NewsGator on February 21, 2012 announced a new way for organizations to bring enterprise video delivered by Kontiki into Microsoft SharePoint, consolidating all of their enterprise content onto a single collaboration platform.

Kontiki’s Enterprise Video Platform (EVP) helps organizations deliver high-quality live video webcasting, video on-demand and community video portals over their existing networking infrastructure. Companies such as General Motors, Nestle, Wells Fargo, Ernst & Young, Starwood, Sephora and Equinix have used Kontiki’s solution to foster an engaging video culture.

Bringing Kontiki’s patented video delivery technology to Microsoft SharePoint establishes the collaboration platform as the single, central go-to resource for enterprise content. This new capability results directly from the deep integration of Kontiki’s EVP and the NewsGator Social Sites 2010 social computing suite, which delivers a wide range of social and mobile computing capabilities for Microsoft SharePoint.

The integration enhances productivity and business performance by significantly streamlining employee information access. Organizations no longer need to spend time and effort navigating to a separate environment to find, share and manage videos.

“Microsoft SharePoint offers opportunities for organizations to increase productivity, and those opportunities are magnified by Microsoft partners, such as NewsGator, that create solutions to further collaboration,” said Richard Riley, SharePoint product management director at Microsoft Corporation.

Socializing video
In addition to consolidating content on Microsoft SharePoint, the integration makes Kontiki-delivered video more social, enabling users, through Social Sites, to post, share, “like” and comment on Kontiki-delivered video in Social Sites activity streams, communities, video repositories and internal TV channels. The result is an enterprise-grade video experience that is secure, internal, and business-oriented, maintaining a video experience akin to the public YouTube.

“Many global organizations are demanding high-quality enterprise video for a growing number of use cases and need to include this important content within their SharePoint environments,” said Kevin Crayton, Kontiki’s Vice President of Products.

“NewsGator Social Sites is their fastest path to social video integration with SharePoint and lets companies leverage all the power, efficiency, security, manageability and analytics of our proven video platform. It’s a winning combination which our customers have been looking forward to with huge interest.”

“High-quality enterprise video that can be delivered to every employee across a global company is one of the most personal, engaging and effective ways for a workforce to communicate,” said NewsGator Brian Kellner, VP of Development and Product Management. “To obtain the most value, great content should be easily accessible and in the mainstream of the social business flow. That’s what we’re doing with this integration, and the business results will speak for themselves.”

Kontiki support is part of the Social Sites Video Stream module for Microsoft SharePoint 2010.

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After almost seven weeks of contract negotiations in Detroit, Michigan, the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) and General Motors (GM) agreed on a new, four-year contract on September 20. The new contract includes pay raises for entry-level workers, and new healthcare benefits, as well as job creation and retention.

Current second-tier workers will earn $18.28 by the end of the four years. Starting wages will range from $14.78 to $16.53, depending on seniority. First-tier workers will earn $19.28 at the end of the four years. Starting wages for first-tier workers will be $15.78 to $17.53, also dependent on seniority.

New employees will also receive annual pay raises. At the end of a four year period, they will earn the same amount as current employees. How much they earn is based on which tier they are part of. They will also receive a $5,000 signing bonus as part of the new contract.

As part of the new contract, employees will be able to visit the doctor as many times they as they need and pay $25 for each visit. They will also have annual wellness physical exams, paid in full by GM. They will not have co-pay for emergency room or urgent care visits. Workers will also have improved dental care. Doctor’s visits were also extended to workers’ children.

Approximately 6,400 jobs that would have been sent to factories in Mexico will be created or saved for the US. Additionally, new products and jobs will be created at current factories in Tennessee, Michigan, and Montana, and a soon-to-be-determined factory in Indiana. The new jobs and products is the result of a $2.5 billion investment from GM.

The old contract expired on September 14 at 11:59 p.m. This was the first set of contract negotiations since GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2009. President Obama urged the company to pursue aggressive budget cuts to avoid bankruptcy, but the company was unsuccessful. According to a CBS timeline of GM, the company had almost $200 billion in debt. In July 2009, the US government bailed out the company for $50 billion.

The UAW also began negotiations with Chrysler and Ford. Chrysler is expected to come up with an agreement with the UAW soon. The company agreed to extend its contract with the UAW, and they will continue talks. Ford has extended negotiations to mid-October.

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