N(M)ovember - Changing the Face of Men's Health

During November, men around the world were proud to change their calendars and take part in the annual "Movember" campaign against Prostate Cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer amongst Canadian Men, currently affecting 1 in every 6 men, with an expected increase to 1 in 4 within a decade¹. In 2010 alone, 24,600 Canadian men will be diagnosed and over 4,300 men will die from prostate cancer². In 2008 global numbers reached 903,000 for reported new case of prostate cancer leading to 258,000 deaths³. Prostate cancer is to men what breast cancer is to women.

Wanting to do our part, ZE PowerGroup Inc ^® (ZE) joined Movember Canada and Prostate Cancer Canada, and several male employees put down their razors on November 1st to grow a mustache to show their support for the cause. ZE team members also contributed donations to the cause, and in addition, ZE donated $25 dollars for every participating employee. This has been added to the $19.8 million that has already been raised in Canada, and the $58 million raised globally in the fight against Prostate Cancer.

ZE is focused on giving back as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. ZE participates in many different charitable events including sponsorships, donations, and volunteer events. This past year ZE has been involved in multiple fund raising programs including our charitable donations to CARE Canada at $15,085 for Haiti Relief and $8,075 for Pakistani Relief. ZE will also be involved with raising a variety of different donations for the Richmond Food Bank as part of our giving back during the holiday season.


Some of our Movember participants. Photo taken November 30th 2010.

ZE is an experienced software and strategic consulting firm that combines energy industry expertise with advanced software development capability. The company possesses deep industry knowledge and comprehensive operational experience. ZE is the developer of the ZEMA data management and analysis solution which collects data related to coal, power, gas, crude, financial, weather, emissions, hydrology and others and is used as a business process automation and integration tool for small and large scale organizations alike. ZEMA is created by experts to meet the specific challenges faced by energy industry participants.

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¹Prostate Cancer Canada
²Canadian Cancer Society
³http://globocan.iarc.fr/factsheets/cancers/prostate.asp

Trade and Risk Systems Will Be Able To Assist Effective Decisions

Olga Gorstenko, Manager of Consulting Services for ZE PowerGroup and Bruce Colquhoun, ZE PowerGroup's ZEMA Sales Manager, attended the APPrO (Association of Power Producers of Ontario) Conference which was held in Toronto on November 16-17, 2010. The conference focused on the Ontario's Green Energy Act and issues associated with its implementation. The event attracted over 1,200 attendees, with a majority of which representing the renewable power sector. The political aspect of the public policy was the core issue under review.

According to Olga, the representatives expressed interest in the effects from renewable generation expansion, with the emphasis on financing, environmental concerns and future development of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) and generation procurement programs. Also she said that the participants discussed system reliability, transmission expansion and upgrades, and distributed generation connections with the grid.

Bruce participated as a speaker on a panel and outlined his vision of the role of Data Management Systems (DMS). In particular, he emphasized that improved DMS will allow companies to continue to make effective decisions in the face of ever increasing data. "It is an increasing importance to automate properly the collection and analysis of data and the ability to integrate with trade and risk systems. Companies that do this effectively will have a distinct advantage by being able to take decisive actions based upon highly complex data sets with greater confidence and speed. DMS will be the engines that drive this," said Bruce.

ZE PowerGroup was the Technical Sponsor of the event and was pleased with the turn out.

ZE PowerGroup and Adapt2 Provide an Integrated Custom ISO Scheduling and Settlement System for ERCOT Nodal Market Transactions

ZE PowerGroup Inc ^® (ZE) announced its collaborative development with Adapt2 Solutions, Inc. to create an integrated scheduling and settlement support system for clients preparing for the ERCOT Nodal transition. The engagement is designed to combine Adapt2's deep market knowledge and software development capabilities with ZE's expertise in market data collection and integration.

ZEMA's scheduling engine, the Data Manager, is being used as the middleware component to Adapt2's ISO Scheduling and Settlement framework. The overall system is initially targeted for the upcoming ERCOT nodal market launch but is readily applied to any ISO market.




ZEMA provides a scheduling interface for Adapt2 to send and receive Market Transactions amongst other datasets within the ERCOT Nodal framework. Data capture and posting includes:

• Energy Trades - Bilateral
• Ancillary Services
• Congestion Revenue Rights Offers
• Capacity Trades
• DAM (Day Ahead Market) and RTM Energy Bids - Awards
• RUCs - Charge Management
• Month to Date Settlement Reporting - Daily Drill Down

The overall service complies with the secure communication protocol developed by ERCOT and allows for confirmation of each transaction within the clients existing ETRM.



Waleed El-Ramly, COO Product Development at ZE PowerGroup states, "This collaboration makes sense for both of us. We are familiar with Adapt2 and have worked together on other accounts. They understand the nodal market requirements from both a systems and client standpoint. Using ZEMA we provide them the tools that they can leverage to post and return transactions and settlements data back to their solution. We facilitate trade activities and the overall settlements calculations." Francisco Diaz, President of Adapt2, adds, "ZE is a dominant market player when it comes to data acquisition and enterprise solutions, they know how to handle information of any type. The client benefits with best of both worlds through a robust and also cost effective solution created by two strong software providers."

ZE and Adapt2 have already introduced the new system to the market and are currently in the testing phase of implementation by their collective clients. For detailed information on services relating to the management of ERCOT's Nodal transition, contact a ZEMA representative today.

The Energy and Commodity Data Conference to Become a Premier Global Annual Event

The response from the User Forum and Data Management Conference has been very positive and ZE is looking forward to making this annual event the premier global energy and commodity data conference.

Most of attendees gave a very positive feedback saying that it was a very interesting and useful event. They described the function as a productive way to share ideas and to learn more about ZEMA software. Their appreciation of the great hospitality of Vancouver was notably acknowledged. Sample feedback from the events:

"I just wanted to thank you for the Conference. It was a very interesting event with a lot of diverse presenters and it helped us understand better the potential for our use of the ZEMA product going forward."

"I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for organizing such a great conference. It was a productive way to share ideas and learn from the best in the industry. It also provided in-depth exposure to the ZEMA products and services in order to for us to enhance the value it brings to our organization. It was a pleasure to meet the ZE Power organization and we look forward to our continued partnership. Please pass along my thanks to everyone who made the conference such a success!"

"It was my pleasure to talk about your software. Hope to be partners with you for years to come."

"Thank you for providing us with a sponsorship opportunity and allowing us to participate in a panel discussion. What a nice event, congratulations!"

"I very much appreciate the hospitality in showing me your home city and hosting us for the ZEMA User Conference. The sushi was great but enjoyed getting to know one another even more."

"...it was great to meet you and your colleagues last week, thank you very much for the invite. We respect the spirit and professionalism of everyone at ZE. We look forward to continuing our progress with ZE and we are confident we can accomplish great things together."

"Thank you for your hospitality in Vancouver!"

"That was very useful and productive conference."

2010 ZEMA User Forum and Enterprise Data Management Conference Successfully Ended

Last week many attendees of the ZEMA User Forum and Enterprise Data Management Conference said good bye to Vancouver and returned home. The exciting events brought together friends and colleagues within the energy and commodities industries for a valuable information exchange and networking opportunity. Many were happy to join us and share their insights with the experts in the industry. The events were also filled with corporate functions and social events with non-profit benefits, and as most agreed, their time was well-spent. The events were well received and created energy for the future ideas and projects.



The User Forum's first day was opened by a welcome speech from Dr. Zak El-Ramly, the CEO, president and founder of ZE PowerGroup. Following Dr. El-Ramly, the ZE IT group gave a few presentations where users were engaged and sessions were overall interactive. New product demonstrations included ZEMA Dashboard, ZEMA Data Validation, and the new ZEMA Curve Manager add-on. The ZEMA users' discussions were focused on the challenges of managing broker data feeds and the frequent data format changes associated with them. The second day of the User Forum was hosted by the ZE Consulting Group and was filled with the demonstrations of ZEMA Market Analyzer's tool capabilities with a focus on Forward Curve capabilities. During the discussion, the users provided a few new ideas and suggestions that will help to make some interesting improvements and additions to the ZEMA Suite of Products.

Among the Conference speakers were

• Aiman El-Ramly, Senior Vice President Strategy, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Alex Melekhin, Director of Analytics, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Alex Zhukovsky, Director Quantitative Risk, National Grid


• Anup Singh, Director Global Markets, Sapient


• Bjorn Hagalmann, COO, MRE Consulting


• Daniel Brummer, Director of Alliances, Allegro Development Corporation


• David Linton, Chief Executive, Updata


• Don Jefferis, Partner, Opportune LLP


• Dr. Zak El-Ramly, President and CEO, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Larry Heitkemper, Vice President and Director Weather Services, MDA Earthsat Weather


• Manal El-Ramly, Director Eastern Office, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Michal Peliwo, Manager, Product Development, ZEMA Suite


• Olga Gorstenko, Manager, Consulting, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Ross Allen, Washington Bureau Chief, Argus Media Inc.


• Sam Wilhelm, Director Business Development, SolArc Inc.


• Spencer Gallagher, Senior Director, Reference Data Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data, Interactive Data Corporation


• Tatum Vittengl, Sales Executive, Weather Service International (Weather Channel)


• Tim Almdal, Enterprise Architect, ZEMA Suite


• Timothy Hebert, Vice President Energy Operations, Energy New England

The Conference ended Thursday night with a closing speech by Dr. Zak El-Ramly, where he thanked all who attended the events. For more information about these two exciting events that took place in Vancouver, BC, October 24-27 please visit ZE Conference Organizers.

ZEMA: The No Compromise Solution

The ZEMA Suite™ is an Enterprise Data Management (EDM) and Analysis solution designed to align and manage your corporate data needs. Built specifically for the energy and commodities markets, ZEMA is a highly recognized and respected software solution leader that continues to help organizations of all sizes handle the challenges of data management and integration in evolving and complex markets...

Read the Full Story

Distributed Resource Planning: Intelligent Utility

UTILITIES CONTINUE TO FIND INNOVATIVE WAYS TO AVOID building out new infrastructure or at least to delay the cost of doing so. More often than not, those strategies involve turning to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, fuel cells and advanced energy storage...

["Intelligent Utility Magazine September/October 2010"]

via Distributed Resource Planning (Intelligent Utility).

2010 Commodity Business Awards Voting

ZE PowerGroup^® has been shortlisted for the 2010 Commodity Business Awards. If you would like to vote for ZEMA, it is very simple and quick – you only need to click on this link: Commodity Business Awards.

Once there scroll down a bit and click on Data Management which is located under Commodity Market Development (the link will expand once you click on the words) and select “ZE PowerGroup / ZEMA”. Then you only have to enter your name, company, email and sector. You are also entered in to win an iPad on the site. Voting is now open and concludes on Friday October 22nd, 2010.

LDC Gas Forums: The Art of Risk Management by Dr. Zak El-Ramly

The LDC Gas Forums ™, comprised of five regional conferences held annually in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Canada, are the events where the Natural Gas Industry professionals meet. Each conference brings together hundreds of specialists to discuss vital regional and national issues affecting all aspects of natural gas marketplace. This year ZE PowerGroup^® sponsored all five conferences and and had one of its key experts speak there.

This year the 6th Annual LDC Gas Forums™ event for the Rockies & West was held from October 11th through October 13th in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Zak El-Ramly, President and CEO of ZE PowerGroup Inc., took part at LDC this year, and presented "The Art of Risk Management". Dr. El-Ramly started by providing a short introduction on ZE and then went into the ZEMA Suite of Products and ZE's recent awards. He also highlighted the major areas of ZE expertise.

Dr. El-Ramly explained the different sources of a modern market risk. He said that risk is the effect of uncertainty on objectives - whether positive or negative. "Market risk encompasses all aspects of elective operations. The environment in which you elect to participate in defines your risk," Dr. El-Ramly emphasized. Then he classified risk: it can be internal versus external business factors, predictable or random, controllable or non-controllable, quantifiable or not, insurable.

One of the most interesting topics of Dr. El-Ramly's speech was his view of the manageability of extreme risks. According to Dr. El-Ramly, extremes often weed the system and leave the strong ones but, by their nature, extremes pass by and we return to more normal conditions. He recommended planning to last through extremes while avoiding making decisions that assumes the extreme risks are here to stay.

Concerning managing business risk, Dr. El-Ramly advises that, "Managing business is a continuous act of making compromises. There is no perfect information, defined path or clear recipe for rights and wrongs. We manage by trial and error and consequently face failures and successes. The key to overall success is to be cognizant that the wrong will happen and trials will fail and to act prudently to limit the downside of failure while propelling during success."

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About Dr. Zak El-Ramly:
With a PhD in mechanical engineering, Dr. Zak El-Ramly has over 40 years experience in the energy industry and has held several executive/managerial positions with BC Hydro. He was the Executive Vice President of Marketing for Powerex, and is currently President and CEO of ZE PowerGroup Inc. and ZE Power Engineering Inc. Dr. El-Ramly is a participant in many industry organizations, expert in market competition, and exceptionally proficient in tooling clients with software solutions.

How Improved Data Management Increases Business Performance

Most companies make IT investments in terms of money and time expecting to have a better business performance. But is there any measurable evidence of a direct dependence between improved information technology, especially, data management and financial consequences?

The study from the University of Texas (source: "The Benefits of Improved Data – Quantified At Last!") found the impacts of effective data on productivity of employee and key financial performance indicators for a company. The research has been conducted for a Fortune 1000 business (median 36,000 employees and $388,000 in sales per employee). They found that a 10% increase in:

• data conciseness and consistency results in a 15% average increase in sales per employee
  
• data accuracy and accessibility results in a 16% average increase in return on equity (ROE)
  
• mobility of data for the sales force results in a 1.4% average increase in return on invested capital (ROIC)
  
• intelligence and remote accessibility of data results in a 0.7% average increase in return on assets (ROA)

The findings demonstrated the often dramatic impacts from even marginal improvements in data quality and usability.

In conclusion, there is a noticeable correlation between key data management elements and business results. The revealed relationship between improved data management and increased business performance may encourage many companies to pay more attention to their company’s data management area.

A New Group on LinkedIn to Inform about Data Management Conference

Today’s energy markets are highly complex. In a fast-paced and volatile trading environment, well-known as well as new fundamental forces reshape a complicated energy trading business. Frequent regulatory changes, market volatility, technology evolution, in addition to the recent developments in renewable, emissions, and other environmental areas make implementing ETRM systems an expensive and time consuming process.

As you may know, ZE is organizing an important event - Energy and Commodities Enterprise Data Management Conference in Vancouver. The conference will bring together friends in the energy and commodities industries for a valuable information exchange and networking opportunity. You are welcome to join us and share your insights with the top people in your industry. To provide additional informational support for this event, a new group has been created on LinkedIn. Please join it at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3437483

It is a convenient way to exchange short timely updates!

Newly Created ZE Blogs Get Listed on Technorati

Technorati was founded as the first blog search engine to help bloggers succeed by collecting, classifying, and distributing the global online blog content. The leading blog search engine, Technorati.com is able to index millions of blog posts. On September 21, 2010 Technorati Blog Directory listed 1,240,778 blogs.

A week ago we submitted our two blogs for listing on Technorati. To make a searching process easier, Technorati uses such parameter as Authority. It measures a blog site standing and influence in the blogosphere. Authority is on a scale of 0-1000. And 1000 is the highest possible authority. The following are the links where our blogs approved (both have Technorati Authority around 120 as of September 2010):

• http://enterprise-data.blogspot.com
  Listing: http://technorati.com/blogs/enterprise-data.blogspot.com
  
  
• http://integrationdata.wordpress.com
  Listing: http://technorati.com/blogs/integrationdata.wordpress.com
  

One More Record Year for ZE PowerGroup: Annual Report Highlights

ZE PowerGroup Inc. ^® (ZE), the developer of award-winning ZEMA Suite ™, announced that its recently compiled financial report indicates one more record year. For the fiscal year ending May 31, 2010, all key performance indicators of the company have reached new highs in revenue, income, human resources, research expense and net profit; exceeding the 2009 levels by at least 25% in each category. A better indicator of ZE's growth is measured by the performance during the recent economic crisis. Over the past two years ZE has more than doubled its software client base by over 50%.

ZE's client profile has also broadened. The ZEMA software is being used by utilities, hedge funds, financial institutions, large industrials, marketers and multinational organizations across all commodity classes. As an example of ZEMA's success, over the last two quarters of operation alone, ZE has supported the addition of 13 new implementations.

In terms of product offerings, ZE has released a substantially enhanced version of the ZEMA Dashboard and developed a robust derivative forward curve building and workflow engine. Further, ZEMA has extended its services and APIs, helping to create generic interfaces to several downstream ETRM and analytical systems. Upcoming releases include SQL Server support and ZEMA 4.0.

Dr. Zak El-Ramly, President and CEO of ZE elaborated on last year's performance, "What is encouraging is the ability to grow our client base while we are expanding our products and services in addition to sustaining the high quality of service, as measured by our clients. This stable growth is fully funded by ZE's own earnings without resorting to third party financing in any form."

Waleed El-Ramly, COO of Product Development comments on ZEMA's success, "I think that the uptake by the industry of ZEMA is because the market is starting to realize that our software is aligned with their existing technical architecture and their business goals. Our system is very robust and the ease of implementation is something that they are very happy with and have not experienced in the past. Integration with a client's own processes and systems doesn't have to be a risky, lengthy or expensive exercise. ZEMA provides our clients with access to all the market data they need, is supported by strong software tools and the expert advice that is required to make clients' projects successful."

In the early part of 2010 ZEMA has been highlighted in the "Cool Vendors in Energy and Utilities" industry research put out by Gartner, Inc. and has been awarded “Data Management House of the Year” by Energy Risk, for a second year in a row (2009 and 2010), and was ranked against its competitors as #1 for preferred system, #1 for ease of system integration and #1 customer service in the annual Energy Risk Software Survey. In recognition of its role as a technological leader in the industry, ZE is holding its first ZEMA User Forum and organizing a conference for "Enterprise Data Management for Energy and Commodities" in October.

The outlook for ZE for the coming year is very bright. With strong revenues, government research and development funding and a healthy pipeline of prospective clients, ZE is preparing to take on the challenges that come with success while continuing to maintain its high level of customer service and support.

ZE Freely Shares its Expertise with the Industry by Contributing to Major Industry Events

The autumn of 2010 is rich of Energy and Commodities industry events. In October 26 -27, Enterprise Data Management Conference for Energy and Commodities (Vancouver, BC) is held by ZE PowerGroup; speakers: Dr. Zak El-Ramly, Aiman El-Ramly, Waleed El-Ramly, Alex Melekhin, and others. It will cover navigating the data universe, complexities and realities of evolving markets, turning data into market intelligence, considerations for data and system integration, future markets and regulation, etc.

September 14-16, SolArc 2010 ASCENT Conference and User Group Meeting in Montgomery, TX. ZE Attendees: Fran Rolon, Alexey Melekhin

September 13-16, The Allegro 2010 Customer Summit in Dallas, TX. ZE Attendees: Igor Melekhin, Geoff Trawick

September 13-15, Triple Point's FocalPoint 2010 in Rye Brook, NY. ZE Attendees: Bruce Colquhoun, Vlad Alexeyev

September 13-15, LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent in Chicago, IL. Manal El-Ramly, Director of ZE Eastern Office will be presenting at this conference. The title of her presentation is: “Front, Middle and Back Office Integration - The Challenges and Outlook for the Future”

September 28-30, MEMA 2010 Fall Conference in New Orleans, LA. Aiman El-Ramly, ZE Senior Vice President, Strategy & Business Development will be speaking at this event. The title of his presentation is “Deepwater Horizon – Global Energy Effects: A Focus on the Mid-term”

October 6-8, NESA 29th Annual Meeting: Energy Forum 2010 in Bastrop, TX. ZE Attendees: Fran Rolon, Geoff Trawick

October 11-13, LDC Gas Forum Rockies & West in Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Zak El-Ramly, ZE President and CEO will be presenting at this conference. The title of his presentation is “The Art of Managing Business Risk”

If you are interested in learning more about ZEMA, or about the people behind the product, join us at these events or schedule a meeting in the area. For other event attendees, this is your opportunity to meet face-to-face with representatives of the leading Data Management solution ZEMA Suite™; contact us at zema@ze.com to find out how to book your on-site demo.

ZE PowerGroup Is Winning Awards at an Extraordinary Pace

One of the leaders in software for enterprise data management in the energy sector, ZE PowerGroup Inc.^® (ZE) is receiving awards at an extraordinary pace. In a few months, three separate awards were given to the company, putting it in a category that few if any have ever occupied:

• In March, the company’s ZEMA Suite™ software for Enterprise Data Management was voted “number one” in all three Data Management categories in Energy Risk’s Software Survey. This made ZEMA the first system to rank #1 in all categories of Data Management.
  
• A few months later at the Energy Risk Conference in Houston on May 25th, ZEMA was named Data Management House of the Year by Energy Risk magazine, for the second year in a row. Energy Risk magazine is part of Incisive Media, which is described as “one of the world’s leading B2B information providers, serving the financial and professional services markets globally.”
  
• In addition, ZE was selected as a “Cool Vendor” in the Cool Vendors in Energy and Utilities 2010 report by Gartner, Inc. The report describes ZE’s software product ZEMA as one of four emerging technologies that are positioned to help the “energy and utility market sector to leverage technology to improve operational efficiency while addressing energy sustainability issues”.
  

Energy and Commodities Enterprise Data Management Conference

ZE PowerGroup is holding a conference on Data Management, Analysis and Integration on October 26 – 27, 2010. The Conference is designed to help the industry define and overcome the challenges of managing the immense volume of data available in our complex environment. ZE will be joined by worldwide industry experts bringing their experience and insight to participants of the conference. The conference is to cover the following:

• Navigating the data universe
  
• Complexities and realities of evolving markets
  
• Converting data into market intelligence
  
• Considerations for data and system integration
  
• System implementation case studies
  
• Future markets and regulation

For more details visit the page Energy and Commodities Enterprise Data Management Conference Agenda

Registration Required

To join a network of industry experts from across the globe, visit the registration page Energy and Commodities Enterprise Data Management Conference Registration

Do Not Miss

Important deadline - the early bird discount. Offer ends - September 15^th, 2010.

Become A Sponsor

As a conference sponsor, you receive numerous benefits to ensure your company name is known by each attendee. Packages include free delegate passes, large poster signage in high traffic areas and logo inclusion on all conference marketing material.

Contact Us

If you need more details on registration or upcoming sponsorship packages for the conference, please do not hesitate to contact us at: Toll Free 1-866-944-1469 or Email contact@zeco.org    Please feel free to forward this information to other contacts within your organization that may want to attend the ZEMA Conference. We look forward to seeing you.

Powerful Visualization Tool for Gathering and Presenting Market Intelligence

ZEMA Dashboard is a rich web based application created by ZE PowerGroup. It enables easily viewing market reports, direct database queries, news feeds, maps, spreadsheets, real time feeds and other objects in a single interactive window. One can create infinite combinations of data displays and completely customize the look and feel. Each display window is automatically refreshed based on options that selected.

With ZEMA Dashboard you can create your own personal information window with dynamic feeds that pertain to your needs and usage patterns. Once you have created the dashboard, you can save and later retrieve the same composite view every time you log in. You can monitor market prices, outages, weather patterns, news stories or any other event that you are interested in. You also have the ability to view dashboards created by other users; this allows for a collaborative process in gathering intelligence throughout the entire organization.