REDMOND, Wash. — May 3, 2012 — COMFY, the leading Ukrainian electronics and home appliance retailer, recently deployed a custom warehouse management solution based on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to help manage warehouse logistics, resulting in streamlined processes, reduced costs, increased productivity and better space allocation.

COMFY opened its first retail store in December 2005 and by 2011 had expanded to 78 stores in 37 cities throughout Ukraine. This rapid growth made it difficult to maintain a streamlined logistics infrastructure to distribute goods three times a week across all stores.

To help manage warehouse logistics, COMFY needed to improve business processes and automate company operations for sites with different types of storage. In addition, the company needed to make more efficient use of warehouse space, to enable real-time decision-making and increase employee productivity.

COMFY turned to international consulting firm Columbus, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with retail vertical experience, for a solution. Columbus designed a system to automate business processes and ensure an integrated IT environment with servers running Microsoft Dynamics AX Application Object Server (AOS), and Microsoft SQL Server as a database management system. Microsoft Dynamics AX provides the flexibility for customizing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to meet COMFY’s industry-specific needs.

“Microsoft Dynamics AX significantly enhances our ability to control processes at the central warehouse,” said Andrew Prystavka, director of warehouse logistics at COMFY. “It allows us to quickly identify bottlenecks and find system solutions to address them.”

Microsoft Dynamics AX gave COMFY a people-centered, end-to-end solution that helps employees work more efficiently and inspires them to do their jobs better. Many systems today focus solely on retrospective views and data, which can be frustrating and useless when faced with a unique logistical crisis. Microsoft Dynamics AX offers proactive and forward-looking systems that connect people to their work and provide real-time insights that enable better decision-making.

During the first two months after implementing the system using Microsoft Dynamics AX, COMFY increased productivity by 10 percent while reducing operational costs. “We expect to increase employee productivity at the distribution center by 1.5 times and reduce the cost of handling goods in all of our shops,” said Andrew Zavizion, logistics director at COMFY.

The custom warehouse management solution, based on Microsoft Dynamics AX, helps automate logistics management processes at the primary COMFY distribution center to improve key business processes, including tracking and delivery of inventory, systems monitoring, and data extraction and analysis, delivering the following benefits:

• Increased service levels, including pick accuracy and deliveries on time and in full

• Reduction in unit cost of inventory turnover

• Greater employee productivity and satisfaction

• Better use of warehouse space and equipment

• Quick and easy identification of storage bottlenecks

Microsoft Dynamics solutions empower your people to be more productive and your systems to last longer and scale as your business grows, while enabling you to derive the insights necessary to respond quickly in an ever-changing world of business.

Information on COMFY’s Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment, and additional Microsoft customer implementation news, is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight News Center.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash., and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — May 3, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. and Aspen Avionics Inc. have signed a patent licensing agreement that gives Aspen broad access to the latest Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT). exFAT is a modern file system from Microsoft that facilitates large files for audiovisual media and enables seamless data portability and an easy interchange between desktop PCs and other electronic devices. The agreement is the latest forged by Microsoft for exFAT and the first in the avionics and commercial sector.

exFAT is a modern file system improving on its predecessor, the FAT file system, and greatly expands the size of files that flash memory devices can handle by more than five times over the previous technology. It also greatly increases the speed with which those files can be accessed. The exFAT file system not only facilitates large files for use of audiovisual media, it enables seamless data portability and an easy interchange between desktop PCs and a variety of electronic devices.

Aspen specializes in bringing advanced technology and capability into general aviation cockpits. Its products increase situational awareness and reduce pilot workload, helping to make it easier and safer to fly. Aspen’s flagship product line is the Evolution Flight Display system, a glass cockpit system certified for general aviation aircraft.

“Innovative avionics requires a modern file system, such as exFAT, that can handle significantly larger file sizes to display richer data than legacy file systems could handle,” said David Kaefer, general manager of Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing at Microsoft. “This agreement with Aspen Avionics highlights how exFAT can help directly address the specific needs of customers in the aviation industry, and we’re delighted to make exFAT available to the company through our intellectual property licensing program.”

Microsoft’s Commitment to Intellectual Property Collaboration

Microsoft offers flexible IP licensing programs that give companies access to many of the foundational technologies in its own products, allowing those companies to build devices, applications and services that work seamlessly with one another.

Since Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003, the company has entered into more than 1,100 licensing agreements and continues to develop programs that make it possible for customers, partners and competitors to access its IP portfolio. The program was developed to open access to Microsoft’s significant R&D investments and its growing, broad patent and IP portfolio.

Microsoft has entered into similar exFAT patent licensing agreements with several leading consumer electronics manufacturers through its IP licensing program, including Panasonic Corp., SANYO Electric Company Ltd., Sony Corp. and Canon Inc.

More information on Microsoft’s IP licensing program is available at http://www.microsoft.com/iplicensing, and information specifically related to Microsoft’s exFAT licensing program is available at http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/intellectualproperty/iplicensing/programs/exfatfilesystem.aspx.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Database consolidation, hardware upgrades, mergers and acquisitions, and the decision to virtualize server hardware all drive the decision to migrate data into new systems to stay competitive. Bull HN Information Systems (Bull) announces the formation of a Database Migration Business Unit ( www.postgresmigrations.com ) offering comprehensive solutions to migrate legacy and other relational databases to open source PostgreSQL, including consulting, implementation and optimization services for both infrastructure and applications. The business unit's formation leverages Bull's more than 40 years of experience with major, enterprise-level database migrations worldwide.

According to National Sales Director Jim Ulrey, "Bull has a long history in database technologies and their applications. We primarily work with PostgreSQL in order to deliver major savings in licensing and support fees to our customers, and have had great success with both proprietary relational database migrations and legacy non-relational database migrations. This includes large customers with both high-performance and availability demands.

"We understand that data is the lifeblood of today's business. Therefore, when it comes to mission critical projects like data migration, companies require an experienced partner like Bull--one that can offer proven solutions, solid methodology and a seamless transition. Our new business unit is dedicated to excellence and committed to helping our clients meet their business objectives," concluded Ulrey.

About Bull, Architect of an Open World

Bull is an Information Technology company, dedicated to helping corporations and public sector organizations optimize the architecture, operations and the financial return of their Information Systems and their mission-critical related businesses. For more information, please visit www.postgresmigrations.com .

SOURCE: Bull HN Information Systems

    Integrated Communications Management 
    Patrick Riley, 603-893-6510 
    pjriley@icmarcom.com