News

January 2008

ePub to be used in Libraries and Online

Value Chain adopts epub standard; instantly available to hundreds of sites

Value Chain International (VCIL), a global digital publishing specialist, announces today that it has enabled ePub titles to be rendered seamlessly within its online DX READER platform, which is used by libraries and institutions around the world. The titles will be fully DRM protected along with OEB and other XML files.

VCIL recognises the emerging publishing industry ePub standard developed by International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) and have not only put their support behind the initiative to create a single ebook format, but have taken action to implement it today across all services and solutions.

“VCIL has produced our 18,000 ebooks and ebookstore and elibrary offers. This move enables us to adopt ePub and integrate it seamlessly within our offers.” said Mark Majurey, Digital Development Director, Taylor and Francis / Informa.

VCIL will fully adopt the IDPF rights and encryption specifications published by IDPF and will be introducing multi platform ePub offers based on DX technology.

VCIL conversion services now offer ePub output as a standard offer to all publishers and Gardners Digital Service (UK’s largest book wholesaler) will also offer this as part of their publisher offer.

“This move by VCIL enables us to not only offer our publishers conversion services to ePub but also will enable us to offer publishers and retailers the option to promote titles with our ePub enabled ‘View Inside’ widgets and sell ePub along with all the other major ebook formats,” said Bob Jackson, Commercial Director Gardners Books.

"We believe that this announcement is significant in that it not only brings ePub to the library and institutional online environments, it is another step forward in the adoption of ePub as a standard format for the publishing industry,” said Garth Conboy, Co-chair ePub Working Groups and Board Member of the IDPF.

September 2006

Value Chain International Strengthens Leadership Team with VP Marketing, Media and Publishing Solutions Appointment 

Global Information Management company, Value Chain (International) Limited (“Value Chain”) has appointed Martyn Daniels as VP Marketing, Media and Publishing Solutions. The appointment of Martyn is part of Value Chain’s strategy to position itself as the leading supplier of digital publishing and business information management solutions in all major international markets.

This newly created position follows a period of significant growth for Value Chain. In June this year, Value Chain acquired digital publishing specialist, Digital Publishing Solutions and information management specialist, Herald Logic, strengthening the company’s global footprint and ability to provide solutions that cover the entire spectrum of information management.

Ananda Rao, CEO of Value Chain said: “I am delighted to welcome Martyn Daniels to the Value Chain management team. The publishing market alone is estimated to be worth US$50billion, and now with our strengthened global footprint and with Martyn's outstanding background in strategy and marketing, and his strong understanding and experience within the publishing industry, positions us well to grow our business in this lucrative market and beyond.”

Mr. Daniels has strong senior management experience in the publishing and corporate sectors.Prior to his involvement in publishing, Mr. Daniels worked for many years as a Senior Executive in marketing, working for leading blue chip organizations in the retail, oil and automotive sectors. Mr. Daniels’ career has included high profile roles such as Director of Strategic Development at VISTA, where he was responsible for, and a contributor to, their highly acclaimed ‘Publishing in the 21st Century’ research and conference series. He was also the primary creator behind publishing services PubEasy, the ‘author2reader’ publishing framework; was one of the key people behind the development of new Front Office systems to support publishers, and played a key role in getting the BA's 'batch' system off the ground.

More recently Mr. Daniels worked as an independent consultant, both within the publishing industry and with blue chip clients across industries. He is a member of the BA’s Digital Content Working Party and the author of their upcoming report ‘Brave New World: Digitisation of Content: the opportunities for booksellers and The Booksellers Association’.

Commenting on his new appointment, Mr. Daniels said: “I'm very excited to be joining Value Chain. It is a dynamic, focused and highly professional team with a solid track record in the publishing industry.”

He adds, “Digitisation and the networked environment have already had a major impact on the publishing industry and today we now find ourselves at the brink of mass adoption. It is no longer a case of if, but when, and Value Chain is ideally placed to help publishers seize the opportunity and fully exploit their digital assets across the publishing life-cycle.”

May 2006

Value Chain International cements real-time enterprise proposition through acquisition of DPS

Acquires Digital Publishing Solutions (DPS), one of the top 5 service providers in India.

Acquisition provides Value Chain with an established footprint in major global markets

Delivers the technology and proven delivery framework to enable Value Chain to deliver complete end to end information management solutions for enterprises

Global Information Management solutions provider, Value Chain (International) Limited, announces the completion of the agreement to acquire Digital Publishing Solutions (DPS) Pty Ltd, a global provider of end-to-end electronic publishing solutions and ePublishing KPO services. DPS is ranked as one of the top 5 service providers in India employing over 600 staff and has a direct presence in India, Singapore, USA and the UK. All staff will be retained.

According to Ananda Rao, Chief Executive Officer, Value Chain International, the acquisition deepens Value Chain’s information management capabilities by adding content digitalisation, XML conversion, information processing and ePublishing/content monetisation services to its suite of real-time business process and information management solutions.

“For us the stand-out quality that made DPS a perfect fit for our business was its capability in XML conversion. XML is the DNA that facilitates the delivery of enterprise information in real time because it removes the tight coupling between IT systems and business processes. It is also the universally accepted language for online digitalisation of content.

By leveraging DPS’ expertise in this area, we are now able to provide our customers with a complete end-to-end solution - from taking their information online, to helping businesses discover the benefits of operating as a real-time enterprise” said Mr Rao.

Commenting on the deal, Executive Director and major investor Mahadev Gowda said that the acquisition marks a major milestone in Value Chain’s expansion plan.

“The transaction underscores our vision to service the entire breadth of information management and to grow our business by entering new geographic regions and markets. Acquisitions of companies that can bring value to our business and customers are instrumental in delivering on this vision. We intend to explore similar opportunities across the Asia Pacific region to enhance Value Chain’s position,” said Mr. Gowda.

return to News

Value Chain International Limited to acquire Digital Publishing Solutions

Australian business process information management company, Value Chain, has entered into an agreement to acquire Digital Publishing Solutions Pte Ltd. (DPS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Singaporean software development and IT services group, 1st Software Corporation (SGX: iSoftel).

The transaction will see Value Chain assume full ownership of DPS’ operations in Singapore, India, UK and the USA, including all rights, benefits, titles and interests in intellectual property owned by and relating to the company.  On completion of the acquisition, DPS staff and operations will be integrated into the Value Chain business.

DPS has a six-year history in delivering digital content solutions including large-scale business process outsourcing (BPO) capabilities servicing the needs of global blue chip companies and publishing houses. The Company is ranked as one of the top 5 service providers in India and has over 600 staff worldwide. Global customers include McGraw Hill, Taylor & Francis, Harcourt, Thomson, Cambridge University Press, Greenwood Publishing, World Scientific and CISCO.

Ananda Rao, CEO of Value Chain said the acquisition of DPS provides a perfect strategic fit and will help drive new lines of revenue for the business in content digitization, conversion and processing. The DPS business will add an additional $6 million (AUD) in revenue, bringing Value Chain’s total revenue for 2006/2007 to approximately $8 million (AUD).

“Digital content is now leading the way forward, driven in part by increased adoption of the Internet as a distribution channel. With our combined strengths, Value Chain has immediate opportunities to expand sales efforts by leveraging DPS’ customer base and global reach to on-sell our expanded information management services and solutions suite,” said Mr. Rao.

As the global market for digital content continues to grow, Mr. Rao plans to build an additional digital content BPO facility in Australia to support the digital content needs of Value Chain’s clients worldwide.

return to News

Bloomsbury Publishing profits as its new eBookstore opens in record time using Value Chain Real Time Enterprise Solutions

The Bloomsbury.com eBookstore in the UK has gone live and in record time, opening up new revenue models for the International publisher, best known for publishing the Harry Potter titles.

Australian firm, Value Chain, designed, built and delivered the site, on budget and on schedule in just under 3 weeks. This included making a variety of Bloomsbury’s best sellers available in a selection of XML eBook formats.  This was a tremendous achievement by all concerned, given the timescales involved.

Value Chain is working closely with Bloomsbury to ensure production of their titles electronically with the highest levels of security and copyright protection.

Nigel Newton, Chairman, Bloomsbury said, "Today sees the unveiling of Bloomsbury’s first 24 titles available for electronic download. We firmly believe that the way forward is for publishers to host their own titles for electronic download and are backing this view by making titles available as from today for download from Bloomsbury.com at the paperback prices of those books. Whilst sales are expected to be small initially with the e-book reading devices of the future still in development, we wish to establish our position now in a market that could become very important in the future. Possibly up to 50% of fiction sales may be downloads within ten years, following the development of a popular e-book reader. Two of our first e-books are the current bestsellers Moondust by Andrew Smith and Empress Orchid by Anchee Min plus the novels of Will Self to coincide with their paperback relaunch, all of which are downloadable from Bloomsbury.com/ebooks from today."

The markets acknowledged the importance of becoming a RTE: Bloomsbury's results were very positive; revenues up by almost 30% and profit up by 24%.

Value Chain RTE Solutions details are at www.value-chain.biz

return to News

December 2005

Local software start-up secures $40 million in unique deal structure

Benchmark Holdings (Aust) Pty Ltd., has secured $40 million* (200 acres) worth of prime real estate in Bangalore from Indian property developer and private investor, Mahadev Gowda, to fund the growth and development of its group of data and information management companies. The transaction will see Mr Gowda transfer ownership of the real estate to Benchmark Holdings in return for equity in the Company and a position on the board.

The value of real estate in Bangalore has been appreciating rapidly (greater than

30% per annum) fueled by excellent economic growth, making this form of equity funding extremely attractive, delivering higher returns than cash held in a bank.

Ananda Rao, CEO of Benchmark Holdings said the Company now plans to raise $16 million in cash by stapling real estate with equity in Benchmark. He said this would provide Benchmark investors “security” that comes with real estate plus “high returns” one can expect from good IT companies – a very low risk high return option combination.  

The funds will be used to capitalise on Benchmark’s first mover advantage in the information management market by rapidly expanding operations in Australia and overseas, as well as commercialising their revolutionary new patent protected information management product, Vivace’.

“We are now in the process of developing specific industry based solutions built around our core software product, Vivace’ and will start our marketing and sales activities in Australia and key markets overseas early next year.

Vivace', helps organisations move to a near real-time digital environment by transforming the way information is managed across an entire business value chain. Vivace’ aggregates, bundles and distributes all forms of information and content, activates tools and initiates web services in any large connected environment,” said Mr Rao.

Commenting on the investment deal, Mr. Mahadev Gowda said Benchmark

Holdings was an exciting investment opportunity as it has an experienced leadership team (including ex-Infosys Australia founder and Executive Director

Ananda Rao), a very unique technology and is well positioned to take a leadership position in the information solutions market. 

“Benchmark is taking the complexity out of information management and has a tremendous opportunity to provide the missing tools and solutions required today to help organisations extract the maximum business value from their existing information, regardless of its format,” said Mr Gowda. “

Over the next three months, Benchmark will also be announcing appointments of several senior managers who will be taking on global responsibilities within the Group. 

-ENDS-

*Based on current market values for land in Bangalore, India

About Benchmark Holdings Pty Ltd.

Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Benchmark Holdings is a specialist group focused on all aspects of data and information management including data/information storage, transformation, aggregation, bundling, syndication, monitoring and analysis. 

Infosys Australia founder and former Executive Director, Ananda Rao established the company in 2005 and has successfully acquired software intellectual property and global funds to rapidly build the business in Australia and in key markets overseas.

Benchmark’s vision is to provide information rich organisations with effective and efficient information management solutions to help them extract maximum business value from existing information.

Benchmark Holdings owns information solutions provider, Value Chain Integration (VCI). VCI specialises in information integration – a high growth market estimated to be worth US$6 billion and growing at 80% CAGR.

The company owns the rights to an industry leading, patented software called

Vivace’ that helps organisations move to a near real-time digital environment by transforming the way information is managed across an entire business value chain.

return to News

November 2005

India Offshoring to Victoria in $20M ICT Investment Deal

A new $20 million intellectual property deal will reverse the off shoring trend and provide a major boost to the Victorian ICT industry, the Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Marsha Thomson, announced today. Value Chain Integration (VCI), a Melbourne-based global information solutions company, has
successfully transferred ownership of software intellectual property (IP) rights, valued at AUD$20 million, from India to Melbourne, where the company plans to build its new global headquarters.

“This deal is a major win for India’s ICT industry and is the first major deal of its kind which sees the transfer of technology ownership from India to Australia,” Ms Thomson said. “This cements trade ties and paves the way for future deals and technology transfer between the two counties.

“It is also testimony to the quality of India’s R&D capabilities and ability to develop market leading technology solutions.”

The IP rights, which are for a world first patented dynamic service collaboration technology, will be owned and marketed by VCI and form part of the emerging information integration market estimated to be worth US$6 billion and growing rapidly. VCI CEO Ananda Rao said VCI intended to become a dominant global player and would leverage Australia’s ICT talent. “VCI will be investing AUD$8.1 million into establishing its global headquarters in Melbourne and plans to be turning around AUD$132 million within five years, staffing in excess of 500 employees world-wide, with up to 100 highly skilled jobs in Melbourne,” Mr Rao said. “Victoria will be the major centre for marketing, solutions development and product design
enhancements with at least 40 per cent of all effort and 60 per cent of monies spent to come out of Australia.”
 

Ms Thomson said trade between Victoria and India had been growing steadily to reach more than AUD$600 million in 2003-04. Ms Thomson is currently leading a delegation of 25 Victorian companies, including VCI, to Bangalore IT in 2005 - Asia’s largest ICT trade fair. The delegation includes people from the eLearning, software development, RFID, manufacturing
 

return to News

Start Up Secures $20M Software IP Transfer Deal

Value Chain Integration (VCI), a Melbourne based global information solutions company, has successfully transferred ownership of software intellectual property (IP) rights, valued at AUD$20 million,from India to Melbourne, where the company plans to build its new global headquarters.

This is the first major deal of its kind which sees the transfer of technology ownership from India to Australia and will reverse the off shoring trend by building Victoria’s ICT export capabilities in the emerging information integration market estimated to be worth US$6 billion and growing rapidly.
“This deal is a major win for India’s ICT industry and is the first major deal of its kind which sees the transfer of technology ownership from India to Australia,” said the Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Marsha Thomson. “This cements trade ties and paves the way for future deals and technology transfer between the two counties,” Ms Thomson said. The IP rights, which are for a world first patented dynamic service collaboration technology, will be owned and marketed by VCI.

VCI CEO Ananda Rao said VCI intended to become a dominant global player and would leverage Australia’s ICT talent.“VCI will be investing AUD$8.1 million into establishing its global headquarters in Melbourne and plans to be turning around AUD$132 million within five years, staffing in excess of 500 employees world-wide, with up to 100 highly skilled jobs in Melbourne,” Mr Rao said.“Victoria will be the major centre for marketing, solutions development and product design enhancements with at least 40 per cent of all effort and 60 per cent of monies spent to come out of Australia.”

Ms Thomson said trade between Victoria and India had been growing steadily to reach more than AUD$600 million in 2003-04.

return to News

October 2005

Infosys Australia Founder and Executive Director Departs

Infosys Australia executive director and second in command, Ananda Rao, has left Infosys to start a new global information management and solutions group, Benchmark Group Holdings, which will be headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

Benchmark Group Holdings will comprise a number of related information solutions businesses, the first of which, Value Chain Integration, is expected to launch in Australia early 2006 and will leverage the collective knowledge of a number of well known IT heavyweights.

Of his decision to depart Infosys, Mr. Rao said that it was time to take on a different career challenge by exploring other exciting opportunities outside of the business.

“I am very proud of the growth and success of Infosys Australia. Since founding the company in 1999, the business has grown to become one of Australia’s leading and respected IT solution providers, and employs over 600 staff with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. However, as the IT landscape and customer needs evolve, new opportunities present themselves which I am looking forward to explore and capitalise on in the future with my new business,“ said Rao.

return to News

June 2005

Azurn launches R&D at TEC

On 23 June Azurn International Limited and La Trobe University Technology Enterprise Centre (TEC) announced that the R&D for Azurn would be conducted on the La Trobe University R&D Park. Azurn has been awarded an Australian Research Council grant that will be used to supplement its R&D. Sue Bell, Director of the TEC, pointed out to the audience the benefits to the Park of having a global company basing its Australian R&D at La Trobe.

Azurn corporate offices are in Melbourne. In Australia, its R&D will be conducted at the Park within the University Technology Enterprise Centre (TEC). The company already has R&D facilities at its offices in Boston, USA, where Azurn was founded and in Oluo, Finland. Azurn has developed a Multimedia Convergence Platform from which a suite of applications can be delivered. The company's multimedia web conferencing solution is already in the market. TEC will be hosting one of these platforms which will be commercially available through the TEC for the use of its tenants and indeed Latrobe University staff and students.

Dr Viberto Selochan, Azurn's CEO, said that locating their R&D facilities at a University known globally for its software engineering research strengths will guarantee cost savings for the company. Importantly, it provides the company exposure to the University resources including access to the academic staff and students who are dedicated to remaining at the leading edge of technology development. Azurn has a track record of working with Universities through its involvement with La Trobe and Curtin University and US universities.

The relationship provides benefits for both partners. Azurn providing equipment to the TEC, support for the University student business planning competition "LTUQuest' and mentoring for student IT start-ups. The company intends to grow through acquisition and as a result, it intends to work closely with the TEC.

Dr Selochan said that Azurn intends to differentiate itself by making R&D a major part of its business. "The intention is not to undertake R&D in-house, but in effect outsourcing it to La Trobe University". He believes that once more companies become aware of the opportunities and benefits of outsourcing R&D to Universities, such as La Trobe, they will be keen to capitalise on the access they will get to academics that will assist them to remain at the leading edge, which is indeed Azurn's R&D strategy.

return to News