Gartner's Magical Quadrant and The Scales of Justice

On December 4, 2009, ZL Technologies filed an amended complaint against Gartner, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Court granted ZL the opportunity to clarify and augment our earlier allegations of defamation and trade libel.

In the first round of ZL's legal dispute with Gartner, Gartner argued to the Court that its rankings and other statements in the proprietary Magic Quadrant Reports are merely opinions that are not based upon fact, and that they are understood as such by the readers of those reports.

However, Gartner's past statements in marketing materials, white papers, blogs and even the Magic Quadrant Reports themselves, assert that their research and analysts' opinions are based on a body of facts compiled through what is asserted to be a rigorous process.

The amended complaint clarifies ZL's contentions about the inaccuracy of Gartner's reports, the inherent conflict of interest arising out of Gartner's voluminous business with the vendors it reviews, and its subsequent bias towards large and established vendors. The amended complaint also adds new detail about Gartner's repeated claims that its research is based on objective facts a position exactly opposite to the stance forwarded by Gartner in court.

While this case is focused on ZL's dispute with Gartner over the erroneous statements in Gartner's publications, the issues here also implicate Gartner's larger business model.

Gartner plainly admits that it attempts to leverage value from its largest clients, many of whom are also vendors covered in the company's research.

ZL's legal filings describe how that business model causes Gartner to favor those large companies at the expense of identifying the best technologies, thus misleading not just the vendors who are inaccurately reviewed by Gartner, but the consumers who base their IT purchasing decisions on Gartner's biased research.

ZL is seeking injunctive relief as well as compensatory and punitive damages from Gartner.

The amended complaint can be found here:

http://www.zlti.com/courtdocs/docs/First_Amended_Complaint.pdf

Today, I Had Drinks with a Hero...

April 1941, Pearl Harbor.

The newly wed couple fresh from the states live in a one bedroom house. They share the shower, and toilet with 2 other couples. He a Naval corpsmen, his beautiful young bride the homemaker.

After being married a few months and living with family in a small, cramped California house, they journey thousands of miles and half an ocean's distance to finally live together alone.

Together in Paradise.

This is Oahu, April of 1941. Cane fields surround the lazy, sleepy town of Honolulu. Soft, tropical breezes stir through the palms drying out remnants of morning showers. The island was home to 50,000 service men but it still had only one traffic light.

Hawaii is a US Territory, statehood nearly two decades away. The town has one road in and out; no skyscrapers, mega-resorts, or miles of lights, to wash out the stars of the night sky.

A time as foreign to us contemporaries as the surface of Mars.

On the morning of December 7th, eight months after arriving in Paradise, and a mere 30 minutes before "all hell breaks loose", this sailor gives his new bride a kiss on the cheek and heads of to another day doing whatever a corp man does. She expects to greet her husband at day's end, with a home cooked dinner.

At work, a line of gray battleships - the might and power of the United States Navy - are tied off - "Battleship Row". They carry names of honor; Nevada, California, Tennessee, Maryland, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Utah and Arizona.

This sailor will be late for dinner.

His name is Jack and her name is Mary. Jack is my wife's, mother's uncle and is one of the few remaining Pearl Harbor survivors. It is always an honor to share adult beverages (yes, plural) with him. Jack is 89 years young.

His life story includes witnessing and surviving the attacks of Peal Harbor, evacuating his new bride months later on a troopship.

From Pearl he was ordered to Southampton, England to setup a medical facility in preparation for a secret "big push" in Europe - D-Day. His facility receives the casualties from the beaches of Normandy.

Not long after, he is ordered aboard a "tin-can", hunting German U-boats in the North Atlantic. He has a most vivid memory of he and his destroyer shipmates rolling along in swells, seasick and miserable, looking over at the sailors on an carrier, playing ping-pong on the fight deck.

Now a days, he lunches with his pals at Denny's or Big Boys - his "pals" include WWII aces, test pilots, Medal of Honor recipients.

He belongs to organizations whose rosters include men with the names of Yeager, Lindberg, Hoover and Doolittle - Jimmy Doolittle's grand daughter has been to his house often researching her next book.

His life is full of experiences, ghastly visions and terrible smells:

Memories of the battleship Nevada beaching directly in front of him on Hospital Point.

Bremerton bay from the deck of a shattered Enterprise.

The rumble and flashes in the pre-dawn sky of June 6th.

Rolling seas, frigid, arctic salt air, under a gray, troubling sky in the North Atlantic - do those memories sustain him and give him pause? Of course.

Yet, I suspect that those 8 months on Oahu, from April to December, memories of two young lovers in Paradise - I think those memories sustain him to this day.

He is a Hero. He does not think of himself as a hero, they never do.

He offers us his memories, his history, to sustain us, not him.

Jack is a "Living History Speaker".

He and a group of survivors visit schools and tell kids about December 7th and the War - refreshing. Alas, I fear, more kids have been subject to Nobel Prize winning Enviro-mercial, "Inconvenient Truth" than Jack and his pals could ever reach.

Very unfortunate, when considering the biggest risk Al Gore ever took was operating his cherry-picker.

Paradise Lost.

Clarion University Saving Money with The First Two Stages of Managed Print Services

Stage One and Stage Two of the MPS doctrine - but not Stage Three, yet.

The project was led by the university President. (C-Level sponsorship)

Purchasing and IT worked together.(prerequisite to moving forward)

A study conducted. (Assessment)

Machines removed. (Primary Goal of MPS)

CRD revamped. (CRD's can be included)

From 0.12/B&W to 0.035/B&W.(Quick Win, hard cost savings)

Six Million Images in the first year. (Baseline measurement)

Early in February 2010, Clarion University Purchasing, Computer Services, and IKON/Ricoh will be holding a demonstration of methods and equipment for the rest of campus. IKON/Ricoh will be training staff and faculty on the use of new equipment. (On going MPS Engagement)

Partnered with Ricoh/IKON(throw everything I said above, out. Its a CPC not MPS)


Printer changes saving Clarion University money

Clarion University is looking for budget savings one printer cartridge at a time.
President Joseph Grunenwald with the printers and ink
cartridges removed from offices in Carrier Hall.

Printer cartridges, the type used in all desktop printers appears to be a small budget item when purchasing decisions are being made. Clarion University discovered that on a large scale this commonly used product results in thousands of dollars in purchases each year, leading to an effort to curb this expense by moving to centralized print devices.

Led by President Joseph Grunenwald, the administrative offices in Carrier Hall are leading the way for campus. Most all of the desktop/personal printers, including those in the president's office, have been removed. A Ricoh central printer/copier/scanner, for use by the entire floor has replaced the personal printers. One centralized networked printer will serve as backup per department.

"Our intent is to look at how the entire campus copies and prints, and what to do on campus with copiers and printers," said Rein Pold, director of purchasing.

The analysis was eye opening. There were roughly 540 print devices (mostly Hewlett Packard) on campus, which used $60,000 a year in print cartridges. Clarion spends $12-15,000 per year to purchase printers and an additional $4-5,000 per year to maintain the devices. The cost to print from these devices is six to 12 cents per black and white copy and 15 to 32 cents per color copy.

During 2009, a switchover started. Ricoh Equipment installed 27 color/black and white and 44 black and white only copiers on campus. The copy volume during the first year for these 71 machines was almost six million black and white copies and 250,000 color copies. Factoring in the cost of toner, maintenance, and other supplies, the cost per copy was .03 to .035 cents per black and white copy and .08 to .09 cents per color copy.

"We didn't invent this process," said Pold. "Hewlett Packard removed all non-networked printers from its corporate headquarters in 2008 and they make $21 billion per year selling printer cartridges. Clarion is approaching this idea cooperatively so the employees understand going to the right place for the right job is the most cost effective approach. The Ricoh copiers became the default printers for all people working on a floor or in a department, with each employee having the ability to print directly to that copier through their personal computer. The machines can also be used as copiers and can scan printed items so it may be e-mailed or faxed.

"This has been a cooperative effort of purchasing and computer services," said Pold. "Steve Selker, and Scott Bauer from computing services led the efforts to set up the new equipment."

Pold also sees PAGES (Printing and Graphics Express Service), Clarion University's own full-service printing, copy and promotional center, being reintroduced as the shop where volume work for campus can be completed. PAGES will hold an open house early in 2010 to demonstrate new services and equipment.

Early in February 2010, Clarion University Purchasing, Computer Services, and PAGES; and IKON/Ricoh will be holding a demonstration of methods and equipment for the rest of campus. IKON/Ricoh will be training staff and faculty on the use of new equipment.

"What Clarion is doing is unique within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education," said Pold. "No one else has the cost-per-copy program that Clarion has. President Grunenwald was on board early supporting this process, leading by giving up his own printer."

Clarion University is the high-achieving, nationally recognized, comprehensive university that delivers a personal and challenging academic experience.



Posted by University Relations on 12/4/2009 9:00:00 AM