Ariston s

Italian firm Merloni has launched a washing machine that can be controlled over the Internet or a mobile phone. The margherita2000.com, which has a built in modem, is the first in the company's upcoming line of Net savvy Ariston digital household appliances. It goes on sale in Italy Wednesday and will be available in the UK in the next few months. Ariston digital products will communicate over the GSM network using WRAP (Web Ready Appliances Protocol), an open technology developed by Merloni. WRAP appliances are equipped with a regulating system based on microcontrollers and software based on fuzzy logic. Each machine can be controlled via its own dedicated Web page or alternatively, using a mobile phone. It can directly download wash-cycle software programme upgrades and can communicate with the Ariston Digital Service Centre around the clock for ordering new parts and upgrades. The machine is also able to receive email and short text messages, viewed on a fluorescent display at … [Read more...] about Net savvy washing machine from Ariston

Portland, Oregon's late and over-budget ERP implementation has become a battleground between city officials and system integrator Ariston Consulting & Technologies. As the failing project's budget ballooned from $31 million to $49.45 million, finger-pointing and mutual blame have obscured faults on both sides. Background. According to a February, 2004 report by Portland's Financial Reporting and Compliance Project, the city faced numerous system-related challenges: [T]the City has developed a number of separate, and in some cases duplicative, systems that limit the free flow of financial data and information and the ability to share knowledge and training opportunities among accounting staff across bureau lines. In the absence of a more robust or fully featured centralized financial information system this approach, while serving individual bureau needs, limits the ability to achieve higher levels of productivity and efficiency citywide. In order to improve services and reduce … [Read more...] about IT catfight in Portland, OR