Davin blog

expressor software enters 2011 with New Products, Free ETL, and Key Hires

Company is building strong market momentum with brand new ETL and data integration product.

Burlington, MA (Vocus/PRWEB) January 31, 2011

expressor software, a leading provider of free and affordable data integration software, today announced that the company is building strong market momentum with a brand new fast, easy to download and use ETL product, and new hires in key areas of its operations.

"It took us some time to get all the components of our new business model up and running," said Bob Potter, president and CEO, expressor software. "I am very excited about the fact that we are entering 2011 with a significantly improved and redesigned product set that fully supports our high-transaction business model going forward.The download activity has surpassed our very high expectations to date and I’m expecting close to 20,000 unique downloads of the free Studio product this year."

"expressor software has made significant progress in all areas of its operations," added Melinda Smith, CFO, expressor software."I am very pleased with our year end achievements in customer and bookings growth and our ability to exceed 2010 cash flow targets. Our customer acquisition and sales goals for fiscal year 2011 are very ambitious, but I'm optimistic based on 2010 growth and momentum that we will be able to achieve them."

Product, sales and marketing momentum

During Q4 2010, expressor continued to release breakthrough products, increase customers, hired senior staff and receive positive customer and analyst feedback on its brand new expressor 3.0 data integration platform.Key highlights include:     Launched expressor 3.0 beta program, which was started in mid-2010 and was opened to the public in earlier November.Over 1,500 unique users downloaded the new expressor Studio beta product and utilized the company’s new Community Center to receive free online forum support, online training via tutorials, and access to expressor’s knowledge base and online documentation.

    Released expressor Studio 3.0 as a free community edition in late December 2010 and announced its general availability (GA) in early January.expressor Studio is a next-generation data integration application with simplified data mappings and reusable business rules.The GA release of expressor Studio is being followed by the release of the commercial expressor Standard Edition 3.1 in late February 2011.

    In addition to free community forum support, expressor announced a comprehensive annual support package priced at 1,150 dollars, which enables expressor Studio users to receive unlimited incidence reporting; email and phone support; guaranteed response; automatic notification of updates and bug fixes; 3 hours of product mentoring; and the ability to file enhancement requests. This comprehensive, yet affordable offering is the most generous support package in the industry and by far outmatches similarly priced offerings provided by open source ETL vendors.

    Added new and repeat customers including Western World Insurance Group and Viverae and continued joint partnering and marketing with Teradata by exhibiting at the Teradata Partners user group conference in late October, and conducting its first joint webinar with Teradata in early November 2010.

    expressor also had a strong showing at the PASS SQL Server Summit 2010 the week of November 8, where the company demonstrated the new expressor Studio 3.0 product, announced the public beta and GA plans for it, and jumpstarted the Studio download program right at the show floor. At the event, expressor held its first SQL Server MVP advisory council meeting to receive their input on how expressor can best position and market its product into the SQL Server community.

    Brought on board Alan DiPietro, formerly of LogMeIn, as Vice President of Sales, who is an expert in building and managing high-transaction sales environments.expressor also hired Wiqar Chaudry, formerly of Mobile Messenger and Epsilon, as the company’s product manager for the expressor 3.x product line.

“We like the new Semantic Types capability in expressor Studio 3.0 and are firmly of the belief that the use of semantics is the way forward in many technology areas, of which data integration is just one,” said Philip Howard, Research Director at Bloor Research. “When combined with cross-core parallelism in the commercial editions of expressor 3.x, it is our opinion that expressor offers significant advantages over traditional methods in terms of ease of use, reuse and performance.”

About expressor software

expressor software knows data integration -- and we know today’s most capable data integration tools are too complex and too expensive. Our vision is to provide enterprise-class data integration software that is cost-effective, fast and easy to use.

expressor’s game-changing usability enables you to use less technical, lower-cost development resources. Our unique, active metadata foundation simplifies data mapping and transformation to reduce your time-to-value. And our dramatically lower cost makes it easy to justify replacing your brittle and expensive hand-coded implementations or underperforming in-house ETL tools. Version 3 of expressor is a comprehensive design, development and deployment platform available in three editions tailored to support the full range of data integration applications, from tactical data migrations to the largest enterprise data warehouses and strategic, predictive analytics.

To learn more about what makes expressor the leader in affordable, enterprise-class data integration, visitor download the free expressor Studio at .

# # #

Jessica Murphyexpressor software781-505-4190Email Information

U.S. and Japan warned by IMF and rating agencies on debt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and Japan received sharp warnings from the IMF and ratings agencies on Thursday that they must tackle their huge budget deficits to avoid investors dumping their bonds, which would create a sovereign debt crisis and push up their borrowing costs.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's on Thursday cut Japan's long-term debt rating for the first time since 2002, and a day after a U.S. agency raised its 2011 budget deficit forecast by 40 percent.

In the United States, Moody's Investors Service warned said while the risk to the United States' coveted top triple-A rating was small, it was rising. For details, see

The International Monetary Fund had harsh words for both the United States and Japan, saying they urgently need to act to cut their deficits.

As a political battle heated up in Washington over the budget, the U.S. Treasury took steps to prevent the government from hitting a legal limit on its debt. Republicans are demanding spending cuts as the price of their support for raising the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling.

President Barack Obama this week announced a five-year freeze in annual domestic spending, which the White House estimates will save more than $400 billion over the next decade, but an International Monetary Fund official said on Thursday that more is needed.

Carlo Cottarelli, director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, said Washington must be more specific in detailing plans that go further.

One Republican warned that the United States faced the risk of a currency crisis if it did not get its debt under control. "We're getting closer to that all the time," said Texas Representative Ron Paul, who has long advocated a return to a requirement that the dollar be backed by gold.

In Europe, market pressures have forced many governments to adopt austerity budgets to bring down soaring borrowing costs, and the European Union is now locked in debate over whether a 440 billion euro bailout fund for its members is too small.

U.S., JAPAN LAGGING WITH CUTS

In a report on global debt, the International Monetary Fund patted Europe on the back for its efforts while declaring the United States and Japan as the budget-cutting laggards.

"In advanced economies where fiscal sustainability has not been a market concern, credible plans going well beyond 2011 need to be put in place urgently to lock in benevolent market sentiment," the IMF said.

"Renewed market pressures in some advanced economies demand that these countries underline their commitment to their deficit targets and devise contingency plans to ensure that adjustment goals are met," it added.

The fund said large European countries will all tighten their budgets this year broadly in line with earlier plans, with Spain making the deepest cuts.

The IMF's Cottarelli told reporters that markets were overestimating the risk of default or debt restructuring in Europe, following bailouts of Greece and Ireland.

But the IMF's report said Europe needed a more comprehensive approach to crisis management to avoid spillovers and to "break the fiscal-financial spiral." The IMF said earlier this week that Europe's debt crisis posed one of the gravest risks to the global recovery.

While Europe was cutting its deficits, the IMF said new tax cuts in the United States and increased spending in Japan had set back progress in rich nations more generally.

TIME TO DO MORE

Cottarelli said Japan needed to raise more revenue and he renewed a call for Tokyo to increase its value added tax.

As for the United States, the fund said Washington would need to make up for the delay by cutting more deeply in 2012. A deeper adjustment by the United States is needed for it to meet an ambitious G20 target of halving its budget deficit by 2013.

A White House official said Obama would lay out "a number of tough steps to tackle our fiscal situation" in a budget proposal next month. At the same time, top White House economist Austan Goolsbee said the government had to be careful not to undermine a fragile economic recovery.

S&P's decision to downgrade Japan's long term debt a notch to AA-minus led to a sell-off in the yen and government bonds.

Prices for U.S. Treasuries were unmoved on the Moody's report, which broke late on Thursday. However, some traders said the report could still seep into markets and pull bonds down on Friday.

"When you have punishing news like this from Moody's and other rating agencies, it will clearly leave a negative impression on Treasuries," said Todd Schoenberger, managing director at LandColt Trading Inc. in Wilmington, Delaware.

Alan Wilde, head of fixed income and currency at Baring Asset Management in London, noted the quandary that investors face.

"We have been underweight Japanese government bonds for several years .... but the outlook is hardly better anywhere else," Wilde said. "There is already speculation that the United States may be next in the credit ratings agencies' sights."

(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal, Alister Bull and Glenn Somerville in Washington, and Walter Brandimarte and Steven C. Johnson in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Materials stocks fall on fear of Chinese rate hike

NEW YORK – Concerns that China will take steps to slow its economic expansion sent commodities and materials stocks lower Thursday.

China reported that its economy expanded 10.3 percent in 2010. Economists expect that China's central bank will increase interest rates to slow down growth and keep inflation in check.

Demand from China has sent commodities prices surging over the past year.

"All investors and companies these days are clinging to this Chinese demand story," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. "And anything that could cause that to falter could have ugly implications."

Oil and copper fell more than 2 percent. Silver fell 5 percent.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. dropped 4 percent even after the mining giant reported 60 percent higher income in the fourth quarter as a result of higher copper and gold prices. DuPont fell 1.6 percent and Dow Chemical Co. fell 2.5 percent.

The decline in commodities was tempered by slightly better news on the U.S. job market. The Labor Department reported that the number of people filing claims for unemployment benefits for the first time fell to 404,000 last week, below forecasts.

The better economic news pushed bond prices lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.43 percent from 3.34 percent late Wednesday. Yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.49 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 11,822.8.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 1.66, or 0.1 percent, to 1,280.26. The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index fell 21.07, or 0.8 percent, to 2,704.29.

Materials stocks lost 1.5 percent, the most out of the 10 company groups that make up the S&P 500. Utility companies rose the most, 0.6 percent.

Morgan Stanley rose 5 percent to $29.02 after reporting that its fourth-quarter income jumped 60 percent thanks to strong investment banking revenues.

Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc. jumped 6.9 percent to $4.78 after the company said it is considering selling its struggling Arby's business and concentrating on its hamburger chain.

Google Inc. announced after the market closed that it earned $7.81 per share last quarter, well above analyst's expectations. The Internet search giant also said that co-founder Larry Page will take over as chief executive effective April 4. Eric Schmidt, the current CEO, will become executive chairman. The company was up 2 percent in after-market trading.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was 5 billion shares.

Pistons rally to snap Suns' win streak at 5

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Austin Daye made the go-ahead jump shot with 53 seconds left and the Detroit Pistons rallied for a 75-74 victory Saturday night that snapped the Phoenix Suns' five-game winning streak.

Tayshaun Prince led Detroit with 17 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Will Bynum added 12 points.

Steve Nash had 14 points and nine assists, and Jared Dudley added 13 points for Phoenix. Marcin Gortat had 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Mickael Pietrus' 3-pointer gave the Suns a 66-51 lead with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter before the Pistons charged back with an 11-2 run that cut it to 68-62 on Bynum's layup with 4:55 left after he stole the ball from Nash in the lane at the other end.

Daye's 3-pointer pulled Detroit within 70-67 with 2:40 left before Bynum's jumper a minute later made it a one-point game.

Phoenix took command in the third period by outscoring Detroit 23-11 and led 61-47 going into the fourth.

Vince Carter's 3-point shot with 6:14 left in the third and Grant Hill's driving layup with 5:04 remaining gave the Suns their biggest lead to that point, 52-43. Phoenix scored the last nine points of the third on two free throws each by Nash and two free throws, a 3-pointer and a jumper by Dudley.

Phoenix led 38-36 at the half as Gortat had 11 points and seven rebounds. Prince had 10 points and four rebounds for the Pistons.

Notes: Detroit F Charlie Villanueva didn't play after spraining his ankle during Friday night's 89-74 loss in New Jersey. ... Pistons C Ben Wallace returned after missing seven games with a left ankle injury. ... Hill began his NBA career with Detroit. ... Carter and Detroit's Tracy McGrady are cousins. ... Pistons G Richard Hamilton sat out his seventh straight game as he awaits a trade.

Traders warn U.S. CFTC about vague bans on practices

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. futures regulator asked traders on Thursday how best to define trading practices now banned in a new Wall Street reform law, but got little clarity from the experts, who fear an overly restrictive crackdown.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is grappling with how to give markets more direction on how they intend to carry out a ban in the Dodd-Frank law on three disruptive practices -- and whether regulators should go further and rein in high-frequency traders.

Beginning in July, the CFTC is required by the Dodd-Frank act to ban certain trading practices, including "banging the close", acquiring a big position and then offsetting it before trading ends, and "spoofing," when a trader makes bids or offers but cancels them before execution.

"There is no doubt about it, we have our work cut out to provide clarity on those strategies," Scott O'Malia, a CFTC commissioner who leads the agency's technology advisory committee, told Reuters.

"People want certainty from rules, but they don't want to be overly prescriptive to limit innovation, to limit function of some sort that they have in mind. That's the balancing act," he said.

O'Malia said he supported putting in place a series of requirements that traders must follow to access the market. Those measures, he said, are needed to ensure algorithms and high-frequency trading programs will not manipulate the market and give traders confidence they are getting the best price.

At a day-long public meeting, panelists said the rules must remove grey areas so firms know how to run their trading practices without fear they will be violating the law.

New regulations must be "crystal clear, and allow firms to put in the procedures and processes to ensure that they're not engaging in activity that would have that character", Adam Nunes of Hudson River Trading Group told the panel.

But traders and academics had few suggestions for what those rules should be, despite repeated questions from some of the agency's top enforcement staffers.

"It is dangerous to be pigeon-holed with too many rules," said Rajiv Fernando, chief executive of Chopper Trading.

FLASH CRASH CREATES MOMENTUM

The CFTC's new powers have taken on greater public profile in the wake of the May 6 "flash crash" where algorithmic trading was seen as contributing to volatility.

Traders warned that imposing new types of controls could threaten liquidity, making markets thinner and more volatile.

"We are worried you will drive out the good with the bad and we will lose liquidity," said John Hyland, chief investment officer at the United States Commodity Funds.

Traders said the CFTC needs to look at patterns of trade over time, and closely examine intent -- something that historically has been difficult for the CFTC to prove, and may be getting even more difficult with new technology, said Joel Hasbrouck, a business professor at New York University.

Greg Mocek, a former enforcement chief at the CFTC and now a partner at McDermott Will & Emery in Washington, said unless the definition of these trading practices is clear, it would create problems for traders and the agency.

"The vagueness is going to chill legitimate trading, there's no doubt about it," said Mocek, who spoke for the Commodity Markets Council.

"The vagueness is also going to impede the ability of the enforcement division to bring cases," he said.

SPEED BECOMING "ARMS RACE"

Although a government review of May 6 did not blame high-frequency traders, the Securities and Exchange Commission and CFTC are under pressure to rein in the rapid traders, who use computer-driven algorithms.

High-frequency trading may account for 60 percent of U.S. futures trade by the end of 2010, according to one estimate -- a dramatic shift from traditional pit-dominated trade.

DRW Trading Chief Executive Don Wilson said the CFTC should require high-frequency traders to have good risk-management practices to ensure algorithms don't run amok, but stopped short of suggesting mandatory pre-trade testing for algos.

"Algorithmic traders that have not put in place reasonable procedures to ensure that something like this doesn't happen absolutely should be held accountable," Wilson said.

While high-frequency traders argued their orders helped make markets efficient, New York University's Hasbrouck said the CFTC should look for ways to slow the market down.

"This is ultimately an arms race," he said.

"The race to be first is ultimately more unstable than people simply trying to be fast," Hasbrouck said.

Tyson Slocum, a director at Public Citizen's Energy Program who works on energy issues, said regulators should put some brakes on high-frequency trades.

"We need to question whether or not these advances in technologies employed with high-frequency trading and these complex algorithms are far beyond the ability of (regulators) to be able to protect consumers from abusive practices."

(Editing by Alden Bentley)