text:
|Número de publicación
|Tipo de publicación
|Número de solicitud
|Fecha de publicación
|4 May 2010
|Fecha de presentación
|10 Jun 2005
|Fecha de prioridad
|16 Ago 2001
|También publicado como
|Número de publicación
|John Michael Corbett, John Michael Corbett, Jr.
|Cesionario original
|Corbett Research Pty Ltd
|Exportar cita
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Citas de patentes (10), Otras citas (2), Citada por (3), Clasificaciones (25), Eventos legales (3)
|Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/AU02/01112, filed on Aug. 16, 2002, which designates the United States and claims priority to AU Patent Application No. PR 7071, filed on Aug. 16, 2001.
The present invention relates to a device which is able to control and vary in a cyclical manner, or in a progressive manner, the temperature of a fluid in a tube or is able to maintain fluid in a tube at a constant temperature; and is particularly applicable to monitoring the course of a reaction by real time scanning. It is applicable to a device for amplifying nucleic acids when amplification takes place by use of reactions such as the polymerase chain reaction, the ligase chain reaction and the like, when the device is used to vary temperature; and is also applicable to isothermal reactions when the device maintains the temperature at a constant level. Specifically, the present invention, when it relates to a temperature cycling device, takes reactants through different temperatures in a cyclical fashion where it is necessary that the temperature change be achieved accurately and rapidly. Importantly, the present invention provides a system where the reaction, whether carried out in a cyclical manner, a progressive manner, or isothermally, can be monitored by real time monitoring. For example, in the case of cyclic reactions, it is possible to monitor the course of a reaction at each cycle.
When devices for amplification of nucleic acids using the polymerase chain reaction ("PCR") were first developed, it was necessary to allow the amplification reaction to occur for one cycle at a temperature of approximately 37° C.; to then separate the resulting double stranded DNA by heating to approximately 100° C.; and finally to cool the mixture of separated DNA strands and add more polymerase to cause another cycle of amplification to take place. It soon became clear that these devices were cumbersome to use due to the constant need to cool the individual reaction mixtures to about 37° C. and add fresh polymerase enzyme, due to its destruction when the temperature had been raised to about 100° C.
The advent of thermostable nucleic acid polymerases changed the situation dramatically. These enzymes are stable at about 95° C. and therefore it was not necessary to replace these enzymes after heating to separate the two strands of DNA. Thus, devices which took advantage of a thermostable nucleic acid polymerase were developed.
Current technology uses 96 and 384 well plates real-time instruments to attain high throughput, coupled with automated robotic systems to load, seal and transfer plates to and from real-time thermal cyclers. Using this technology the throughput is limited by the run time of a 384 well cycler which is approx 90 minutes and so equates to 16 runs in 24 hours at 384 well samples and equals approx 6,000 samples.
These robotic systems are physically large, prone to break down, expensive (about $A240,000 as at 2001) and require constant routine maintenance.
Difficulties encountered with these current devices were in part addressed by the invention described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,183 (U.S. '183) which was developed by one of the present inventors (Corbett, Snr) and two others, Reid and Riggs, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. In essence, that invention was directed to the reactants travelling through a continuous tube which was subjected to varying temperatures by coiling the tube around substantially drum shaped bodies held at varying temperatures. In order to prevent cross contamination between samples, the reaction mixture was injected into a stream of carrier fluid which separated separate reaction mixtures and passed through two or three separate heating zones. This arrangement allows sequential processing of a number of samples. The carrier fluid and reaction mixture are immiscible. The result of this is that each sample is cleanly separated from the preceding and following sample by segments of carrier fluid.
Although the device described in U.S. '183 was an advance over previous such devices, a major drawback was that since the heating zones are separate it is not convenient to conduct real time monitoring of the course of a reaction. In addition, having heating zones which are separated from each other physically tends to be cumbersome. In order to address these disadvantages, the present device was developed. The device as described below and claimed thus is suitable for use in situations where it is necessary to follow the course of a reaction by real time monitoring. It also has wider applicability than nucleic acid amplification and may be used in any situation where a chemical reaction is performed where the temperature is taken through one or more cycles, for example in carrying out antibody-antigen binding reactions. It is also applicable to situations where it is necessary to hold the temperature at a constant value. Thus, there is a variety of situations where the device of the present invention is applicable and set out below are various embodiments of the invention which illustrate this.
Therefore, in accordance with a first aspect of this invention there is provided a thermal cycling device including: a heat exchanger body having a longitudinal axis and longitudinally divided to provide at least two segments which are able to be heated to different temperatures so that said body has peripheral surfaces of different temperatures; a conduit extending about said body so as to be in thermal contact with said peripheral surfaces; a first delivery device to deliver a first fluid to said conduit to cause said fluid to pass therealong and therefore change in temperature as the fluid passes said segments; and a second delivery device to deliver a second fluid to said conduit so as to flow with said first liquid and therefore also change in temperature.
In one preferred aspect of this invention, the body is longitudinally divided so that said segments and surfaces are longitudinally extending, and said conduit extends angularly about said body relative to said axis.
This aspect is applicable, for example to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and ligase chain reaction (LCR).
In a preferred form of this aspect, the first fluid comprises a sample to be analysed and reagents used in the analysis and the second fluid comprises a transport fluid. The sample to be analysed is a nucleic acid and may be DNA or RNA. The reagents used in the analysis are well known in the art, including for example nucleic acid polymerase, for example Taq polymerase.
In accordance with the second aspect of this invention there is provided a thermal cycling device including: a heat exchanger body having a longitudinal axis and transversely divided to provide at least two segments which are able to be heated to different temperatures so that said body has peripheral surfaces of different temperatures; a conduit extending about said body so as to be in thermal contact with said peripheral surfaces; a first delivery device to deliver a first fluid to said conduit to cause said fluid to pass therealong and therefore change in temperature as the fluid passes said segments; and a second delivery device to deliver a second fluid to said conduit so as to flow with said first liquid and therefore also change in temperature.
In another preferred aspect of this invention, the body is transversely divided relative to said axis so that said segments and surfaces extend angularly about said axis, and said conduit extends longitudinally of said body relative to said axis.
This aspect is applicable where the temperature is changed in a progressive manner from one temperature to another temperature, for example, to DNA melt detection studies.
In a preferred form of this aspect, the first fluid comprises a sample to be analysed and the second fluid comprises a transport fluid. The sample to be analysed is a nucleic acid and may be DNA or RNA. The reagents used in the analysis are well known in the art.
In accordance with a third aspect of this invention there is provided an isothermal device including: a heat exchanger body having a longitudinal axis and a peripheral surface and means for maintaining the temperature of said peripheral surface at a constant selectable temperature; a conduit extending about said body so as to be in thermal contact with said peripheral surface; a first delivery device to deliver a first fluid to said conduit to cause said fluid to pass therealong and therefore change in temperature as the fluid passes said peripheral surface; and a second delivery device to deliver a second fluid to said conduit so as to flow with said first liquid and therefore also change in temperature.
This aspect is applicable, for example when conducting antibody-antigen binding reactions. Thus, in this aspect, the heat exchanger may be a solid body which can maintain a fixed, selectable temperature.
In a preferred form of this aspect, the first fluid comprises an antibody and antigen to said antibody and the second fluid comprises a transport fluid.
It is preferred that the conduit which extends about the heat exchanger body in the three aspects above is disposed in a series of consecutive windings and that the heat exchanger body is solid.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of this invention the device of each embodiment also comprises a scanning detector which is able to monitor the progress of a chemical reaction occurring in the conduit. The scanning detector is further described below. With the addition of this scanning detector, it is possible, in each of the above-described embodiments to monitor the course of a reaction at any point on the outside of the thermal cycling device or isothermal device.
Thus, in the case of the device being used for a PCR, the heat exchanger body is in the form of a cylinder or equivalent shape, it may be divided into "pie" shaped segments each being at a different temperature (typically about 94° C., 55° C., 72° C.) so that as the samples migrate around one turn of the spiral, the temperature in the fluid is cycled to those temperatures corresponding to the "pie" segment of the body.
Alternatively, the heat exchanger body may have a temperature gradient applied across it from one end to the opposite end. In the case of a cylinder, the temperature gradient would be set from one flat surface to the opposite flat surface to the top flat surface so that as the samples migrate around the spiral the temperature is gradually increased or decreased.
The heat exchanger body may also be maintained at a uniform temperature, where the temperature may suitably be maintained at any temperature from 0-100° C.
Each of the different temperatures may be achieved by standard electrical heating and optionally air cooling to adjust the temperature; by circulating fluid at a particular temperature; or by the use of Peltier devices. It is particularly preferred that Peltier devices be used since the use of such devices allows a more accurate temperature selection.
An important aspect of temperature control in the first aspect is based on the fact that fluid in the conduit passes from a segment at 95° C. to a segment at 55° C. The effect of this is that in the 55° C. segment, fluid would tend to heat the surface of the 55° C. segment. It is for this reason that air cooling may be necessary depending on the speed of fluid in the conduit and hence transfer of heat from the fluid back to the segment at the lower temperature of 55° C.
When the heat exchanger body is substantially cylindrically shaped, the conduit is preferably disposed in the form of a series of coils arranged in a spiral fashion around the cylinder.
Thus, when the device is used to conduct the PCR, the device of the first embodiment is particularly applicable and each turn of the spiral represents one cycle in the PCR and it is therefore possible to choose the number of cycles by equating this to the number of turns of conduit. Typically, the number of turns is 35-60. Preferably, the device comprises 60 turns which in practice allows a choice of scanning as many turns as required.
When the device is used for PCR and LCR for example and any other reaction where a temperature may be reached such that the fluid in the conduit may degass, it is important to provide a positive back pressure to prevent vaporisation within the fluid stream. Degassing will cause bubbles in the tubing and will interfere with the flow characteristics of the reaction mixture. Thus, degassing will lead to the formation of small bubbles which may break away from the sample and possibly move through the oil carrier under gravity and contaminate a neighbouring sample. The back pressure which is applied should be between about 300 and about 700 kPa and may be achieved by methods known in the art. For example, it may be achieved by use of a spring and ball device at the fluid outlet where adjusting the tension of the spring sets the pressure.
The conduit is suitably tubing which has the following properties: (1) It is able to conduct heat from the heat exchanger body to fluid in the conduit efficiently so that a change in temperature in a particular portion of the heat exchanger body accurately causes a change in temperature in the conduit adjacent that portion of the heat exchanger body which in turn causes a change in temperature in the fluid inside the corresponding interior portion of the conduit. (2) The interior surface of the conduit is hydrophobic so that the reaction mixture has no affinity for the interior surface of the tubing. Suitably, the conduit is PTFE tubing or similar.
The fluid present in the conduit is any fluid where the temperature needs to be controlled precisely and accurately and either cyclically, progressively or isothermally. Preferably, the fluid comprises a reaction mixture containing reagents to amplify one or more nucleic acids and a sample containing one or more nucleic acids. The nucleic acids to be amplified are either RNA or DNA and the enzymes used in the reaction mixture are any enzymes well known in this art. For example, DNA polymerases may suitably be used to amplify DNA and preferably thermostable DNA polymerases are particularly applicable in the reactions carried out in the device of this invention. Suitably, the fluid may be divided into two streams as set out in the first embodiment of the invention described above. One such fluid contains samples to be analysed while the other fluid contains reagents used in the analysis.
When used to perform a PCR and LCR and any other like reaction, the conduit is also filled with a carrier fluid which is any synthetic based oil that is completely free of any RNA or DNA. Typically, silicon oil is suitable for use in this device. When the device is used in the amplification of nucleic acids, it is vital that such a carrier fluid be used. This is because contamination by even one molecule from a previous sample will cause unacceptable cross contamination since that molecule will also be amplified. In addition, the reaction mixture is run through the conduit under a back pressure to stop the degassing of samples during the heating process.
In practice, individual reaction mixtures are separated by a portion of carrier fluid. In the case of the PCR and LCR, it is vital that cross contamination be avoided. Therefore, in order to prevent mixing of one reaction mixture with a subsequent reaction mixture, it is necessary that each reaction mixture is sequentially injected into the carrier fluid at regular spacings. As a guide, spacing between samples is suitably achieved by setting a distance which is approximately 5 times the internal diameter of the tube between reactants.
The means for causing fluid to be transported through the conduit is for example any suitable pump means. This may comprise a peristaltic pump, for example. It is important that such a means for pumping fluid through the conduit is a precision pump for the reasons described below.
Suitably, the heat exchanger body is any body which is so shaped that it can conveniently accommodate a conduit disposed thereon. It is preferably substantially cylindrically shaped. However, any generally regular, three dimensional shaped body which can accommodate conduit to effectively transfer heat to a fluid in the conduit would be acceptable, provided that its shape permits disposition of conduit on the surface of the heat exchanger in a regular, repeating fashion, each repeat representing one temperature cycle in the case of the device being used in a cyclic reaction.
Suitably, the heat exchanger body has a groove machined into the surface accommodating the conduit and is dimensioned such that it can accommodate the conduit in a close fitting manner. The reason for this groove is to increase the efficiency of heat transfer from the heat exchanger body to the conduit and hence to the fluid therein. In certain reactions to which this device is applicable, for example the PCR and LCR, it is vitally important that ideally no cross contamination between samples occurs. Even if some contamination between samples does occur it is important that this be kept to an absolute minimum. In order to achieve no or minimal contamination, there is provided an injector means.
Thus, in accordance with a fourth aspect of this invention there is provided an injector means for use in a thermal cycling device comprising: a septum; a needle which is able to pierce the septum; a reservoir in fluid contact with the septum, having an inlet and an outlet, and able to accommodate a purge fluid which is able to enter the reservoir via the inlet and leave the reservoir via the outlet; wherein when in use, the needle passes through fluid in said reservoir and then through the septum.
In a preferred form, the injector means comprises a septum and is suitably a rubber septum of the type used in gas chromatography. Another component of the injector is a needle which pierces the septum. Cross contamination is prevented by filling a reservoir above the septum with purge fluid, urging the needle through the reservoir of fluid then through the septum while continually purging the area with purge fluid, withdrawing the needle and finally purging the withdrawn needle prior to its subsequent penetration of the septum with the next sample.
Purge fluid may be silicon oil or PCR grade water or any synthetic oil which is devoid of RNA or DNA.
The septum is made of material which closes about the hole made by a previous penetration. It is preferably made of rubber that is, silicon rubber or natural rubber and is more preferably the same material used in gas chromatography. It is also important, that when back pressure is applied, the septum is of a material which can withstand such back pressure.
Any carry over from the last sample will potentially result in a false positive in the following sample. To overcome this, a negative control is run between each of the samples. Typically, this could be 1 in every 10 samples depending on the characteristics of a particular assay. If the negative control is seen to go positive this would indicate a contamination condition, the entire system could then the purged, both the loading port and the entire spiral tubing, and the last 10 samples (or whatever is considered necessary by the operator) could be re-run and the job continued without intervention. The system could also be flushed with NaOH to degrade any DNA in the system.
When the injector means is used, for example especially in the first and second aspects of this invention, the first fluid is delivered by a first fluid device, that is the injector means described above. The second fluid, transport fluid is delivered by a second fluid device. The transport fluid may be any fluid which is inert and does not interfere with the analysis and furthermore is devoid of DNA and RNA. The transport fluid may be an inert oil and is typically silicon oil. It is preferred that the transport fluid is delivered under pressure, typically between about 700 and 7000 kPa.
As described in our earlier patent (U.S. '183), it is important that back pressure be applied at the end of the fluid stream. As mentioned above, back pressure is suitably between about 300 and about 700 kPa and is achieved by methods known in the art. Specifically, it may be achieved by use of a spring and ball device at the outlet wherein adjusting the tension of the spring sets the pressure. The effect of this is to prevent vaporisation of the fluid stream and reaction mixtures as they pass through the zones of high temperature. As also described in our earlier patent, in order to prevent mixing of reaction mixtures, it is preferred that the flow rate and cross-sectional diameter of the fluid stream are such that turbulent flow is avoided and laminar flow is achieved. Therefore, tubing of small diameter, for example about 3 mm (or ⅛ inch) is particularly preferred since it is both beneficial to rapid heat transfer and minimises turbulent flow. The tube diameter could also be decreased to reduce the reaction volume from 20 μL to 1-2 μL. In this instance the diameter would be about 0.5 mm outside diameter and about 0.2 mm (inside diameter).
In practice, in the case of the present device being used for a PCR, the samples travel along the conduit at a constant velocity (regulated by the precision pump), and so take a known amount of time to complete one revolution. Typically it takes about 1 minute to make a full revolution, and based on a 35 coil system a sample would take 35 minutes to completely flow through the device.
A typical velocity of fluid is 5 mm per second, with a diameter of 100 mm the circumference is approx 300 mm and so a sample takes approx 1 minute for a revolution.
A typical sample volume is 20-50 μL (which, as mentioned above, may be reduced to 1-2 μL) and the length of a sample in the conduit is 5-10 mm. Given that at least 10 readings of the same sample should be taken by the scanner (to be described presently) to obtain an average fluorescent energy, the scan head must scan all coils (typically, 35 coils) in 0.5 seconds. The maximum flow rate will therefore be limited by the scan rate of the scanning head.
A scanning detector, in the case of the heat exchanger body being cylindrical is fitted to the outside of the cylinder and runs from the first coil to the last coil. As the scanning head of the detector moves past each of the coils it detects the fluorescence energy in the conduit. If a sample is present it detects the sample energy, and if only the carrier fluid is present it detects only the background energy of the carrier fluid. The scanning head may be manufactured as an integrated part of the system and multiple is heads may be attached to detect up to 4 channels.
Alternatively, the heat exchanger body itself may be rotated relative to the scanning head. This would allow readings to be taken at different temperature zones by rotating the conduits past the reaction head.
The scanning head suitably consists of a mirror set to direct a laser beam onto the coils, and an optic fibre to collect the fluorescent energy which pipes the collected light to a photomultiplier tube that converts light to a voltage captured by a computer system. On every tenth loading a tracking dye is injected to give a full scale signal so samples order can be maintained in the software. A commercially available scanning head which would be acceptable would be a design similar to the head used in the GS-2000 Gel-Scan. Alternatively, a light source (laser or light emitting diodes) could be mounted on the scanning head.
When the heat exchanger is used in conjunction with the scanning head in order to monitor the progress of reactions occurring in the tubing, it is preferred that the tubing is substantially transparent to fluorescent light emitted from the samples.
Suitable fluorescent dyes are for example, FAM, JOE, and ROX, which are all trademarks of ABI or Cy5.
It is also possible that other detectable methods be used to monitor the course of reaction. For example, any reaction which may be coupled with a reagent where colour change indicates the progress of a reaction would be suitable. Also, chromogenic substrates where suitable, for example chromogenic substrates used in coagulation tests would be suitable.
The device described typically enables a sample to be loaded every 5 seconds into the fluid carrier stream, this equates to automated loading of 18,000 samples in a 24 hour period. The device of this invention therefore has 3 times the throughput, none of the associated robotics for transporting and sealing of plates, and therefore none of the problems associated with such systems.
Optionally, a separate heating device may be added which is placed before the heat exchanger body described above. For example, this may also comprise a cylinder on which the conduit is disposed so that the fluid may be optionally heated prior to its transport to the heat exchanger of the present invention.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which:
The following describes one embodiment of the present invention which should not be construed as limiting on the scope thereof.
Conduit 1 carries the reaction mixture which is represented as being delivered by the injector means by arrow 35 in
Turning to the embodiment depicted in
An alternative scanning arrangement is shown in
The injector means is depicted in
A further embodiment of this invention is depicted in
The invention is further illustrated by way of the following examples which are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the invention thereof.
The following example illustrates the operation of an injection system with the dimensions and parameters set out below.
To detect DNA point mutations it is standard practice to design a synthetic piece of DNA (oligo probe typically a 20 mer) that spans the mutation site. If the probe has been designed to be 100% homologous to the wild type (normal) then these samples will have a higher melting point. For example, when the same probe hybridizes to a mutated DNA sample, there is a base mismatch and the probe is not 100% homologous and so the thermal energy required to denature the probe from the DNA target is less which produces a lower melting point. Thus by comparing melting points of different DNA samples it is possible to determine whether the sample is normal or a mutation.
Thus, DNA melt detection is carried out using one embodiment of the invention. Reference is made to
It should be clear that the present invention will find wide applicability in laboratories where preparative and analytical amplification of nucleic acids is carried out.
Modifications obvious to those skilled in the art may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
|Patente citada
|Fecha de presentación
|Fecha de publicación
|7 Abr 1970
|23 May 1972
|Instrumentation Labor Inc
|Fluid handling apparatus
|31 Jul 1990
|5 Ene 1993
|Societe De Conseils De Recherches Et D'applications Scientifiques
|Apparatus for repeated automatic execution of a thermal cycle for treatment of samples
|8 Feb 1991
|14 Dic 1993
|Beckman Research Institute Of The City Of Hope
|Device and method for the automated cycling of solutions between two or more temperatures
|27 Dic 1994
|6 May 1997
|Idexx Laboratories, Inc.
|Detection of both an antibody and an antigen in a single sample aliquot
|6 Abr 1999
|16 Oct 2001
|Caliper Technologies Corp.
|Inefficient fast PCR
|Título no disponible
|8 Sep 1997
|12 Mar 1998
|Central Research Laboratories Limited
|Apparatus for, and method of, thermally cycling a sample
|10 Oct 1997
|23 Abr 1998
|Central Research Laboratories Limited
|Heating apparatus
|12 May 2000
|23 Nov 2000
|Gamera Bioscience Corporation
|A centripetally-motivated microfluidics system for performing in vitro hybridization and amplification of nucleic acids
|28 Jul 2000
|1 Feb 2001
|Integration of biochemical protocols in a continuous flow microfluidic device
|JP 2001-145486. Machine translation p. 1-16.
|Pirulli D., Boniotto, M., Puzzer D, Spano a., Amoroso A. and Crovella S. Flexibility of Melting temperature Assay for Rapid Detection of Insertions, Deletions, and Single-point Mutations of the AGXT Gene responsible for Type 1 Primary Hyperoxaluria. 2000. Clinical Chemistry, v.46, No. 11 p. 1842-1844.
|Patente citante
|Fecha de presentación
|Fecha de publicación
|19 Sep 2012
|24 Mar 2015
|Marshall University Research Corporation
|Apparatus and method for a continuous rapid thermal cycle system
|21 Dic 2012
|29 Dic 2015
|Abbott Molecular, Inc.
|Channels with cross-sectional thermal gradients
|19 Sep 2012
|14 Feb 2013
|Marshall University Research Corporation
|Apparatus and method for a continuous rapid thermal cycle system
|Clasificación de EE.UU.
|435/303.1, 425/286, 435/288.3, 435/287.2, 422/534
|Clasificación internacional
|Clasificación cooperativa
|Clasificación europea
|9 Sep 2005
Owner name: CORBETT RESEARCH PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:CORBETT, JOHN MICHAEL;CORBETT,, JR., JOHN MICHAEL;REEL/FRAME:016511/0668
Effective date: 20050609
Owner name: CORBETT RESEARCH PTY LTD,AUSTRALIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:CORBETT, JOHN MICHAEL;CORBETT,, JR., JOHN MICHAEL;REEL/FRAME:016511/0668
Effective date: 20050609
|4 Nov 2013
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|20 Nov 2014
Owner name: QIAGEN INSTRUMENTS AG, SWITZERLAND
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:CORBETT RESEARCH PTY LTD;REEL/FRAME:034224/0561
Effective date: 20130711


text:
- Differential Diagnosis
- Diseases
- Drugs
- More
- Try building your search one term at a time, and be as specific as you can! Search term example: "chronic cough".
- Do not enter multiple findings such as "anemia, chronic cough, weight loss, vomiting" all at the same time.
- After selecting your term from the search results a list of possible diagnoses will be generated. If the list is too long, you will be able to narrow it down by entering additional terms.
- Do not enter values such as "heart rhythm 110" or "sodium 125", instead use "tachycardia" or "hyponatremia".
Sign-in (or register) to check out the new features we've just launched!
Differential Diagnosis For Patient/Parous
Available only to registered users.
- Suggest
- 9 possible diagnoses found
- Trauma Causes
- Vaginal injuries/labor and delivery
- Uterine Cervix Laceration/Tear
- Anatomic, Foreign Body, Structural Disorders
- Cystocele
- Procidentia, uterine
- Rectocele
- Fistula, rectovaginal
- Fistula, vesicovaginal
- Vegetative, Autonomic, Endocrine Disorders
- Uterus atony/parturition
- Uterine dystocia
- Synonyms
- Parous (Having given birth one or more times), Patient
- External Links Related to Patient/Parous
- Wikipedia
- Merck
- Images
- PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- NGC (National Guideline Clearinghouse)
- Medscape (eMedicine)
- Harrison's Online (accessmedicine)
- NEJM (The New England Journal of Medicine)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
(All fields required)
Please enter a valid email.
Please enter your name.
What is : (So we know you are human.)
Please supply the correct answer.
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Neurogastroenterology and Motility Disorder Program
Phone 513-636-4415
Email email@example.com
Pediatric gastroenterology; motility disorders; DDBP
BS: Biology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 1996.
RN and NP: Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio, 1999.
3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3026 | 1-513-636-4200 | 1-800-344-2462 | TTY:1-513-636-4900
New to Cincinnati Children's or live outside of the Tristate area? 1-877-881-8479
© 1999-2016 Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. All rights reserved.


text: Posted August 23, 2013 WR and CB is an absolute logjam and I dont think we can aquire anybody much better at this point of the season. But as far as OL, we need all the help we can get. This. While I think both units primarily consist of a whole lot of mediocre, I doubt that there's going to be guys available that would represent a significant upgrade. OL is a different story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text:
175 Free High-Res Animal Fur Textures
Animal textures, especially wild animal fur textures, have been among the biggest design trends in recent times. From clothing to home accessories to graphic and web designs, animal textures have found their usefulness in these markets. In this post, you will find 175 high-resolution textures composed of images of animal fur and skins–from leopard to zebra to tiger, cats and dogs, among other animals. With this extensive collection, we hope that you will be able to find something that you can use in your safari-inspired designs. On the other hand, you may want also to download some free animal Photoshop brushes. How about some animal silhouettes clip art in vector format?
01– Animal Print by ~mercurycode
This pack contains 5 high-res pictures of hair of leopard, cheetah, etc. Please refer to the preview image for the previews of these animal fur backgrounds. Free to use in commercial and personal projects.
02– Reptile Skins and Animal Fur by ~DanielaK
There are 4 reptile skin plus 10 animal furbackgrounds in this set. Each image has a resolution of 800×800 pixels. These textures may be used for commercial purposes.
03– Fur textures by ~angelet25
These fur textures may be used for both personal and commercial projects. The zip file includes 6 jpeg files, with resolution of 1000×600 pixels each.
04-Animal fur textures by =DiZa-74
There are a total of 40 high-resolution images in this set featuring different furry animals' skins and textures. Each image has a resolution of 2000×2000 pixels.
05– Stuffed Fur by ~jrumans
This texture pack includes six "stuffed animals" high-resolution images to use for your next project. Each Image is around 2500px x 2500px.
06– Fur Textures Pack by ~Salic33
There are 11 animal hair images in this set at resolution of 1500 x 2062 pixels each. The images are in JPEG format.
07– Animal Textures by ~flocska
There are six realistic animal hair backgrounds in this set that you may download and use for free.
08– Cat Textures by ArnaTornwolf
A pack of fur backgrounds of various cat species. These images were taken from real skin/fur of zoo animals.
10– 14 High Resolution Animal Fur Texture by Web Texture
A combo pack of 14 high-resolution animal fur textures. Since these are high-resolution images, they are therefore suitable to be used as desktop wallpaper or as as nice background or texture for your graphic design or web design projects.
11– Fur Textures Pack by *BFstock
Pack includes 5 high-resolution furry and hairy animal textures for your designs.
12– Fur Textures Pack 2 by *BFstock
Here's another pack of high-resolution animal hair textures from the same author. These images have resolution of around 1920 x 1200 pixels.
13– Textures Pack 3 by ~Arctosis-stock
Includes 4 close-up textures of animal fur/hair. Each image has resolution of 2304×1728 pixels.
14-Animal Grunge Textures by *DusterAmaranth
There are 4 textures in this set which include tiger, snake, cow, zebra. Each image has resolution of over 1200px.
15-What fur! by tukat (1040 x 780 pixels)
16-Fur Textures by Carla Finley (3161 x 2529 pixels)
15-Fur Texture by Iscah Bay (1040 x 780 pixels)
16-Fur and Feathers (2753 x 2095)
17-Golden Fur by Hosking Industries (5184 x 3456)
18-Ocelot Fur by Chris & Angela Pye (3968 x 2976)
19-Giraffe Fur Texture by Fantasy Stock (2592×1944)
20-Cheetah Fur by Shaire Productions (3465 x 2599)
21-Giraffe Fur Texture by Lucas Stanley
22-Fur of a White Tiger by Chacal 1233 (1408 x 1347 pixels)
23-Grey Horse Fur by ~EumyCookie (2048×1536)
24-Fur Texture by ~xNickixstockx (5616 x 3744)
25-Red Retriever Dog Fur Texture by `FantasyStock (2592 x 1944)
26-Golden Retriever Fur Texture by ~Orangen-Stock (2048 x 1536)
27-Tiger Fur by *mirengraphics (1920 x 1200)
28-Fur Texture 1 by ~Rynozerus (3616 x 2400)
29-Fur Textures 01 by ~DKD-Stock (3072×2304)
30-Fur Texture 6 by *BFstock (1920 x 1200)
31-Fur Texture 9 by *BFstock (1920×1200)
32-Cat Fur Texture 1 by ~Orangen-Stock (2048×1536)
33-Polar Bear Fur by ~ennoeaadvent (3264×2448)
34-Sheep Fur by ~Mihraystock (3072 x 2304)
35-Spotted fur – stock by ~paintresseye (2560×1706)
36-Smooth White Fur stock by ~paintresseye (2560×1706)
37-Cow Fur 1 by ~Mihraystock (3072×2304)
38-Fur Cat 2 by ~jaqx-textures (1600×1202)
39-Fox by Cindy Funk
40-Fur Texture by ~Animalluver1985 (3648 x 2736)


text:
Dark sheet no 2 by WillemXSMWatch
©2012-2016 WillemXSM
Je décroche pas depuis hier,ton travail est vraiment impressionant ! Continue comme sa mon pot !
preciosos,beatufull perfect
Awesome design!
Very very cool!
Sick work. I'm really into Peter Aurisch's work. I dig your graphic design style.
Do you do commission work and could I contact you about prices if so?
Do you do commission work and could I contact you about prices if so?
really nice work and very inspirational
great flash set, def diggin the color scheme....
id love to get this whole thing tattooed!
love tha owl
.sick a.f.
man you shoud make shirts! like Ed Hardy but WAY BETTER!!!
may i request my tatto design dude?
I would love to get the Owl as a tattoo it is amazingly beautiful!
Echt fckinggg mooi!
its cool
SICK!!!!!!!!!!..... Honestly I have to say that you and Dave Tevenal are my two biggest inspirations!!!!!! I can't wait to see sheet number 3


text:
Worked With:
Kyle Gallner Biography
Home > Actors > G > Gallner, Kyle > Biography
Birth Name: Kyle Gallner
Born: 10/22/1986
Birth Place: West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
Born: 10/22/1986
Birth Place: West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
In 2005, Gallner joined the cast of "Veronica Mars" for the last three episodes of the first season, giving him the opportunity to carry over his role of Beaver into the next season - a role which depicted him as a needy and emotionally neglected, but nonetheless nefarious perpetrator of a heinous bus crash, among other dastardly deeds. During his run on "Veronica Mars," Gallner continued making guest spots, appearing in episodes of "Jack & Bobby" (WB, 2004-05), "Cold Case" (CBS, 2003- ), "CSI: New York" (CBS, 2004- ) and "Bones" (FOX, 2005- ). After the troubled and guilt-ridden Beaver committed suicide at the end of season two, Gallner began a recurring role as a devout Mormon trying to keep a polygamist's son (Douglas Smith) on the path to purity in the controversial HBO series, "Big Love" (2006- ). Meanwhile, Gallner revived his "Smallville" role in early 2007, returning as Impulse rather than The Flash - due to a feature film with the same character being developed by Warner Bros.


text:
Desna offers custom software programs for weight indicators that can be used to automate almost anything. In large plants where a weight indicator might not beMore
$1 mil. - $5 mil.in Revenue
5 - 10EmployeesContact people at this company
412 Manitou Road S.E.CalgaryAlbertaT2G 4C4Canadaview map
(403) 243-4848(403) 243-9338Fax
ProPub_Iteration_NT.411[02] SEIDXWK-23


text:
Here is a New Year postcard with the caption, " New Year Greetings" and "May the sweetest blessings be vouchsafed to thee and thine in the coming year." There is a man in colonial dress - at the upper right corner - serving a plum pudding. It is copyrighted S. Bergman 1912 and numbered 7028. It is not postally used but a message has been written in ink on the reverse.
CONDITION: Very good with corner wear and staining.
Another shopper has this item in their Cart or Wish List .
General Line Antiques and Collectibles for every budget. We are home to 20,000+ vintage postcards.
|Shipping & Handling :
Price for shipping to USA
change location
USPS First-Class Mail Parcel


text:
Amazing Spider-Man Blu-ray by ToHeavenOrHellWatch
©2012-2016 ToHeavenOrHell
very amazing
amazing! i hope when i buy it on blueray to have that cover because it looks realy good
Aha well if the official cover sucks ima print out my cover and use that instead
I think you should sue your cover anyways. while to me this movie looks way to Meh, and well cash out/sell out. This cover is truly Amazing. I would love to see what your DVD disc cover well look like.
Any idea about enemys ?
Dr. Curt Connors who is The Lizard will be Spiderman's enemy in the movie
great design! not too cluttered but not too simple, just right
Great work! I really love the front
The back is a bit too busy for me but still nicely done
The back is a bit too busy for me but still nicely done


text:
Illinois Public Media News
In-depth reporting from WILL, NPR, the Associated Press, and other sources
Contact WILL News at email@example.com
March 25, 2013
(Jenny Dooley/IPR)
March 25, 2013
Concealed Carry Law Far from Approval, Despite Court Order
(Hake's Americana & Collectibles/Atlantic Monthly Press)
March 24, 2013
Integrated Baseball, A Decade Before Jackie Robinson
(M. Spencer Green/AP)
March 23, 2013
They All Voted for DOMA, Now These Senators Are Split
Page 566 of 1023 pages ‹ First < 564 565 566 567 568 > Last ›
WILL Newscast audio
NPR News
Louisiana Poised To Expand Hate-Crime Law To Protect Police
Justice Department To Seek Death Penalty For S.C. Church Shooting Suspect
NFL Awards Super Bowls To Atlanta, South Florida And Los Angeles
For First Time In 130 Years, More Young Adults Live With Parents Than With Partners
$81 Million Bangladesh Bank Heist Sparks Push For Stepped-Up Cybersecurity
Monsanto Calls Bayer's $62 Billion Takeover Offer 'Financially Inadequate'
Judge Says Sexual Assault Case Against Bill Cosby Can Go To Trial
Under Armour, UCLA Reach A Record $280 Million Apparel Deal
Google's Paris Offices Raided In Tax Investigation
PHOTOS: Greece Begins Evacuating Thousands Of Asylum-Seekers From Camp
More NPR News
WILL Highlights
ART/BTS wins 2 Tellys
For the second year in a row, the web series brought home both a Silver and Bronze Telly award.
The 21st
21st century radio for the 21st state. Weekdays at 11 am on WILL-AM 580.
2015 Illinois Public Media Annual Report
Our 12-page Annual Report with highlights of Illinois Public Media's activities in 2015.


text:
The Raphael Hotel News & Awards
Kansas City Hotel Named to Travel Leisure T L 500 World's Best Hotels List, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015The Raphael Hotel of Kansas City, Missouri, was voted one of the 500 world's best hotels by readers of Travel Leisure magazine for the third consecutive year in 2013 and was cited as one of the world's best values among the hotels making the T L 500 list.
The Pioneer Woman visits Raphael on Book TourRead what she shares her Hotel Room Tour of her Presidential Suite accommodations with her blog subscribers.
Kansas City Star showcases Raphael LobbyRead how boutique hotel lobbies influence home design.
US News ranks Raphael city's bestSee what reviewers have to say about Kansas City's historic boutique hotel.
Forbes features The Raphael
Read what Forbes Travel Guide has to say about The Raphael Rendezvous package.
Raphael gm gives thumbs up to green lightsRaphael general manager Bill Carter explains why working with local company to install "green" exterior lighting was the right thing to do. See video.
Read about Bill Carter being named Franchise General Manager of the Year by Marriott International.
Kansas City's Visitors Choice Award-WinnerIn the Visitkc annual visitors survey contest, The Raphael Hotel was visitors' top choice for Kansas City hotels smaller than 300 rooms again in 2015.
Kansas City's Best Boutique Hotel 2009, 2010 and 2012, 2013KC Magazine readers voted The Raphael Hotel Kansas City's best boutique hotel.
National Register of Historic Places – Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City Member of Historic Hotels of AmericaThe Italian Renaissance Revival-style structure of The Raphael Hotel was originally built in 1927, as a nine-story apartment building in Kansas City. At the time, it was known as the Villa Serena, adjacent to Kansas City's Country Club Plaza district. After extensive renovation, the landmark property reopened in September 1975, as The Raphael Hotel.
Autograph Collection in Kansas CityKansas City's original boutique hotel is affiliated with Marriott International's Autograph Collection in the iconic historic hotel category. The Autograph Collection is a portfolio of upscale, independent hotels and resorts, each with a distinctive personality. Benefits to guests include the opportunity to earn Marriott Rewards points for stays at affiliated hotels.
Chaz on the Plaza – A Kansas City FavoriteAt the top of any list of Kansas City's most romantic restaurants, The Raphael Hotel's signature restaurant, Chaz on the Plaza Restaurant and Lounge, is a local favorite among a special category of lovers – foodies. Chaz features modern, regional American cuisine with roots in French fundamentals and textured by influences throughout the world. The menu follows the seasons, accommodating the natural cycle of heartland agriculture.
News Release Page
The Raphael Hotel News Releases
- KC's Raphael hotel receives Travel Leisure World's Best Award honors Download Acrobat Reader
- Raphael named Autograph Collection Hotel of the Year
- Raphael makes Travel Leisure World's Best list for third year in a row
- Historic Boutique Hotel Houses One of Top Kansas City Jazz Clubs
- Country Club Plaza Hotel a Unique Choice Among Kansas City Wedding Venues
- Raphael introduces uniquely Kansas City experience
- Forbes Stars shine bright above The Raphael and Chaz on the Plaza
- Raphael hotel manager named gm of the year
- U.S. News & World Report Travel ranks The Raphael as Kansas City's #1 hotel
- KCTV-5 highlights Raphael as "staycation"
- Country Club Plaza a daytripper's delight
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch travel blog
- Raphael and the Plaza Lights
- Historic Kansas City Hotel Wraps Birthday Celebrations in a Beautiful Package
The Raphael Hotel Media Kit Releases
- Raphael history, tidbits, myths & legends Download Acrobat Reader
- Raphael Fact Sheet
- Country Club Plaza a Kansas City Treasure
- The Kansas City Barbecue Story
- Raphael story leads
- Chaz a uniquely Kansas City restaurant in style and decor
- Chaz a Kansas City music venue
- Kansas City Jazz a Chaz staple
- Chaz emphasizes modern regional cuisine
- Raphael packages open door to unique travel experiences


text:
Kid's Quote
Maja, a 3 year old preschooler, sometimes gets lonely for her parents when she is at school. Her teacher suggested to Maja's parents they make a photo album for her to keep in her cubby at school for her to look at when she misses them. Her parents loved the idea and went right home to make one with many pictures of all her family. Maja now calls this her "Facebook".


text:
Fixed PriceDelivery by February 11, 2013
Hello guys. I need php and wordpress expert who knows his job. I need to customize search box. So when someone search something for example visitor type word facebook, below search box will be dropdown list with thumbnails and text links. if u are interested text me and i will show u example.
About the Client
Cepin 09:27 AM
Jobs Posted
29% Hire Rate, 1 Open Job
Total Spent
84 Hires, 0 Active


text:
Q: What are my debt relief options if I am delinquent on both my federal student loans and my private student loans? A: Falling behind on your student loan payments is a problem far too common. I speak with people on a frequent basis facing delinquency in payment of their student loans. One of the problems I hear most often ... Read More »
Will Settling a Private Student Loan Wreck My Credit?
A reader recently wrote in, concerned about whether an old unpaid student loan could be reported to the credit reporting agencies: I was recently contacted about an old school loan. It is either close or very close to the statue of limitation and has never showed up on my credit report. I thought maybe the school charged it off years ... Read More »
7 Student Loan Terms to Know to Save the Most Money
While applying for and receiving student loans is easier than in years past, many students sign up for heavy debt burdens without familiarizing themselves with important loan terms. Without knowing basic terminology, students are unable to competitively shop for loans, and choose the one that works best for them. Here are a few key terms to know: Principal – The ... Read More »
Why Income Based Student Loan Payments Can Be a Terrible Trap
What Student Loan Assistance Companies Are Not Telling You With the surge in companies that are selling student loan assistance programs it seems their product is most commonly just filling out paperwork to enroll people in income driven repayment programs for federal student loans. It's an easy sale, "We Can Lower Your Payment," is a powerful message that resonates with ... Read More »
These Student Loan Facts Make Me Want to Vomit
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York just published information that makes me concerned for the financial future of consumers who fall into the student loan trap. Despite what people feel or say, there are still affordable ways to get a college education without going $175,000 in debt for a graphic arts bachelors degree. The value of a good community ... Read More »
Student Loan Default Rates Really Suck
Today, the New York Fed released the Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the fourth quarter of 2014. The report is based on data from the New York Fed's Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data. Overall, aggregate balances increased by $117 billion, or 1.0 percent, boosted by increases in all credit ... Read More »
What to Do if Sued by National Collegiate Student Loan Trust for Not Paying Private Student Loans
Question. What are my options if I have been sued by National Collegiate Student Loan Trust? Answer. Getting served with a lawsuit isn't an enjoyable experience. If you aren't familiar with the legal process, it can leave you confused, anxious and overwhelmed. I have spoken with a fair number of people that have been sued after they stopped paying their ... Read More »
$40K in Navient Student Loans Waived in This Bankruptcy
Here is another in my ongoing look at student loans eliminated in bankruptcy. 14-50101 Broshears The debtor who filed bankruptcy in this case was a State employee who was making about $30,000 a year. The debtor had both federal and private student loans. The private student loan balance was $55,920 that required a payment of about $459 a month. Navient ... Read More »
Stafford and William D. Ford Loans Discharged in Bankruptcy
As part of my ongoing look at student loans and bankruptcy, today I'm reviewing a case where both a Federal Stafford Loan and a Federal William D. Ford Direct Loan were completely discharged in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. 14-40052 Branneky According to court documents, the Plaintiff filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the U. S. Bankruptcy ... Read More »
Can I Really Discharge My Student Loan Cosigner Liability in Bankruptcy?
"Dear Steve, I am currently filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in TX. A large amount of my debt comes from being a co-signer on multiple private student loans for my son. He graduated Dec 2008 with a finance degree as the economy was headed down. He was not able to get a job for more than 1 year. He worked ... Read More »
CFPB & Dept of Ed Forgive $480 Million in Student Loans
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the U.S. Department of Education announced more than $480 million in forgiveness for borrowers who took out Corinthian College's high-cost private student loans. ECMC Group, the new owner of a number of Corinthian schools, will not operate a private student loan program for seven years and agreed to a series of new ... Read More »
A Look at a Cosigners Navient Student Loans Discharged in Bankruptcy
As part of what has become an ongoing look at student loans discharged in bankruptcy the example today is where a cosigner discharged their liability for federal student loans with Navient Solutions. This case is yet another example of how the financial hardship of having to repay unmanageable student loans can lead to a discharge of the student loan debt. ... Read More »
Half Million Dollars of Federal Student Loans Discharged in Bankruptcy
So many people continue to assume student loan debt can't be discharged in bankruptcy. Even bankruptcy attorneys perpetuate this myth as well. In previous articles, that you can find here, I've shown specific examples of both federal and private students loans discharged. I've even pointed out broad niches of student loan debt not protected by bankruptcy, in this article. But ... Read More »
The Best Way to Lower Parent PLUS Loan Payments
Parent PLUS student loans sure seem like a financial death trap. Parents are encouraged to jump into them to help pay for school by taking out Parent PLUS student loans, and they think they are doing a good thing, but is it smart? What a Parent PLUS Loan Is For those that might now be aware, a Parent PLUS student ... Read More »
How to Borrow Your Way Out of a Student Loan Default and Lower Your Payment
I can certainly understand why issues surrounding student loans seem like an unknown foreign language for many people. While the information is out there it seems that nobody knows what to make of it. Almost the worst place to turn for advice seems to be the student loan debt collectors. In all fairness it just might not be their job ... Read More »


text:
Real news. Real funny.
It's Not News, It's Fark
If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.
• • •
2576 clicks; posted to Main » on 31 Jan 2014 at 9:01 AM (2 years ago) | Favorite | share: more»
Share this link:
Article Comments close
23 Comments (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Votes
Archived thread
Skipped 2 non-voting comments in this thread
Show all or log in to change this
Skipped 2 non-voting comments in this thread
Show all or log in to change this
Displayed 23 of 23 comments
View Voting Results: Votes
This thread is archived, and closed to new comments.
Submit a Link »
In Other Media
Stories from our partner sites:
10 Best Cities for New College Graduates
Dems' 'Civil War:' Whether to Oust 'T...
Stephen King, Amy Tan Sign Writers' P...
Sweet Misery: Hangover Ice Cream Now...
More news at Newser »
Sportscaster Gets Real Awkward In Lec...
The World's Largest Cruise Ship Is Ba...
WATCH: What Happens When You Try To S...
WATCH: Spinning Hoverboard From Hell...
More news at HuffPostWeirdNews »


text:
AdForum Talent Profiles are currently in beta, let us know if you see anything wrong in this profile.
With over 20 years of editing experience, Steve is recognized as one of the most versatile editors in Canada. His ability to tell complex stories and create rich emotional narratives is unparalleled. Steve is also famous for his offbeat sense of humour, which he draws upon to build brilliant comedic cuts. In addition to his love of editing, Steve is a coffee aficionado and a dog enthusiast.


text:
Processing Time - Orders typically ship in 2-5 business days. Transit via UPS Ground can take up to 6 business days. Braided and custom-made products may take 2 to 3 weeks for delivery.
Free Shipping to Contiguous United States - We do not ship to Alaska, Hawaii or the Caribbean Islands at this time.
Oversized items - Orders that ship freight may take up to 2 weeks from shipment date to be delivered. You will be contacted by the trucking company to schedule a delivery appointment.
Shipping to Canada - Orders shipping to Canada will be subject to a 15% shipping surcharge fee. The shipping surcharge does not cover duties, customs, taxes or brokerage fees which may be charged to you by the shipping courier at time of delivery. At this time we are not shipping to Yukon and the Northwest Territories in Canada.
This hand tufted is made with premium New Zealand wool lending a lush and warm feel that will go great in any child's playarea or bedroom.
Vacuum regularly as new wool rugs can shed yarn fibers for up to three months. Avoid direct and continuous exposure to sunlight. Do not pull loose ends, clip them with scissors to remove. Clean liquid spills immediately by blotting with cloth or sponge. For hard to remove stains, professional rug cleaning is recommended.
If you are looking for runner for your kids room it is great !! Absolutely love it. Material is also good. Priced appropriately.RECOMMENDED: Yes!
The carpet is thick and colors are vibrant (better than in th epicture). It looks great in my daughter's room. The only negative thing about it is shedding but being 100% wool I expected it. Great product and would recommend to anybody.RECOMMENDED: Yes!
Out of 2 reviews
Do you have a question? Ask us!
Returns Accepted Within 14 Days of Delivery. For our full return policy and details click here
Please Note: The images we display have the most accurate color possible. Due to differences in computer monitors, we cannot be responsible for variations in color between the actual product and your screen. Please be advised that in some cases patterns and colors may vary according to size. Lengths and widths may vary from the published dimensions. We do our best to provide you with an accurate measurement, but please be advised that some variation exists and this is not a manufacturing defect.
Fill out the information below.


text:
Senior writer Larry Mayer discusses four things that stood out in Wednesday's OTA practice, including rookie Leonard Floyd's speed and athleticism.
Inside linebacker Danny Trevathan believes the key to building a championship defense is to stockpile players who feel like they have something to prove, and that's what he sees with the Bears.
The Bears on Wednesday signed undrafted rookie linebacker Jarrett Grace and waived linebacker Danny Mason.
The Bears kicked off the third and final phase of their offseason program Tuesday by conducting the first of 10 OTA practices at Halas Hall.
General Manager Ryan Pace sits down with Jeff Joniak to discuss the Bears 2016 Draft and offseason roster moves.
Linebacker Leonard Floyd sits down with Jeff Joniak to discuss his journey to the Bears.
Bears area scout Jeff Shiver discusses the Bears fifth round draft choice running back Jordan Howard with Jeff Joniak.
Bears area scout Jeff Shiver discusses the Bears fourth round draft choice defensive back Deiondre Hall with Jeff Joniak.


text:
IBM Systems Storage Software Blog
CDC Improves Service Level Agreement Levels By 98 Percent
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F email@example.com Tags:  ibm tivoli storage service-management customer-reference storage-management storage-blog 1,806 Visits
The Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDC) is the only depository in Pakistan, handling the electronic settlement of transactions carried out at the country's three stock exchanges.
Business need:
With numerous point management tools, time-consuming manual processes and no single help desk, IT administrators were constantly operating in a reactive mode and faced just 90 percent system availability.
IBM Business Partner Gulf Business Machines helped CDC implement an Integrated Service Management solution from IBM that increases IT efficiency while improving the effectiveness of business services.
90 percent reduction in average time for root cause analysis; estimated 50 percent reduction in time to support new lines of business; 98 percent improvement in service level agreement (SLA) levels.
"IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center gave us greater visibility into storage utilization, helping us optimize capacity planning and improve our storage ROI to save 30%"
—Syed Asif Shah, Chief Information Officer, Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited
Read the complete case study for more details on the solutions used for CDC to implement and Integrated Service Management solution.
More success stories of other customer implementations of IBM technologies can be found here.
Tier 1 analyst report places IBM in the 'Leader' quadrant in the evaluation of the storage resource management software market
Amalore Jude 270003DGKQ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  san-management tpc storage-management gartner srm storage-blog tivoli-storage-productivi... magic-quadrant 1 Comment 2,585 Visits
In the 2010 Magic Quadrant for Storage Resource Management and SAN Management Software, Gartner positions IBM in the 'Leader' quadrant.
The report reflects the enhancements IBM has delivered in the recently announced Tivoli Storage Productivity Center version 4.2. The new version comes packed with enhancements that include superior management control, expanded storage device support, and automated end-to-end storage provisioning.
Tivoli Storage Productivity Center offers open, standards-based, scalable management capability for heterogeneous physical and virtual storage environments, enabling you to achieve the three tenets of effective storage management. Simplify storage deployment and management by reducing implementation time and operational complexities. Optimize storage performance and utilization to significantly improve uptime of mission-critical applications. Centralize end-to-end storage management of IBM, and non-IBM systems that comply with SMI-S standards.
Gartner's 'Leader' rating of IBM's TPC validates…
Tivoli Storage Productivity Center suite includes products to specifically manage Data, Disk and Replication. For more information on TPC, visit ibm.com. To download the 2010 Gartner report, click here.
Note: The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers and Registration is Now Open
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F email@example.com Tags:  storage-blog storage-management ibmstorage pulse2011 pulse ibmpulse 1,879 Visits
Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers is Now Open!!!! Submit Your IBM Storage Success Story and Register for the Event TODAY!
We made it at last! Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers is now officially open. Read my blog from earlier this week to get an idea of what kind of storage success you can submit for your proposal and also see the benefits you, as a customer, can receive if your proposal is selected.
Don't delay... Call for Speakers will end on Nov. 2 and remember, the first 50 customer proposals selected will get a free room upgrade.
Submit your proposal now!
Register Today
Re: Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers - Share Your Storage Success Story
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  data-backup storage-management ibmpulse pulse2011 ibmstorage backup-recovery storage-software data-availability pulse data-reduction storage-blog 1,392 Visits
In response to: Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers - Share Your Storage Success StoryCall for Speakers has been delayed until Friday 24th of September 2010
Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers - Share Your Storage Success Story
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  data-reduction ibmstorage data-backup pulse2011 backup-recovery storage-management ibmpulse data-availability storage-blog storage-software pulse 2,368 Visits
Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers Opens Wednesday, September 22!
Boy oh boy, time sure flies when you're having fun. It seems like I was just at Pulse 2010 in Las Vegas, being a roving reporter, capturing customer, business partner and Subject Matter Expert Videos. It's actually been about nine months and once again it's time to ramp up for Pulse 2011.
Pulse will return to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas February 27 through March 2, 2011. Just like Pulse 2010, we're looking for client speakers to share their success stories and speak in the different track sessions. Do you have a storage success story? What are you doing to make your organization smarter when it comes to storing and backing up your data? How do you gain visibility across your infrastructure, including your storage environment? Are you in control of your data, no matter where it resides? How have you leveraged automation technologies to manage the explosion of data, and the need for instant accessibility? We want to hear from you! What software, hardware and services are you utilizing to deliver better services within your organization, to your internal and external customers? Come share your story of how you're using IBM Storage as a part of your organization's Integrated Service Management implementation.
At Pulse 2010, there were over 300 client speakers and if you weren't a speaker then, you should definitely submit your proposal for Pulse 2011. Check out the benefits of being a client speaker!
Client Speaker Benefits:
Pulse 2011 client speakers will receive complimentary registration to the conference and the first 50 to submit a proposal will receive a FREE hotel accommodations upgrade* to a Celebrity Spa Suite at the MGM Grand if the proposal is accepted!
*The speaker pays for the basic room and will be awarded the upgrade if they submit one of the first 50 papers to be accepted.
Client Speaker Benefits include:
Read Jennifer Dennis' blog Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers - Opens 9/22 @ibm.com/pulse! for details on submitting your proposal. Don't delay, get prepared to submit your proposal right away, those 50 upgrades will be going fast!!!
Here are some customer speaker interviews I did during Pulse 2010, hopefully this will give you an idea of what you can submit for your proposal.
Automating Database Availability Group backups for Exchange 2010
Delbert Hoobler 1000008PR6 email@example.com Tags:  exchange storage-software flashcopy tivoli storage-blog storage tsm snapshot storage-management 9 Comments 12,962 Visits
Hello again!
I wanted to share some information about an article that we just published with regards to backing up Exchange Server 2010.
Along with all the other new features of Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft introduced Database Availability Groups (DAGs). DAGs are part of the large focus that Microsoft put on High Availability and Site Resilience within Exchange Server 2010. DAGs allow you to have passive database copies (aka "replicas") that can serve as hot standbys for protection against machine failures, database failures, network failures, viruses, or other issues that may cause an access problem to a database.
DAGs are similar in function to Exchange Server 2007 Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) replicas. However, they extend the capabilities even further. One of the key benefits that customers get when they use DAGs in their enterprise is the ability to completely offload backups from their production Exchange Servers. That means they can run all of their backups from a database copy instead of the production database so as not to impact their production Exchange servers. This enables the production Exchange Servers to spend their resources on doing what they know best, i.e. handling email and facilitating collaboration.
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail : Data Protection for Exchange and IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager completely support backing up DAG passive database copies. Data Protection for Exchange and FlashCopy Manager also support using those backups to recover the production database as well as for recovering individual mailboxes and items. You can find more details in the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail: Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server Installation and User's Guide V6.1.2.
We just published an article (which includes a sample script) to help you automate backing up your Exchange Server 2010 DAG databases. We know that you will find this quite helpful in setting up your backup strategy:
IBM Tivoli Storage support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is announced!
Delbert Hoobler 1000008PR6 email@example.com Tags:  tivoli storage-blog storage-software storage storage-management tsm flashcopy snapshot exchange 2 Comments 4,497 Visits
Hello again!
IBM just announced that Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange 6.1.2 and IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager 2.2 now support Microsoft Exchange Server 2010! For more details, read the FlashCopy Manager Version 2.2 announcement or see my blog from yesterday.
There are a few important things to take note of. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 included some significant changes, a number of which affect backup and restore. For example, under Exchange Server 2010:
With the release of Data Protection for Exchange version 6.1.2 and IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager version 2.2 on June 4, 2010, we have implemented support for these changes. Here are details about the TSM functionality for Exchange Server 2010 that will be available on June 4, 2010:
Note: VSS backups to the TSM Server are enabled without the requirement for a TSM for Copy Services or FlashCopy Manager license.
IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for Windows Version 2.2 Announced!
Delbert Hoobler 1000008PR6 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  storage tsm tivoli storage-blog snapshot storage-management storage-software flashcopy 2,516 Visits
In December of last year, I blogged about IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for Windows version 2.1. I talked about how FlashCopy Manager provides fast application-aware backups and restores leveraging advanced snapshot technologies. I also discussed how FlashCopy Manager on Windows supports Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server using Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and how it integrates into your enterprise whether you have Tivoli Storage Manager or not. So, if you haven't read my previous blog about FlashCopy Manager on Windows, why not check that out first, then come back to learn more about the new features we just announced!
This Friday, June 4, 2010, IBM will release IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Version 2.2. Some of the exciting new Windows features in this release include:
Did you know? FlashCopy Manager also supports UNIX platforms! Some of the exciting new UNIX features included in FlashCopy Manager Version 2.2 are:
For more details, read the IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Version 2.2 announcement.
General information about IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager is located here.
New Midrange Product Available!
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  storage-software storage-blog ibmstorage midrange storage-management tivoli-storage tpc ibmsoftware disk 2,631 Visits
IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center (TPC) for Disk Midrange Edition V4.1 is now Available! Announced last month, TPC for Disk Midrange Edition has been designed to help reduce the complexity of managing midrange SAN environments that include IBM System Storage DS3000, DS4000, DS5000, SAN Volume Controller (SVC) Entry Edition and IBM Virtual Disk System devices by allowing administrators to configure, manage, and monitor performance of their entire midrange storage infrastructure from a single console. This new offering provides customers the equivalent features and functions of Tivoli Storage Productivity Center for Disk enterprise offering at a fraction of the cost... up to 80% off list price.
TPC for Disk Midrange Edition is part of the IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center V4.1 suite of integrated storage infrastructure management products that are designed to help you manage almost every point of your storage network, between the hosts through the fabric and to the physical disks in a multi-site enterprise. It can help simplify and automate the management of storage data and the networks to which they connect.
Utilizing a new Storage Management Initiative - Specification (SMI-S) Common Information Model (CIM) agent, Tivoli Storage Productivity Center for Disk Midrange Edition can provide over 40 difference reports and performance metrics including:
Administrators can monitor and analyze performance statistics for these storage systems down to five minute intervals. The performance data can be viewed in real time in the topology viewer, stored for historical reporting, or used to generate timely alerts by monitoring thresholds for various device parameters.
Tivoli Storage Productivity Center for Disk Midrange Edition is set apart from IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center for Disk because it is:
To learn more, visit the TPC for Disk Midrange Edition Web page and for more information on the IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center suite of products, read the data sheet
How does IBM Storage for SAP stack up against the competition?
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F email@example.com Tags:  storage ds5000 xiv hardware storage-management ibmstorage storage-blog o systems-storage midmarket software storage-software ds8000 sap 2 Comments 4,197 Visits
In the second half of 2009 the International Technology Group (ITG) was contracted to do a detailed analysis of IBM and competitive storage offerings for SAP to determine a three year total cost of ownership (TCO) for each product included in the comparison. ITG developed two comparisons one for Large Enterprist accounts and a second for Midmarket accounts and chose approppriate competitive offerings for the comparisons. For the Large Enterprise accounts ITG includes: EMC V-Max systems vs. IBM DS8000 Systems and HP XP2400 vs. IBM XIV Systems. For the Midmarket accounts ITG includes: HP Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) vs. IBM DS5000 Systems and HP EVA vs. IBM XIV Systems. ITG developed three year TCO comparisons and provided IBM an Executive summary and Detailed analysis report that can be share with customers.
Read the outcome of the analysis:
Title: Value Proposition for IBM System Storage Cost/Benefit Case for SAP Deployment in Midsize Installations - Executive Summary
Title: Value Proposition for IBM System Storage Cost/Benefit Case for SAP Deployment in Midsize Installations - Management Brief
Title: Value Proposition for IBM System Storage Cost/Benefit Case for SAP Deployment in Enterprise Installations - Executive Summary
Title: Value Proposition for IBM System Storage Cost/Benefit Case for SAP Deployment in Enterprise Installations - Management Brief
ITG also participated in a Webcast that is available for replay discussing the results of their studies of comparative disk systems cost for SAP environments in large and midsized organizations.
Storage at Pulse 2010 - Expert Videos and more
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse2010 ibmpulse pulse ibmstorage storage storage-management 1,690 Visits
It's been almost 2 weeks since Pulse 2010 in Las Vegas and I'm still playing catch up. I finally finished loading all the pictures I took while at Pulse and last week I finished uploading all my YouTube videos. Check out the IBM Pulse Conference Flickr Group for all the Pulse 2010 photos - the ones I loaded are from tiffwdms. Checkout the Pulse 2010 YouTube videos and for all the Storage YouTube videos you can go directly to the Storage Management Playlist.
If you were unable to attend Pulse 2010 in Las Vegas you can attend the virtual event on March 16, 2010. Register here.
I want to share with you a few of the expert videos that I captured while at Pulse.
Kathy Mitton - Tivoli Storage Expert
Jason Perkins - Tivoli Storage Expert
Beta Program for IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager
Delbert Hoobler 1000008PR6 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  storage-management flashcopy fcm storage-software tsm storage 2,098 Visits
Hi there!
The last time I blogged I was telling you about IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager on Windows and just how cool it was. Well, I am working on some more neat stuff and I wanted to tell you about a beta program for upcoming release of FlashCopy Manager. It is called the Beta program for IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager. If you want to test some of the new functions and features of the upcoming release of IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager, please contact Mary Anne Filosa (firstname.lastname@example.com) or your IBM Sales representative to get details.
The enrollment period is ending soon, so don't wait to be a part of the action!
Data Protection in a virtual world
Oren Wolf 270002KMMG firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  backup tivoli hyper-v tsm storage-software storage backup-recovery storage-management vmware storage-blog 2,138 Visits
I don't know about you, but I have been virtualizing like crazy over the last few years, humongous servers have been turning into medium sized virtual machines, test and lab environments had turned into small files running on my laptop from a flash drive.
My IT department have been virtualizing even more, consolidating servers, sharing storage resources among multiple machines and converting NICs (Network Interface Cards) into virtual switches (I still haven't figured out how they did that).
The move into a virtualized environment is very useful for reducing energy consumption, decreasing physical server and storage foot print and driving up processor and storage utilization but it also has some side effects when it comes to data protection.
The problem begins at the same place that drove us into virtualization to begin with, resource sharing, You may now have 10 virtualized servers running on the same physical host, if your backup process consumed only 5% CPU and IO on your physical server, imagine what would happen if all 10 virtual machines kick off the backup process at the same time...
There are multiple valid approaches for providing data protection to those virtual machines and I'll try to address each and every one of them in upcoming blogs…
Other enhancements that might not necessarily be backup related but have to be seriously considered when virtualizing include
IBM Storage Software - Leading the Industry in Client Value
Ron Riffe 100000EXC7 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  tivoli storage-blog storage-management tsm recovery-management tpc fastback ibmstorage storage-software virtualization storage svc 2,143 Visits
Yesterday, in discussing IBM's fourth quarter 2009 financial results, IBM CFO Mark Loughridge had this to say about Storage Software:
"Tivoli storage continued its robust growth as customers manage their rapidly growing storage data. Data Protection as well as Storage Management grew double digits, with broad-based geography and sector growth."
If you are already benefiting from IBM Storage Software - Thank you!!
If you haven't yet started taking advantage of IBM Storage Software, come visit us.
High Availability Storage Cloud
John Foley 12000084U0 email@example.com Tags:  storage-management tivoli ibm storage-blog patel milan cloud ibmstorage video storage-cloud 2,750 Visits
Cloud storage technologies made impressive strides in 2009, and the trend looks to build on that momentum in 2010. IBM is expecting steady growth in cloud storage deployments, especially in the areas of test environments, Web serving, and other non-mission-critical scale-out storage needs.
Standards in this area are just beginning to be discussed and will also be evolving in 2010. Standard file protocols such as CIFS and NFS are obvious starting points for cloud storage access, but other approaches utilizing object storage techniques have also been proposed.
To prepare for cloud storage within the data centers, IT managers will need to determine a small number of focused areas to use as starting points. In the short term, cloud storage is a technology that will be deployed to address specific and unique requirements across the enterprise. Therefore, it is recommended to carefully choose areas to pilot the technology where managers can gain insight into where they can extend usage into other areas and build skills for when it becomes more widely deployable.
Watch this video to gain important insight into what it takes to deploy and manage high available Cloud Storage environments.
Click here for additional information about IBM Cloud Storage Solutions
IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager and Windows Snapshots
Delbert Hoobler 1000008PR6 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  storage-software tivoli storage storage-blog storage-management tsm 8 Comments 9,044 Visits
Have you played around with IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager on Windows yet? If not, maybe it's time to take a look.
When you think of FlashCopy Manager, think of snapshots. FlashCopy Manager provides fast application-aware backups and restores leveraging advanced snapshot technologies. I have been writing software as a developer for IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for almost 20 years now and this technology is one that is changing the industry. Yes, snapshots have been around for a while, but it isn't until the last few years that applications are really starting to embrace them, and in some cases, even require them for their backup needs. There is just too much data to process, too much overhead to back them up, and too little time. People want their applications to serve email and provide access to database tables, not spend their precious cycles on backups. FlashCopy Manager helps address these issues.
FlashCopy Manager follows up on the heels of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Copy Services (TSM for CS) which provided snapshot support for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server using Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). The really cool thing is that you do not need to have a TSM Server in order to use FlashCopy Manager to manage your snapshots. It will work completely stand-alone if you want. But, if you have a TSM Server already, you can use it to extend the power of FlashCopy Manager even more.
What is VSS? VSS is Microsoft's snapshot architecture. It provides the infrastructure for applications, storage vendors, and backup vendors to be able to perform snapshots in a federated and efficient way. Microsoft thinks VSS and snapshots are important enough to require any new software releases that come out of Redmond to be able to be backed up and restored using VSS. If you are running Microsoft Exchange Server or Microsoft SQL Server, you should take a look at snapshots. Microsoft has been supporting snapshots with Exchange and SQL for years, but Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is kicking it up a notch. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is only supporting backups through VSS. Yes, you heard it right, Microsoft does not support legacy style (streaming) backups with Exchange Server 2010. So, if you are planning a move to Exchange Server 2010, it really behooves you to start looking at Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), how it works, and the benefits and complexities it brings with it.
Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is complex and involves multiple moving parts. It will pay for you to invest some time to understand more about it. I have put together some links that will help you get started:
I encourage you to take a look at Windows VSS snapshots and FlashCopy Manager to see how they might help you. Enjoy!
Energy Efficient Storage from IBM
Shawn Jaques 1200007FSY email@example.com Tags:  green-it storage-blog storage-management storage energy-effeciency green storage-software energy 2,458 Visits
Living in Boulder, Colorado, I am constantly hearing about "green" initiatives such as recycling, composting, alternative transportation, etc. Over the past several years, my family has been doing a much better job of lessening our impact on the Earth through things such as recycling, buying environmentally friendly products and even signing up for energy saving smart grid technology.
I appreciate when corporations also do their part to reduce their environmental impact by leveraging greener technologies. But let's face it, most corporations act based on the impact to the bottom line (both real or perceived) rather than the impact to the environment. Companies like IBM can make the decisions easier for clients by building products that improve performance while reducing energy or other environmental impacts.
I'm proud when IBM delivers "green" technology and thus wanted to point your attention to this video about energy efficient storage. Craig Smelser, VP of Security and Storage Development at IBM Tivoli, introduces some of the storage challenges that can be addressed with energy efficient IBM storage software solutions.
For more information, click here
Introducing You to the Tivoli Storage Blog Team
Tiffeni Woodhams 270001Q08F firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  ibm storage-software storage ibmstorage tivoli ibmtivoli storage-blog storage-management 1 Comment 6,393 Visits
Welcome to the Tivoli Storage blog.
We have gathered a team of SMEs from various areas of the business to discuss a variety of topics, spanning different interest areas including customer success stories, upcoming events, Business Partner spotlights, technical tips and tricks, product strategy, roadmaps and hot topics -- and of course, topics of interest to you!
Introducing the team!
BJ Klingenberg: Senior Technical Staff Member - Storage Software, IBM Software Group
BJ has over 25 years of storage software strategy and development experience. He has held various technical and management positions, nearly all of which have been related to storage software. His experience in Enterprise storage management includes DFSMS, DFSMShsm, DFSMSdss, and also Tivoli Storage Manager, Tivoli Storage Productivity Center (TPC) as well as System Storage SAN Volume Controler (SVC). He has also been involved in projects which apply ITIL management best practices to Enterprise Storage Management. BJ is currently focusing on storage archiving solutions. BJ is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, and holds a Master of Science Degree in Computer Science from the University of Arizona
Dave Rice: Business Partner Marketing, Tivoli Storage Software
Dave currently works in IBMs Worldwide Software Group where he drives Business Partner Marketing for Tivoli storage software and also has a focus on Asia Pacific and Japan geographies. In this role, Dave influences Business Partner sales pipeline through, lead/pipeline analysis, progression activities, partner communications, and implementing programs that provide Business Partner Opportunity Identification. Dave has been in a broad set of storage software marketing roles for the past 13 years, and has 35 years with IBM. Outside of IBM, Dave's interests include astronomy, as well as home and life improvement projects.
Del Hoobler: Senior Software Engineer
Del is a Senior Software Engineer that has worked for IBM for over 20 years in software design, development and services. For the past 13 years, he has worked on designing and developing software products for the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) suite of products. Most recently, Del was the technical development lead for the TSM Windows snapshot (VSS) support for Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server. Del enjoys working with people and helping solve their complicated IT problems.
Devon Helms is currently an intern with the IBM Tivoli Software group and a second year MBA candidate at the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine. His studies are focus on business strategy and corporate finance. Before returning to the academic world to pursue his MBA, Devon was a business operations and technology consultant. He has been involved in hundreds of engagements, analyzing and improving his customers business processes. After his studies are complete, Devon wants to continue to help clients improve the performance of their businesses through business process and financial analysis. In his free time, Devon is an avid marathon runner, rock climber, and SCUBA diver. Devon lives in Lakewood, CA with his lovely wife, Shana and his 8 year old Siberian Husky and faithful running partner, Frosty.
Greg Tevis: Tivoli Storage Technical Strategist
Greg has over 27 years in IBM storage hardware and software development. He worked in ADSM/TSM architecture and technical support in the 1990s and was one of the original architects of IBM's storage resource management solution, Tivoli Storage Productivity Center (TPC). He currently has responsibility for technology strategy for all Tivoli Storage and was involved in all of the recent IBM Storage acquisitions including XIV, Diligent, FilesX, Novus Consulting, and Arsenal Digital.
Jason Davison
Jason has been the product manager for the Tivoli Storage Productivity Center (TPC) family since joining IBM in 2006. Prior to joining IBM, Jason was a product manager at EMC and Prisa Networks, responsible for the road map and strategy of various storage management offerings. When not helping define the direction for TPC, Jason acts as the President for Classic Soccer Club, a youth soccer club where his son currently plays.
John Connor: Product Manager
John is the Product Manager for IBMs flagship data protection and recovery offerings, the Tivoli Storage Manager family. During Johns tenure as product manager, TSM has experienced strong growth; growing faster than the overall market, and gaining market share. Prior to joining the Tivoli Storage Manager team in 2005, John helped drive the business strategy for IBM Retail Store Solutions. Prior to that, John had product and marketing roles in various IBM software businesses including WebSphere and networking software. John has an MBA from Duke University and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College. In his spare time, John enjoys competing in triathlons and has successfully completed an Ironman triathlon.
John R. Foley Jr.: Product Marketing Manager
John is currently a marketing manager within IBM's Tivoli storage software marketing team. John has over 20 years of experience in the areas of storage hardware, storage software and system networking. He has held positions in management, product line management, strategy, business development and marketing. In the past 10 years, he has served on multiple storage projects including SAN storage (fibre channel & iSCSI), Network Attached Storage (NAS) and fibre channel switch offerings. Most recent projects include the introduction of IBM's System Storage N series portfolio stemming from the NetApp OEM agreement and the release to market of IBM's newly introduced Tivoli Storage Productivity Center Version 4 and IBM Information Archive Version 1.
Kelly Beavers: IBM Storage Software Business Line Executive
Kelly joined the IBM Storage Software team in 2004 as Director of Strategy and Product Management for Storage Software and Solutions. Her team is responsible for guiding the development and release of products that capitalize on market/technology trends, and for defining and executing tactical go-to-market plans for IBM storage software solutions across both the Tivoli and Systems Storage brands. Kelly has 28 years with IBM where she's held a variety of roles including Finance, Pricing, Tivoli Channel Development, Director of Customer Insight, managing Market Intelligence, Customer Relations and Marketing Operations. Kelly is married with two daughters, ages 19 and 12.
Matt Anglin: Tivoli Storage Manager Development
Matt has been a member of the Tivoli Storage Manager Server Development Team for 15 years. His areas of expertise include data movement to and within the server, deduplication, shredding, and DB2 interactions. He is the AIX platform export in TSM, and is knowledgeable about other Unix, Linux, and Windows plaforms. Matt lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Matthew Geiser: Manager, Storage Software Product Management
Matt joined IBM in 2001 and has worked in product management and product development for Storage Software offerings including SAN Volume Controller, Tivoli Productivity Center, Tivoli Storage Manager and IBM Information Archive. Matt's current responsibilities include managing the product management team for the storage infrastructure management offerings. Prior to IBM, Matt worked in a variety of operations, project management and software development roles in the banking and energy industries.
Milan Patel: Senior Product Marketing Manager
Milan is responsible for Product Marketing of IBM storage software for virtualized server environments, storage clouds and of course every day issues in storage management like backup, recovery, archiving and replication. Milan has been with IBM for over 6 years working in server and storage systems and storage software marketing groups. Prior to that, Milan spent 13 years in various capacities from development to product management of various server subsystems and systems management.
Richard Vining: Product Marketing Manager
Rich is the Product Marketing Manager responsible for the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager portfolio of products. Rich joined IBM in April 2008 as part of the acquisition of FilesX, where he served as Director of Marketing. Rich has more than 20 years of experience in the data storage industry, holding senior management roles in marketing, alliances, customer support and product management at a number of leading edge companies, including Signiant, OTG Software, Plasmon and Cygnet. Rich enjoys eating, drinking, travelling and golfing (but doesn't everybody?)
Rodney Fannin: Worldwide Channel Manager, Tivoli Storage Software
Rodney has over 15 years of experience in working with Business Partners. Primary responsibilities include refining the channel strategy for Storage software and developing sales and marketing tactics to increase reseller revenue worldwide. Rodney is also a contributing author for the BP Spotlight on our blog.
Roger Wofford: Product Manager
Roger is currently a Product Manager in Tivoli Storage Software. He has experience in Manufacturing, Development, Marketing and Sales within IBM. He enjoys golf, swimming and the Rocky Mountains. Roger plans to blog about how customers use archiving solutions in their storage environments.
Ron Riffe: IBM Storage Software Business Strategist
Ron is currently the business strategist for IBM Storage Software. During the last six years, Ron has been devising and implementing IBM's storage software strategy with a focus on creating greater client value through integrating IBM storage software and storage hardware offerings. Ron has managed storage systems and storage management software for more than 23 years, holding positions in senior management, product line management, strategy and business development for both IBM System Storage and IBM Tivoli Storage. Ron has written papers on the synergies of storage automation and virtualization and frequently speaks at conferences and customer locations on the subject of storage software. Prior to joining IBM, Ron spent 10 years as a corporate storage manager for international manufacturing firm Texas Instruments after receiving a B.S. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University.
Shawn Jaques: Manager, IBM Tivoli Storage Product Management
Shawn has been in his current role as manager of storage software product management for nearly three years. The team is responsible for product strategy, content, positioning and pricing of IBM storage software solutions. Prior, Shawn had product and market management roles in other Tivoli product areas as well as a stint in Tivoli Strategy. Before joining IBM, Shawn was a Consulting Manager at Cap Gemini consulting and an Audit Manager at KPMG. Shawn has a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Montana. He lives in Boulder, Colorado and enjoys fly-fishing, skiing and hiking with his wife and kids.
Terese Knicky: Analyst Relations Tivoli
Terese is with Tivoli's analyst relation team covering Storage, System z, Job Scheduling and IBM's General Enterprise solutions. Terese was born and raised in Omaha, NE and transplanted to Texas where she enjoys watching her two boys play college football.
And finally, let's talk about me. I'm Tiffeni Woodhams and I have been with IBM for nearly seven years. Currently, I am a Tivoli Storage Marketing Manager where I am responsible for general marketing activities, ranging from pipeline measurement and tracking, providing marketing execution guidance and communications to the geography teams; Tivoli Storage Social Media lead and co-lead for IBM Storage Social computing strategy. I also work on major launches like Dynamic Infrastructure and Information Infrastructure providing the storage messaging and linkages. Prior to this role, I have held several other marketing positions including Tivoli Provisioning Go-to-Market Manager, Benelux Software Marketing Manager focusing on Tivoli, WebSphere, and Lotus, Americas Tivoli Marketing Manager, and Tivoli Launch Strategist. In my spare time, I enjoy playing sports (basketball, softball, and golf), coaching JV girls basketball, riding horses, and spending time with family and friends.
Now that you know a little background on each of the team members, we hope that you will let us know some of your interest areas when it comes to IBM Storage and IBM Tivoli Storage Software solutions. Please post comments to this blog and let us know what you want to hear about.
Some topics we will be discussing in the next month include:
Pulse 2010, the Premier Service Management Event
Data Reduction - the steps to get to where you want to be
Archiving - why you need to do it
Upcoming Webinars
Unified Recovery Mangement
New Product announcements and roadmaps.
Thanks and we look forward to hearing your feedback.