SALT LAKE CITY – August 30, 2010 – V3 Systems today announced V3Desk, a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) cloud computing appliance that allows organizations to run desktop computing applications “in the cloud” faster than on traditional desktops or any other VDI appliance – and to do so at a fraction of the typical costs.

V3 Systems will unveil both the V3Desk-300 and V3Desk-50 VDI appliances this week in booth #1740 at VMworld 2010, held August 30 to September 2, 2010 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

Basic Details & Specifications for the V3Desk-50 and V3Desk-300

V3Desk appliances run both VMware ESX 4.x and higher and Windows 7.x and higher (as well as XP and Vista), and the V3Desk appliances are designed as 1U-high rack mount virtualization device.

The V3Desk-50 includes

• six processor cores, with
• 640GB of solid state (SSD) storage, and
• supports up to 50 simultaneous virtual desktops.

Pricing for the V3Desk starts at $50,000.

Conversely, the V3Desk-300 includes

• 32 processor cores, with
• 1.2TB of solid state (SSD) storage, and
• supports up to 300 simultaneous virtual desktops.

Pricing for the V3Desk starts at $150,000.

General availability for both the V3Desk-50 and V3Desk-300 is November 2010.

“We believe we have developed the fastest virtual desktop environment on the planet, and at a price point that is very competitive, both with traditional desktops and with virtual desktops as well,” said Peter Bookman, President and CEO of V3 Systems. “Not only will we show in our public demonstrations at VMworld 2010 how much faster the V3Desk is at launching and running a VDI environment, but we can do so at a fraction of the price of other cloud computing / virtualization vendors.”

According to Bookman, the V3Desk-300 delivers virtual desktops at about half the Capital Expenditure (CapEx) cost of other virtual desktop offerings. From an Operational Expenditure (OpEx) standpoint,

• the V3Desk-300 comes in at ~$100/year in annual operational expenses per V3Desk-300 client,
• versus ~$1,800/year in annual OpEx costs per virtual desktop client from other companies,
• versus ~$2,400/year in annual OpEx costs per traditional desktop client.

“The bottom line is that the V3Desk virtual desktop solution from V3 Systems is very fast and very economical and has the ability to transform cloud computing environments overnight,” Bookman said. “On top of that, we significantly lower the footprint required to support so many machines, especially with our V3Desk-300 appliance. We look forward to meeting with prospective clients, partners, integrators, VARs and consultants at VMworld 2010 to show them what the V3Desk can do.”

About V3 Systems

V3 Systems has developed new virtualization solutions that help its clients maximize their cloud-based computing resources. The company’s first product offerings will be unveiled at VMworld 2010 August 30 to September 2, 2010 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. For more information about V3 Systems, please visit http://www.v3systems.com/. 

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 {NOTE: V3 Systems’ website is NOT slated to go “live” until the beginning of VMworld 2010 on August 30, 2010.} 

The first time you work for or with a firm that sells products direct to consumers, you will likely be shocked at the number of so-called journalists who come out of the woodwork looking for evaluation units they can review or write about.

For reviewers / journalists who are employed by a media outlet, this is typically a pretty easy assignment to work through

• Is the person employed by the company or not?
• Is their name listed on the publication’s masthead or Website?
• Does the receptionist know their name?
• Does Cision or Nexis-Lexis list their name as an employee of the media outlet?

If the answer to any or all of these questions is “No” — be cautious. Someone might be trying to pull a fast one on you, either for the purpose of snagging free products, or (more nefariously) because they work for a competitor.

What about freelancers?

On the one hand, figuring out whether or not someone is actually on staff with a media outlet is fairly straightforward. Where it gets tricky, however, is if the person in question is a freelancer.

For the record, I’ve seen some spectacular PR results in the past when working with freelance writers, reviewers and journalists. At the same time, I’ve also had some pretty bad experiences with so-called freelancers as well.

So . . . here are two rules of thumb for working with Freelance Product Reviewers.

1. If the freelancer claims to be working on assignment, then verify this point. Ask for the name of their main contact at the media outlet, then follow-up with that person to ensure the freelancer is, in fact, on assignment.
2. If the freelancer says he/she is not on assignment but is looking for a media outlet to place the finished review, be cautious. Such a situation does not mean they won’t be successful in their placement efforts, and the finished review might be marvelous. At the same time, I also recommend researching and reading past product reviews and evaluations the freelancer has published in the past before making a final determination to provide them with a review unit.

Naturally, if you have worked with a freelance reviewer in the past and you have a comfort level that this person is a straight-shooter, I would likely provide them with an eval unit even if they did not have a formal assignment.

That said, one of the biggest challenges with providing eval units to reviewers ties back to the cost/value of the product in question and the costs associated with getting the product into the reviewers’ hands. But this is probably a topic for another Politis PR Tip. 

Whether we like to admit it or not, some people in virtually any profession are willing to do just about anything to be successful.

For example, more than 15 years ago, television reporter Connie Chung tricked the elderly mother of Newt Gingrich to reveal that the future Speaker of the House had called then First Lady, Hillary Clinton, a “bitch.”

How’d she do it? By leaning in close and in a muted voice suggesting Mrs. Gingrich “just whisper it to me,” which she did. 

Unfortunately, there are some journalists who will use any means possible to get their story. One such trick is the “Off the record” comment.

If you are ever asked by a journalist to go “off the record” with any form of information, be very, very careful. Chances are the meatier and/or juicier the news nugget, the greater the likelihood that information will be published — with or without your name attached to it.

Recognize also that even if a reporter turns off a video or audio recorder or puts down her notepad and pen, the comment you make can still be attributed to you, either directly or indirectly.

The bottom line is this:

“Off the record” comments typically are NOT off the record.

Be extremely cautious if you are ever asked by a journalist to go “off-the-record.”.

Sometimes the natural inclination might be to answer a reporter with the phrase, “No comment.”

My response? Don’t! Fight it! Resistance is NOT futile!

For better or worse, whenever someone hears the term “No comment” they automatically think

• They’re guilty, or
• They’re hiding something, or
• Gotcha!

 even if that’s not the case at all.

If you find yourself in a situation where you really can’t respond to a journalist’s question, then say so.

Say something like

• I’m not really in a position to answer that question right now,

or

• Because we’re in the midst of a court case, I shouldn’t answer that question,

or

• I don’t want to give my attorney a heart attack, so I’m gonna skip that question for now,

or many other ways of answering the question without actually saying anything.

Just don’t say, “No comment.” That’s the kiss of death!

In the world of Investor Relations, the term “full disclosure” carries both special meaning and a unique purpose — a meaning and purpose that are more clear with a bit of historical perspective.

Two of the most important reasons for forming the United States Securities Commission (SEC) in 1934 included

• Trying to prevent abuses of the stock markets in the future, and
• Leveling the playing field between financial professionals and individual investors.

One of the stock-trading problems identified by Congress in the run-up to the SEC’s creation was insider-trading:

a situation where an individual with special access to corporate information was able to buy or sell stock before certain information became widely known by the public.

Congress was wise enough to recognize that it could not prevent people from knowing or coming across such “inside information,” but it did decide that it could penalize both corporations and individuals for abusing such information.

Hence, the concept of “Full Disclosure” was born.

Simply put, if a company decides that it is going to announce or disclose Material News to the public, it agrees that it will do its utmost to make that announcement in both a

• Full, and
• Timely manner.

Specifically, the announcement must be made so that no individual or group of individuals has an unfair trading opportunity because he/she or they have the information before others do.

Typically, the way companies have met the SEC’s Full and Timely disclosure requirements is to utilize a commercial wire service — such as Business Wire, PR Newswire or others — to distribute said material news annoucements. In this manner, it is believed that the greatest population of prospective investors (professionals and non-professionals alike) would get access to the same amount of information at the same time.

This is why it is extremely rare to see a publicly traded company make any announcements without using a commercial wire service.

BONUS TIP:

This is also why

publishing news on a corporate Website alone does NOT constitute full and timely disclosure.

For although more than 90 percent of the homes in the United States have a personal computer connected to the Internet today and therefore have the ability to access news and information on a company Website, such widespread use of Internet-connected PCs alone does NOT mean that everyone would learn about material news at the same time.

Hence, the SEC still requires today the use of a commercial wire service for

• Full disclosure, and
• Timely disclosure

of material news.

The question of whether or not a firm should or has to make an announcement to the public, whether that be via a news release, public announcement or press conference, is often more than just an internal debate comparable to the age-old argument about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

In fact, when it comes to companies that have shares that are available for sale and purchase in a public stock market, this question moves beyond the rhetorical realm into the practical world.

Why? Because in some instances, a publicly traded company has no say it the matter — it MUST make a public announcement.

The key to such a triggering event hinges upon the question of “Materiality” and understanding what the word “material” means from a legal/financial perspective when it comes to publicly traded companies.

A Layperson’s Definition of Material News

In the case of a publicly traded company,

News is said to be “material” if the average person would likely make a decision to either Buy or Sell the company’s shares if he/she knew such news.

If the answer is “Yes,” then the news is “material” to the company and triggers the need for a news announcement. If the answer is “No,” then the news is NOT “material” and a news announcement is not needed.

Clearly, what constitutes material news for one company may not come close to being material for another firm.

Materiality and the $1 Million Contract

Consider the example of top execs at a publicly traded firm that learned that one of their associates had just closed a one-year contract worth $1 million. Is this contract material to the company?

The answer is, “It depends.”

If a firm (call it “Company A”) had annual revenue last year of $100 million or more, the likely answer is “No,” a $1 million contract would not be considered material by most individuals. Certainly it would not be a contract to sneeze at, but at less than 1 percent of Company A’s top-line revenue, a $1 million contract would probably not cross the line of being considered “material.”

However, what if “Company B” had annual revenue last year of less than $20 million or even $10 million? A-ha — now we’re talking about additional annual revenue equal to 5% to 10% (maybe even more). Now we’re talking about a much bigger potential impact on Company B from just one sale.

In the examples outlined above, I believe that a $1 million annual contract is a material event in the case of “Company B” (with annual revenue of $20 million to $10 million, or less), while the same size contract would not be material for “Company A” since it has annual revenue of $100 million or more.

The gray area, of course, in these examples would be those publicly traded companies generating between $20 million and $100 million in annual revenue.

Other Types of Material News

Certainly material news is not merely defined by the size of newly won (or lost) contracts.

Material news can also include such things as

• Executives hired,
• Executives fired,
• Board members added,
• Board members dismissed,
• The health of a senior executive (think about Steve Jobs’ liver transplant and Apple’s handling of this news),
• The death of a senior executive,
• The opening of a new plant or facility,
• The closing of a plant or facility,
• Entering a new country or market,
• Leaving a country or market (think about Google’s position in China),
• Launching a new product,
• Issuing a product recall,
• Significant layoffs,
• Significant hirings,
• A flood,
• A fire,
• A storm,
• A natural disaster,
• A war,
• A riot,
• A burglary,
• Etc., etc., etc.

In conclusion, let me restate what I wrote above.

News is material if the average person would buy or sell stock if they knew the news.

And yes, it’s really that simple (or that complicated), depending upon the company, the news and your viewpoint

Quote someone besides the CEO in your next news release, especially if you want to make a smaller company appear to be larger than it really is.

I know it seems silly, but try it. Quote the Chief Financial Officer, or the Vice President of Engineering, or the Chief Operations Officer instead of simply quoting the President/CEO.

I have found this works quite well with start-ups and smaller entrepreneurial firms that do not have to disclose their size.

Then again, this presumes that you work with a company that has other senior executives beyond the CEO that are worth quoting . . . but that’s a whole ‘nother question. 

If you’re preparing a written speech for yourself, your boss or your client, there are four things you should to do to make sure your speech copy is easy to read and follow.

One:   Write your speech copy in ALL CAPS.

Two:   Triple space between the lines of your speech copy.

Three:   Print on one side of each page.

Four:   Bind each page into a three-ring binder.

It may seem silly, but taking these steps will make the speech even better.

Just as it makes sense to provide journalists with shorter versions of copy they might use verbatim (see Politis PR Tip #86: Provide Different Copy Lengths), it also makes sense to take a similar approach if you’re working with broadcast journalists.

Hence, consider preparing news copy that can be used in 15-, 30- and 60-second lengths, in addition to any news releases, announcements or background materials you might provide journalists.

Here’s a PR tip I picked up years ago from my friend Jeff Acerson back when he was running the public relations department for WordPerfect Corp.

Provide journalists with 25-, 50- and 100-word descriptions of your new product, service, executive or announcement.

In today’s hypercompetitive and financially challenged world, one of your main goals as a PR professional is to make journalists’ lives as easy as possible. One way to do this is to give them as little editing work to do as possible.

Chances are in many instances they just won’t be able to include all six-hundred-and-eighty-seven words from your press release in the next edition of the newspaper or magazine or use it in its entirety on their Website or during their next newscast — that’s the reality of the situation.

So . . . make it easy for them: Provide shorter versions of your news copy that they MIGHT use verbatim.

Chances are they will. And if they do, they’ll love you for it.