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Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX)
Q2 2013 Earnings Call
January 24, 2013 5:00 pm ET
Greg Secord - Vice-President of Investor Relations
Paul J. McFeeters - Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer
Mark J. Barrenechea - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Richard Tse - Cormark Securities Inc., Research Division
Thanos Moschopoulos - BMO Capital Markets Canada
Tom Liston - Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation, Research Division
Kris Thompson - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division
Scott Penner - TD Securities Equity Research
Paul Steep - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division
Stephanie Price - CIBC World Markets Inc., Research Division
Paul Treiber - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division
Michael Anderson - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division
Blair H. Abernethy - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the OpenText Corporation Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2013 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded today, Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Greg Secord, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Greg Secord
Thank you and good afternoon, everybody. I'd like to start off the call with the reading of our safe harbor statement. Please note that during the course of this conference call, we may make statements relating to future performance of OpenText and certain forward-looking information. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment, actual results could differ materially from a conclusion, forecast, or projection in the forward-looking statements made today. Certain material factors or assumptions were applied in drawing any such conclusion, or while making any such forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information.
Additional information about the material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from a conclusion, forecast or projection in the forward-looking information and the material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing the conclusion while making the forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information, as well as risk factors that may affect the future performance and results of OpenText are contained in OpenText Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as well as our press release that was issued earlier today, each of which may be found on our website.
We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements unless required by law. In addition, our conference call will include a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures have been included in today's press release, which may be found in our website.
And with that, I'd like to welcome everybody to the call. With me today is OpenText President and CEO, Mark Barrenechea, as well as our CFO, Paul McFeeters. As with previous calls, we'll read prepared remarks followed by a question-and-answer session and the call will last approximately one hour, with a replay available shortly thereafter.
I'd also like to direct our investors to the Investor Relations section of our website, where we've posted an updated PowerPoint that will be referred to in this call. We've also posted a summary table highlighting OpenText historical trend and financial metrics.
And with that, I'll hand the call over to Paul McFeeters.
Paul J. McFeeters
Thank you, Greg. Turning to the financial results, I will highlight our second quarter of fiscal year 2013. Total revenue for the quarter was $352 million, up 9.6%, compared to $321 million for the same period last year. Regionally, the Americas contributed 53%, EMEA 36% and Asia-Pacific 11%.
Licensed revenue for the quarter was $76.1 million, up 37% sequentially over Q1. We saw licensed revenue broken down by vertical as 19% from financial services, 18% from services, 11% technology, 10% basic materials, 10% public sector, 8% consumer goods, 9% healthcare, 7% utilities, 7% industrial goods and 1% from conglomerates.
Cloud services revenue, which we have broken out separately in our financial statements, was $46.2 million for the quarter, compared to $44.9 million in Q1. Customer support revenue for the quarter was $165 million, unchanged compared to the previous year. On a constant currency basis, customer support revenue grew by approximately 2%.
Professional Services and other revenue in the quarter was $65 million, compared to $66 million in the same period last year. Professional Services margin was higher in the current quarter due to improved efficiency in our services organization and the seasonal impact of our user conference. Gross margin for the quarter, before amortization of acquired technology, was approximately 71.7%, compared to approximately 73.7% in the same period last year. The reduction was attributable to the addition of EasyLink, whose margin for the quarter was 61%, in line with our target operating model.
Pretax adjusted operating margin before interest expense and stock compensation increased by 15% to $113 million this quarter, compared to $98.5 million in Q2 of the last fiscal year. Adjusted net income increased by 14% to $93.3 million this year, up from $81.7 million in Q2 of last fiscal year. Adjusted EPS was $1.58 per share on a diluted basis, up from $1.39 per share in Q2 of the prior fiscal year, an increase of 14%.
Operating cash flow for the quarter was $75 million, compared to $45 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. The sequential effect of foreign currency movement on adjusted EPS for Q2 was a positive $0.01 per share. The adjusted tax rate for the quarter is 14%, the same as it was last fiscal year.
On a GAAP basis, income from operations before interest and taxes for the second quarter was $67.2 million, up 21.7% from $55.2 million in the second quarter last year. Net income in the second quarter in accordance with GAAP was $61.1 million or $1.04 per share on a diluted basis, compared to $47.4 million or $0.81 per share on a diluted basis for the same period a year ago.
There were approximately 59 million shares outstanding on a fully-diluted basis for the second quarter of fiscal 2013. We incurred $2.3 million in special charges in the current quarter, compared to $9.6 million in Q1 of fiscal 2013 and $5.2 million in Q2 of fiscal 2012. We expect to incur approximately $7 million in additional restructuring costs related to our fiscal 2013 restructuring plan. We paid out approximately $4 million in the current quarter, relating to restructuring activities. We expect to payout approximately $11 million in restructuring charges for the rest of fiscal 2013.
On the balance sheet at December 31, 2012, deferred revenues were $253 million compared to $237 million as of December 31, 2011. Our deferred revenues are affected by the renewal cycle of our customer's maintenance contracts and are normally at their lowest point at the end of our second quarter on a calendar year end renewal cycle. Generally, deferred revenues are at their highest point at the end of Q3.
Accounts receivable was $168 million, compared to $167 million as of December 31, 2011. Days sales outstanding were 43 days as of December 31, 2012, compared to 48 days at June 30, 2012 and 47 days as of December 31, 2011. Our headcount was approximately 5,000 at the end of December, comprised of 1,300 in R&D; 214 in Cloud Services, 715 customer support, 1,000 in Professional Services, 1,000 in Sales and Marketing and 700 in G&A. Approximately 490 employees are from EasyLink.
We expect our annual operating net margin model to continue to be in the range of 26% to 30%. For Q3 of fiscal '13, you should expect to see gross margins and operating expenses as a percentage of total revenues more in line with our posted operating model. Our operating margin this quarter was benefited from lower cost. However, as I indicated previously, we would expect to see sales expenses increase for the balance of the year, as we expand sales capacity and commission payments increase as individuals achieve and exceed their quarter targets. In addition, our R&D cost will increase with new resources being brought in to drive innovation in our product portfolio. The full details of our operating model are available on our website.
Now, I'll turn the call over to Mark.
Mark J. Barrenechea
Thank you, Paul, and welcome, everyone to our fiscal 2013 second quarter earnings call. This month represents my 1 year anniversary with OpenText. And let me begin with our strategy, execution and financial model are working. Over the last 12 months, we have focused on strengthening our strategic position with customers; assembling a leadership team to deliver on our EIM strategy; aligning our R&D to large and relevant customer needs; expanding our sales force and distribution capabilities; introducing a new cloud services strategy supported by our acquisition of EasyLink; operational efficiencies; and a financial target model that delivers strong earnings.
Paul talked about our financial target model. But let me add to his comments by looking back over the last 12 months. And comparing execution against our focused areas. I trust you'll see what I see, which is progress in key aspects of the business. Revenues have grown each quarter from $292 million, $305 million, $326 million and in Q2, $352 million.
Adjusted margins have grown each quarter from 25.7%, 27.7%, 28.7% and in Q2, 32.1%. Adjusted operating incomes have grown each quarter from $73.8 million, $84.4 million, $93.8 million and in Q2, $213 million. Non-GAAP earnings-per-share have grown each quarter from $1.01, $1.17, $1.31 and in Q2, to $1.58. Our total expenses as a percent of net revenues have decreased each quarter from 74.8%, 72.3%, 71.3% and in Q2, to 67.9%.
Our Q2 license was $76 million, with 37% quarter-over-quarter growth, and we continue to expect license growth in second half fiscal '13 over second half fiscal '12. Further, given the progress over the last 12 months, we would expect to enter fiscal '14 stronger than we entered fiscal '13. Our strategy, execution and financial model are working.
Let me provide some Q2 highlights and start with important customer wins. IAG in Australia selected our BPM software for claims processing. Novartis in Germany selected our ECM software for governance, risk and compliance. Sprint in the U.S. selected our ECM, CEM and Tempo Social for stronger customer and employee engagement. The DBLA in the U.K. selected our BPM software for customer processing.
In the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency also known as the DLA, selected our ECM software for Contract Management and bought at compliance across the U.S. Department of Defense. Our Cloud Services business grew quarter-over-quarter, delivering $46 million in revenues, 61% adjusted margins and operated profitably. Cloud services customer highlights include Coca-Cola, Toyota, 7-Eleven, TELUS, athenahealth, Novo Nordisk, Mizuno Securities and Colgate Palmolive. These blue-chip organizations trust OpenText with their mission-critical data and operations in the OpenText Cloud.
Our customer service organization had a solid quarter with $164.7 million in revenues and 83% margin. As did our professional services organization with $63 million in revenues and 26.3% margin. Our Cloud Services, Customer Services and Professional Services businesses all performed well in the quarter.
Let me move on to Q2 geographic performance. EMEA and APJ delivered a good quarter. The teams executed well in each of their respective geographies. We also had a good book of business in the Americas, though we were somewhat impacted by the fiscal cliff.
Let me wrap up my Q2 highlights by adding our pipeline is growing, we expect second half fiscal '13 over second half fiscal '12 license growth and we are focused on what we own and control, while continuing to improve our results in up economies or down. Our strategy, execution and financial model are working.
Let me transition and provide my views on the next 12 months. Our focus is in 3 areas and more refined than a year ago. First, new products in cloud services; second, sales execution with multichannel distribution; and third, financial performance. The 3 areas sit on the foundation of our EIM strategy, leadership team and operating efficiencies.
As for new products and services, let me hit some highlights. First, ECM. We have the widest view of ECM used cases in the market, from document and records management, governance, bespoke applications, out-of-the-box applications and deep integration into ERP. Supporting these used cases, CS 10 SP 2 is shipping, Tempo Box is both on premise and in the cloud. We have new developer tools. We are launching our next-generation Enterprise Information archive products later this quarter. OpenText Archive is now one integrated product, providing information archive for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, SAP, Lotus Notes, File Systems and new cloud-based systems, such as Office 365 and Gmail. All archived information in one place integrated together.
We will help customers be more secure, better managed and reduce their storage cost by up to 50%. The product is so well built, we'll stand behind the solution with an offer to customers that they can be live in less than 30 days. Next, BPM. We just delivered our next version of BPM, which we call OpenText Assure. OpenText Assure is the next version of our BPM software with prepackaged smart applications for case management, people management, asset management, claims management and service management. These applications run standalone, integrated into SAP and integrated into Oracle applications. The future of BPM is far beyond a great process oriented set of tools. The future is in packaged applications. We define the future of ECM with our used cases and we will define the future of BPM with smart applications.
Next, CEM. Our CEM focus is in Digital Asset Management, customer communications, Web Experience Management and the social enterprise. New Tempo Social is GA. CCM 7.0 is now GA. Media Manager 7.2, with a connector into the Adobe creative suite is GA. And our new WEM 8.5 offering will be GA next quarter, fully exploitive and fully compliant with HTML 5.
Further, our discovery suites. InfoFusion is based on proven technologies from OpenText. It will be in full GA this quarter. InfoFusion helps customers integrate their many information platforms with a single product in architecture, user experience, faceted search and analytics features. It also helps customers migrate away from older, fragmented systems into a single EIM solution. InfoFusion helps customers solve content integration problems across Documentum, FileNet, Stellent, SharePoint, Interwoven and bespoke solutions. Customers using our technology include AIG, Abbott, AstraZeneca, BMW and Barclays.
And finally, the cloud. As we closed the EasyLink acquisition, what's impressed me most, looking beyond revenues and financial performance, is the advancement of our thinking and path for growth. For example, OpenText is now running Tempo Social in our cloud. We have over 3,000 active users. Employees are more engaged, communities of interest formed in sharing information and information exchange now happens in a network, not a hierarchy. Developers are building new features and rolling them out to users over weekends. Engineering, engineers are now crowd-sourcing features. We have better intelligence on what works and what doesn't and we are innovating in shorter cycles. This all happens in the cloud and represents a fundamental change in thinking.
Our cloud offering includes information exchange for enterprise data types such as fax, EDI, SMS, file transfer and managed hosting services. The next set of cloud capabilities that we intend to deploy include Secure Capture and Secure Archive. We are building our software to be delivered on premise or in the cloud or both, completing the needs of our customers. We will continue to acquire, supporting our EIM strategy.
Let me turn to sales execution and multichannel distribution. We have put in place a structure in leadership and expanded sales capacity over the last 12 months. More coverage and more path that connect customers to our software is directly related to increase license growth. Over the next 12 months, our sales execution priority can be best described as building more sales capacity, increasing sales performance, additional channels, which contribute to revenues, SIs, channel partners, strategic partners and telesales; focusing on key and emerging markets.
For example, APJ, 5 years ago, was a minor contributor to our financials. Today, APJ is greater than 10% of our revenues and there remains many market opportunities for growth. Furthermore, we recently added Roberto Regente to lead Latin America for OpenText and in particular, to grow our business in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Mexico. We have opportunity in Latin America, just like we had opportunity in APJ 5 years ago.
The overarching focus for the next 12 months is to connect more customers to our software and services through execution and expansion of our selling capabilities. As for financial performance, our approach is to fund expansion and new investments within our financial target model and we remain focused on delivering strong earnings. The last 12 months has demonstrated we can expand our sales force, invest in new products and acquire companies, while growing earnings and operate within our financial targets.
In summary, I am pleased with our advancements over the last 12 months. We have demonstrated progress in the important areas of our business. Going forward, we are focused on new products in cloud services, sales execution with multichannel distribution and financial performance. OpenText is committed to leading the industry in EIM software and services, both on premise and in the cloud.
We have new products and services in the market to drive license growth. I expect our license revenues to grow, second half fiscal 2013 over second half fiscal 2012. Furthermore, I see us entering fiscal 2014 with increasing momentum and a stronger business. We are delivering strong financial results. Our strategy, execution and financial model are working.
Operator, with those comments, we'd like to open the lines for questions.
Question-and-Answer Session
Your first question comes from the line of Richard Tse from Cormark Securities.
Richard Tse - Cormark Securities Inc., Research Division
So, Paul, last quarter, you talked about sales and marketing kind of bouncing back this quarter. But now, it seems like you're pushing that out here a little bit. Is it just kind of timing of when you're hiring these guys or kind of what happened there? Maybe you can just elaborate a little bit?
Paul J. McFeeters
I think you said it, it's timing of the hiring. They'll be fully burdened in this quarter and we're continuing to build the team. So yes, a little bit more back-ended perhaps than what I might have thought the previous quarter. And also, as I said and repeated from the previous quarter is that we will have compensation plans accelerating through the second half of the year.
Richard Tse - Cormark Securities Inc., Research Division
And Mark, so you guys obviously have a lot of product initiatives underway. Can you maybe frame for us of your existing licensees that are in the market, how many products they have, or some kind of metric and what you plan or hope to take that to over the course of the next 12 to 18 months?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Richard, I thought I described our approach as ensuring that the teams major in the majors. And putting aside product count for a moment, we think of our EIM strategy in 5 pillars. And there are probably 5 major categories in each of those. And there's for sure some work we can do to refine that. But if you think of an ERP HR system where you might have benefits but multiple modules under benefits. You may have payroll on multiple modules under payroll. We certainly have some work to do to better refine, better bundle but in each of the 5 pillars, I would think of 4, 5 subcategories. So that's roughly 25 to 35 major modules.
Richard Tse - Cormark Securities Inc., Research Division
And just one last question here and I'll pass the line. If you listened to the SAP call earlier this week, they sort of indicated that their business is really growing on the cloud side, but I guess the offset to that is certain takeaway from some of their traditional Professional License business. Do you see that kind of impact on your business model here as well, or do you think that you're diversified enough that it shouldn't have a meaningful impact going forward?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Richard, thank you for the question. Our relationship with SAP has never been stronger. We work in a hybrid model, both on premise and in the cloud. It's what customers are looking for. And their on-premise push, and their in the cloud push, sort of equal prominence just like ours. So we don't see their cloud initiatives as being detrimental.In fact, we see them being very favorable to our long-term partnership.
Your next question comes from the line of Thanos Moschopoulos from BMO Capital Markets.
Thanos Moschopoulos - BMO Capital Markets Canada
I realize you don't provide guidance, although in the past you've talked about what typical licensees and how [indiscernible] looks like for your business. And so as we look towards Q3, is there anything that would suggest the seasonality might be any different this time around than what you've seen historically?
Paul J. McFeeters
Thanos, this is Paul. No, I think we're still seeing that, if I can use the term more normalized basis, we still look for that seasonality that we talked about before.
Thanos Moschopoulos - BMO Capital Markets Canada
And then one for Mark. Have you -- I'm starting to see in the early data points as far as your EIM vision and the traction there with your OpenText unlimited model. Are clients increasingly buying multiple modules, or is it still early days, with respect to that trend?
Mark J. Barrenechea
I think it's early days, but we're getting -- we're starting to get some early, early proof points. Sprint was a very good example within the quarter of purchasing multiple modules from us. They selected ECM, CEM and Tempo Social. So they are at least a good half-dozen modules in there. And that's part of our long-term growth thesis, is we can see lots of white space and lots of opportunity to cross sell and upsell new modules.
Your next question comes from the lineup Tom Liston from Cantor Fitzgerald.
Tom Liston - Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation, Research Division
Mark, some further commentary you made on the large deals, over 1 million of the 5 deals was obviously pretty close year-over-year, but sort of midpoint deals were down 50% year-over-year. What are you seeing there? Is it more sales force changes, or is it just hesitation around fiscal cliff, as per your commentary?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Tom, thanks for the question. As I highlighted in my prepared remarks, EMEA and APJ had good quarters on the license side. And in the Americas, our book of business look good. We won and sold good business in the Americas, but there's no doubt that the fiscal cliff had some impact to our license performance. We could've done even better in the Americas, if not for the fiscal cliff, though we still had a very fine quarter. So there's no trend in the -- greater than $1 million or between 500,000 and 1 million stats. I would look towards the fiscal cliff in the last 2 weeks of the quarter.
Your next question comes from the line of Kris Thompson from National Bank Financial.
Kris Thompson - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division
Mark, I heard that you said it about revenue growth, but on a year-over-year basis, the license revenue growth is still negative. When do you expect you're going to start to achieve organic revenue growth and the license bucket, because I know that's one of your key pillars of growth?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Kris, thanks for the question. Look, over the last 12 months, I would describe our efforts as building capacity, building product, building efficiencies. And we see that in our results this quarter of $1.58 of adjusted EPS, record EPS for the company. I look over the next 12 months and most notably, in the next 6 months that I expect to grow license organically second half fiscal '13 over second half fiscal '12. And what's supported by that is I think of 3 Cs, real simple. One, more capacity. We're up in a number of AEs, we're up in the number of sales directors, we're up in the sales leadership. Second C, less change in the organization, as I look out over the next 12 months. Less structural changes, less plans changed, less leadership, less strategy changes, less people. We've put the major changes in. And the third C, quite candidly, is our easier compares. So when I look over the next 12 months and in particular, the next 6 months, supporting our statements of expecting to see license growth second half over second half, I look towards 3 Cs, more capacity, less change, easier compare.
Your next question comes from the line of Scott Penner from TD Securities.
Scott Penner - TD Securities Equity Research
Just, Paul, just to be clear on the past comments on seasonality to make sure we're all on the same page, what you've said most recently was that Q3 is normally on the license side down 5% to 10% and Q4 would be up sequentially 20% to 30%. Is that still the plan for the back half?
Paul J. McFeeters
Scott, you're correct in that's what I said. I just want to make a couple of qualifiers. Again, it's not guidance. And as we all know, we've been more variable than that between quarters in the last recent year or 2. But as we did say, and I said, we still look at that as a more normalized seasonality. Yes, those are the numbers.
Your next question comes from the line of Paul Steep from Scotia Capital.
Paul Steep - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division
Mark, I guess this one is for you. Knowing that you have high expectations for the business, what would be, in your mind, success for the new products if we come back 1 year from now, particularly in Cloud and InfoFusion, where would you say you've won or OpenText has won?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Paul, tanks for the question. Look, I'm going to set the indicators pretty simple here. And it's growth. It's growth. I mean, I look at our opportunity in front of us, second half over second half, to grow organically our license. And again, with more capacity, less change, we're in a good position to have second half over second half license growth organically and enter FY '14, even stronger. EasyLink, we complete -- they've been on board for 6 months. We historically have looked at acquisitions down 10% to 30% in the first year. We came out of the gate atypical to say the business would be flat or is down 10% to 30% and quarter-over-quarter, we grew the business. So I would look towards new products and services in the cloud and growing our cloud services are aligned. And second half over second half organic license growth.
Your next question comes from the line of Stephanie Price from CIBC World Markets.
Stephanie Price - CIBC World Markets Inc., Research Division
In terms of the sales force expansion, can you talk a bit more about where you are? And in the expense of the distribution networks as well. Are we in the last inning here, or is there still -- how much more work is there to be done?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Stephanie, we're, to some degree, we're always going to be expanding our sales force. We're still a relatively young company and more coverage equals more opportunities to compete. We set out a goal beginning of last calendar year to expand the sales force 20% and we're complete with that at the end of calendar '12. We're going to continue to grow our sales force here in 2013, calendar 2013 within our operating model. But the initiatives that we laid out earlier in the year, we're complete with. Telesales is up and running. We have more to hire within the team, but we've stood up our first team, made our first hires and we're taking our first phone calls. But you can expect from us to continue to disproportionately put our investment dollars towards products and the sales force. And there's more room to grow the sales force, both in emerging markets and established markets.
Your next question comes from the line of Paul Treiber from RBC Capital Markets.
Paul Treiber - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division
There are a number of sub deals last quarter. Have they all closed this quarter? And then you mentioned that license would have been better if not for the fiscal cliff. Is that more of a general comment, or is there any way that you can quantify the potential impact from that?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Paul, thanks for the question. We go back to Q1. We highlighted that part of our challenge in Q1 of fiscal -- fiscal '13 Q1 was related to Europe in North American public sector markets. We see quarter-over-quarter public sector up slightly and we had a good quarter in EMEA this quarter. There are some deals that pushed from Q1 to Q2 and we've closed many of those deals. But here at the end of Q2 and as companies are beginning to report. You'll hear more of it. We had some impact on the fiscal cliff. Some impact. We see us having met expectations here in the quarter, record revenues, record earnings, but there's no doubt that the fiscal cliff had some impact. We're not going to quantify that in terms of a number of deals, but it had some impact. But we were still happy with our book of business. We still sold into the government, into many industries, though we could have done a little better in the Americas in Q2.
Your next question comes from the line of Michael Nemeroff from Crédit Suisse.
Michael Anderson - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division
This Mike Anderson on behalf of Michael. Just a quick one, Paul. Can you just comment on the renewal rates with respect to the customer support line, how they trended around 92% as before, a little bit higher, a little bit lower?
Paul J. McFeeters
Michael, their consistent, as in the past, around the 92% level, trailing.
Michael Anderson - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division
Okay. And then for -- and because I'm just -- we're just trying to make sure that we get the deferred revenue right going into the next quarter, since it's your seasonally strongest per new bookings. So, I appreciate that.
[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Scott Penner from TD Securities.
Scott Penner - TD Securities Equity Research
Mark, Richard led off the Q&A by asking about the -- and you answered about the number of modules. Of the 25, how many does your average customer have right now? And is that a good way to think about penetration?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Yes, the -- when we looked across the enterprise install base, it's actually quite encouraging for upsell. We see customers majority having 1 to 3 modules, 1 to 3 modules. So we've done a fair amount of analysis and that's why we continue to focus the sales force on one of their key drivers is to drive wider and deeper within our existing install base and named accounts. So if you want to look at 25 modules, think of sub-5 of current penetration. So opportunities to go sell 6, 7 and 8.
Your next question comes from the line of Richard Tse from Cormark Securities.
Richard Tse - Cormark Securities Inc., Research Division
Mark, I wanted to clarify a little bit on the sales side. So I think you made a commentary saying that you're pretty much up and running on the sales count, but Paul had mentioned that the sales, I guess, spending is going to increase. So I'm just trying to reconcile where that spending and what's it for and when that's going to come? I'm just a bit confused on that right now.
Paul J. McFeeters
Richard, I'll take part of that question. My comment really was, as we were hiring through the quarter. In Q3, you'll have a full quarter with all of those sales reps. So part of my direction for cost increasing was having all of those people on board for the full quarter in Q3.
Mark J. Barrenechea
And Richard, I amplify what Paul just said. We're complete on last year's initiatives of adding capacity. We'll continue to add capacity in calendar '13 and we're starting to build out telesales.
Your next question comes from Blair Abernethy from Stifel.
Blair H. Abernethy - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division
Just 2 quick things. First up, Paul, do you have the average selling price of the deals this quarter?
Paul J. McFeeters
Just over $250,000.
Blair H. Abernethy - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division
250, okay great. And Mark, just one for you. I'm just wondering if you could expand a little bit more on InfoFusion in terms of some of the beta test [ph] customers, I guess, that you've had it into, how big is that sort of testbed been and what some of the feedback you've been getting there? And then finally, on the InfoFusion, what is this going to cost customers who are looking to implement this?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Blair, thanks for the question. So InfoFusion is a -- has been built on proven technology that's been inside OpenText for a while, combined with Nstein plus new innovation on top of it. So the core notion of being able to speak to Documentum, FileNet, Stellent, SharePoint, Interwoven and other repositories, we've had a fair amount of these connectors. We've taken our InfoFusion -- Nstein rather and our search technologies plus some technology from Vignette or single sign on the architecture and created a product out of it. So we have a lot of existing, proven technologies that we've been able to better package and better integrate and better communicate in what we call InfoFusion. The interest is very high. It was a delight at Enterprise World in November, to literally see lines around booths of customers trying to learn more about the product. Early feedback has been incredibly positive. I highlighted a few in the prepared remarks, AIG, Abbott, AstraZeneca, BMW, Barclays. And we see a variety of used cases, one of which is information is going to remain fragmented and customers want to be able to connect to it. Second, is to be able to reduce the cost of infrastructure, connect, but keep in place or connect and migrate and turn off and start turning off systems that are no longer key. We have an early pricing for it. But I'm sure we'll do it here this quarter and maybe give an update on the next call.
Your next question comes from Tom Liston from Cantor Fitzgerald.
Tom Liston - Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation, Research Division
Mark or Paul, just a follow-up on R&D. It's at a multiyear load, certainly a percentage of sales. Where were most of the cuts, is it more of a legacy maintenance type base for the cuts? And more importantly or as importantly, are you going to get to the model this next quarter? And where is most of that growth areas going to be in terms of product focus?
Mark J. Barrenechea
Thanks for the question -- Mark here, thanks, Tom. We are moving more and more resource to India. And Paul will talk -- Paul can talk about how that's going to flow through as a percent of revenues. But it's not that we're taking people out of the business. We're actually adding people. But we're doing it at a lower cost structure and we're doing it in a way where we can work near 24/7. So when Waterloo and Richmond and our West Coast operations start to go home, India rises and we can be writing code in India. So this is all part of our strategy to accelerate innovation, be able to work 24 hours a day and accelerate features to market. And that movement is to move in more capabilities to India. Paul can talk about how that will -- anything else you want to add, maybe, Paul, on the financial side?
Paul J. McFeeters
No, I commented in my script, Tom, that we are -- now we are building back the team, as Mark said, on a cost-effective basis. But we certainly will see -- I know some cost will now start to increase through Q3 and Q4.
Mark J. Barrenechea
So not just labor arbitrage or expense arbitrage, but it's about changing our innovation model.
Your next question comes from the line of Kris Thompson from National Bank financial.
Kris Thompson - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division
Mark, over the last couple of quarters, the license revenue from your install base has been higher than normal and I hear you're focusing on your current companies. But can you just give us an update on the success of the Autonomy trade-in program? Are you getting any traction there? And that sounds like a different strategy outside of your go to -- your current install base strategy.
Mark J. Barrenechea
Kris, thanks for the question. So the Autonomy program that we announced last quarter, we've actually built some pipe from it, which is wonderful to see. We've had a couple of wins from it as well. And we're going to keep at it this quarter and probably next quarter. It's another avenue to grow in license, another avenue that supports our thesis of second half over second half organic license growth. But the program has created awareness for the company, somewhat of a sort of a change of approach from historically, created some pipeline and actually brought some revenue in and helps us support our second half over second half growth thesis.
[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions. I will turn it over to Mr. Barrenechea. Please go ahead, sir.
Mark J. Barrenechea
Thank you. I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts from today. To sum up the past year, we've demonstrated progress in important areas of our business. Our strategy, execution and financial model are working. Over the next 12 months we will focus on new products in cloud services, sales execution and financial performance.
In the coming weeks OpenText will be presenting at several investor conferences, including the Stifel Technology Conference in San Francisco on February 5; the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco on February 26; and Raymond James' annual Investor Conference in Orlando Florida on March 5.
I look forward to meeting with many of you at these investor conferences. If you like more information, please contact our Investor Relations team. Thank you, everyone, for participating in the call. That ends today's call.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your lines.
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text:
Some of you may have heard about the new night club opening up at the Crowne Plaza here. It's called Zouk, and it opens to the public tomorrow (Wednesday July 21st) night at 8:30pm. Tonight, there is a special VIP launch event with free drinks. I'm going to check it out and will write a review for Wednesday.
Here's what I know already though: It will be RO 20 per couple at the door, but then you have that RO 20 credited to your account and you can charge it against food and drink inside. A novel concept, and hopefully one that will prove popular.
The VIP tickets (so generously gifted to me by the omni-present Darren from Hi FM) came in a DVD box, which contained a CD. The CD has a great 1 hour mix of House music on it, by dj rita x.craft (Portuguese dj). And the great news is that she'll be visiting the club within the next 2 months for a few live sets, so if you're a fan of house music, watch this space.
Now for the well-travelled readers amongst you, you may be wondering if this venue has anything to do with the Zouk mega-clubs in Singapore and K-L. No, this has no link at all to them.
Stay tuned for the review tomorrow.
le fin.
Home » booze » entertainment » New nightclub in Muscat: Zouk
3 comments:
- Oman Collective Intelligence said...
Cool! Will definitely check it out too!
- July 20, 2010 at 11:57 AM
Let's hope it aspires to it's famous Singaporean namesakes reputation!!
Zouk Sing is totally awesome!
I hope this doesn't degenerate and become (or start out like) the usual testosterone fuelled meat zones we have to put up with here!
- July 21, 2010 at 7:59 AM
its gonna suck coz muscat is a big sausage fest
- April 8, 2011 at 1:00 AM
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subset: commoncrawl


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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 8/1/2014 (1293 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Chinese evergreens (Aglaonema) have been a staple of my interior landscape for more than 25 years and I continue to appreciate these wonderfully versatile plants. They are one of the easiest plants to grow indoors, yet pack a punch in terms of the impact they create in any indoor environment.
Because I have had these plants in my collection for so long, I often take them for granted and really do not think much about how valuable they are.
My interest and appreciation was newly aroused, however, in a recent visit to a Brandon garden centre that has brought in a wide selection of indoor plants and has them displayed in their main greenhouse, which will be open all winter.
Among the newly arrived plants were quite a number of Chinese evergreens — but like no Chinese evergreens I had ever seen before. All of mine have been green with various variegations of green, gray and silver on their leaves, with names like 'Silver Queen'.
The garden-centre visit shows that plant breeders have obviously been hard at work on Aglaonema; there were narrow-leafed ones, specimens whose leaves had red and burgundy marbling, and just an array of various leaf shapes and colours. I was amazed to say the least.
I have never had a huge gardening budget so I will have to figure out how I can incorporate the purchase a couple of these newer varieties of Aglaonema into my gardening spending because now that I have seen them I have to have at least some of them — isn't that typical of us gardeners!
Chinese evergreens are not inexpensive plants; I started out with one plant and over the years, I have started new plants to the point where I now have about half a dozen sitting around the house.
Aglaonema are easy to slip — 30 centimetre lengths of stems (the tops) will readily root in water, although it might take a couple of months.
One of the great attributes of Chinese evergreens is that they are incredibly slow growing so you do not have to be constantly re-potting, dividing and slipping. Eventually, however, the plants do get leggy and the time comes to cut them back — I do this about every two years.
I cut the stalks back to about 10 centimetres; new stems will emerge from around these cut-off stalks to establish bushy new plants. In the meantime, I cut the tops of the stems off to a length of about 30 centimetres and put these stems into a large vase of water.
I keep the vase in bright light and the water in the vase topped up. I usually undertake this job in early summer right after the rush of the outdoor planting season is over.
I think the slips root better at that time of year and the cut-off plants develop new growth more quickly during the summer than they would during the winter. When the slips have developed their thick, fleshy white roots, I plant about eight of them into a 10 inch or larger pot.
Chinese evergreens are big plants that are best displayed as floor plants so I use large pots that will fit the large jardinières that I keep around just for them. The leaves get dusty over time so I give them a wipe periodically with a soft damp cloth.
Aglaonema like a well-drained soil and moderate moisture — don't keep them wet. On the other hand, don't let the soil completely dry out or the tips of the leaves may turn brown. I have never had insects on my Chinese evergreens and no disease problems either.
Because they are slow growing plants, they require little fertilizer — maybe a couple of applications of a weak 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer in the summer.
Chinese evergreens tolerate a range of temperatures and light levels.
The plants will get leggy a little more quickly if they are located in very low light levels but I have a couple of plants that continue to look attractive and they are on the far side of the living room from a north-facing window.
As the common name Chinese evergreen implies, the plant originates in tropical and semi-tropical Asia. It is also a member of the group of plants that is known to clean the air of impurities, so we often see Chinese evergreens used in office buildings and apartment lobbies.
I am excited about the new varieties of Chinese evergreen that I discovered at the garden centre. I just hope I get there to select a specimen or two to enhance my interior landscape while there are some left!
Albert Parsons is a consultant for garden design and landscaping who lives in Minnedosa.
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Let us know when your receive great advice so we can thank our lawyers and point others with similar questions in the right direction.Got it!
I am currently married to a navy officer, who has been on duty the whole year my son has been alive, we are having marital problems and i want to file for divorce, but i am afraid i will lose my baby if he files for child custody.i have not worked, but i used to a month before i went into labor, working is a part of my future plan. Also i have been married for 1 yr and 6 months. One thing i forgot to add is that he is back, and he is on shore duty, so he wont be shipped backed out according to him. Is the situation still the same?
Nothing in life is certain, but from the information contained in your question it sounds as if you will end up with primary custody of your child. Although the child is only one year old, your son has no relationship with his father (even though that is not the fault of his father who was on military duty). Your husband will get visitation and I suspect that it will be on a stepped up basis (his time increasing on a set schedule until a maximum on that schedule) has been reached.
However, you will almost definitely have joint legal custody (the right to make legal decisions relating to the child).
I am certainly not the Judge, but this is my opinion based on the limited information available to me.
The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change.Ask a similar question
No one can answer that question except you and your husband or the judge. There is no reason that merely being unemployed would cost you custody of your child -- it cannot be awarded on financial basis as that would be discriminatory.
Chances are you would have a better chance keeping custody as your navy officer husband will likely be on duty again. It would be in your best interest to seek out the advice of a local attorney -- many offer free consultations.
Stephanie White
Simi Valley, CA
DISCLAIMER: The above is not legal advice nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with the person posting the question or any person reading the above. There is no attorney-client relationship between any reader and this writer or her firm. These comments are not subject to any privilege protections. They are neither privileged nor confidential. The information is general only and should not be relied upon in any specific case. Accordingly these comments cannot be relied upon as the law and the facts may differ from those with which the reader of this communication may be dealing.
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BMW 5-Series E60 Sedan was first seen in the Unites States in the fall of 2003 with a 2004 Model Year designation. The E61 wagon followed shortly there after. The E60/E61 5 series is now available as a 528i, 528xi, 535i, 535xi, 550i and a 535xi sports wagon! -- View the E60 Wiki
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So is there still some kind of action I can take if my car is out of warranty and experiencing the exact same issue as OP? What is this lawyer able to do for 545 owners? Or I'm stuck and will have to fork up $$$.
I came across this thread on the other forum, and hopefully it'll help me or someone else when it comes time for the mechatronic replacement.
Here is another one:
The best action you can take to stop bmw sucking blood out of you is to sell your car and never come back.
Once my warranty is close to being out, I will sell my car and either lease BMW's going forward or just buy a Lexus ISF. At least Lexus treat their customers better.
Last edited by Space grau 550i; 09-07-2012 at 09:14 AM.
a very frustrating situation. Let's see how the new transmission works.
Also worth noting the service dept at the dealer said this transmission issue was considered a PUMA designated problem.
Yes, my 2004 545i does the same thing and no knows what it is, can anyone help us?
'05 545i, Auto, Orient Blue, Beige Dakota,Bamboo Anthracite, Logic 7, Xenon, PDC, Premium Package, Mtec V2 AE, 19" E92 M3 Rep. Wheels, M5TEC Bumper , MTEC rear bumper, 70k miles as of 1/13.
So, just got my 2004 545i (very low price / high miles) and it has the jerky 2 to 1 shifts, "hiccup" at 35-40mph low throttle situation and a little quirky going to either 4 to 5 or 5 to 6. I lose count when I get into those high gears, :lol: Also seems to be MUCH better in sports mode, all indicative of the mechatronics unit. I was going to change the fluid/filter/etc. first but am thinking of just going ahead and replacing the assembly while I'm in there. This fluid is so expensive I hate to have to drain it again (I'll be doing the wrenching)
So, I am looking at a couple of options:
Option 1 is a rebuilt unit from thectsc. This is probably the safest bet. The kit he sells actually has a new pan included, which you can return for a refund since I already have a new pan on the way (was going to try changing fluid first). Cost, let's call it $1500 w/shipping.
Option 2 is have one of a few companies out there rebuild my unit for me. RevMax Torque Converters is one company that does it, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that. Cost is $800 w/48 hour turn around.
Thoughts? If money weren't an issue, Option 1 would be a no brainer. Has anyone had theirs rebuilt? If so, where and what were the results?? I'd love to cut the cost in half but don't want to spend $800 there just to have to spend $1500 if they do a crappy job.
The other vehicles that use this transmission have rebuild services out there for 1/3 of what we have to pay--looks like someone would have offered a popular service for ours by now!
Last edited by schpenxel; 10-02-2012 at 01:52 PM.
Update on mine, 10/6
I replaced the transmission pan (filter) and oil today (well, 5.5 quarts anyways). The car was definitely low on oil to begin with. I could not find any leaks around the mechatronics sleeve so I left that alone.
Most issues are gone. 2->1 is still SLIGHTLY abrupt, but nothing like before. 5 to 6 is fine now and there was one other, 3 to 4 or 4 to 5 that was rough, that one is smooth too now, so it looks like some new oil + the right amount helped those issues. It's a huge improvement on those issues.
HOWEVER, the 5th gear hiccup is present with a vengeance. It's a pretty abrupt hiccup, not just a little thing that you can barely feel. If I'm going over 80, it doesn't do it. Anything below that in 5th has the hiccup if I'm touching the gas even a little bit.
Any thoughts on whether new mechatronics will fix this? Looks like some other people have had the 5th gear hiccup also and it worked, but it's still $1500 I wish I didn't have to spend.
One more update, 10/8:
First, I found this link to by far the best and most thorough manual for this transmission that I have ever found. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14739987/242...6%E2%80%9D.pdf
If the link ever stops working please PM me and I will upload a copy somewhere for everyone. It covers everything from how all the different types of solenoids work to all of the hydraulic paths, conditions for each gear, just about everything. Pretty great
Secondly, I ordered a new set of solenoids. We'll see if that helps and go from there. If not, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
Last edited by schpenxel; 10-08-2012 at 01:48 PM.
Also, do you have similar guide for 6HP19 that you can share?
Sent from my Android Bug
Last edited by kskane; 10-10-2012 at 02:40 PM.
Technically it's not really recommended as a best practice (as far as I know anyways) to change out solenoids without any kind of calibration. However, I've been told by thectsc that usually there's enough "adjustment" allowed by the computer that it will adjust to new solenoid without any programming and work fine in my type of case (Maybe not as good as original but a whole lot better than I have now..) I'm not sure how the programming is done--on all the rebuilt mechatronics I've seen there's talk of using some sort of machine to calibrate the solenoids, but I don't really have any details on how that works. I hope this works, otherwise I'm going to be wishing I had just bought a rebuilt mechatronics unit off from the beginning and been done with it.
I'm sure there is a similar guide for the 6HP19. Actually, I'm not even sure what differences there are. I thought the 26 was basically the same transmission, just built with stronger parts/clutch packs to handle more torque? So the one I posted may be applicable for the most part. I also found a shop in the UK that has basically every piece of these transmissions in stock, and they are super responsive. Shipping is 3-4 days via DHL international and the parts I had quoted were about $40 to get them here (Make sure you convert the currency from GBP and not from euros like I tried to do, lol). thectsc may have the same parts, I haven't actually asked (but did get the solenoids, fluid, etc. from him). If you want their contact info let me know or PM me.
It will probably be weekend after this one before I get to put all of this in, so hopefully no updates between now and then.
One thing I find interesting about this whole jerking in 5th gear thing is that it doesn't do it at all when cold. Only when it's completely up to temp.
Here's a summary of all my symptoms, maybe someone with more knowledge than me will have some insight:
1st gear, slightly jerky when cold (only first thing in the morning, not sure if this is engine or transmission related. Changing spark plugs this weekend for the heck of it)
2 to 3 shift is smooth
3 to 4 shifts smooth
4 to 5 shifts smooth
5th gear jerk (only when warm) every couple of seconds, any speed under 80MPH
5 to 6 shifts jerky
6 to 5 shifts smooth
5 to 4 I don't have anything written down, so presumably smooth
4 to 3, same as above
3 to 2, shifts jerky
2 to 1, not sure
by "jerky" I mean there's not that nice flow from one gear to the next, it's just BAM next gear and nothing inbetween
I sure hope these new solenoids take care of it! It's sad I'm already looking for a second cheapo car, just in case I take something like this apart and can't get it back together the same day (this is my only car at the moment)
Anyways. Hopefully this helps someone!
Last edited by schpenxel; 10-10-2012 at 06:25 PM.
I had these same problems with my 550i and could not figure out what was making the transmission so jerky especially in sport mode.
I replaced the throttle body with one I bought off ebay with far fewer miles and ran a throttle body reset on it (engine/key ON, engine itself off). Also cleared the ECU with my obd2 reader (doubt this did anything).
Ran some seafoam through (Also doubt this did anything...)
After that all the jerkiness was gone. Wife no longer complains about the slamming transmission.
Who knows. I'll reinstall the old throttle body and reset it this weekend to see what gives. Luckily I got the throttle body super cheap, and it wasn't to fix this problem. I was going to have it bored out to portmatch the manifold and this was an unexpected surprise.
Just my 2 cents, I just thought I'd chime in!
Very interesting!
Please let us know any results
New transmission installed gratis by BMW is working just fine. Out of habit though I am still waiting for the car to lurch when downshifting out of 2nd to 1st or shifting up to 3rd. Hasn't happened yet, but I have only been driving the car 3 days due to return from a long vacation. While it took a few years to get this issue resolved BMW stepped up and fixed the problem in the end. Glad I certified the car when I bought it after the lease expired. Any rules for breaking in new transmissions?
On a side note, BMW said they also installed a new computer module. In the process all of the many albums I uploaded to the car now carry no titles. Just "ripped with a number designation. However, individual tracks within the albums are still named making it a process of just renaming lots of albums or just deleting and re upload. Either way it's going to take a lot of time. That's the negative. The positive part of this is I have a new navigation look, and the telephone pairing is working better with my Iphone 4s as compared with before when I had problems getting the contact list to transfer.
for bmw 5 serie owners best way to avoid this problem is filling up with the top of the line gas and use gas cleaner fluids when u fill up and injecter cleaner fluid
'05 545i, Auto, Orient Blue, Beige Dakota,Bamboo Anthracite, Logic 7, Xenon, PDC, Premium Package, Mtec V2 AE, 19" E92 M3 Rep. Wheels, M5TEC Bumper , MTEC rear bumper, 70k miles as of 1/13.
Now, for the rest of you that live in reality here on Earth--Attached is another really good PDF on these transmissions. I think this was actually written for the Ford / Jaguar versions, but I am thinking (maybe wrongly) that a lot still applies. Shows a lot about how to take the mechatronics off the valve body, etc. for any of you (myself included) that will be performing such a task
One more update for anyone still reading:
I had reset my transmission using the hold the gas pedal to the floor for 30 seconds thing a few times and it never really made much difference. Friday I finally got my D+K CAN cable in and reset all the adaptations via INPA. First drive, it had a little trouble shifting smooth, little jerky, high RPM's once or twice before finally changing gears, etc. etc. BUT ultimately after it figured it out, basically all of my problems are gone. I've driven a few hundred miles this weekend and the 5th gear hardcore jerking is at most a small hiccup, only at a certain speed/throttle position (so seldom I haven't been able to really even repeat it, only felt it barely once by coincidence). Jerky 5 to 6 change is gone. Jerky 3 to 2 is gone. The little jerk right before you stop (2 to 1) is still present, but a software update should take care of that one. I just haven't gotten up the nerve to update the transmission computer software yet, lol.
Also, changed spark plugs today and my god the old ones looked horrible. 5 were the original bosch style (the car has 180K on it so I sure hope they aren't actually originals) and the electrodes were half gone. The other 3 (easiest ones to get to..) had been replaced at some point with NGK ones. I replaced all 8 in about an hour (not sure why everyone acts like it's a tough job? It was really relatively easy and painless).
Verdict: It's a whole different car. It used to be so jerky off idle I was almost embarassed to have people ride with me and def wouldn't let anyone else drive. I almost preferred to drive my work car (Imapala) just because this thing was such a pain to drive halfway smoothly. Between the plugs and transmission complete reset, it's completely different. So much better to drive now!
edit: added pics of sparkplugs
Last edited by schpenxel; 10-21-2012 at 02:56 PM.
One more update:
I ordered a solenoid kit a few weeks ago, but never had a chance to install it. A couple of days ago I started having issues with 4 to 5 shifting under hard acceleration (once it even gave the transmission warning message and locked me into one gear. turning car off/back on got me going again at least), so I figured it was time to put these in.
Is there a DIY for how to do this? If not, I'll try to write one up if anyone wants or needs it. Please let me know if anyone wants this.. It's pretty easy. Just pull the mechatronics/valve body. Take mechatronics (plastic + electronics) off of valve body, remove solenoids, install new solenoids and put it all back together.
One thing that really freaked me out was I got it all apart and the old solenoids were green, new ones were blue. I just about put the old ones back in, but realized when I blew on some of them they were leaking pretty bad, so I figured I'd try the blue and see what happens. About the time I got it back together thectsc wrote me back and said it was just a color change, but what I had would work fine.
So, the verdict: With new solenoids, this is the best shifting I've seen out of this car so far. Shifts are quick and firm, but not jerky at all. Much better than before. Going into reverse is almost instant now, where it used to take 2-3 seconds before it would engage. I reset all of the adapatations so I've had a few little jerks here and there during downshifts, but you can tell it's changing fine, just sometimes the computer is changing down a little too early. Hopefully it learns how to be smoother about it.
I can also be hard on the gas and no problems with the 4 to 5 shift or any others for that matter
If I drove it hard I used to get some codes about output speed not being correct or something like that, which I assume was either from slow shifting or slipping clutch packs. Regardless, I drove it hard earlier and got no error messages at all.
I would suggest anyone about to replace their whole valvebody/mechatronics who has the classic symptoms consider just replacing the solenoids, if you are so inclined.
Last edited by schpenxel; 10-27-2012 at 01:41 PM.
And here's a video of the valve body / mechatronics removal and solenoid swap that I made:
Let me know if there are any questions. This isn't a full step by step, but in my opinion gives more detail than I was able to find anywhere else on the web.
Last edited by schpenxel; 12-09-2012 at 07:33 PM.
Seems that the surging in mine is worse the colder it is outside and only first thing in the morning. I have 48,000 miles and am taking it to the dealer this Saturday. (09 550i)
The dealer was able to duplicate the problem and are opening a case with BMW, we shall see. ***** Update They did the software update and after I test drove, it didnt fix anything. So on to mechtronics work I assume.
Last edited by greeniner; 11-12-2012 at 09:41 AM. Reason: Update
yesterday I had the sealing sleeve and leaking trans pan replaced. Replaced fluid with Redline D4 and all of my surging issues are gone. Total cost for the work was $735. My symptoms prior to the change were hard 2-1 downshifts and a noticeable surge when shifting from Reverse to Drive. I should also add that no software updates were done as my mechanic said that all software was up to date. I'll report back in a few weeks as to whether or not this resolves my trans issues long term.
2005 545i Black Sapphire Metallic - Sport/Premium/Cold Weather
2007 328xi coupe/Auto/sport/premium/black saph/saddle-turned in Aug. 2010
1983 Porsche 944/5sp/Gemini Gray
Oh boy...
Hi all.
I just bought an 05 545i a little over a week ago with 76k miles. Its an automatic. The dealer thought it had the sport package but I found out via research that it actually does not. Because of that I didn't think much about the rough shifting it had on test drive. At this point I am starting to notice it more because I am not "getting used to" the car and getting smoother technique.
I have a lot of dead zone in the gas pedal, about the first 10 degrees has almost no effect. Then it picks up and causes a "surge" of torque at once after pressing down far enough.
The other thing I noticed was that I can't smoothly stop the car. The downshifts are noticeable no matter how much braking is applied. Once about to stop it seems like it downshifts and then the idle suddenly drops. If i don't time my foot letting up on the brake pedal carefully then the car ends up bucking wildly.
I don't have any slams or sounds going on. I don't notice any hiccups or hesitation in any gear. Its just when starting off, braking, and especially when coming to a stop it has issues.
Does this sound like the mechatronics unit is starting to fail? If so I am thinking to do fluid/filter service and save up for a different car. Of course on the other hand I feel confident I could replace it myself and if the car drove nicely afterwords then it might be worth it to me. I paid 18 for the car. I think I will start with either a test drive of another 545 or have an experienced tech confirm it.
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Auckland Libraries has a large range of workshop manuals for cars, commercial vehicles, motorcycles, components and marine and small engines. The car manuals cover vehicles from the 1930s to the present day.
Many of the manuals in this collection are for reference only. To use these items you will need to visit the first floor enquiries desk at Central City Library and bring your library card. If you do not belong to the library, please bring alternative ID.
For further details about Auckland Libraries manuals collection please contact us.


text:
Nearly 30 bars and restaurants in New Jersey are being investigated for allegedly charging patrons for top-shelf liquor but pouring them cheaper varieties, the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control said Wednesday.
Yesterday's, a restaurant, bar and liquor store in Marmora, Upper Township, is among the 29 establishments being investigated as part of Operation Swill, a yearlong effort that used more than 100 investigators to seize beverage inventory records after receiving complaints and testing samples of alcohol.
"These charges are completely untrue and without merit," said Jeff McIntyre, one of the owners of Yesterday's, in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "The McIntyre family and Yesterday's stands 100 percent upon their reputation, personal and professional integrity and contribution to the community over the last 37 years."
Authorities said they would release more information about the investigation at 11 a.m. today in the Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton. It was not clear in the ABC's statement whether formal charges are being filed against these establishments.
Other South Jersey establishments that were investigated were Graziano's Ristorante in Chesilhurst, Villari's Lakeside in Gloucester Township, Italian Affair in Glassboro and Sunset Tavern in Burlington Township. Most of the locations were in North Jersey.
In a similar recent case, Laguna Grill and Martini Bar in Brigantine reached a settlement with the ABC for defrauding patrons by swapping inexpensive vodka for premium brands. In that case, the bar manager was refilling Three Olives bottles with Burnett's flavored vodka, and pouring Absolut vodka into Ketel One and Stolichnaya bottles.
The restaurant was ordered to close for a week and pay $23,000 in fines. The business was later sold and is currently under new management.
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