Sydney, Australia - May 25, 2012 - Adap.tv today introduced its new App Centre for video advertising making the process of managing hundreds of brand advertising technologies as easy as managing one. Built on Adap.tv’s open platform, the App Centre is a centralised place for buyers and sellers to discover, implement and manage best-in-breed brand ad technologies for TV and video from inside the Adap.tv console.

As TV and video advertising continue on a path of rapid convergence, media buyers and sellers are forced to manually cobble together a multitude of different technologies needed to combine the rich storytelling of TV with the accountability of online video. Today, there are over one hundred ad tech providers in the video advertising ecosystem, and until now, no streamlined way for buyers and sellers to easily access and manage all of them. The Adap.tv App Centre allows third party developers to embed capabilities such as data, rich media, measurement and verification into the Adap.tv console, giving users the ability to explore and implement new apps from a single interface, thus consolidating the workflow into a few simple clicks.

“Given the complexities of the video ad landscape, the promise of TV and video advertising cannot be fulfilled by one, single company,” said Teg Grenager, co-founder and vice president of Adap.tv. “What buyers and sellers need is a platform that aggregates all the best brand technologies and provides automated tools to manage them.”

Innovid, the leader in interactive video advertising technology, is a charter developer on the Adap.tv Platform and is now available in the Adap.tv App Centre. "The partnership with Adap.tv will open up our interactive video creation tools to even greater channels of distribution via the Adap.tv App Centre," said Zvika Netter, CEO of Innovid."The world's largest advertising and media companies are doing business on the Adap.tv Platform.  This integration will provide increased efficiency to the buyers and sellers looking to add engaging interactive pre-rolls quickly and to distribute them across the network easily."

Adap.tv clients can look forward to a variety of apps being available in the App Centre from leading providers of audience data, measurement, verification, privacy compliancy and context targeting. The Adap.tv App Centre opens May 31, 2012.

About Adap.tv

Adap.tv builds technology that destroys the inefficiencies of television and video advertising. It delivers a programmatic way to plan, buy, sell and measure across multiple sources, screens and methods of transacting. Adap.tv is comprised of two operational units – the Adap.tv Platform and the Adap.tv Marketplace.  Using the Adap.tv Platform, advertisers, publishers and ad networks get an automated way to control and analyse inventory, pricing and ad performance. As the world’s largest source of video advertising supply, the Adap.tv Marketplace has thousands of sellers and hundreds of campaigns transacting daily. Adap.tv is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London and Sydney. Adap.tv is a privately held company backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Gemini Israel Funds, Redpoint Ventures and Spark Capital. For more information, please visit http://adap.tv/ or follow us on Twitter at @Adaptv.

Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions, and LaCie S.A. (Euronext: LAC), a leading manufacturer of consumer storage products, today announced an exclusive agreement with the intent for Seagate to acquire a controlling interest in LaCie. Seagate has offered to purchase from Philippe Spruch, LaCie’s chairman and CEO, and his affiliate, all of their shares, representing 64.5% of the outstanding shares of LaCie. Following receipt of governmental approvals [1] and the close of this transaction, Seagate would commence an all-cash simplified tender offer (followed as the case may be by a squeeze-out procedure) to acquire the remaining outstanding shares in accordance with the General Regulation of the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).

Seagate has offered Mr. Spruch and his affiliate €4.05 per share in cash, minus a potential adjustment depending on the cash and debt position of LaCie at closing. This price may be increased by a possible price supplement of 3% in the event that the threshold of 95% of the shares and voting rights of LaCie would be reached by Seagate within 6 months following closing, resulting in a maximum potential price per LaCie share of €4.17. Without the price supplement, the offer currently values LaCie at an approximate €146 million, or $186 million total equity value, including acquired net cash of approximately €49 million, or $65 million, as of March 31, 2012. The €4.05 per share price represents a premium of 29% to LaCie’s average closing stock price over the 30 trading days ended May 22, 2012.

Ricol Lasteyrie & Associés was appointed today as independent expert by the board of directors of LaCie, to deliver a fairness opinion on the price that would be offered in the context of the tender offer, including in the perspective of a potential squeeze-out procedure.

The transaction would combine two highly complementary product and technology portfolios, adding LaCie’s line of premium branded consumer storage solutions, network-attached storage solutions and software offerings to Seagate’s array of mainstream consumer storage products. The combination would accelerate Seagate’s growth strategy in the expanding consumer storage market, particularly in Europe and Japan, and add strong engineering and software development capabilities, as well as relationships with several key retailers.

The transaction is expected to be neutral to Seagate’s fiscal 2013 earnings per share.

Following the close of the sale of his shares to Seagate, Mr. Spruch would join Seagate and lead the company’s consumer storage products organization. Reporting to him would be Patrick Connolly, who currently serves as vice president and general manager of Seagate’s retail group, as well as Pierre van der Elst, who currently serves as deputy general manager of LaCie. The financial terms of the new position of Mr Spruch are not determined as of today and would therefore be described subsequently, including in the tender offer documentation.

“Seagate has a strong commitment to the growing consumer storage market and bringing the most dynamic products to market. LaCie has built an exceptional consumer brand by delivering exciting and innovative high-end products for many years. This transaction would bring a highly complementary set of capabilities to Seagate, significantly expand our consumer product offerings, add a premium-branded direct-attached storage line, strengthen our network-attached storage business line and enhance our capabilities in software development,” said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman, president and CEO. “We are also excited that Philippe, who is a true visionary and leader in the consumer storage business, would join Seagate to run our consumer storage products organization.”

“With the proliferation of devices and content being shared and stored today, consumer demand for high-quality branded storage solutions continues to grow,” said Philippe Spruch, LaCie’s chairman and CEO. “We are excited about the potential for this combination to benefit customers and employees by creating significant scale and opening up new markets. We look forward to making the resources of a much larger company available to our customers around the world."

LaCie will initiate the information and consultation process required by its employee representative council in relation to the contemplated transaction, in accordance with French law. Upon completion of this process, Seagate and Mr. Spruch would execute a definitive share purchase agreement and finalize the purchase of the controlling interest held by Mr. Spruch and his affiliate. This share purchase transaction is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2012 pending completion of the relevant governmental reviews. Seagate would then commence a tender offer for the remaining outstanding shares of LaCie (followed as the case may be by a squeeze-out procedure), subject to a clearance decision from the AMF. The tender offer is expected to be completed in the third calendar quarter of 2012.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in the United States (antitrust filing), France (approval of foreign investments by the Ministry of Finance) and other jurisdictions (antitrust filing in Germany) and to other customary closing conditions.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Allen & Overy LLP served as legal advisor to Seagate in connection with the transaction.De Pardieu Brocas Maffei A.A.R.P.I served as legal advisor to LaCie.

About Seagate
Seagate is the world leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Learn more at www.seagate.com.

About LaCie
With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, LaCie is the leading manufacturer of storage devices for PC, Apple, and Linux. LaCie has differentiated itself through sleek design and remarkable technical performance. Find out more about our products at www.lacie.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including in particular, statements about our plans, strategies, prospects and the potential transaction. These statements include prospective information and include words such as “expects,” “plans,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “projects,” “may,” “should” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements included in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the expected benefits from the proposed transaction, the financial impact of the proposed transaction to the Company’s financials, statements regarding the parties’ ability to consummate the proposed transaction, satisfaction of closing conditions precedent to the consummation of the proposed transaction, the parties’ expectations with respect to integration, and the timing for closing the proposed transaction. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date of this press release. Current expectations, forecasts and assumptions involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors may be beyond the Company’s control. Information concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements is contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and Form 10-K/A as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 17, 2011 and August 24, 2011 respectively, and in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on October 27, 2011, February 2, 2012 and April 30, 2012 respectively, which statements are incorporated into this press release by reference. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company’s views as of any subsequent date and Seagate undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made.

SAY Media today announced the launch of its newest property Gardenista.com, an online sourcebook for cultivated outdoor living. Former New York Times columnist Michelle Slatalla will serve as editor of the publication.

An extension of its parent site, Remodelista, the new site will cover everything from edible and sustainable rooftop gardening to backyard entertaining and outdoor design.

 “Gardens matter. We want to make gardening accessible, the way Remodelista demystified—while celebrating—interior design,” said Michelle Slatalla, editor of Gardenista.

“We’re uniquely positioned on the Internet to give readers in-depth coverage in a beautiful, easy-to-navigate, interactive design. Using SAY’s social publishing tools, we can also build and easily connect with our community and really inspire them with quality content.”

As editor of the site, Slatalla will oversee the editorial strategy and development of content, working closely with Remodelista’s editor-in-chief Julie Carlson to maintain the same balance of high-level design and attention to detail that informs Remodelista’s coverage of interior design.

Slatalla, a weekly columnist for the New York Times for ten years, wrote the popular “Wife, Mother, Worker Spy” column for the newspaper’s Style section. She is also a former lifestyle columnist for TIME Magazine, and writes a monthly etiquette column for Real Simple.

“The launch of Gardenista not only adds a great new property to our portfolio of Living sites, but we have brought on an incredibly talented and well-respected editor to develop the new site,” said Troy Young, President, SAY Media.

“With Michelle at the helm, Gardenista will surely become the premier outdoor lifestyle source for discerning consumers eager for a better experience online. Its beautiful design leverages the amazing capabilities of digital and is created to adapt to any screen size, without losing the integrity of the site across platforms unlike so many websites today.”

Regular stories featured on Remodelista, such as “Steal This Look,” “10 Easy Pieces” and “Design Sleuth,” will also feature on Gardenista. The site will also cover the best new gardening tools and outdoor products, from garden furniture to house numbers and paint colors for the exterior. The site will also feature gardens to visit all over the world, including Australia.

Through its uncluttered layout and thoughtful juxtaposition of relevant content, Gardenista leverages SAY’s social publishing tools to seamlessly integrate social elements and deliver a great experience across any platform, including mobile and tablets. The site's sleek design highlights engaging content and showcases relevant brand advertising. SAY’s Living channel reaches 34 million monthly uniques.

About SAY Media

SAY Media is a digital publishing company that creates amazing media brands. Through its technology platform and media services, SAY enables its portfolio of independent content creators to build passionate communities around key consumer interest areas such as Style, Living, Food and Tech. The company provides simple and accountable ways for the world’s top brands to engage with these passionate audiences, at scale, with a reach of more than 500 million people around the world. SAY Media is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices across North America, in the UK and Australia. For more information visit www.saymedia.com.

Brocade^® (NASDAQ: BRCD) and NEC Corporation of America (NEC) today announced an expanded collaboration to bring to market combined solutions around Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and OpenFlow switching, including network virtualization.

Brocade and NEC will jointly market solutions for network virtualization, large-scale data center infrastructure management, traffic engineering and Wide Area Network (WAN) flow management, with an open standards-based approach. Brocade and NEC will market these high-value solutions built around Brocade’s OpenFlow-enabled products and NEC’s award-winning Programmable Flow Controller.

As part of the collaboration, Brocade and NEC are committing to ongoing certification, interoperability and solution validation testing. To this end, Brocade and NEC will establish joint solution labs in key regional offices to test and demonstrate their solutions. The current Brocade and NEC OpenFlow-enabled products successfully completed interoperability testing in 2011.

Brocade and NEC are collaborating on technology and implementation alignment, including OpenFlow standards, tunnel technology and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to help ensure ongoing innovation and seamless deployment by joint customers.

Brocade and NEC recently demonstrated their technology and joint solutions at the Open Networking Summit 2012 in Santa Clara, California and Interop, Las Vegas. Additional demonstrations are planned for upcoming industry events, including Interop Tokyo (June 13 to 15, 2012).

“The combined NEC and Brocade SDN solutions will give customers the ability to design, deploy, monitor and manage secure, multi-tenant networks from a single point of control,” said Mitsuhiro Murooka, Vice President, NEC Enterprise Technologies IT. “Brocade and NEC customers will be able to achieve greater service agility, granular traffic control and significant productivity gains by adopting a software-defined network architecture.”

“Through standards-based solutions like OpenFlow, the SDN and underlying network can be coupled to optimize service performance and cost. A key objective for Verizon is to virtualize the network and converge the orchestration of the virtualized networks with VMs in the data centers to create a true cloud,” said Stuart Elby, vice president, network architecture and technology, Verizon, and founding board member of Open Networking Foundation (ONF).

“Stronger definition of network behavior in software is a growing trend, and open interfaces are going to lead to faster innovation,” said Dan Pitt, executive director, Open Networking Foundation. “We are excited to be joined by leading global companies to help develop and implement advanced networking capabilities for today’s operators and enterprises.”

“SDN enables network operators to rapidly deploy innovative services and access powerful analytics through programmatic control, unlocking the intelligence of their data center and wide area networks,” said Ken Cheng, vice president and general manager, service provider business, Brocade. “Our collaboration with NEC ensures we deliver high-value solutions that can be seamlessly deployed in our customers’ networks to realize the benefit of SDN.”

Software-Defined Networking and OpenFlow Solutions
In June 2010, Brocade was one of the first major networking vendors to publicly endorse OpenFlow, which is a major component of a new approach to networking called SDN. SDN involves several components, including standards-based OpenFlow, which delivers to service providers and network operators granular control of their network infrastructures. Brocade delivers OpenFlow capabilities across its high-performance switching and routing products, enabling flow control up to 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) speeds. With its partners, Brocade builds compelling cloud networking solutions for service providers and network operators worldwide. These solutions alleviate the burden of operational complexity for customers that are building and managing hyper-scale cloud infrastructures. 

About NEC Programmable Flow Controller

NEC was first to market with a generally available OpenFlow network solution, called ProgrammableFlow. Version 2 of its Programmable Flow Controller, the PF6800, won the Grand Prize and the Management, Monitoring and Testing category at Best of Interop 2012.  The ProgrammableFlow software separates out the physical network from the control layer, providing customers new levels of flexibility and control to quickly deploy network services and gain the benefits of Software-Defined Networking. The PF6800, which leverages OpenFlow standardized technology, used in combination with the Brocade OpenFlow-enabled product family, eliminates most of the configuration management in traditional networks and transforming network monitoring and management by integrating real time network monitoring with remediation.

About OpenFlow and the ONF

The OpenFlow protocol is being standardized by Open Networking Foundation (ONF). Founded in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon and Yahoo!, ONF is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to rethink networking and quickly and collaboratively bring to market standards and solutions. ONF will accelerate the delivery and use of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) standards and foster a vibrant market of products, services, applications, customers and users; it includes 70 member companies (including Brocade and NEC).

About NEC Corporation of America

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, NEC Corporation of America is a leading provider of innovative IT, network and communications products and solutions for service carriers, Fortune 1000 and SMB businesses across multiple vertical industries, including Healthcare, Government, Education and Hospitality. NEC Corporation of America delivers one of the industry’s broadest portfolios of technology solutions and professional services, including unified communications, wireless, voice and data, managed services, server and storage infrastructure, optical network systems, microwave radio communications and biometric security. NEC Corporation of America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, a global technology leader with a presence in 44 countries and more than $37.5 billion in revenues. For more information, please visit www.necam.com.

Social Media Tags: Brocade, NEC, Open Networking Foundation, ONF, Software-Defined Networking, SDN, OpenFlow, Ethernet Fabrics, Storage Area Networks, SAN, IP, Fibre Channel, Ethernet, WAN, LAN, Networks

About Brocade

Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD) networking solutions help the world’s leading organizations transition smoothly to a world where applications and information reside anywhere. (www.brocade.com)

###

Brocade, Brocade Assurance, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, MLX, SAN Health, VCS, and VDX are registered trademarks, and AnyIO, Brocade One, CloudPlex, Effortless Networking, ICX, NET Health, OpenScript, and The Effortless Network are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.

© 2012 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD) today outlined its strategy for software-defined networking (SDN), a technology gaining broad support across network operators and enterprises on a global basis. In support of its SDN strategy, Brocade also announced that it has integrated hardware based OpenFlow support in the Brocade^® MLX^® Series of routers and related Brocade NetIron^® platforms, enabling customers to deploy SDN at wire-speed 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) performance.

OpenFlow is a protocol standardized by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and a key component of SDN. OpenFlow enables programmatic control of network infrastructures and rapid network service development and deployment.

The strategy Brocade introduced today will guide the company’s SDN investments, marketing and partner relationships to deliver highly flexible, end-to-end networking solutions. The focus of these solutions will be on network virtualization, automation and simplification in large-scale data centers, along with traffic engineering and flow management on high-speed networks. The Brocade strategy provides a clear upgrade path to SDN, leveraging existing network investments and enabling network operators to start now with a low level of risk as they begin to provide services in a highly predictable, non-disruptive manner.

The Brocade SDN strategy includes the following key technologies and capabilities:

• Resilient and auto-forming Ethernet fabrics will enhance SDN. Brocade VCS^® Fabric technology is optimized for virtualized applications through its active-active topology and virtual machine (VM)-aware intelligence that enables seamless VM mobility without manual configuration, including the network policies associated with each VM. In addition, multiple switches that make up the fabric can be managed and programmed as one logical switch, dramatically reducing operational complexity and improving SDN controller scalability. Finally, VCS fabrics, with a self-forming and self-healing architecture, are highly resilient to help increase availability.

• Network virtualization via overlay technologies will offer flexibility to networks, enabling on-demand infrastructure in highly scalable multi-tenancy environments. Brocade products have a tunnel technology-agnostic design that supports overlay technologies such as Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE),, STT, and VXLAN as well as emerging standards.

• Brocade will be the industry’s first network vendor to deliver OpenFlow in hybrid mode. With Brocade Hybrid Mode, customers can simultaneously deploy traditional Layer 2/3 forwarding with OpenFlow. This unique capability enables network operators to integrate OpenFlow into existing networks, giving them the programmatic control offered by SDN for specific flows while the remaining traffic is handled as before. The Brocade hardware support for OpenFlow enables customers to apply these capabilities at line rate in 10 GbE and 100 GbE networks.

• With programmatic control of network infrastructure through partnerships with a broad set of OpenFlow controller vendors, Brocade enables service innovation via open APIs. Specifically, Brocade is delivering industry-standard OpenFlow for Layer 2/3 forwarding and the Brocade OpenScript™ engine for Layer 4/7 switching to unlock the network to increase service velocity for highly customized services.

• Brocade is providing a single common cloud management and orchestration interface through northbound standards-based plug-ins and standards-based RESTful interfaces. The plug-ins to cloud management frameworks—including Cloudstack, Microsoft System Center, OpenStack, and VMware vCenter/vCloud™ Director —provide comprehensive orchestration capabilities for cloud service delivery and automated operations.

In support of this strategy, Brocade is delivering an SDN-ready product family that enables customers to build a network infrastructure today that will serve as the foundation for their SDN architecture in the future. These products include the Brocade VDX^® family of data center switches, Brocade ADX^® Series application delivery switches, Brocade MLX Series of 100 GbE routers, Brocade NetIron CER Series routers and Brocade NetIron CES Series switches.

Brocade is also building an ecosystem of partners for SDN through strategic investments, solution designs and interoperability testing. Brocade recently unveiled an OpenFlow lab in Japan designed to demonstrate Brocade and partner technologies to aid in the development of tested and validated solutions. Brocade is also a member of the Indiana Center for Network Translational Research and Education (InCNTRE), which seeks to advance development, increase knowledge, and encourage adoption of OpenFlow and other standards-based SDN technologies. Brocade has also participated in a number of industry multi-vendor demonstrations with NEC, including at the Open Networking Summit (ONS) in Santa Clara, CA in April 2012, and Interop Las Vegas in May 2012.

Quotes

“Software-defined networking is a networking paradigm to transition wide-area data networking from a pure transport business to a model that allows providers to optimize traffic flows based on a centralized, customizable control plane by utilizing technologies such as OpenFlow.  This will enable service providers to offer cloud applications with on-demand end-to-end SLAs and innovative service offerings,”' said Nathan Raciborski, co-founder and CTO, Limelight Networks,  “We are working closely with Brocade and other SDN technology leaders to innovate and deliver rich cloud based content services to our customers.”

“As we look to build our network of the future to meet the challenges of Big Data science, we see SDN as a critical component of that. SDN creates a platform that can be uniquely and dynamically customized based on our specific needs,” said Matthew Davy, chief network architect, Indiana University. “We chose the Brocade MLX because of its support for OpenFlow at speeds up to 100 Gigabit. We will be able to programmatically control the network without sacrificing performance, scalability or reliability.”

As Microsoft’s cloud-optimized operating system and management solution, Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 enable customers to rapidly deploy workloads to the private, public, and hybrid cloud,” said Ross Ortega, principal program manager, Windows Networking, Microsoft. “Hyper-V Network Virtualization allows customers to orchestrate and automate multi-tenant clouds with high levels of reliability, scalability, and agility. Brocade’s support for the NVGRE protocol will help optimize network virtualization across large datacenter environments.”

“SDN will transform networking infrastructure into a platform for innovation, enabling customers to deliver new services and applications faster and at greater scale,” said Ken Cheng, vice president of the service provider business at Brocade. “Brocade is already a pioneer in defining SDN standards and, by executing on our SDN strategy we believe we will be going further than any networking vendor by broadly embedding SDN technologies into our solutions.”

Additional Assets:

Video: Matthew Davy, chief network architect, Indiana University, discusses his mission to create service-based platforms for innovation. www.brocade.com/launch/sdn/openflow.html

Video: Daniel Williams, director product marketing, Brocade interviews Dan Pitt, executive director Open Networking Foundation, about the Foundation, software defined networking and OpenFlow. www.brocade.com/launch/sdn/openflow.html

Video: Ken Cheng, vice president service provider products, Brocade, outlines the company’s strategy for software defined networking and OpenFlow.  www.brocade.com/launch/sdn/index.html

Social Media Tags: Brocade, Open Networking Foundation, ONF, Software-Defined Networking, SDN, OpenFlow, Ethernet Fabrics, SAN, Storage Area Network, IP, Fibre Channel, Ethernet, WAN, LAN, Networks

About Brocade

Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD) networking solutions help the world’s leading organizations transition smoothly to a world where applications and information reside anywhere. (www.brocade.com)

###

Brocade, Brocade Assurance, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, MLX, SAN Health, VCS, and VDX are registered trademarks, and AnyIO, Brocade One, CloudPlex, Effortless Networking, ICX, NET Health, OpenScript, and The Effortless Network are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.

© 2012 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Commenting on his re-appointment, Paul Fisher said: “The IAB has achieved a lot, yet much more work lies ahead.  I am very happy to have the Board’s support as the IAB enters into another key expansionary period.  We need to work with marketers to raise their awareness, educate and train them about how to reach, engage and influence their customers in the digital world.  The industry needs standards, guidelines, and a coherent approach to sustaining its spectacular growth.

“The IAB plays a vital role in these activities and I am excited that I have the chance to continue to drive the growth of both the IAB and the broader industry,” said Fisher.   “We have an ambitious plan for the next two years to build on the IAB’s foundations and to expand into the important issues of industry self-regulation and also mobile advertising.”

Tony Prentice, Chairman of the IAB Board said “The Board is delighted to re-appoint Paul as CEO of IAB Australia. He has achieved a great deal in the last four years and this knowledge, along with the stability of his extended tenure will enable the IAB to focus on influencing and accelerating the key drivers which will ensure the online advertising industry continues to grow at double digit rates.” 

In the four years since his appointment, Fisher has overseen a number of major projects including:

• The establishment of four Industry Councils which have standardised online audience measurement, set standards for online video and rich media, produced numerous case studies and research pieces, and recently begun to tackle mobile advertising;
• Endorsing Nielsen as the preferred supplier for online audience measurement, making IAB Australia the first IAB in the world to formally evaluate and endorse a hybrid online audience methodology;
• Contributing significantly to the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance publication of the Australian best practice guideline for online behavioural advertising, a major self-regulatory initiative to inform consumers about their online privacy and give them choice over their settings;
• Reinvigorated the annual IAB Awards and Creative Showcase to provide both a gala industry event of the year and to continuously spotlight, recognise and reward the best Australian online advertising creative. 

/Ends

About the Interactive Advertising Bureau 

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Limited is the peak trade association for online advertising in Australia and was incorporated in July 2010. As one of over 40 IAB offices globally, and with a rapidly growing membership, IAB Australia’s principal objective is to increase the share of advertising and marketing dollars that interactive media captures in the marketplace.

IAB Australia’s board includes representatives of Fairfax Media, News Digital Media, REA Group, Network Ten, Yahoo!7, APN News & Media, ninemsn, Carsales.com, Telstra, TressCox Lawyers and AIMIA.  It has four objectives:

• To develop, coordinate and promote industry standards and guidelines that make interactive advertising a simpler and more attractive medium for agencies, advertisers and marketers
• To prove and promote the effectiveness of interactive advertising to advertisers, agencies, marketers, and the press
• To be the primary advocate for the interactive marketing and advertising industry
• To expand the breadth and depth of IAB membership while increasing direct value to members

For further information about IAB Australia please visit: www.iabaustralia.com.au  or iabaustralia@iabaustralia.com.au

Each month Skyscanner attracts 24 million site visits globally, with 75 million searches performed. Already in Australia the site attracts over 500 thousand visits a month, 1.9 million page impressions and a seven minute average session duration. Kate Tilden, AD2ONE’s commercial director, says she expects Australian visitor figures to increase as more travellers realise the ease of accessing impartial content from one central location, in addition to the best travel deals.

It presents an excellent opportunity for advertisers to reach qualified users at a crucial stage in their travel planning.

“The site has phenomenal click through and conversion rates,” said Ms Tilden. “Virgin Atlantic, for example, found in recent campaigns that Skyscanner provided a cost per acquisition (CPA) up to 20 percent lower than competitor sites.”

Ewan Gray, SkyScanner’s Director of APAC says, “Skyscanner is delighted to be partnering with AD2ONE who have shown a deep understanding of the travel and digital media landscape in Australia. Skyscanner has delivered outstanding conversion rates for our partners in other markets and we look forward to working with AD2ONE to provide the same performance for our advertising partners in the region.”

AD2ONE now offers Skyscanner as part of an integrated media solution, combined with a variety of other travel, lifestyle, entertainment and finance sites, including wotif.com, Optus, CNN, Skype, Ticketmaster, Zuji and other sites of interest to marketers.

ABOUT AD2ONE

AD2ONE is a global digital group that provides exclusive advertising access to premium vertical brands for Australia’s leading agencies, marketers and publishers.  UK headquartered AD2ONE offers fully integrated advertising solutions to marketers.

The global AD2ONE group has been established since 2000 and was launched in Australia in 2004.  The Australian operation operates throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific and has seven offices globally including London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dublin, Sydney, Amsterdam, Germany, Melbourne and Auckland.  

AD2ONE’S exclusive premium brands span many vertical sectors and include CNN, Skype, Reuters, Wotif.com, Expedia.com.au, Coles, Australian Radio Network, Optus and Ticketmaster.  

About Skyscanner

Skyscanner is a leading travel search site providing instant online comparisons for millions of flights on over a thousand airlines, as well as hotels, car hire and holidays.

Founded in 2003 by three IT professionals, Gareth Williams, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes, Skyscanner is based in Edinburgh with a second office in Singapore. The site is available in 29 languages and is offered as a mobile site as well an app for Android, iPhone and iPad, which have received over 6 million downloads to date. Having seen an average annual growth of 94% over the last three years, Skyscanner was ranked in the top 20 in Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 (2011).

The company is focusing on rapid expansion in existing and new markets with the objective of becoming number one in the world.

After several years of frugality, consumers now feel entitled to spend on luxury. In the seventh annual BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study commissioned by WPP Group and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, luxury brands grew by 15% in value over the last year.

Louis Vuitton once again bagged the top spot as the world’s most valuable luxury brand. With a value of $25.9 billion, the brand grew by 7%. Hermés at  no.2 in the luxury category with a brand value of $19.2 billion, an increase of 61%, gained the most places in the Top 100 ranking and is now 32^nd globally, up 39 places. Hermés increased its operating income by 32.5% to 885.2 million Euros ($1.2 billion) with sales growth of 18.3%.

“Although shoppers have become smarter in the way that they choose brands - with considered rather than conspicuous purchasing - they are still determined to spend, but spend more wisely,” said Nick Cooper, Managing Director of Millward Brown Optimor. “Luxury is seen as a good investment, with people increasingly buying classic pieces rather than high fashion. Those who can afford it indulge – including young professionals who, increasingly unable to buy houses, are spending their disposable income on mid-tier luxury.”

With healthy demand for a little bit of luxury, brands expanded their presence with many opening new stores, engaging with e-commerce and conducting extensive advertising campaigns.

Prada was also boosted by strong sales growing by 21% and making its debut in the luxury ranking with a value of $5.7 billion. The brand plans to add about 80 stores annually over the next three years. Many of these will be Prada brand stores, reflecting a general trend among luxury brands to assert tighter brand control by shifting away from licensing and franchising.

Quality craftsmanship, heritage and history are key factors of success for luxury brands. As a result many of the big brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada, are making a beeline for Britain’s wool, footwear and leather factories. The Made in Britain “label” has global appeal and has helped luxury brands like Burberry enjoy healthy sales in China and other fast-growth markets with expanding middle classes.

The 2012 ranking demonstrates the power of strong brands as a driver of new business growth but also as an insurance policy in hard times.  “Luxury businesses can embrace brand management as a critical competency for building long-term financial value,” added Cooper. 

 The Most Valuable Luxury Brands 2012

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study is the only valuation in the world that takes into account what people think about the brands they buy alongside rigorous analysis of financial data, market valuations, analyst reports and risk profiles. The research report, which is available online, includes a ranking and analysis of the Top 10 most valuable brands for key regions of the world and 13 market sectors including luxury. Download the complete BrandZ ranking, including regional and category breakdowns.  The rankings and a great deal more are also available as a free application for the iPhone, iPad, Nokia, BlackBerry and Android from www.brandz.com/mobile

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Ranking

Developed for WPP’s operating companies by Millward Brown Optimor, the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking is now in its seventh year. It is the only study to combine measures of brand equity based on interviews with over 2 million consumers globally about  thousands of global “consumer facing” and business-to-business brands with a rigorous analysis of the financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel) to separate the value that brand plays in driving business revenue and market capitalization. Consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value because brands are a combination of business performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning, and leadership.

The ranking takes into account regional variations since, even for truly global brands, measures of brand contribution might differ substantially across countries.

About Millward Brown

Millward Brown is one of the world's leading research agencies and is expert in effective advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Through the use of an integrated suite of validated research solutions - both qualitative and quantitative - Millward Brown helps clients build strong brands and services. Millward Brown has 82 offices in 52 countries. Additional practices include Millward Brown's Global Media Practice (media effectiveness unit), The Neuroscience Practice (using neuroscience to enhance traditional research techniques), Millward Brown Optimor (focused on helping clients maximize the returns on their brand and marketing investments), Dynamic Logic (the world leader in digital marketing effectiveness) and Firefly Millward Brown (a global qualitative research business). Millward Brown is part of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy group. 

About WPP

WPP is the world’s largest communications services group. Through its operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services including advertising; media investment management; consumer insight; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing and specialist communications. The company employs over 158,000 people (including associates) in 2,500 offices in 107 countries.

First African brand enters ranking

The world’s biggest brands have continued to grow in value during the current economic uncertainty, according to WPP company Millward Brown’s annual BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study. The No1 brand for the second year, Apple, rose 19% in value and is now worth $182.9 billion. IBM grew 15% in value to $115.9 billion and overtook Google, which dropped to third place in the ranking and is now worth $107.8 billion. Eight year old Facebook rose 74% in value, making it the fastest brand value riser in the ranking. Worth $33.2 billion the social network moved up to No.19 from No.35.

The study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor and now in its seventh year, identifies and ranks the world’s most valuable brands by their dollar value, an analysis based on financial data, market intelligence and consumer measures of brand equity. 

The 2012 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking demonstrates the power of strong brands as both a driver of new business growth and a critical support in hard times.  Between 2006 and 2012, the total value of the BrandZ Top 100 rose 66% and is now worth $2.4 trillion.

“Brands are an insurance policy for businesses,” said Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of brand research company Millward Brown. “Despite a prolonged period of economic stress, political uncertainty and natural disasters that buffeted brands across many categories, the value of the world’s leading brands keeps rising across many categories, sustaining and nurturing businesses.”

The Top 10 Most Valuable Global Brands 2012

David Roth for WPP said “Brands help businesses create competitive differentiation, command a price premium and become more resilient to crises or economic turbulence. This year, those businesses that leveraged technology, focused on the customer experience or boosted control of their brands thrived”.

Apple continues to innovate and maintain its ‘luxury’ brand status, but faces future competition from Samsung. Now worth more than $14.1 billion, thanks in part to the success of its Galaxy handsets, Samsung is successfully outpacing Apple in a significant number of markets by positioning as a cool, well-priced alternative to the ubiquitous iPhone.”

Key findings highlighted in this year’s research report include:

• Technology Prevails: Technology has become ubiquitous in all areas of our lives. Seven of the top 10 brands are technology or telecoms brands. However, the power of smart, simple-to-use technology can also be seen beyond these two sectors. In other categories – cars, financial services, luxury and retail for example - we can also see that brands are gaining significant advantages by using smart technology to enhance their customer experience. For example, Burberry – up 21% to $4 billion – created a virtual world where younger brand followers can view fashion shows and more.
• The Rise of Africa:  This year’s ranking highlights the progress of Africa’s economic development with the arrival of the first African brand in the Top 100 – South African mobile company MTN – No 88 at $9.2 billion. But it’s not just African brands that are thriving south of the Sahara. Around 40% of Guinness’s sales come from Africa, Airtel’s third quarter results showed a 16% increase in revenue in Africa. Similarly, Orange enjoyed rapid growth in Africa in 2011, while Walmart invested there with the acquisition of Massmart.
• The Future is Mobile: The future of the internet will be predominantly mobile rather than computer based. Mobile, to some extent, has been shielded from the recession as one of the few items consumers don’t want to give up or cut back on. The most valuable telecoms brand is AT&T worth $68.8 billion. Whilst the USA’s largest mobile service provider, Verizon, increased its brand value by 15% in the last year and is now worth $49.1 billion.
• Retail: Constructing an Omni-Channel Business: The customer experience is a new focus for many retailers as they recognise its importance in keeping customers loyal and the need to be present anywhere and everywhere on the path to purchase. Walmart knocked Amazon from the top position and its brand is now worth $34.4 billion whilst Amazon is now worth $34 billion.
• Brands with Women on the Board Outperform: As the number of women on corporate boards continues to rise, the BrandZ Top100 study this year reveals the success that women bring to brands. 77% of the brands appearing in the BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands have women in the boardroom. The average value of brands with women on the boards is $27 billion, double that of those companies without female directors. Not only that, these brands also show an average five-year growth of 66% compared to an average growth of only 6% for those BrandZ Top100 brands that don’t have a woman on the board. 
• Strong Brands Provide Better Shareholder Value: An analysis of BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands as a ‘stock portfolio’ over the last seven years shows a highly favorable performance compared to a current stock market index, the S&P500. While the total return on investment (ROI) for all companies in the S&P500 index was just 2.3%, the BrandZ Portfolio provided a 36.3% ROI, proving that companies with strong brands are able to deliver better value to their shareholders. A graphic is available here.

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study is the only valuation in the world that takes into account what people think about the brands they buy alongside rigorous analysis of financial data, market valuations, analyst reports and risk profiles. The research report, which is available online, includes a ranking and analysis of the most valuable brands for key regions of the world and 13 market sectors. Download the complete BrandZ ranking here, including regional and category breakdowns.  The rankings and a great deal more are also available as a free interactive mobile app for Apple and Android and as an iPad magazine.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Ranking

Developed for WPP’s operating companies by Millward Brown Optimor, the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking is now in its seventh year. It is the only study to combine measures of brand equity based on interviews with over 2 million consumers globally about  thousands of global “consumer facing” and business-to-business brands with a rigorous analysis of the financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel) to separate the value that brand plays in driving business revenue and market capitalization. Consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value because brands are a combination of business performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning, and leadership. The ranking takes into account regional variations since, even for truly global brands, measures of brand contribution might differ substantially across countries.

About Millward Brown

Millward Brown is one of the world's leading research agencies and is expert in effective advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Through the use of an integrated suite of validated research solutions - both qualitative and quantitative - Millward Brown helps clients build strong brands and services. Millward Brown has 82 offices in 52 countries. Additional practices include Millward Brown's Global Media Practice (media effectiveness unit), The Neuroscience Practice (using neuroscience to enhance traditional research techniques), Millward Brown Optimor (focused on helping clients maximize the returns on their brand and marketing investments), Dynamic Logic (the world leader in digital marketing effectiveness) and Firefly Millward Brown (a global qualitative research business). Millward Brown is part of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy group.

About WPP

WPP is the world’s largest communications services group. Through its operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services including advertising; media investment management; consumer insight; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing and specialist communications. The company employs over 158,000 people (including associates) in 2,500 offices in 107 countries.

DDLS (Dimension Data Learning Solutions) today announced that it has been recognised as Citrix Authorised Learning Centre (CALC) of the Year for the Asia Pacific region in the 2011 Citrix Partner Awards.

CALC of the Year is the most prestigious of the Citrix Partner Awards. It recognises best performance and alignment with CALC programme guidelines and evaluates a partner’s success in the ongoing training and certification of its instructors as well as the innovative learning delivery methods employed to effectively and flexibly meet their customer’s needs. 

“We are honoured to win CALC of the Year in Asia Pacific as we continue to grow market share across the region” said Mal Shaw, General Manager of DDLS.“The award recognises DDLS’ ability to add value to our clients by tailoring our innovative learning solutions to their specific business requirements. We are committed to helping customers increase their productivity through the implementation of best practice learning solutions and are delighted to be recognised for our achievements.”

Citrix Authorized Learning Centres (CALC’s) play a key role in teaching customer’s how to most effectively and productively employ their business’ Citrix virtualisation solutions. In addition to being awarded CALC of the Year, DDLS instructor Terry Griffin was named the 2011 APAC Instructor of the Year. Terry was recognised due to the high number and quality of his course deliveries and for maintaining his certification status at a high level.

“DDLS have a long-standing reputation for quality, flexibility and excellence and this was a key factor when deciding to award them CALC of the Year in Asia Pacific” commented Nicholas Thomas, APAC Readiness Education Manager, Citrix. “They are a valued strategic partner that we can always rely on to provide the best possible training experience for the evolving needs of our customers. We look forward to a continued successful relationship in 2012 and beyond.”

DDLS and Citrix have been strategic partners in APAC for more than 10 years. During that time DDLS has expanded its portfolio of training services to become one of the leading full service learning solutions providers in the region.

/ENDS

DDLS

Dimension Data Learning Solutions (DDLS) is Australia’s largest provider of technical IT training, certification and professional development. DDLS training courses cover technology, process and people, with 20 years experience providing high quality learning solutions. DDLS enables customers to successfully deploy technology, effectively manage processes and deliver quality service. DDLS has experienced multi-certified instructors, high-end training equipment and latest course releases to meet customer specific training and business requirements. DDLS has national training facilities with premises in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra.

For more information www.ddls.com.au