London, UK – 14 May 2010 – Alterian (LSE: ALN), a leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, today released further statistics, which showed how the conversations on social media sites reflected the events of the 2010 UK General Election. SM2, Alterian’s social monitoring tool, examined over 500,000 conversations across various social media platforms, providing volume and sentiment analysis of the main political leaders over the course of the election.

For the purposes of measurement, the election campaign was divided into three time periods – the Pre-Debate period, the Debate period and the Election period. From the results of SM2, Alterian has mapped the key highlights and lowlights of the election campaign.

In the 224,139 conversations tracked during the Pre-Debate period (26th February to 14th April), Gordon Brown enjoyed an overwhelming volume percentage of conversations – 70 percent. During this stage, David Cameron only received a volume of 24 percent, with Clegg receiving 6 percent. As the incumbent, it is not surprising that Brown had the largest amount of conversations at this stage before the opposition had started campaigning in earnest.

As well as volume, SM2 also measures sentiment, an important variable that reveals the public appeal of each party leader. During the Pre-Debate period, a large and consistent amount of neutral sentiment was felt for all three party leaders. This can be explained by the fact that prior to the debate (before manifestos were released) there was nothing significantly contentious or controversial to split the public’s emotions. It is reasonable to conclude that each individual held their pre-existing opinions of the party leaders. Having said that, Nick Clegg received a higher percentage of positive mentions than negative during this period. Both Gordon Brown and David Cameron had more negative than positive conversations. However, only 13 percent of Gordon Brown’s conversations could be classified as negative but David Cameron had the highest percentage of negative conversations, checking in at almost 17 percent of all conversations being classified as negative.

SM2 also allows users to understand where the conversations are taking place. During this period, Nick Clegg had more conversations (over 28 percent) taking place on Microblogs such as Twitter. This is not surprising and actually previews his entire social media campaign. Nick Clegg has his own personal Twitter feed with 27,423 followers, which is substantial when compared to the overall number of those following each party’s Twitter handles, with the Lib Dems with 17,670 followers compared to the Conservatives 28,771. Gordon Brown, on the other hand is seeing his conversations occur in more mainstream social media platforms such as blogs, wiki’s and message boards.

190,996 conversations were tracked between 15th April and 5th May, the Debate period. This marked a significant event in UK politics as it involved the first ever televised UK Prime Ministerial debate. As a result, SM2 tracked nearly the double of the daily conversations from the Pre-Debate period.

The most obvious information that can be gleaned from this is the rise of Nick Clegg. Clegg’s volume of mentions increased from 6 percent (in pre-debate period) to over 23 percent of conversations. The percentage of conversations mentioning Cameron increased to 28 percent, whereas Brown shrank considerably to 49 percent. During this period each candidate saw their percentage of positive conversations rise as compared to the Pre-Debate period. The increase in volume for Clegg was also seen in the sentiment analysis. Over 18 percent of Clegg mentions were positive compared to 15 percent negative. This can be explained by the general consensus that Clegg had the best performance during the initial debate. Cameron received virtually the same amount of positive and negative mentions during this period. Brown only received a positive growth of 1 percent but this is expected considering the fallback of the ‘bigotgate’ scandal.

During the Election period (6th May to 11th May), SM2 tracked over 97,235 conversations. During the election, we see a doubling of the average number of conversations per day to 19,447 compared to 9,550 in the previous period. This emphasises just how popular and interesting this particular election was. After the rise of Clegg during the Debate period we see his mentions remain constant at 23 percent during the Election Period. However, Cameron’s increases to 29 percent while Gordon Brown still leads with 47 percent of the conversations.

However, this was not reflected in the sentiment analysis during the Election Period. Each party leader after the election has more negative sentiment than positive. Cameron’s negative sentiment increased from 16 percent to 18 percent. Even Nick Clegg who in both the previous periods had more positive than negative sentiment, during the Election Period has seen his sentiment turn more negative than positive. This could possibly be explained by the fact that we now have a coalition government, a system of governance that is not popular with the electorate. The report also examines key topics discussed in ‘theme clouds’ associated with the party leaders. SM2 found that the term ‘hung’ – referring to hung parliament featured more prominently in negative conversations than in positive.

David Eldridge, CEO of Alterian commented on the analysis, “This year’s election is indisputably one of the most interesting elections that we have ever seen and this has been reflected by the amount of interest garnered both in social and traditional media. There is no doubt that social media played a key part in driving conversations and gathering support. While the candidates predominantly used traditional media to drive their messages, the electorate has shown the importance of social media as a means of engagement.

Alterian SM2 is a social media monitoring and analysis solution designed for PR and Marketing professionals. SM2 helps track conversations, review positive/negative sentiment for brands, clients, competitors and partners across social media channels such as blogs, wikis, micro-blogs, social networks, video/photo sharing sites and real-time alerts.

For more information on Alterian SM2, please visit http://www.alterian.com/products/social-media-monitoring

# # # Ends # # #

About Alterian

Alterian,(LSE: ALN) enables organizations to create relevant, effective and engaging experiences with their customers and prospects through social, digital, and traditional marketing channels. Alterian’s Customer Engagement solutions are focused in four main areas: Social Media,http://email.alterian.com/, and [Campaign Management & Analytics|http://www.alterian.com/products/campaign-management/‘ target=’_blank’>Web Content Management.

Alterian technology is utilized either to address a specific marketing challenge or as part of an integrated marketing platform, with analytics and customer engagement with the individual at the heart of everything. Working alongside a rich ecosystem of partners, Alterian delivers its software as a service, or on premise. For more information about Alterian visit www.alterian.com or the Alterian blog at www.engagingtimes.com.

For more information, contact:

Beth Handoll
Bite PR
+44 (0)20 8741 1123
alterianuk@bitecommunications.com

Karen Gibbons
Alterian
+44 (0)117 970 3200
karen.gibbons@alterian.com
– Karen Gibbons 14-05-2010

13th May 2010 – Fibrecity Holdings, an i3 Group company, has today announced the next Fibrecity networks that it intends to build, which will result in more than one million homes and businesses being connected to its fibre optic network over the next four years – delivering standard speeds of 100Mbps and boosts of up to 1Gbps through the largest fibre to the home initiative in the UK.

Fibrecity networks are planned for Derby, Halton, Nottingham, Plymouth and York, with a target to commence build within the next twelve months. Further cities under consideration for Fibrecity networks include Belfast, Aberdeen, Ipswich and Bristol. Fibrecity Holdings and Birmingham City Council are also in initial discussions for the construction of Fibrecity Birmingham.

These cities are in addition to the Fibrecity networks already underway in Bournemouth and Dundee which have proven the consumer demand for superfast access as more than 35,000 homes have already signed up to be connected in Bournemouth alone.

The i3 Group has also turned the service provider market on its head by introducing the Fibrecity gateway, an open access platform that connects service providers to customers. Opencity Media, an i3 Group company, has developed the Fibrecity gateway to serve as a virtual market place that offers consumer choice by allowing multiple service providers to offer and deliver services over a single Fibrecity network connection.

Elfed Thomas, CEO of i3 Group said: “Today marks another significant step forward in our quest to bring open next generation internet connectivity to homes across the UK. We have developed a unique model that offers consumers more choice than has ever been available before in two ways. Firstly, Fibrecity Holdings is building the only large scale fibre to the home network in the UK that includes existing properties and not just new builds. Secondly, Opencity Media has developed a platform for multiple service providers to offer their services to homes connected to the Fibrecity network.”

Founded in 2002 by Elfed Thomas, i3 Group is a pioneer in building dark fibre optic networks using ready-made ducts including the sewer system to enable super fast connectivity. This method is a fast and cost effective way to lay fibre optic cable without the high costs and disruption caused by road digging. The company is using this and other patented low cost methods to connect homes and businesses directly to fibre optic networks across the UK so that they can benefit from next generation access without compromising access speeds as is the case with fibre to the kerb or cabinet.

Elfed continues: “The antiquated copper ‘last mile’ is the biggest problem for connectivity speeds, slowing them down significantly by the time the network reaches the home and the consumer is trying to access services. Building fibre to the kerb or cabinet will improve speeds, but in my opinion, this is a very short term solution. Only a true fibre to the home connection will ensure we have a solution that will see us through several decades rather than being outdated in a few years.”

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Deborah Leah
Bell Pottinger
07810 834548
i3@insightmkt.com

About i3 Group Ltd

Formed in 2002, i3 Group is a pioneer of deploying dark fibre in the UK’s waste water network to enable connectivity. Known as its patented FS System, this method is a fast and cost-effective way to lay fibre optic cable and link up any location without the high costs and disruption caused by road digging.

i3 Group is comprised of: Fibrecity Holdings Ltd, H2O Networks Ltd, H2O International Ltd, H2O Support Services Ltd, Fibre Associates Ltd, Wireless Network Systems Ltd, i3 Asia-Pacific Pty Ltd and i3 America.

Fibrecity® networks provide town and city-wide connectivity to every business, organisation and citizen in the vicinity.

H2O Networks® provides business networks using Darc® (Derestricted Access Route Connections) fibres. It delivers fibre optic point-to-point connections and Fibrezone® networks. A Fibrezone® network is a dark fibre optic cable ring deployed around a business sector, campus, town or city to which organisations such as local authorities, hospitals, schools and local businesses can connect.

i3 International is working with trusted partners around the world to make the reality of super fast communications accessible to countries that have limited or no connectivity as well as those that require next generation access.

H2O Support Services maintains the sewer infrastructure in which the fibre will be laid including CCTV surveys and rehabilitation services.

The Innovation and World Wide Distribution Centre provides training for international partners as well as being an R&D centre, engineering and warehouse facility. The Centre is where fibre component specialists Fibre Associates are located.

Fibrecity, Fibrezone ,Opencity, Darc, Focus System Fibre Optical Cable Underground Sewer System (FS System) are all registered trademarks of i3 Group Limited

For further information please visit: www.i3-Group.co.uk
– Insight Marketing & Communications 13-05-2010

Supports latest global carbon regulation and workforce engagement

London, 12th May – CloudApps, the enterprise application leader in the management of carbon as a business asset, today delivered the Summer ’10 edition, pre-loaded with support for the latest regulatory requirements and with innovative features to make sure carbon management is adopted from the basement to the boardroom.

The new release, built on the award-winning Force.com platform from cloud computing leader salesforce.com, is CloudApp’s third full release, following two years of research and development into how companies across the planet proactively deal with their environmental impact. The Summer ’10 edition, extends the international reach of CloudApps, supporting global emissions factors published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as well as customers own custom emission factors.

Summer ‘10 now supports those adopting the voluntary Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reporting standard, launched in the UK in 2000, but now used by over 2,500 organizations in 60 countries. Companies can segment emissions by geography, business division or even facility, across all major emission sources and directly generate CDP submission reports. Also included is complete support for the UK Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme, a process which started on 1st April 2010 and which could affect 30,000 organisations.

CloudApps Carbon’s Summer ’10 edition builds on its energy reduction functionality by introducing integrated Social Media support that helps companies engage their workforce in their carbon reduction efforts. It also includes state-of-the-art employee engagement features, including employee suggestions on energy reduction ideas allowing companies to drive down energy costs across the business.

“I am very proud of our development team’s efforts in delivering the Summer ’10 release of CloudApps Carbon, but more so, by its rapid customer take-up.” said Simon Wheeldon, CEO of CloudApps.

“Across a wide range of sectors, executives are gaining control of their energy conservation issues, engaging their staff in the process and starting their carbon journey. We believe that CloudApps Summer ’10 edition has everything that global enterprises need to manage their sustainability initiatives”

As a cloud-based provider, CloudApps offers potential enterprise customers the chance to trial the CloudApps Carbon application free and without the need for any software or hardware installation for thirty days, here.
[ENDS]
?
About CloudApps

CloudApps is the leading provider of enterprise solutions that are helping companies of all sizes to reduce their operating costs, comply with global climate change reporting requirements and engage with their key stakeholders to enhance brand and realise value from their carbon asset.

CloudApps Carbon is an innovative, cloud-based Emission Management solution that is offered on a subscription basis and delivered on salesforce.com enterprise cloud-computing platform, Force.com
For more information, please visit http://www.cloudapps.com.

Media Contact
Paul Maher
Positive Marketing
05600 921012/07900 600013
pmaher@positivemarketing.org
– Paul Maher 12-05-2010

First Clinic of its Kind Opens in Boots store, Solihull

sk:n, the UK’s No.1 skin specialist, has joined forces with the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) to provide specialist laser services within its brand new NHS Community Outpatients’ Clinic, located on the top floor of Boots store, Mell Square in Solihull. Previously, Solihull residents requiring NHS specialist laser treatment would have to travel to City Hospital for their treatment following an initial outpatient consultation with a HEFT Dermatologist Consultant. Now, patients can receive all their NHS laser treatment at the Community Outpatient Clinic.

“Here at sk:n we have been solving the nation’s skin problems for the last 20 years, but this collaboration between ourselves, HEFT and Boots UK, marks the start of a pioneering new partnership for us,” says Dr Sean Lanigan, Group Medical Director, sk:n. “We employ 10% of the UK’s dermatologists and all of our clinics are run by medical professionals who specialise in treating all kinds of skin conditions. We are delighted to be able to offer our expert laser and dermatology services within the new NHS Outpatients’ clinic.”

sk:n has 36 clinics nationwide and regularly features on Embarrassing Bodies and Ten Years’ Younger. It offers a wide variety of services ranging from mole checks and laser treatments for both unwanted hair and skin conditions, such as acne, hyperpigmentation, rosacea, skin tags, birth marks, scars and stretch marks, to rejuvenation treatments such as dermal fillers and injectables, facial peels and microdermabrasion.

Look out for sk:n in-store at Boots, Solihull: To kick-start the clinic launch, look out for the sk:n team in-store at Boots, Mell Square, where they’ll be promoting a whole range of special offers, including:

• 20% off all treatments, now until 20 May 2010
• Free laser hair removal test patches in the clinic on 7 & 8 May (RRP £25)
• £1 skin assessments – 100% of which is donated to its charity partner, the British Skin Foundation for cancer research, on 7 & 8 May

Also, keep an eye out for the sk:n team who will be handing out free bottles of mineral water around Mell Square on 7 & 8 May – drink up, don’t wrinkle up!

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors: About sk:n clinics: Established in 1990, sk:n has 20 years of experience and has carried out over 3 million treatments on more than 300,000 clients. sk:n is the UK’s leading provider of affordable and innovative laser and rejuvenation treatments, including laser hair removal, tattoo removal, injectables and acne treatments. Each of its 36 clinics nationwide is registered with the Care Quality Commission and each highly-trained team is headed up by an expert medical director. 10% of all UK dermatologists work for or with sk:n.

For futher information please contact:

Holly Brace/Laura Larsen
Schwartz Communications
T: 020 8973 2630
E: skn@schwartz-pr.com
W: www.sknclinics.co.uk – Richard Skidmore 11-05-2010

Akamai Technologies provides improved speed of Web delivery by 500%; accelerates secure Internet banking for Standard Chartered Bank by up to 100%; and grows online transactions by approximately 20%

SINGAPORE – May 10, 2010 – Akamai Technologies, Singapore, the leader in powering video, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, today announced that it is helping Standard Chartered Bank deliver faster and more secure Internet banking applications worldwide.

Akamai is enabling the global bank to centralize its IT infrastructure to drive economies of scale, while ensuring that the streamlined model can deliver new online banking services to customers and generate growth opportunities in new markets.

As a global bank, Standard Chartered aims to be the leader in each of the markets in which it operates by providing quick, efficient and secure online services to customers. This model requires data centres in each geography, which is costly and complex to manage. Akamai Technologies enables Standard Chartered to adopt a model of centralised Web hosting supported by Akamai’s globally distributed platform of over 65,000 servers in 1,600 locations in 70 countries globally. This means that, using Akamai’s network of servers, Standard Chartered can streamline its operations to a single data centre in Asia, while actually delivering secure content more quickly and securely than local hosting.

Furthermore, now that Standard Chartered is able to increase speed of secure content delivery with a streamlined IT infrastructure model, the bank can offer improved online banking services to customers, and open up new markets more quickly, with little additional cost. When evaluating solutions, Standard Chartered discovered that Akamai Technologies reduced the time it took Indian consumer banking customers to complete a five-step banking process from 70 seconds to 20 seconds. Corporate banking customers in Asia saw a 25% improvement in online performance for Standard Chartered’s Straight2Bank application. These improvements led to a 20% increase in the bank’s online wholesale banking transaction volume worldwide.

Robert Hughes, executive vice president of Global Sales, Services and Marketing at Akamai said: “Internet banking is now a core requirement for many customers, and because of this demand, banks are looking to expand and improve their offerings. However, the pace of change in this sector places more pressure on the infrastructure, making services slower and more costly to administer. Standard Chartered is making a commitment to its customers to deliver the most efficient, secure services in the market and we’re proud that Akamai is underpinning that.”

Akamai has worked with Standard Chartered since 2007. Akamai delivers Standard Chartered’s public Web site and Straight2Bank commercial banking application. As it rolls out this new retail banking platform, it was only natural to turn to Akamai.

“Akamai Technologies’ acceleration solution was a natural choice for us given both the performance and cost benefits,” said Aman Narain, Head of Remote Banking, Consumer Banking for Standard Chartered Bank. “Its capabilities and massive global computing platform have lived up to our demanding performance and availability requirements. We now host our corporate Web site content on Akamai Technologies’ platform for superior availability and fast delivery, globally.”

Using Akamai Technologies’ platform Standard Chartered Bank has been able to significantly reduce its annual operating costs for hardware, bandwidth, maintenance and disaster recovery, while allowing IT staff to focus on mission-critical tasks. Standard Chartered Bank can now quickly set up services in new global markets at lower costs, giving the bank a distinct competitive advantage as it expands.

About Akamai

Akamai® provides market-leading managed services for powering video, dynamic transactions, and enterprise applications online. Having pioneered the content delivery market one decade ago, Akamai’s services have been adopted by the world’s most recognized brands across diverse industries. The alternative to centralized Web infrastructure, Akamai’s global network of tens of thousands of distributed servers provides the scale, reliability, insight and performance for businesses to succeed online. Akamai has transformed the Internet into a more viable place to inform, entertain, advertise, interact, and collaborate. To experience The Akamai Difference, visit www.akamai.com

About Standard Chartered Bank®

Standard Chartered PLC, listed on both London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, ranks among the top 25 companies in the FTSE-100 by market capitalisation. The London-head¬quartered Group has operated for over 150 years in some of the world’s most dynamic markets, leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Standard Chartered aspires to be the best international bank for its customers across its markets. Leading by example, the Group is committed to building a sustainable business over the long term and is trusted worldwide for upholding high standards of corporate governance, social responsibility, environmental protection and employee diversity. For more information, please visit www. standardchartered.com

For information:

Duncan Gurney
Ascendant Communications
dgurney@ascendcomms.net

– pflood@ascendcomms.net 10-05-2010