La jeune société se positionne sur le terrain de la modélisation, de la gestion et de l’optimisation de processus. Si ce profil ne semble guère original, il le devient davantage si l’on considère ce qui fait la spécificité de la solution ModaTech.

A savoir: la saisie, modalisation graphique et restitution en temps réel des processus et une orientation stratégique vers des applications à forte valeur ajoutée. Modalisa Technology se donne essentiellement trois cibles, pour ses débuts: les processus de laboratoires, le secteur du marketing (mobile) et le monde de la finance et des assurances.

La logistique ou l’industrie ne sont pas négligés non plus. Un contrat a ainsi été passé avec EVS pour une rationalisation de ses processus en environnement de tests.

La solution ModaTech, installée chez le client ou fournie en BPO, tourne sur des systèmes classiques (mainframe, PC…). S’y ajoutent des modules pour mobiles, nanopuces ou systèmes RFID pour la saisie et la restitution de données collectées au départ de ces équipements mobiles ou embarqués.

Ces terminaux et capteurs en tous genres constituent l’un des terrains de recherche spécifiques sur lesquels se concentre la société. “Le défi est d’interagir avec différents marqueurs de traçabilité et d’intégrer ces identifiants spécifiques, via traduction de formats, dans les processus de gestion”, souligne Tony Ciccarella, co-fondateur de la société.

La solution Modalisa Technology s’appuie sur des travaux de recherche menés depuis plus de 7 ans à l’Institut Montefiore de l’ULg, portant sur des algorithmes évolués et des méthodologies de développement (CMMI, notamment). Une collaboration a récemment été initiée avec un département de recherche de l’université d’Harvard spécialisé dans l’extraction d’ADN dans le cadre du traitement du cancer.

“Des doctorants de plusieurs pays procèdent à des analyses de chaînes spécifiques d’ADN mais leur collaboration manque d’efficacité. Le traçage des échantillons, envoyés dans plusieurs pays, n’est pas standardisé. Il s’agit donc de normaliser les processus, d’effectuer un suivi temps réel des analyses et de leurs transferts”, explique Frédéric Maréchal, l’autre co-fondateur. “A l’avenir, nous multiplierons ces collaborations avec des universités et centres de recherche, français notamment”.

Une augmentation de capital (en cours) devrait permettre d’engager 3 personnes et de financer des équipements permettant de pousser plus loin la R&D dans des domaines tels le RFID.

Passeport
- Dénomination: Modalisa Technology
- Siège: Angleur (Liège)
- Année de création: 2011
- Effectifs: 2 personnes
- Financement: fonds propres (levée de fonds privés et publics en cours: 10 millions)
www.modalisa-technology.com

[Sources: FR / NL]

SOA in Practice: The Art of Distributed System Design (Theory in Practice)
by Nicolai M. Josuttis

This book demonstrates service-oriented architecture (SOA) as a concrete discipline rather than a hopeful collection of cloud charts. Built upon the author’s firsthand experience rolling out a SOA at a major corporation, SOA in Practice explains how SOA can simplify the creation and maintenance of large-scale applications. Whether your project involves a large set of Web Services-based components, or connects legacy applications to modern business processes, this book clarifies how — and whether — SOA fits your needs.

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John M. Vlissides

This book isn’t an introduction to object-oriented technology or design. Many books already do a good job of that…this isn’t an advanced treatise either. It’s a book of design patterns that describe simple and elegant solutions to specific problems in object-oriented software design….Once you understand the design patterns and have had an « Aha! » (and not just a « Huh? » experience with them, you won’t ever think about object-oriented design in the same way. You’ll have insights that can make your own designs more flexible, modular, reusable, and understandable–which is why you’re interested in object-oriented technology in the first place, right?

Head First Design Patterns
by Elisabeth Freeman, Eric Freeman, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra

If you’ve read a Head First book, you know what to expect–a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, Head First Design Patterns will load patterns into your brain in a way that sticks. In a way that lets you put them to work immediately. In a way that makes you better at solving software design problems, and better at speaking the language of patterns with others on your team.

SOA Principles of Service Design
by Thomas Erl

Formally endorsed by senior members of Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, BEA, Sun, Intel, HP, and SAP, this acclaimed book provides a thorough exploration of service-orientation and service engineering and also includes a concise overview of SOA and service-oriented computing from an industry perspective.

Understanding Enterprise Soa
by Eric Pulier

Understanding Enterprise SOA gives technologists and business people an invaluable and until now missing integrated picture of the issues and their interdependencies. You will learn how to think in a big way, moving confidently between technology- and business-level concerns. Written in a comfortable, mentoring style by two industry insiders, the book draws conclusions from actual experiences of real companies in diverse industries, from manufacturing to genome research. It cuts through vendor hype and shows you what it really takes to get SOA to work. Intended for both business people and technologists, the book reviews core SOA technologies and uncovers the critical human factors involved in deploying them. You will see how enterprise SOA changes the terrain of EAI, B2B commerce, business process management, « real time » operations, and enterprise software development in general.

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (5th Edition)
by James F. Kurose, Keith W. Ross

An emphasis on application-layer paradigms and application programming interfaces, encourages a lively, hands-on experience with protocols and networking concepts. KEY TOPICS: Computer Networks and the Internet; Application Layer; Transport Layer; Network Layer; Link Layer and LANs; Wireless and Mobile Networks; Multimedia Networking; Security in Computer Networks; Network Management; New discussions of VPN, IPsec, VLAN and updated technology treatment. MARKET: A useful reference for computer networking professionals.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road
by Jamie Flinchbaugh, Andy Carlino, Dennis Pawley

Hitchhikers do not travel a fixed path. They intentionally wander so they can learn and grow along the way. Embarking on the lean journey is similar, there are many roads on which to wander and no single one is right for all. « The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road » reveals the most critical lessons learned over the authors’ combined 30-plus years of exploring the lean highways. One of the book’s lessons from the road is you need to pay attention to where you are and where you are going, just as you do when driving a car. Lean leaders add value by changing things, moving them forward, and producing different results than the day before. To lead, you must go beyond creating a vision. You must develop the vehicle that will deliver it. « The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean » is the vehicle that will help you move beyond the tools and take lean to a self-sustaining and continuously improving level. The book’s 10 chapters cover lean principles and thinking, lean leadership moves, the roadmap for lean transformation, common pitfalls of lean journeys, building an operating system, lean accounting, lean material management, lean in service organizations, and how individuals can apply lean to improve themselves.

Scrum and XP from the Trenches
by Henrik Kniberg, Jeff Sutherland, Mike Cohn

The tricky part to agile software development is that there is no manual telling you exactly how to do it. You have to experiment and continuously adapt the process until it suits your specific situation. This book aims to give you a head start by providing a detailed down-to-earth account of how one Swedish company implemented Scrum and XP with a team of approximately 40 people and how they continuously improved their process over a year’s time. Under the leadership of Henrik Kniberg they experimented with different team sizes, different sprint lengths, different ways of defining « done », different formats for product backlogs and sprint backlogs, different testing strategies, different ways of doing demos, different ways of synchronizing multiple Scrum teams, etc. They also experimented with XP practices – different ways of doing continuous build, pair programming, test driven development, etc, and how to combine this with Scrum.

WSL is an incubator created in 1999. It is focused on technologic start-up firms whose technologies are most of the time the result of spatial R&D projects. The incubator’s mission is to support young entrepreneurs coming mainly from Walloon universities in creating their company, to help to get it going and to accompany the project during its first years of growth so as to contribute to increase the number of high tech firms in Wallonia. WSL is considered a pioneering organisation in Europe, as it was at its creation the first ‘space related’ incubator in Europe. The incubator was created in the form of a private limited company with a cleared capital of €7.5 million. In 2006, given the continual growth of its overwhelming success, the Walloon Region increased funding by €2.5 million. Its main stockholder, the Walloon Region, is associated with Spinventure, a venture capital fund created by the University of Liege and a public institutional fund (Meusinvest).

WSL’s objective is to solicit and anchor new high-tech enterprises in Wallonia.

WSL is co-funder of ESINET (European Network of Space Incubators) and leader of the NAVOBS project, a support measure to boost the business prospects of GMES and telecom satellites through focused and innovative RTD work involving SMEs.

At the end of 2005, the NBIA (the American National Business Incubation Association) chose WSL to be the first reference incubator outside the United States. It received the « Best Incubator in Europe » award in 2007 from the Science Alliance. Through this new program, NBIA recognizes incubators that are especially capable at helping non-domestic companies enter the incubator’s domestic market. 27 start ups launched up to now with more than 160 jobs created and 15M turnover.

www.wsl.be

EVS Group EVS Group designs, develops and markets professional digital equipment for Television (EVS Broadcast) and Cinema (XDC). The Group employs over 256 persons (in 2009) for broadcast equipment in 11 countries and sells its products to professionals of the video and audio sectors in more than 90 countries. EVS is a public company traded on Euronext Brussels: EVS, ISIN: BE0003820371.

EVS Broadcast is the world leader for Live TV Production Digital Disk Recorders and Related Software Applications, especially in the field of sports. The company’s dedicated hardware and software suite offer a complete production platform: live slow motion (LSM), high speed slow motion, replay only, clips generation, quick clips editing, real-time SD/HD video files transfer, time delay, multi-camera recording, metadata association, graphics storage and play-out, digital transmission, multi-format ingest and play-back, audio record & edit, webcasting, mobile phone clipping. Main software applications like the « IP Director® » are running on the dedicated robust and flexible hardware the « XT[2]® Platform ». The world’s leading broadcasters, such as NBC, BSkyB, FOX, RTL, NHK, CANAL+, ABC, ESPN, TF1, CCTV, PBS, CBS, BBC, ZDF, TVE and many others use EVS’ solutions.

EVS 47,20% affiliate XDC is pioneering Digital Cinema Logistics and Play-out and operates between the movies distributors and exhibitors. XDC has installed more than 280 digital screens throughout the world in China, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, the United States, France, Belgium, etc.

Net sales break down by product family as follows:

• cinematography management software (62.1%): for ensuring film storage, security, sub-titling, projection, preparation of copies, logistical services, etc.;
• TV production and broadcasting systems (37.9%): slow-motion recorders, integrated production systems (for capturing video camera signals, editing, archiving, and broadcasting images), multi-channel screen broadcasting software, equipment for broadcasting TV on the Internet, speakers, etc.

Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Europe/Africa/Middle East (53.3%), Americas (25.2%) and Asia/Pacific (21.5%).

For more information, refer to www.evs-global.com

Cloud Adopters Embrace Cloud For Both Innovation and Legacy Optimization

Once thought to be the answer to deployment options for just the SMB market, early cloud adopters proved otherwise. Stereotypes about industry, size of company, geographies, and roles no longer hold back adoption. Cloud adoption at all 4 layers of the cloud passed the tipping points in 2010 as a key business and technology strategy . For 2011, we can expect users to: see Figure 1.

General Trends Reflect Natural Maturation Of The Cloud Market

• Replace most new procurement with cloud strategies. Preference in deployment options and lack of availability of innovative solutions in on-premises options will result in a huge shift for 2011. Add capex swap out for opex, and most CFO’s will be singing the praises of Cloud along with the business and IT leaders.
• Start with private clouds as a stepping stone to public clouds. Conservative CIO’s looking to dip their toes into cloud computing will invest into private cloud while evaluating the public cloud at the same time.
• Get real about security. Customers will move from “the cloud is not secured” to “how can security be achieved in the cloud?”. They will start asking real questions about security. The result — cloud vendors must further showcase various industry-specific compliance approaches.
• Move to private clouds as a back up to public clouds. Forecasts in cloud security breaches will call for partly cloudy cloud adoption. Despite the woes in on-premises security and the march to the cloud, cyber attacks will force companies to move from public clouds to private clouds in 2011. Concern about cyber gangs hacking into commercial and military systems leads to a worldwide trend that temporarily reduces public cloud adoption. Hybrid models for apps in the public cloud and data in the private cloud emerge as users migrate from on-premises models. Data integration and security rise to key competencies for 2011. The bottom line – improved data security reliability will drive overall cloud adoption in the latter half of 2011. Organizations will keep private clouds for both security and back up.

SaaS (Consumption Layer) Emerges As The Primary Access To Innovation

• Begin the transition from best of breed purpose built solutions to cloud mega stacks. Customers will still need stacks to be augmented by best of breed purpose built solutions. As with the early days of ERP and CRM, expect suite consolidation to occur for SaaS apps vendors. However, the vendors with both the best PaaS platform and ecosystem will win. Mature cloud customers will bet on several emerging platforms and apps as well as content driven cloud platforms complemented by strong integration solutions. Access to deep industry vertical solutions will play a key role in this migration. The need to quickly innovate will hasten SaaS adoption.
• Leverage apps market places and ecosystems for the last mile. The growing consumerization of enterprise apps includes a shift in how software is acquired and consumed. Market places will be the predominant channel for not only the acquisition of last mile apps but also, the request for proposal for custom app development. System integrators will have to deliver solutions in the cloud. Software vendors will emerge as information brokers.
• Acknowledge that superior user experience and scale won’t be mutually exclusive. The customers, especially the line of businesses (LOBs) will demand superior user experience as well as the scale in the SaaS applications and the tools that they will use. Ease of use will be on top of the list while evaluating a SaaS application and will help the SaaS vendors win a deal against on-premise incumbents whose products may have more features but poor user experience.

DaaS (Creation Layer) Addresses the App Dev Needs Of The Advanced Customer

• Shift all new custom app development to the cloud. Early adopters already see the benefits of elasticity as they design, build, and test custom app without waiting for the procurement of hardware, installation of software, and the preparation of the environment. In addition, the emerging tool kits continue to take advantage of more business oriented development languages such as Ruby and Python.
• Expect DaaS and PaaS to merge in 2011. Customers expect their platforms to not only provide orchestration, but also support a plethora of development languages. Smart customers will seek open standards and want to avoid platform lock-in. Expect truly open PaaS platforms to provide more choices in 2011.

PaaS (Orchestration Layer) Focuses On Simplifying Connectivity And Delivering New Technologies

• Bet on integration vendors with extensive libraries that move beyond data integration. Increasing hybrid deployment models will raise customer expectations for easier integration management. Most customers will expect integration to work beyond point to point data. Better integration will address process and meta data. Customers seek improved analytics and the resemblance of a common data model.
• Deliver consumer tech features into the enterprise. As social business platforms, mobile enterprise capabilities, predictive analytical models, unified communications, and other disruptive technologies enter the ecosystem, customers will expect their platforms to keep up. Analytical platforms will emerge first, followed by mobile and social features.

IaaS (Infrastructure Layer) Aims To Reduce Complexity And Simplify Management

• Demand better virtualization. The private, as well as public cloud vendors, will focus on reducing the virtualization overhead. As customers invest into virtualization as a stepping stone to full fledged cloud adoption, they will expect easier to use and more comprehensive virtualization management tools.
• Simplify the overall technology landscape. Customers with a hybrid landscape of legacy and modern cloud systems will use Cloud as a tool to simplifying their existing landscape. Cloud will also be used to reduce the amount of software shelfware and unused hardware capacity. Users will benefit from a smaller energy and management footprint.
• Access archival data online. For many customers, especially in certain industries, where it was economically and technologically impossible to keep all the content online, the cloud adoption will mean bringing back archival content – text, audio, and video – back to their online systems. Information management skills in archiving and data management will emerge as a core competency among cloud users.

The Bottom Line: Cloud Adoption Provides A Path To The Next Generation Enterprise

• Cloud adoption is inevitable. Business technology leaders will move beyond “try and buy” across the Cloud Stack for seven reasons:
  • The cloud has moved from “when” to “how”
  • As the economic climate improves, the cloud adoption discussions are moving from cost to value and from tactical to strategic
  • Reducing hardware cost, increasing competition amongst vendors, and economies of scale have put the customers in a driver’s seat
  • Customers have realized that TCO of software should be a vendor’s problem, and not theirs
  • Cloud will deliver the optimization savings to pay for future innovations
  • Future innovations will arrive cloud first and maybe never as an option on-premises
  • Time to value, ease of use, and good-enough functionality will lead as the primary drivers for SaaS adoption

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