Welocalize reports its 10th consecutive quarter of growth

Welocalize, a provider of integrated globalisation services including consulting, engineering, localisation and testing, has reported its continued record growth trend. The company recorded its best quarter ever in the second quarter with a 120% increase in revenue over Q2 of 2003, a 39 increase over Q1 2004 and its 10th successive quarter over the previous year's quarter growth. The company's results through the first half of 2004 include a 48% increase in revenue over the same period in 2003.

Microsoft releases Farsi LIP

Microsoft has announced the availability of a Farsi Language Interface Pack (LIP) that enables the Farsi language for its most popular productivity applications. The Farsi LIP has been developed as part of Microsoft's Local Language Program (LLP), a global initiative that fosters the development of regional language groups, enabling them to preserve and promote their language and culture while benefiting from continuing IT advancements. For the Farsi LIP, development work was handled at Microsoft's facilities in Dublin and the United States, while a team in Dubai worked on the linguistic elements. The local academic community was also involved in the project. Two students from the University of Sharjah and one from the American University Dubai worked with the team in Dubai on testing and the creation of the Farsi dictionary.

GALA and Localization World Announce Agreement

The Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) has announced a cooperative arrangement with the producers of Localization World conferences. The upcoming Localization World San Francisco will be produced by The Localization Institute and MultiLingual Computing in cooperation with GALA. In addition to serving on the conference advisory board, GALA will hold its annual meeting at the event and organise several vendor roundtables. GALA members will also receive a discount on the conference registration and exhibit space.

"We have been very encouraged by the success of the Localization World conferences in Seattle and Bonn, so we're delighted to strengthen our cooperation with the organisers in future conferences," says Renée Sztabelski, GALA Board of Directors Vice Chair. Some 65 GALA member companies attended the Localization World Bonn conference in June, which attracted more than 330 localisation professionals.

This fall's conference in San Francisco (November 15-17, 2004) will focus on how the localisation process must respond to the convergence seen throughout the business world with the theme of "Convergence in the Localization World".  Special emphasis will be given to customer support and issues involved in Asian localisation.  The conference has issued a call for papers with a deadline of August 31, 2004. 

Byte Level Report says Web globalization is back on the "front burner"

Driven by a rebounding global economy, emerging markets and a stronger appreciation for the value of multilingual Web sites, Web globalisation activity is increasing among many of the world's largest companies. This finding and many others can be found in the new report from Byte Level Research, "Web Globalisation and the World's Largest Companies."

Over the past two months Byte Level Research has conducted in-depth interviews with a number of major multinational companies, including Deloitte, Dow, IBM, Microsoft and Starbucks. According to the report, most executives said they expect to add languages to their Web sites over the next three years. Most executives also believe their global Web sites could be improved greatly. However, budgetary constraints remain a major hurdle. The report reveals what companies typically allocate to Web globalisation as well as what they likely should be spending.

Translating & the Computer 26 Conference: Organised by ASLIB

ASLIB is a world class corporate membership organisation with members in some 70 countries around the world. It works with a wide range of organisations worldwide, promoting best practice in the field of information management. It is holding its 26th Translating & the Computer conference from 18-19 November 2004 at 1 Great George Street, London, UK. Registration forms and a call for papers are available at: http://www.aslib.com/conferences/

BlowSearch adds multilingual search option

BlowSearch, a provider of Internet search tools, will provide users with the ability to obtain search results in Spanish, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish. Users can set preferences that direct BlowSearch to search in a specific language. The multilingual search tool also offers adult filtering, spelling correction and the ability to highlight query terms in search results.

BlowSearch's multilingual search is the most recent addition to its family of Internet tools. BlowSearch also offers a proprietary Meta PPC search engine and the BlowSearch Toolbar, an application that runs within a Web browser.

26th Internationalization and Unicode Conference

The 26th Internationalization and Unicode Conference, entitled: Internationalization and Web Services, will be held in San Jose, California, USA from September 8-10, 2004. This is the premier technical conference for software and Web internationalization and a great source for the latest information on standards, best practices, development tools and advances in the globalization of software and the Internet.

The Internationalization & Unicode Conference features a number of presentation formats including tutorials, workshops, lectures, and panel discussions to support different learning styles.

OASIS elections

The international standards consortium, OASIS, has announced the results of the 2004 elections for its board of directors. Mike DeNicola of Fujitsu was elected, while Edward Cobb of BEA Systems, Colin Evans of Intel, Frederick Hirsch of Nokia and Jeff Mischkinsky of Oracle were re-elected by the OASIS membership. Each director serves a term of two-years. They join existing directors whose seats expire in 2005: John Borras of the UK Cabinet Office's e-Government Unit, Eduardo Gutentag of Sun Microsystems, Jim Hughes of Hewlett-Packard, Christopher Kurt of Microsoft and Michael Weiner of IBM, as well as Patrick Gannon who has an appointed seat on the board as president and CEO of OASIS.

In addition, the Consortium has announced the nomination and subsequent appointment of other new members to the OASIS Technical Advisory Board (TAB). New OASIS TAB representatives include Jacques Durand of Fujitsu, Michael Mahan of Nokia, Jishnu Mukerji of Hewlett-Packard, and Timothy Stevens of LexisNexis.