SYDNEY--16 Sep--AsiaNet/InfoQuest UNISYS NEC... BLUE BELL, Pa. and TOKYO - NEC and Unisys today announcedthat they have completed development of the first generation ofa common platform for both companies' enterprise servers. NEChas begun manufacturing systems based on this common platform,and each company will market the systems as part of its ownbranded server line.www.unisys.comwww.nec.com DOWN SYNDROME... PORTSMOUTH - A new analysis shows that many more babies arebeing born with Down syndrome today than 15 years ago inEngland, despite universally available genetic screening. Morepeople are living with Down syndrome today than ever before.They are achieving more and living longer and richer lives,questioning the ethics of screening. Screening also poses risksto babies who do not have Down syndrome. This new analysisestimates that screening leads to the deaths of 400 babies whodo not have Down syndrome annually in England and Walesalone.www.downsed.org FRASER INSTITUTE... VANCOUVER, British Columbia/Canada - To honour Hong Kong'soutstanding achievement as a consistent world leader ineconomic freedom, the Fraser Institute will release theEconomic Freedom of the World: 2008 Annual Report at a newsconference in Hong Kong on September 16. Dr. Mark Mullins,executive director of independent research organization theFraser Institute, will discuss the results of the EconomicFreedom of the World: 2008 Annual Report during the newsconference and will be available for comments and mediainterviews on Hong Kong's economic freedom ranking for 2008.www.fraserinstitute.org ELCOTEQ ACCOLADE HONG KONG - Elcoteq SE's manufacturing plant in Bangalore,India has received the prestigious 2007-2008 ELCINA-DUN &BRADSTREET first place award for Excellence in EnvironmentManagement. The award was presented by Dr. V. Krishnamurthy,Chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, at aceremony in New Delhi, India on September 10, 2008.www.elcoteq.com ALERIS ANNOUNCEMENT... BEACHWOOD, Ohio - Aleris Announces Enhanced LiquidityMeasures. In response to the current environment ofhistorically high prices and volatility in the forward aluminumprice on the London Metal Exchange, Aleris has taken steps topreserve its existing liquidity position and enhance itsliquidity position going forward.http://aleris.com ALBUM RELEASE... LOS ANGELES - MLC PR announced today that their client H.R.,legendary front-man of Bad Brains, will be internationallyreleasing his new solo album "Hey Wella." The first singletitled, "Didn't I Tell You" was successfully released in thestates on August 5, 2008 and the title track "Hey Wella"followed up with an August 19, 2008 release via all digitalretail outlets including iTunes, Yahoo, among other websites.The official international album release date has been changedto October 21, 2008, for digital release with physicalavailability slated for a later time.www.myspace.com/hrofficialwww.dchardcore.com SONY BMG... NEW YORK - The SONY BMG Commercial Music Group announces thelaunch of MovieTunes -- a new service which aids filmmakers inchoosing creative and cost-effective music for their films. Theservice, which was officially announced at a launch event,during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7,2008, intends to reach out to the entire film community and toassist filmmakers in selecting the perfect music for theirproject.www.SONYBMG.com/MovieTunes CORRECTION - MICROSOFT... VIENNA - In the news release, Microsoft to Sign GlobalPartnership With SWIFT, Driving Toward the Payments Platform ofthe Future, issued earlier today by Microsoft Corp. over PRNewswire, we are advised by a representative of the companythat the first paragraph, first sentence, should read "Societyfor Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication" ratherthan "Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions"as originally issued inadvertently.www.microsoft.com AFRICA IMMUNIZATION COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division ofWyeth, today announced that South Africa has initiated animmunization program against pneumococcal disease withPREVENAR, a vaccine which helps protect infants and youngchildren against the seven vaccine serotypes causing themajority of pneumococcal disease worldwide. The South Africangovernment launched the pneumococcal disease immunizationprogram in the Eastern Cape district of Ukhahlamba last weekand has plans to expand the program nationwide by the end ofMarch 2009.www.wyeth.com NATHAN ASSOCIATES... ARLINGTON, Va. - Nathan Associates, an economic consultingfirm in Arlington, Virginia, has elected Lakhbir Singhpresident and chief operating officer. Dr. Singh will bring hislaser-like focus on client service and technical quality to thedaily operations of international and U.S.-basedconsultancies.www.nathaninc.com SUPERMICRO LAUNCHED... SAN JOSE, Calif. - Super Micro Computer, Inc., a leader inapplication-optimized, high performance server solutions, todayannounced availability of the industry's first line of 6-core,4-way servers. Supermicro's 8015C-T, 8025C-3R and 8045C-3RSuperServers optimized for the 6-Core Intel Xeon processor 7400series feature a large memory footprint, incredible energyefficiency, and robust virtualization performance.www.Supermicro.com AVAIL STUDY... BASEL - The final analysis of the Avastin in lung study inpatients with advanced lung cancer has shown that not only didthe drug significantly slow down the disease progression, italso enabled some patients to survive for over 1 year, thelongest survival ever reported in patients with this advanceddisease. The results were presented today at the 33rd Congressof the European Society for Medical Oncology in Stockholm.www.avastin-info.comwww.Roche.comwww.thenewsmarket.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C. - Fannie Mae will redeem the principalamount of MTN securities issues amounting to a total ofUS$1,125,000,000 on September 25, 2008, and FINP securitiesissues amounting to a total of US$7,975,000 on September 25,2008 at a redemption price equal to 100 per cent of theprincipal amount redeemed plus accrued interest.www.fanniemae.com SPHERICS ANNOUNCEMENT... WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass. - Joseph F. Finn, Jr., C.P.A.,Assignee of the assets of Spherics, Inc. for the benefit ofcreditors, announced today that all oral drug deliveryintellectual property will be sold at a sealed bid auction onOctober 10, 2008. ATMEL CONTROLLER... SOUTHAMPTON - Atmel Corporation announced today theAT42QT1060, a touch control chip that integrates 6 channels oftouch sensing with the ability to drive up to 7 low currentLEDs directly through a pulse width modulated output function.The device operates from 5.5VDC down to 1.8VDC and consumesless than 1uA in standby mode to give long battery life; itcomes in a tiny 4mm x 4mm MLF28 package, making it ideal foruse in mobile phones and other handheld devices.www.atmel.com FEMALE OSTEOPOROSIS... MONTREAL - Results from the Global Longitudinal study ofOsteoporosis in Women showed that 55 percent of women diagnosedwith osteoporosis do not believe they are at a higher risk offractures than their peers. This latest study from GLOWincluded more than 60,000 women over age 55 and was presentedtoday at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research30th Annual Meeting.www.outcomes.org/glowwww.nof.org/osteoporosis/diseasefacts.htmwww.iofbonehealth.org/publicationseu-policy-report-of-2001.html MICREL CONVERTERS... SAN JOSE, Calif. - Micrel Inc., an industry leader inanalog, high bandwidth communications and Ethernet ICsolutions, today gave the consumer market a boost in costsavings and enhanced voltage with its new Non-Synchronous PWMbuck regulator. Operating at 2 MHz, the MIC4724 is the latestaddition to the popular MIC472X family of small footprint,non-synchronous buck regulators. It addresses a designer's needfor higher operating/transient voltage for the popular 5V bus,while providing a smaller footprint and substantial costsavings.www.micrel.com ING MICROSOFT... VIENNA - Microsoft Corp. announced today at Sibos 2008 thatING Investment Management has chosen Microsoft BizTalk Server2006 to enable SWIFT connectivity into The Bank of New YorkMellon Corp., the settlement counterparty appointed by ING forback-office operations. Having completed the proof of concept,the project is due to go live by the end of 2008 and willenable a timely transfer of settlement instructions and receiptand reconciliation of messages from BNYM. Coupled with areduction in the number of parties involved in the transaction,these methods are expected to transform ING InvestmentManagement's securities and payments processing to provide asignificant, highly efficient message processing structure.www.microsoft.com MICROSOFT PARTNERSHIP... VIENNA - Microsoft Corp. today announced at Sibos 2008 thatit is signing a global partnership agreement with the Societyfor Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Theannouncement signifies a new, higher level of close cooperationbetween the organizations, under which they will work togetherto deliver deep industry value and simplify SWIFTNetimplementation for customers using Microsoft technology. It isa mutual, commercially based agreement between theorganizations and will open further opportunities for financialservice providers and midsize to large corporations to quicklyand easily connect to SWIFT.www.microsoft.com SERENA MASHUPS... SINGAPORE - Serena Software, the Enterprise ALM leader knownfor Serena Business Mashups and Facebook Fridays, has deliveredanother solution via Software as a Service. Now Serena BusinessMashups are available on demand.www.serena.com SERENA SOFTWARE... SINGAPORE - To meet the increasing demand for Agile adoptionin Asian enterprises, Serena Software today announced it willdeliver a pure Agile solution based on best practices viaSoftware as a Service later this year. Serena Agile On Demandwill enable software development groups to add Agile to theirdevelopment portfolio and support global teams working onmultiple projects.www.serena.com SOURCE: AsiaNet AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agenciesdistributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwideclients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.ASIA PULSE