Helen Mirren Hosts

Helen Mirren will host Saturday Night Live Tonight, the musical guest is Foo Fighters. Mirren is promoting the new version of Arthur, in which she co-stars with a former SNL host, Russell Brand.

While many think of her as a primarily serious actor, Mirren has always had her bawdy side, which should enable her to fit right in with the current version of SNL, Our Holy Temple of the Perpetual Double Entendre.

Any guesses as to what topics the show might address this week? Government shut-down? Glenn Beck? Will Russell Brand make a cameo appearance, and would that be a welcome thing?

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SAS evaluated in leading industry analyst

The Gartner report explained that "a holistic approach to enterprise risk management (ERM) requires software products that can maximise a firm's ability to capture measure and manage risk exposures consistently across the organisation".This research provides "a guide to credit, market and operational risk management (CRM, MRM and ORM, respectively) vendor software that includes risk-specific functionality, as well as capabilities that support enterprise-level, cross-discipline management of risk and performance".

The Gartner report recommended for organisations seeking ERM to "deploy solutions consistently across the entire institution (for all businesses and geographies), and avoid siloed approaches. Most institutions will develop a technology road map for incremental implementation of risk solutions based on enterprise-level performance priorities." Gartner continued by stating institutions should "use configuration, not customisation, to meet current and longer-term functional requirements".

To help organisations with ERM strategy, the SAS Business Analytics Framework can be used to build superior solutions, with SAS Risk Management for Banking covering market and credit risk and SAS Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) supporting operational risk and compliance needs. The framework provides measurement reporting and integration of information, and linking the enterprise risk function with other business areas such as financial management and customer management.

SAS combines strong risk analytics with superior data management and business intelligence capabilities to create a framework on which to deliver adaptable risk solutions to meet Gartner's recommendations.

SAS offers a variety of methods to support customer pricing modelling requirements via in-house developed models as well as from third-party vendors, such as FINCAD and FEA. SAS has sophisticated functionality providing scenario analysis, stress testing, and concentration analysis as well as the ability to manage complex products with the option to change, add or modify process, data or functionality.

In the report, Gartner found that organisations need to "create an enterprise-level data structure and IT architecture blueprint to support business risk management requirements that is co-ordinated with the institution's broader data structures and architecture". Gartner believes they should "evaluate a vendor's ability to enable a single, co-ordinated mechanism that supports the evaluation and response to risk threats and opportunities", as well as "use technology to minimise and take control of risk, not just to monitor and report it".

With the SAS solution's single integrated risk technology framework, one metadata layer connects the entire solution from data integration, data quality and data management. This also provides a holistic view of risk across credit, market and operational risk solutions, capital and performance management enabling management of complex interrelationships and converging risks. The single risk engine in SAS solutions for both market and credit risk and the fully integrated business intelligence capabilities leads to lower total cost of ownership.

SAS eliminates manual processes for data quality and data transformation, so organisations can avoid the need for upload, download and re-load of data across multiple platforms with reduced errors and operational losses.

Gartner also advises organisations to "plan strategically beyond tactical functionality, assess how vendors can improve the management of risk interdependencies, and integrate risk and performance management”.

"SAS offers a portfolio of risk and compliance products that can build on existing implementations, or provide a fast track for new customers," said Andre Zitzke, Practice Lead Risk at SAS South Africa. "Banks need to have analytical capabilities that can quickly evolve to meet changing business and regulatory requirements."

Yellow Media Hopes

President and CEO (Tellier) of Yellow Media Inc. acknowledges that his company has a corporate communications challenge. Too often, people associate his company with its Yellow Pages print directories and that business only.

But Tellier said the $750-million sale of Trader Corp., announced Friday, will allow the company to focus on its core business: growing beyond simply phone books and into digital properties.

"We think we have the product portfolio to re-acquire growth,'' Tellier said in an interview, pointing to Yellow Media's efforts in print, online, mobile, websites, and search-engine marketing and optimization. He did note that the print side still makes up roughly 75 per cent of revenues going forward.

With the deal, Canada's largest phone directory operator will continue to own and operate Yellow Pages, as well as such properties as RedFlagDeals.com and Canada411.ca. The transaction does not includes its real-estate and employment businesses. Income hungry investors, meanwhile, appear more concerned about the company's payout, which currently produce a dividend yield of about 11.7 per cent.

While the stock had lost 20 per cent of its value since mid-December, investors responded positively to the news on Friday. They sent Yellow Media's shares up four per cent to $5.50 as the company said it plans to use most of the proceeds to reduce debt.

Despite the gains, the market appears to have a big bet on against the stock. While the short interest on Yellow Media's TSX listed shares stands at just 2. 9 million, that number is nearly 45 million for its U.S. over the counter securities. That puts the total short interest at 9.4 per cent of Yellow's 509- million share float, according to Bloomberg data.

Analysts said the asset sale does a number of things. It removes some of the risk on the Montreal based company's balance sheet, thereby reducing the chance of a rating downgrade and dividend cut. But it also lowers Yellow Media's growth profile, raising questions about where the company goes from here.

While the price tag may have been substantially lower than the $1.4 billion initially paid for these assets, the amount coming from London based private equity firm Apax Partners is also higher than analysts expected.

The deal includes Auto Trader magazine and AutoTrader.ca, Canada's biggest online automotive classifieds site. Apax further consolidates is presence in the sector with Yellow Media's 30 per cent stake in Dealer.com, the leading U.S. digital solutions provider to the auto dealer segment. The divested assets generated about 15 per cent of Yellow Media's 2010 revenue and roughly 8.4 per cent of 2010 adjusted EBITDA.

In addition to lowering the chances of a dividend cut, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Casey believes the transaction will be accretive to Yellow Media's net asset value.

In December, Standard & Poor's said its ratings for the company were based on an expected debt reduction of more than $450 million in 2011. S&P confirmed its BBB credit rating on Friday as the cash boost will allow the company to trim its $3.3 billion debt by about $500 million.

As TD Securities analyst Scott Cuthbertson pointed out, having an investment grade rating is a key part of Yellow Media's agreement with its lenders since it allows the company to make investments and distribute cash as it sees fit. If it loses this rating, that freedom can be curtailed and dividends would be capped at 50% of distributable cash.

Yellow Pages Income Fund cut its annual cash distribution to 80 cents from $1.17 in May 2009 in an effort to reduce some leverage concerns. It trimmed it again to 65 cents earlier this year as part of its conversion from an income trust.

Assuming no mergers or acquisitions, Yellow Media's 2011 year-end leverage ratio is expected fall to below the 3.0 times threshold indicated by credit rating agencies. The company's debt-to-EBITDA stood at 3.8 times in 2010.

"There is no doubt that everyone starting with the credit rating agencies will be happy with regards to us strengthening our capital structure,'' Tellier said. But I don't think there was a sense of urgency. Credit ratings have never been an issue for us or the ratings agencies.''

RBC Capital Markets analyst Drew McReynolds said the sale of the higher- growth Trader business lowers Yellow Media's growth profile, which should offset some of the risk-reduction and visibility benefits the deal brings.

Calling this a sentiment "tug of war,'' he anticipates investors will focus on the rate of decline in print directories and the extent of re-acceleration in online growth over the next two to three quarters.

Desjardins Securities analyst Maher Yaghi agrees that the sale will increase the concentration of earnings generated from the declining Yellow Pages directories business. However, he is pleased by the multiple received for the assets, noting that it is at the high end of recent transactions in the sector. Yaghi suggested Yellow Media could execute a share buyback with the remaining proceeds.

Before the sale, we had no issues. We had not forecasted a dividend cut this year or next year,'' Yaghi said. Usually when you're a seller and people know that, they have the upper hand and not you. At this point in time, the company is more interesting in managing the transition of their directories business to online.''

Weekly Web Finds: Get Wired

This week we delve into a galaxy far, far away yes, that galaxy where bandit separatists run wild, where the Republic is trying to maintain control over information and small, furry creatures ride segways wait, what?

That’s right, folks, it's the Internet. This week’s conglomeration of curiousness from the Web contains art, photos and videos of one of the most beloved and revered movie series off all time: "Star Wars."

You can’t deny it you love it. Whether you are a hardcore fan or just an average Joe who catches the "Trilogy" on rerun once a year, this George Lucas empire has been woven into your life over the last thirty odd years.

So without further ado, may the Force be with you.

What realllly happened:

"Seriously, you had to ask, Luke, didn't you? Welp, you got your answer.

Anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist

One hundred years ago today, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in lower Manhattan. After locked doors made flight impossible, many workers leapt to their deaths to escape the flames. One hundred and forty-six people died, in a tragedy that helped catalyze a national movement for workplace reform.

Unfortunately, we do not need to look back a hundred years to contemplate the horror of garment workers falling from the high floors of a burning factory. The last such nightmare befell workers barely 100 days ago, on December 14, when thirty workers were killed and more than a hundred injured at a factory producing for Kohl's, JC Penney, Target, Wrangler, Phillips-Van Heusen, Oshkosh, Gap and others.

The sad irony on this centennial of the Triangle tragedy is that the abusive conditions, poverty wages and shoddy garment industry safety practices that unions and social reformers decried in 1911 have not been eliminated. They have been outsourced.

Faced with rising wages, strong unions and enforceable safety regulations in the United States, clothing brands and retailers have moved virtually all of their production overseas. Today, America's dresses, jeans and t-shirts are produced in the contract factories of the developing world, where lax regulation, microscopic wages, and the near total absence of unions and collective bargaining ensure the cheap and flexible production the industry craves.

The similarities between the fire at Triangle Shirtwaist and the recent disaster are eerie and instructive. As at Triangle, the December fire at That's It Sportswear, a large garment production facility in Bangladesh, swept rapidly through the ninth floor of the building. Survivors reported that locked doors impeded workers' escape. Many had no choice but to try to climb down ropes made of pieces of clothing hastily tied together. Some fell from the makeshift ropes; others, unable to reach the ropes, jumped to their demise.

This conflagration was only the most recent in a long series of mass fatalities in Bangladesh's burgeoning apparel sector. Nine months earlier, another contract factory, this one making clothes for H&M, caught fire. Twenty-one workers died, their exit reportedly blocked by padlocked doors.

It is no mystery why companies have been flocking to Bangladesh, which is now the world's fourth largest garment exporter. The apparel manufacturers of 1911 Manhattan did not waste time and money on niceties like workplace safety or tolerate the inconvenience of labor unions and neither do their modern day counterparts in Bangladesh. The country's weak safety protections are part of a rock-bottom cost structure that features wages of 20 cents an hour and implacable hostility to unions.

Brands and retailers have paid lip service to the need for reform in Bangladesh's factories, especially since a building collapse in 2005 that killed 64 workers, but the disasters keep happening and the orders for cheap clothes keep pouring in. Walmart alone now buys more than $1 billion worth of garments a year from Bangladesh.

This is the contradiction at the heart of the contemporary apparel industry: the brands and retailers say they want to eliminate sweatshop conditions, but demand prices from their contractors so low that the only way they can stay in business is to keep abusing their workers.

When the Bangladeshi labor movement called last year for a minimum wage of 35 cents an hour, the factory owners insisted, plausibly, that the brands and retailers would never accept the resulting price increases. Factory owners in Cambodia, where 200,000 workers recently struck for a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour, made the same claim, as have factory owners in India, another country where garment workers have died in multiple factory fires over the last year. Apparel brands now even complain that China is too expensive.

Global outsourcing has enabled apparel companies to escape the regulatory strictures imposed though half a century of labor reform in the US. At the same time, the companies have largely succeeded in evading moral accountability for the abuses committed by their overseas factories, even as they benefit from the low prices those factories provide. Protecting workers requires new mechanisms for holding corporations accountable.

One hopeful sign has been efforts of universities, spurred by student activists, to impose labor rights standards on their apparel industry partners: makers of university logo sweatshirts and t-shirts, like those selling briskly thanks to"March Madness." Students and universities have achieved remarkable labor rights breakthroughs involving workers producing overseas for Nike and Russell Athletic and have also helped facilitate the opening of a model garment factory in the Dominican Republic where workers have a living wage and union representation.

Meanwhile, labor rights organizations have called on the companies that do business with That's It Sportswear to accept an aggressive and independent fire safety inspection program at hundreds of their supplier factories in Bangladesh. Many of the companies have promised to do so; time will tell if they fulfill that pledge.

Broader accountability efforts along these lines are essential to achieving a new round of apparel industry reform that can finally protect the people who make our clothes from workplace horrors that should have been stamped out a century ago.

Fresh Web Tips And Ideas: Evolve

Evolve Creative Group, the Akron, Ohio based web design company has been recognized at the Interactive Media Awards Competition™ by receiving the Best in Class Award for the design and development of the Akron METRO RTA website (AkronMetro.org). This is the highest category awarded by the Interactive Media Awards (IMA).

“We are truly ecstatic about winning this award,” said Todd Bertsch, founder and president of Evolve Creative Group. “A lot of hard work went into this website. It was the tremendous effort put in by our entire team, our strategic development partners, Summit IT Solutions and the METRO staff that made this website a success. This award is shared by many and proves that hard work and determination does pay off. To win Best in Class is truly an honor, especially coming from the IMA.”

Receiving a score of 480 points out of a total 500 available, the METRO RTA website was the only website to receive Best in Class in the “Transportation Category.”

The purpose and goal of AkronMetro.org was to give Akron METRO RTA passengers access to timely route schedules and system maps in a user friendly way. In preparing for this project, Evolve spent a large amount of time in preliminary research. The web design company engaged with passengers via online surveys and usability testing, allowing Evolve to design a website based upon feedback from the actual people using METRO RTA services.

“IMA's choice to award METRO's site is a testament to the hard and inspired work the teams at Evolve Creative Group, Summit I.T. Solutions and METRO accomplished. Given the improvements to METRO's new web site, this award is a win for our passengers, too,” said Jessica Dreschel, METRO communications specialist.

Evolve Creative Group, the Akron, Ohio based web design company has been recognized at the Interactive Media Awards Competition™ by receiving the Best in Class Award for the design and development of the Akron METRO RTA website (AkronMetro.org). This is the highest category awarded by the Interactive Media Awards (IMA).

“We are truly ecstatic about winning this award,” said Todd Bertsch, founder and president of Evolve Creative Group. “A lot of hard work went into this website. It was the tremendous effort put in by our entire team, our strategic development partners, Summit IT Solutions and the METRO staff that made this website a success. This award is shared by many and proves that hard work and determination does pay off. To win Best in Class is truly an honor, especially coming from the IMA.”

Receiving a score of 480 points out of a total 500 available, the METRO RTA website was the only website to receive Best in Class in the “Transportation Category.”

The purpose and goal of AkronMetro.org was to give Akron METRO RTA passengers access to timely route schedules and system maps in a user friendly way. In preparing for this project, Evolve spent a large amount of time in preliminary research. The web design company engaged with passengers via online surveys and usability testing, allowing Evolve to design a website based upon feedback from the actual people using METRO RTA services.

“IMA's choice to award METRO's site is a testament to the hard and inspired work the teams at Evolve Creative Group, Summit I.T. Solutions and METRO accomplished. Given the improvements to METRO's new web site, this award is a win for our passengers, too,” said Jessica Dreschel, METRO communications specialist.

About METRO RTA

METRO RTA is the public transportation provider for Summit County, Ohio. METRO transports more than six million passengers annually to work, to school, to medical appointments and to some of the best places in town.

About The Interactive Media Awards™

The Interactive Media Awards recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. The competition is open to individuals and organizations involved in designing, developing, managing, supporting and promoting websites.

Interactive Media Awards™ Judging

Websites receiving an overall score of 480-500 points receive the IMA “Best in Class” award. Websites receiving an overall score of 460-479 points receive the “Outstanding Achievement” award. Under their system, it is possible that no entry in a given industry category will qualify to win a Best in Class or Outstanding Achievement award. Conversely, it is also possible that more than one entry may qualify to win the same award in the same year.

About Evolve Creative Group

Founded in February 2009, Evolve Creative Group is devoted to best-in-class web site design and development. Led by founder Todd Bertsch, Evolve offers award-winning web site design and development expertise along with online marketing, e-commerce, usability, and video production services.

METRO RTA is the public transportation provider for Summit County, Ohio. METRO transports more than six million passengers annually to work, to school, to medical appointments and to some of the best places in town.

About The Interactive Media Awards™

The Interactive Media Awards recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. The competition is open to individuals and organizations involved in designing, developing, managing, supporting and promoting websites.

Interactive Media Awards™ Judging

Websites receiving an overall score of 480-500 points receive the IMA “Best in Class” award. Websites receiving an overall score of 460-479 points receive the “Outstanding Achievement” award. Under their system, it is possible that no entry in a given industry category will qualify to win a Best in Class or Outstanding Achievement award. Conversely, it is also possible that more than one entry may qualify to win the same award in the same year.

About Evolve Creative Group

Founded in February 2009, Evolve Creative Group is devoted to best-in-class web site design and development. Led by founder Todd Bertsch, Evolve offers award-winning web site design and development expertise along with online marketing, e-commerce, usability, and video production services.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports released an article yesterday on the labor fight between the NBA owners and their players. And while most of "fight" is media rhetoric back and forth there are some realities to the thought process that are almost unavoidable.

Players Association director Billy Hunter revealed to Yahoo! some of the commentary made by NBA Commissioner David Stern during the most recent meetings during the NBA's All-Star weekend.

Hunter for the most part kept to his script, and some of the concepts the Players seem to be hanging on are not only unrealistic, they are downright defiant in the face of some undisputed facts.

The NBA is losing money. Turn your head and look into the stands at almost any game in the league and you are going to see lots of empty seats. Furthermore look at some of the advertisers inside NBA arenas; have you noticed how many more local brands and businesses have found their way into prime ad space inside NBA buildings? It's because NBA teams cannot fetch nearly the dollars they could when the current labor deal was reached.

The Players Association responds to the NBA owners with pretty much the same comments.

Let's take a look at some of those comments.

"A Guaranteed Profit": 'I think every one of my owners should have a guaranteed $10 million profit per year.' According to NBAPA head Billy Hunter that is what NBA Commissioner David Stern wants for each of his teams. To be guaranteed at least a $10 million annual profit in whatever new agreement is reached between the owners and the players.

How is this unreasonable? Players want guaranteed monies. Why is it out of the questions that owner should get the same luxury? $10 million? That's all? I can see push back if Stern's stance was every owner wanted to pocket $50 million. Every owner in the league has a single player making more than $10 million; some have players making twice that. Even if the league gets its demanded cuts and restructuring, there would still be 60 or 70 players making more than $10 million each.

Let's face it, beyond the fan hype. Most NBA owners have $300 to $400 million invested in their teams. They shell out more than $100 million annually running their teams. Why is it unreasonable for them to expect a profit?

Teams that turn a profit spend more on support staff. They spend more on coaches and assistant coaches and they make decisions that are best for the basketball part of the business.

Teams that are losing money are finding ways to cut costs. They hire the cheapest coaches and they tend to sell off players rather than amass the best talent.

Equally teams that are turning a profit are not looking to relocate. Tell me the NBA wouldn't be better off if we didn't have to talk about the Kings and Hornets relocating?

Teams that turn a profit are going to be stable.

Not sure where you fall on this but a business that is turning a profit will be there for years to come. A business that is losing money is often days away from bankruptcy.

There is $4 billion in revenue coming into the NBA. There should be a enough for everyone, and to believe owners should lose money is a bit unrealistic.

"Nobody Forces Them To Sign Anyone.": "What they have is predicated on how they manage their teams. Nobody forces them to sign anyone," said Hunter.

The Players have long taken the stance that NBA teams are not forced to give out contracts. Really?

How would Oklahoma City Thunder fans have reacted if the team did not sign Kevin Durant to his new 5 Year, $85 Million contract? If ownership came out and said "due to economic concerns we have to pass on Kevin" would they be able to sell a ticket again in that market?

Let's face it; teams are more times than not forced into the deals they make. Sure the Minnesota Timberwolves didn't have to give Darko Milicic four years and $20 million, but does anyone really believe that $4.3 million to Darko is what's hurting the NBA?

What's killing the NBA is that teams often have no room to negotiate on a large number of players, mainly because it's a buyers' market. If you don't give Eddy Curry $60 million, the Knicks will.

Go back and read the article about Curry signing with the Knicks. It was lauded as a great deal for New York. Six years later, Curry is a joke.

Teams are often having to make commitments and decisions before guys are truly who they are going to be. Teams could try and build in exits, but players control that.

The Miami HEAT had to give LeBron James whatever he wanted in his deal, or he had four other suitors ready to counter.

The HEAT didn't have to give LeBron everything he wanted, but it's naive to believe they had any negotiating power in the situation and that's common for almost every free agent that matters.

Players and their agents set a lot more terms than teams do, so to say "nobody forces them" is a little disingenuous. Teams set terms on fringe guys, but major players build their own deals and set their own price tag.

The Bulls did not feel overly generous towards Luol Deng when they gave him $72 million, they had a choice to either give him those dollars or he'd have left the following year for Utah who was willing to pay him more than that in a sign and trade so the choice is meet the players demand or lose him.

Sure, smart management always helps the bottom line, but teams that pass on players and let key free agents leave because of money get killed for it and struggle to keep season ticket holders when they make money decisions and its naive for the players to ignore the fact that attendance and fan interest is directly tied to how teams manage their draft picks and their free agents.

And for the record, teams are forced to sign players. There is a minimum NBA salary, which is 75% of the salary cap. Teams are required to carry 13 active players, and encouraged to carry a 14th player or face financial penalty.

It is absolutely true, teams do not have to sign players, but look at how owners who do not spend are viewed by the fans and the media. Then flip the situation and look at how owners that spend like crazy are viewed.

Teams that don't spend are a joke, and teams that do are loved… its naive to think owners have a choice. Players set the prices. Players more times than not set the terms and owners have to say yes or no and live with those consequences.

"Every Basketball Player Knows About The NFL": "Every basketball player knows about the NFL and that's always been their biggest dread and concern," Hunter said.

NBA players for the most part have fully guaranteed deals. That's something they fought hard for and plan to continue to fight hard to keep.

But here is the thing. The NFL planned to pay its players $141 million per team this year before their Union walked away from the table. That's 60 plus guys making $141 million. That's not too shabby a cap number, until you look at the Lakers.

The 13 players on the LA Lakers are going to cost more than $113 million in salary and luxury tax.

Sure the NBA players are fearful of non-guaranteed contracts and a structure that allows for teams to cut underperforming or unwanted players.

But let's face it – the NFL is king and king by a long shot. The NFL brings in $9 billion in revenue, which is more than twice the NBA's $4 billion, with unmatched fan interest and TV revenue.

The NBA could be so lucky.

But let's be real for a minute. Who in the room thinks Peyton Manning ever gets cut? Brett Farve played into his 40's and made more than $13 million last season. Tom Brady? Adrian Peterson?

The guys in the NFL that are "victims" of the system are the same guys in the NBA getting non-guaranteed deals and being cut in January before their deals get locked in fringe non star players.

The NFL's system is not perfect, but there are hundreds of NFL players with guaranteed money on their deals, but the one thing the NFL system has done is create parity.

Of the 32 NFL teams, you could argue that 22 of them have an equal chance at winning a title each year if things break their way. In the NFL, teams that over spend rarely win and managing a team well and drafting and spending well matters most.

You can't tell me the NFL model is not better than the "how much can my owner spend" model which is what the NBA game has evolved into.

The truth of this is the NBA players don't like the idea of a NFL–style cap system at the current salary cap number of $58 million. If the NBA said we'll do a hard cap at $80 or $90 million, under an NFL style system, how many in the room think the NBA players would pass on that?

There are aspects of the NFL system that would be good for basketball. There are also aspects of the current NBA model that would be good for football.

The NBA owners are not seeking the NFL's system, in fact NFL players want the system that was in place to remain in place so what does that tell you.

Parity, accountability and flexibility are paramount to competitive sports.

Championships should be decided on how well you build and run your team, not how much your owner can spend. That's good for every sport, and even the NBA Players say it that way.

"I Don't Think He Has The Sway": "I don't think he has the sway that he once did," Hunter said of NBA Commissioner David Stern.

There is truth in that statement.

Go back and look at what the average owner in the NBA had bought into the league at in 1999 when the NBA had its last Lockout. That's number comes in around the $150-$250 million range. Today the average NBA owner has more than $375 million invested, with five NBA owners being at or near $400 million.

David Stern works for the Board of Governors, a committee of the 30 owners or their representative. There are certain powers and authorities granted the Commissioner and his office in running the day to day of the NBA, but when it comes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, David Stern doesn't have nearly the clout as some people think he does.

He has been tasked with delivering a deal that insure franchise values go up, that players costs come down and if that means a prolonged work stoppage, that's something the owners have decided they will do.

This is not David Stern versus Billy Hunter as it's been in previous deals; it genuinely is the Owners versus the Players.

There has been some chatter in NBA circles that if Stern cannot deliver the deal the owners want he could be replaced.

There are those that say this is Stern's legacy agreement, that this will be his last Collective Bargaining Agreement and on the way out he needs to fix things that have spiraled out of control.

Regardless of your view on this issue, Stern is simply the point man for 30 owners that desperately need the system to change.

The NBA did not buy the New Orleans Hornets out of some loyalty to New Orleans.

The NBA bought the Hornets in order to avoid a NBA team defaulting on financing. Had the Hornets been allowed to fail, that would have sent a cascading ripple through every team carrying debt – which is almost all of them.

The Hornets were a big wake up call for The Owners; the system has to be fixed.

If David Stern cannot deliver the deal, he'll be replaced and as far-fetched as that may seem, there is a group of new-school owners that are carrying more than $2 billion in costs associated with the purchase of NBA teams and they have watched their franchise values drop. These are not David Stern's golf buddies; these are cutthroat business types that will not lose money over Stern.

The voice of dissention among the owners was very small during the last labor fight, now there is a larger voice that wants real change and David Stern is tasked with delivering it.

Billy Hunter may be absolutely right, on this subject David Stern may not have nearly the power people want to believe he has.

"A Small Number Of Teams Are Suffering" : "Our belief," Hunter said to ESPN's Henry Abbott, "is that a small number of teams are suffering, and their problems can be addressed through revenue sharing."

First, it's good to see the Players acknowledge that teams are losing money. Why any team should be losing money with $4 billion on the table is the issue. But saying it aloud – NBA teams are losing money - helps the discussion.

The Players contend that revenue sharing solves the problem, and it very well may. But sharing revenue when some teams do not turn a profit is bad business.

The NBA has said pretty clearly that a revised revenue sharing plan will be rolled out when the new labor deal is reached, because one affects the other. They are not independent of each other.

Also, revenue sharing when one team is paying $100 million in player costs while another is paying $50 million in player costs isn't exactly equitable either.

If as a league, the NBA can get to a point where every team is paying roughly the same number for players, then sharing revenues to insure profitability is smart business.

But asking the Lakers to give up their profits to fund the Magic's losses is a bit unrealistic and that's exactly what the NBA Players continue to suggest.

The NBA wants revenue sharing. This is not in debate. But what the NBA wants is revenue sharing after the playing field with player costs is leveled a bit.

Take a look at baseball, they have aggressive revenue sharing. The New York Yankees can either spend their profits on players or share those profits with the rest of the league.

For revenue sharing to genuinely work for every team, every team has to have profits to share or the ability to create profits to share.

If one team has a bad year, then profit sharing covers them, but when you have as many as 16 team losing money at some level, Revenue sharing alone is not the answer.

However it is an answer the Players put out because it shifts the focus away from their money to someone else's money.

Figuring out a way to share money, when both sides want an ever increasing portion of the pie, is hard. There is no right or wrong on this subject. It's finding a way for both sides to find a deal that works for them.

There is going to be rhetoric on this subject. There is going to be a media play that used to try and sway the public support one way or the other and the interesting part about it, is none of it will create a deal.

Recently a veteran NBA player, who was part of the last work stoppage in the NBA in 1999, said that the last deal was not reached through the media. It was not reached with large groups of owners and players. The last deal was reached when Billy Hunter and three players met with David Stern and three owners and the six people in that room worked out the deal that basically exists today.

Until the labor talks get to that point, the point in which six guys will lock themselves in a room, a deal will never be reached sniping in the press.

And all of the rhetoric to the side, a deal has to be reached. The question is how much damage will be done before both sides realize that whatever is said does not matter, until a deal is reached.

T-Mobile Deal will help USA: ATand T

AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA will advance U.S. leadership in mobile data and improve consumers’ wireless experience, the company’s top executives said on a conference call Monday morning.

The $39 billion acquisition, announced Sunday, would form the nation’s largest mobile operator and reduce the number of big national carriers from four to three. It still faces regulatory review by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice and is not expected to close for another 12 months.

On the conference call, executives invoked U.S. competitiveness and mobile competition in what amounted to sales job for a deal that some critics have called bad news for consumers.

Together, the two companies say they will be able to deploy a fast LTE (Long Term Evolution) network to 46.5 million more U.S. residents than they could have reached separately, covering 95 percent of the U.S. population.

“This infrastructure will be a competitive advantage for the U.S. for many years to come,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and CEO. “We’re making a commitment to further America’s leadership for the next wave of innovation and leadership in mobile broadband.” The U.S. leads the world in mobile broadband subscribers, smartphone sales and mobile app downloads, Stephenson said.

AT&T expects the FCC and DOJ to look closely at the deal and believes it will have to discuss divesting some assets to gain approval, said Wayne Watts, senior executive vice president and general counsel.

“We very carefully considered every aspect thoroughly and concluded that this deal can and should be approved,” Watts said.

The FCC will determine whether the deal is in the public interest, and the DOJ will judge whether it adversely affects competition. AT&T contends that competition is strong and growing stronger, with the recent entry of WiMax operator Clearwire and the planned launch of the LightSquared satellite LTE network. Despite the size advantage AT&T and rival Verizon Wireless have over Sprint Nextel and smaller national and regional carriers, consumers in most individual markets have several choices, AT&T says.

Watts said, “Competition is vibrant and will only increase after this transaction."

Until the deal is approved, AT&T and T-Mobile will continue to compete as they have been, the executives said. Then, the networks and services will be merged in a gradual process that will include equipping cell sites to carry both carriers’ frequencies and making all AT&T devices including Apple products available to T-Mobile customers, according to Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.

Though some cell sites will be taken down as part of the consolidation, the net effect will be more dense coverage, said John Stankey, president and CEO of AT&T Business Solutions, who also has responsibility for networks. For example, AT&T estimates coverage density will increase by between 25 percent and 35 percent in both San Francisco and New York.

“Greater density drives better performance and greater capacity to serve the accelerating data demand, and customers will see a difference. Their experience will improve,” Stankey said.

At the heart of the deal was the need for greater spectrum to make all this network expansion possible to keep up with booming mobile data volume that has grown by 8,000 percent over the past four years, according to AT&T.

Extreme Partner on Lifecycle Management: Citrix

Network solutions specialist Extreme Networks, Inc., announced that it is collaborating with virtual computing giant Citrix Systems to integrate server virtualization with the network. The company earlier announced its mobility and virtualization lifecycle management solution, XNV, with initial support for Citrix XenServer and VMware.

XNV virtualization and cloud architecture is designed to enable network level virtualization support including management, reporting, and configuration and integrates the network management system with the virtualization management platform to ensure visibility and synchronization between the server virtualization environment and the network.

The company’s data center network solutions are focused on providing an open and integrated virtualization environment, enabling data centers to optimize and automate the networking function. Utilizing the ExtremeXOS operating system and intelligence layer, applications like virtualization mobility in conjunction with the virtualization platform Citrix XenServer are more easily integrated and managed by the network.

"One of the major challenges in the next phase of virtualization adoption lies in integration and support for networking functionality," said Gordon Mangione, vice president of the datacenter and cloud division at Citrix. "Extreme Networks offers an open platform approach that enables XenServer customers to tightly integrate server virtualization with the network, giving users a seamless mobile VM experience in the data center."



With the BlackDiamond and Summit switches running the ExtremeXOS operating system, Mangione said Extreme Networks is well suited to deliver high- performance cloud-based networking infrastructure. With data center features including XNV and Direct Attach, the company has helped lead integration across multi-vendor virtualized environments in managed hosting, cloud and enterprise environments, he said.

"Extreme Networks is addressing the advanced capabilities enabled by virtualization through an open network, multi-hypervisor approach," said Kevin Ryan, director of data center solutions for Extreme Networks. "Citrix is an ideal integration partner as one of the leaders in server virtualization, and as a platform of choice of many of our customers in the managed hosting and cloud marketplace."

The company also announced a partnership with Nimsoft to better address managed hosting and cloud service providers who need to monitor and optimize their hosting connections and environments. The itegration was based on the ExtremeXOS operating system to integrate with the Nimsoft Monitoring Solution (NMS), and offer real-time visibility of the network to its customers with NMS dashboards and reports.

"Customers are increasingly looking for hosted solutions that can provide adaptable scalability, improved cost-effectiveness, and rock-solid reliability," said Gary Read, Nimsoft CEO. "The combination of Extreme Networks' cloud-based networking solutions and NMS uniquely fulfill this market demand by providing customers with both high-value cloud infrastructure and high-value visibility into that infrastructure."

The Hobbit

After one of the most luckless pre productions in recent memory, filming began today in New Zealand on The Hobbit, the long-awaited prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Warner Bros. released a statement, confirming that the production had finally outlasted financial concerns, a labor conflict, the loss of director Guillermo del Toro and subsequent rescue by LOTR godfather Peter Jackson, Jackson’s health scare, and an earthquake that rattled New Zealand. Perhaps to convince the skeptical, Jackson even launched a new Facebook page with two new photos of him from the set. Is that Bilbo’s place in the Shire? Note that the photos are specifically dated, but you’d understand if Jackson felt compelled to display the morning’s newspaper like some kidnapping victimjust to reassure fans that this movie is really finally happening.