver a software product).
• Then you need to work on the statutes of the company.
• You have to structure and define your Board of Directors. It was clear that Nick and myself will be members of the Board of Directors. We wanted to enlarge our Board with two external members, very qualified and experienced in different fields: strategic management, sales, software product marketing, product positioning, accompanying start-ups in their development, etc. We had the chance to be able to gain Bruno and Pancho. The organization of the regulations between the Shareholders’ Assembly, the Board of Directors and the Executive Management of the company should be also fixed and documented.
• Ok, then you need to find the shareholders, to define the level of equity requested, the investment of each shareholder, and to define the Shareholders’ Agreement.
• In the statutes, you have also to determine the signature rights of the Board and of the Management, and to authenticate them by a trustee.
• At this point, you have also to open a corporate bank account, to be able to transfer the capital … and pay your first bills due to the founding process ;-)
• The statutes, name and form of the company, office location, member of the Board of Directors, level of Equity, and the signature rights have to be registered (and partly published) at the Commercial Register.
• For all these steps, you need absolutely the support of a attorney at law and a trustee. And, it is not the last time that you will need them ;-) We are working with Peter Neuenschwander (attorney) and Oliver Götz (trustee). since more than 18 months now. These two persons are extremely important for our company.
• A picture below taken from the office of the notary in Walliseller – Switzerland, where Innoveo Solutions was founded on Monday, June 25, 2007 (Nick, Lorenz, Philippe and myself).

That is, more or less (I have surely forgotten some stuff!), the founding process. At the same time, you need to define quite a lot of administrative processes. These, for the next post!

Innoveo Solutions, already one year - Part I

And what for a year :-) We started in October 2007, with 14 people. We are today 16. We started with one customer, we today have 4, which means some great steps on the way to the difficult customer diversification.

So, if you mind (if not, just stop to read this post, very easy ;-), I would like to take some minutes to look back to these extremely intensive 12 months. What have we done? Wow, good question! Let’s try to structure a bit these achievements. And let’s concentrate on the management activities, not on the great delivery and concrete outcome of the whole team. By doing this, it would take much more time. Just too much.

I will divide this “looking-back” process in different parts, too long for one post!

Let’s start with the 3 most important parts.

 

Co-leading Innoveo with Nick

• Nick, my Business Partner, and myself are working for 8 years together. Our collaboration has evolved step-by-step, and we are leading the company together from the day 0.
• Still a lot of fun, respect and learnings in this collaboration. And still complementary in our different ways of managing, based on the same foundation of values.
• I am a lucky guy to be able to work with Nick and I am convinced that our strong collaboration and respect is very positive for Innoveo.
• We have learnt again a lot how to work efficiently together. Responsibilities are clearly splitted but we benefit from each other everywhere it is possible.
• We are developing ourselves in our new roles (Board members, leading tactically the company, sales) together and by our own. Specially helped there by our Board.

 

The management Team

• We are also learning to act all together as an entire and compact Management Team, with Nick, with Philippe (Services and Support), with Lorenz (Technology) and Oli (Product Management).
• Our roles and responsibilities are becoming more and more clearer. Delegation and cross-deputy roles are better in place. We are operatively leading the company together. The most important tactical decisions are taken together. The strategic orientation is discussed and prepared together for the Board meetings.
• On the good way to efficiency.

 

The Innoveo people

• “First who, then what” still in place, with some nice (and complicated) examples.
• Wow, still the main driver to wake up each morning :-)
• I really like the cultural mix and our multinational environment.
• Our team spirit and identity is still extremely strong and both were confirmed from outside quite a lot of time. So it seems that it is not just an “internal” view ;-)
• Lot of fun und humor, very experienced hard-working people. Extremely motivated. Experts in a lot of areas. Our customers like them! I too.
• Great cohesion, very good personal development of almost everybody.
• Nobody left Innoveo (since 8 years now, in the different constellations).
• We could extend our team with Robert and Conny, two great persons, very well integrated in the team. As if they were by us since years!
• People = still and definitely our *main asset*.

Next chapters will contain some stuff about:

Founding, Accounting, Administration, Human Resources, Legal, Productizing, Support process, Corporate Identity, Marketing and branding, Sales, Partner Management, Capital and shareholders, Board of Directors.

Perhaps not in this order!

Is business irrational?

via Seth Godin

YES, for sure, business IS irrational (at least an important part of it) :-)

I really *love* this post from Seth, excellent!

Parents or other adults who are irrationally committed to a kid's well being make a huge (perhaps the biggest) difference in that young person's life.

Entrepreneurs who are irrationally committed to their business are far more likely to get through the Dip.

Salespeople and service providers and marketers who are irrationally committed to customer service can completely transform an ordinary experience and make it remarkable.

Is being irrational irrational? Of course it is. That's why it often works.

If you're looking for the sensible, predictable, long-term strategy, this probably isn't it. Except when it is.

WoW.

AIG nationalized: just crazy…

via AIG announcement

Wow, one of the biggest insurance companies, AIG, was nationalized by the Fed some hours before being bankrupt!

Just to give you an idea about the size of AIG (2007 figures):

• revenues: $110.1 billion
• net income: $6.2 billion
• assets: $1’060.5 billion
• 116’000 employees
• 700’000 agents, brokers, sales representatives
• 74 million customers

 

AIG Statement on Announcement by Federal Reserve Board of $85 Billion Secured Revolving Credit Facility

 

The Board of Directors of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) issued the following statement in response to today's announcement by the Federal Reserve Board that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is providing a two-year, $85 billion secured revolving credit facility to AIG that will ensure the company can meet its liquidity needs:

"The AIG Board has approved this transaction based on its determination that this is the best alternative for all of AIG's constituencies, including policyholders, customers, creditors, counterparties, employees and shareholders. AIG is a solid company with over $1 trillion in assets and substantial equity, but it has been recently experiencing serious liquidity issues. We believe the loan, which is backed by profitable, well-capitalized operating subsidiaries with substantial value, will protect all AIG policyholders, address rating agency concerns and give AIG the time necessary to conduct asset sales on an orderly basis. We expect that the proceeds of these sales will be sufficient to repay the loan in full and enable AIG's businesses to continue as substantial participants in their respective markets. In return for providing this essential support, American taxpayers will receive a substantial majority ownership interest in AIG.

"We commend the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department for taking this decisive action to address AIG's liquidity needs and broader financial market concerns. We thank them for their leadership during this critical time for the global financial markets. We also thank Governor Paterson, Commissioner Dinallo, Commissioner Ario, the other state Commissioners, and the Office of Thrift Supervision for their willingness to assist AIG.

"Policyholders of AIG companies around the world can rest assured that AIG's commitments will continue to be honored."

Not just start-ups can be confronted with cash-flow issues! Crazy…