Earthtone Today Gave Its First Public Indication Of The Scale Of Print Provider Interest In Its Revolutionary E-Commerce Platform

Earthtone, providers of e-commerce solutions for the print industry, announced that in the two months after the launch of its e-commerce platform in July, in excess of 500 US print providers and 150 UK print providers registered to join the network.

Earthtone is the first e-commerce solution designed to meet the needs of tens of thousands of independent print businesses, bringing together world-class e-commerce solutions, a commission based commercial model and a market-defining service proposition to enable tens of thousands of smaller, independently operated print businesses to capitalize on customers’ shift to e-procurement.

With InfoTrends, a global strategic consulting firm focused on document technology, predicting that e-commerce will account for 45% of the print market* – up from 14% today – Earthtone is a timely solution to the problems facing smaller print providers looking to exploit the online document printing opportunity. In contrast to web-to-print solutions – which require upfront investment and ongoing charges and offer questionable returns on investment – Earthtone’s commission-based commercial model offers print providers risk-free e-commerce.

Moreover, Earthtone’s vendor-neutral business model creates economies of scale, enabling smaller businesses to deploy world-class e-commerce solutions and compete with big brands for market share. Print shops benefit from a search engine optimized online storefront and a range of features – like integrated shipping, online payment processing and support for over 100 file formats – that extend their reach and help them to attract and retain customers from across the web.

Kourosh Kaghazian, Vice President for Business Development, commented on Earthtone’s performance in August and early September: “We’re confident that our service meets printers’ need for affordable, risk-free e-commerce. We’re seeing interest from all quarters, including small and medium sized commercial printers, locally-focused independent print centers, and franchisees from, amongst others, the Sir Speedy, Minuteman and AlphaGraphics networks. Looking forward, we foresee an increase in the rate of registrations in the run up to launch.”

With its recently announced partnership with ICED – owner of the Kwik Kopy, Kwik Kopy Business Center, Inkwell and Franklin brands – expected to augment these figures significantly, Earthtone seems set to shake up the online printing landscape when it launches in October.

About Earthtone:
Earthtone creates world-class e-commerce solutions for the print industry. Earthtone’s global printing platform connects businesses and individuals to local print providers over the web, delivering secure, convenient and user-friendly online print procurement to buyers. By channeling buyers to the network, Earthtone creates growth opportunities for print providers, who pay nothing to join the network and are charged no ongoing fees.

Earthtone’s e-commerce platform is currently in beta with a launch to print buyers expected in October.

Via EPR Network
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The UML2ClearQuest Solution Allows Creating And Modifying The Lifecycle Of IBM Rational Clearquest Record Types Based On UML Diagrams

CM-Consult and rational-tools.com has released a demo version of their UML2ClearQuest module for free download. The module is located at the company’s site and is accessible at http://www.rational-tools.com/uml2clearquest.htm.

UML2ClearQuest is a software product that has no analogues for IBM Rational ClearQuest. The UML2ClearQuest solution allows for creating and modifying the lifecycle of IBM Rational ClearQuest record types based on UML diagrams (up to version 2.1). The program is designed first of all for IBM Rational ClearQuest managers, responsible for designing schemas for their organizations.

The module has the following capabilities:

• Importing UML states from MS Visio and StarUML. Design business processes with the comfort of MS Visio,and StarUML and readily import the results to IBM Rational ClearQuest to a new or existing record type.

• Visualizing the import data. Before importing, the module shows the state diagram and checks it for compliancy with the IBM Rational ClearQuest state machine.

• Exporting state machines for record types from IBM Rational ClearQuest. Allows for exporting IBM Rational ClearQuest state machines to UML diagrams in MS Visio or StarUML format for modifying and viewing. A modified diagram can then be imported to the existing record type from which it was exported.

The program comes as two different modifications:

• As a separate Windows application that works under .NET

• As an IBM Rational Software Architect plugin. This modification allows for importing and exporting projects only from IBM Rational Software Architect. The demo version allows for exporting diagrams to IBM Rational ClearQuest only if it has no more than 3 states.

About CM-Consult (www.cmcons.com)
CM-Consult was founded in 2004. It’s primary business activities have been project management consulting, supporting and implementing IBM Rational instruments, and supporting IBM Rational and Microsoft software.

CM-Consult is one of the five leading consulting companies in Russia that implement IBM Rational tools. It’s employees have had experience with more than 25 successful projects with implementing IBM Rational and Microsoft, and over 600 specialists have been trained in Russia and the ex-USSR.

CM-Consult is an Advanced IBM Partner and has the Value Advantage Plus (VAP) status. The company’s core employees are all certified professionals and experts, with vast experience and knowledge.

Via EPR Network
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