"Glearch (Global Search) is a mega-search engine (www.glearch.com) for international business professionals, travelers, translators, students, researchers and anyone else who needs to easily search the web by language, by country, and by search engine," says Yasser Ahmed, Web Development Lead, GPI.

"Glearch's global map-based interface and compilation of country specific facts, web resources, maps, newspapers and top sites are at the core of the mega-search utility," says Marcelo Volmaro, Website Globalization Practice Director, GPI. "Our design and development teams are happy the competition judges and the general public feel the site meets the criteria to win awards including high marks in: creativity, usability, navigation, functionality, visual design, and ease of use".

"The Hotel and Hospitality Industry is dealing with some fundamental challenges due to the economic slowdown and is focusing sharply on cost containment and the bottom line, leveraging brand name, the Internet, and globalization - entering new emerging markets," said Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "GPI's translation portal may help the hospitality industry achieve savings of up to 30% on their global translation costs by consolidating volumes, lowering per word costs, minimizing project coordination times, and ensuring consistency of their brands and content across the globe."

Features of the translation portal include:

• 24/7, web-based access with various access privileges (Managers, Users, Guests)
• Quick Quote Calculator
• Submit and pick up files
• Real time status reports for quotes and projects
• Free hosting and customizations - no IT costs for hotels
• Utilization of central translation memories and company glossaries and style guides
• Libraries for travel guides, language phrase books, glossaries, style guides and other collateral

"Many hotels, franchises and global chains want to provide their corporate offices, restaurants and/or hotel properties with consistent, quality and cost-effective translation services for an array of content including web content, in-room directories, training materials, menus, event brochures and hospitality kits," said Peter Betts, GPI's Director of Business Development. "Hotel Marketing, Food & Beverage and Web Teams can all initiate and monitor any translations globally. This will ensure content which is translated for properties in Dubai or London can also be used by properties in Las Vegas or Macau."

"Glearch stands for "Global Search" and is a tool for anyone who would like to perform searches by specific countries and languages," says Yasser Ahmed, Web Development Lead, GPI, "Glearch selects the top results from Google, Yahoo and MSN as well as the most popular search engines for a selected country and returns results."

"Glearch started as an internal tool for GPI's staff of translators, researchers, copy writers and global search engine specialists, as well as an answer to a common request from clients to find country specific information from hundreds of separate sources on the web," said Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "Glearch's global map-based interface and compilation of country specific facts, web resources, maps, newspapers and top sites bring users a wealth of information on one screen."

Glearch is freely available and can be accessed at: www.glearch.com

"The presentation will cover best practices in creating an international website from the ground up for any global organization," says Maxwell Hoffmann, GPI's Director of Document Globalization. "Although there are many ways to organize a multilingual website project, there are some specific fundamental phases, steps and tasks which should be integrated into every Web Design, Development and Deployment (W3D) plan." The program topics include:

• Website Design and Development and Deployment
• Glossary Development
• Translation and Copy Writing
• Localization of Text, Graphics and Multimedia
• CMS deployment, training and support
• Global Search Engine Marketing (SEO)

"Today companies are requiring a range of features and functionality from their global websites," says Marcelo Volmaro, GPI's Director of Website Globalization. "Requirements such as multilingual, better lead generation, search engine optimization, ability for non-technical staff to easily add and edit content, automated approval processes for content and automated translation workflow for language versions are all core features expected in new sites."

GPI's presentation will take place at the Westin Mission Hills Resort in Rancho Mirage on March 18th. Anyone interested in seeing a full description of the presentation or registering for DocTrain West should visit the following website for details: www.doctrain.com/west.

"GPI is providing content from its recent research series on Website Globalization and e-Business, as well as best practices for website globalization workflows," says Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "In recent years companies have realized their executives need to better understand the process to create a website that functions in other languages and other locales in order to build a business case for and manage a website globalization effort." The program by St. Louis University will help executives, managers and webmasters guide their company's website globalization initiatives, which are necessary for an organization to expand globally.

The research reports can be downloaded at Website Globalization and E-Business Series

"The international online program provides participants with the cutting edge skills to conduct international e-business in a networked global economy," says Nitish Singh, PhD., the program leader. "The Executive Certificate in Web Globalization Management is designed for business executives who need the freedom to work from their homes or offices as well as the flexibility to work at their own pace. Comprised of five learning modules, in addition to best practices, the program provides a mix of academic and real-world case studies. Course topics include:

• Global Business Strategy for Networked Economy
• A Localized Approach to Global E-Business Expansion
• Web Site Globalization, Step-by-Step
• Global Content Management and the Future of Web Globalization
• Corporate Web Management for a Global Workforce

Upon completion of the program, candidates are awarded the Executive Certificate in Web Globalization Management by the John Cook School of Business and Saint Louis University. Companies interested in earning the Saint Louis University-Executive Certificate in Web Globalization Management should visit: www.globalizationexecutive.com

“We have developed a series of best practices for properly structuring FrameMaker, InDesign, Word and PowerPoint templates to prevent post-translation formatting problems and to save time and money,” says Maxwell Hoffmann, GPI’s Director of Document Globalization, an Adobe Community Expert who has trained over 1,500 customers. “The cost savings and benefits of a third party template review, just one aspect of the assessments, are dramatically multiplied by the number of languages you translate your content into,” Hoffmann adds. The assessment includes:

The series includes:

• Review of template design and structure for 8 common localization issues that can save considerable time and money
• Review choice of authoring software and other applications to determine if optimum authoring and assets management practices are in use
• Review of content & design for cultural correctness for target global audiences

“GPI is providing training on an array of document globalization subjects and applications as a stand-alone offering and as a complimentary service provided as part of our new account orientation,” says Martin Spethman, GPI’s Managing Partner. “Many companies want to review their current workflows, in-house versus outsourcing decisions, and application selection to see where they can achieve savings”.

Companies interested in this new service should visit our request for assessment and best practices consultation page.

"This series of reports is meant to be a primer on global e-Business as well as a collection of language, culture and website globalization facts by country," says Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "The research can be found at Website Globalization and E-Business Series and will be available as well through a series of articles in Multilingual Computing Magazine beginning in December 2008.

The series includes:

• Website Globalization and E-Business - China
• Website Globalization and E-Business - Japan
• Website Globalization and E-Business - Germany
• Website Globalization and E-Business - US Hispanic Market
• Website Globalization and E-Business - Brazil
• Website Globalization and E-Business - India
• Website Globalization and E-Business - Russia
• Website Globalization and E-Business - Argentina
• Website Globalization and E-Business - France
• Website Globalization and E-Business - United Kingdom
• Website Globalization and E-Business - United Arab Emirates

Special Bonus Paper: The US Hispanic Market In Depth - which includes a study of 208 websites of U.S. organizations that have web pages designed specifically for the U.S. Hispanic market.

"US firms looking to sell their products and services globally via the web will appreciate the overviews and insights into e-business, website globalization and consumers in these countries," says Nitish Singh, PhD, Author of "The Culturally Customized Website". "Each paper includes research and information on culture, consumer values, market stats, online consumer behavior, consumer segments, language, website globalization, cultural customizations, website customizations and search engine marketing per country, as well as a host of useful links."

"It is estimated that over 8000 global e-commerce and marketing professionals will attend www.eTailXpo.com from over 79 countries," says Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "Many of these professionals and firms require GPI's suite of translation services including:

• Translation of ad copy for print and pay-per-click
• Translation of product catalogs for print and online
• Translation of multimedia for product demos and retail site promotions
• Translation of Websites (globalization) to enable sites to function in any country
• Global Search Engine Marketing Launch Services (www.globalizationpartners.com/sem2)"

"We find that search managers, affiliate managers, brand managers, webmasters, ecommerce managers and others from the online retailing community and search marketing space require one or more of our services as they expand the markets for their products and services globally," says Stacy Lee Bersbach, Global Marketing Specialist with GPI. "GPI's booth will be hosted by globalization services specialists who can answer questions on an array of website globalization and e-Business topics. GPI specialists from Argentina, China, Dubai (UAE) and the USA will also introduce a NEW whitepaper series on country specific e-business topics."

eComXpo's last event, held in October, 2007, included over 150 exhibitors, 8,000 attendees and 30 presentations making it the largest virtual event ever held. The event remains 100% online, virtual and free for attendees. eTail, celebrating its 10 year anniversary as the industry's leading event for online retailers, included over 1,200 attendees at their most recent event held Feb 11-14th, in Palm Desert, California.

GPMS 3.0 is a web-based suite of globalization project management tools which enable GPI's translation teams and their clients to deliver an array of complex international, localization and translation projects on time, within budget and with superior quality.

"Our teams and diverse client base have utilized GPMS to successfully manage a wide range of document, software, multimedia and website localization projects," says Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "The rich feature set facilitates all aspects of translation project management, from project scoping and scheduling to global collaboration and quality assurance."

New GPMS 3.0 enhanced features include:

• Comprehensive Quality Assurance (QA) for all project types
• Status report generation in any form and frequency
• Project scheduling with shared calendars
• Budget tracking
• Audio, video, chat based collaboration capabilities with all global resources
• Secure project file transfers and archiving
• Translation memory management

"Clients do not want any additional IT burden or license fees, especially when their existing content management systems and tools have features that can be configured to easily interface with a variety of translation workflows," says Mariano Drzazga, GPI'S Global IT Manager. "Effective translation services rely heavily on global collaboration and project management skills. GPI provides GPMS 3.0 free to our clients to help them achieve cost-savings and consistency from project to project."

“GPI has extensive experience interfacing with a wide range of web content management systems for clients who need to create multilingual Web sites,” said Mariano Drzazga, Global IT Manager for GPI. “The Platinum Partner status designation recognizes our deep experience with Ektron’s Web content management technology and our success with maximizing Web site localization projects for our customers.”

GPI’s Web site localization services that incorporate Ektron’s CMS400.NET platform include:

• Comprehensive design, development and hosting for multilingual websites
• Localization of existing Web sites into other languages
• Partnering with interactive agencies to create language versions of English sites
• Global Search Engine Optimization Launch Services

Ektron CMS400.NET is Ektron’s all-in-one platform for creating, deploying and managing interactive Web, intranet and extranet sites. It offers support for organizational globalization strategies by making it simple to manage all aspects of content creation, localization and publishing from within a single Web-based application. CMS400.NET provides:

• Complete integration between a site’s native language and translated content
• Automated workflows for reviews and approvals
• Built-in support for the XLIFF XML standard
• Machine translation for multilingual projects

“Ektron CMS400.NET manages more than just Web content. Our technology enables organizations to comprehensively create and manage all  multilingual functionality  for each language represented on Web sites,” said Ed Rogers, Chief Operating Officer, Ektron, Inc. “By coupling our Web content management technology with GPI’s extensive language and localization expertise, companies can deliver content to a global audience, support their brands in many languages, and expand market share.”

“In order to help clients localize and manage their multilingual websites, including those clients utilizing the Interwoven Content Management System, GPI has achieved certification as an Interwoven TeamSite Technical Consultant,” says Martin Spethman, GPI’s Managing Partner. “We have experience working with dozens of content management systems and regularly advise clients on the optimum localization workflows utilizing their content management system of choice, an Interwoven certification provides us even more insight and experience on that platform.”

“Several of GPI’s Project Management staff received certifications in ‘Localization’ and ‘Localization Project Management’ from California State University, Chico in partnership with The Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) and the Localization Institute,” says Ken Renfro, GPI’s Managing Partner. “GPI’s Project Managers are required to pursue ongoing professional development in documentation, software and website globalization project management in order to become experts and stay current in their field.” The program at California State University includes studies and testing in courses designed to train project managers in international e-marketing, software and website localization, project management, cultural customization, and cross-national research in order to implement and manage international web sites and software applications.

To learn more about GPI and its web content management and localization project management expertise, or to receive a FREE Website, Documentation or Software Globalization Guidebook, please visit www.globalizationpartners.com.

"The Live Earth organization needed to localize key sections of www.liveearth.org into nineteen (19) different languages ranging from Arabic to Zulu including web pages where viewers worldwide could make pledges to help fight global warming," said Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "In addition, Live Earth needed a series of "Solutions" translated which detailed ways to help fight global warming based on the book "The Global Warming Survival Handbook: 77 Essential Skills to Stop Climate Change- or Live Through It" by David de Rothschild. The Solutions were made available for download on the Live Earth Site."

"Globalization Partners' domain expertise in supporting international environmental projects, coupled with their extensive experience in website globalization for high-profile websites, led to their selection as our event and campaign translation partner. Their work allowed us to support online viewers' ability to take the Live Earth pledge in their own language in MSN's 39 local markets," said Catherine Geanuracos, Interactive Strategy, Live Earth.

GPI offers one of the most comprehensive document and website translation packages in the marketplace with services including:

• Translation and Copy Writing
• Cultural Correctness Assessments
• Multilingual Desktop Publishing
• Multimedia Localization (Authoring, Recording and Talent)
• Multilingual Content Management Systems
• Global Search Engine Marketing (country-specific SEO)
• Website Globalization Strategy
• Website Testing

To learn more about these and other services offered by GPI, or to get a FREE Document or Website Globalization Guidebook, visit www.globalizationpartners.com.

About Live Earth

Live Earth was a monumental music event that brought together a global audience on July 7, 2007 to combat the climate crisis. Live Earth staged official concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Hamburg - as well as special broadcast events in Antarctica, Kyoto and Washington, DC - and featured more than 150 of the world's best music acts. Live Earth reached its massive audience through an unprecedented media architecture covering television, radio, Internet and wireless channels. Live Earth concerts were broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN at www.LiveEarth.MSN.com.

Live Earth's 24 hours of music across 7 continents delivered a worldwide call to action and the solutions necessary to answer that call. Live Earth launched a multi-year campaign to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve the climate crisis. Live Earth is partnering with the Alliance for Climate Protection, Avaaz, The Climate Group (We're in This Together), Stop Climate Chaos (I Count) and other international organizations in this ongoing effort. Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, CEO of Control Room, the company that produced the concerts globally. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection and a Partner of Live Earth.

On any given day, you can take a glance at any of the Internet stats sites such as www.nua.com or www.cyberatlas.com and read about the evolution of our global economy. The markets for companies now in the US are no longer defined (or should I say confined) to the East Coast – Midwest – West Coast, but are better defined by hemispheres.

By now, most of us realize our website creates a global presence for us. It allows us to advertise our products and services globally, and therefore should allow us to conduct business globally. However, just as speaking Spanish is no guarantee of a successful business transaction in a Spanish speaking country, merely translating a website into different languages is no guarantee it will be an effective tool for global e-commerce. To fully enable your web presence to conduct international e-commerce, it takes a multidisciplinary team consisting of professionals from various fields, applying what they know to your web planning and presence.

If you consider yourself the coach, and your co-workers your coaching and locker room staff, who are the players needed to win the game of creating a global web presence.

First of all, make sure your coaching staff has the right skills and experience necessary to manage your website globalization effort. These skills are a combination of language, project management and technology expertise.

Your global website team should consist of “players” from ten areas of global commerce expertise. Understand that the expertise and services provided by any of your ten team members may be available in-house, and therefore the outside player may or may not be necessary.

So, who are the players and what do they provide?

1. Trade Organizations including government-sponsored groups: initial information, contacts and research required for determining target markets and localizations required for your website
2. Legal Counsel: review website content for target market appropriateness and local legal requirements including "distance selling" restrictions, advertising standards, privacy and data protection, and online terms and conditions/"clickwrap" enforceability
3. Accounting and Tax Advisors: accounting advice regarding currency and tax consequences of web transactions
4. Web Graphic Design and Development Firm: site design and development services including determination of the appropriate e-commerce enabled architecture for your site
5. Website Globalization Firm: website internationalization and localization services including enabling a site to function and display correctly in various natural languages (i.e., Spanish, Chinese, Arabic)
6. Global Hosting Provider (ISP): website hosting and management services including security, monitoring and housing for your global site
7. Multicurrency Transaction Service: service and technologies to allow your site to accept and make payments in any currency
8. Search Engine Optimization Service: global search engine submission and optimization services to ensure people in any country, speaking any language, can find your site
9. Global E-Fulfillment Providers: storage, packing and shipping of your products ordered from your site to major destinations worldwide
10. Multilingual Support Service: global multilingual 24/7 support and help desk for your site, products and services

Like any good team, solid upfront planning and practice, and good communication, prepares you and your website presence for the big game… global e-commerce.

Martin Spethman is the Managing Partner USA for Globalization Partners International, a global provider of website internationalization and localization services in over 50 languages. Mr. Spethman has over 18 years experience in designing and developing multilingual software, documentation and websites. He may be reached at mspethman@globalizationpartners.com or call 866-272-5874.

"We are seeing a surge in environmental exports to many countries," said Marc Merson, Chairman of Eco Expo. "A special interest from US companies in the enormous and emerging environmental Chinese markets spurred us to translate our site into Chinese and implement a web content management system which would allow us to expand into other languages as well."

"GPI has developed solid domain expertise for translating content in a multitude of environmental products and services' fields including: New & Renewable Energy Technologies, Power Generation & Energy Efficiency, Waste & Water Treatment, Waste Management & Recycling, Clean-Up & Soil Rehabilitation, and Air & Noise Pollution Control," said Martin Spethman, GPI's Managing Partner. "GPI helps US firms sell their environmental products and services globally by translating sales brochures, user manuals, software applications and websites, so a partnership with Eco Expo and their exhibitors and attendees will be a great enabler for these firms wanting to sell in China."

GPI offers one of the most comprehensive website translation packages in the marketplace with services including:

• Website Globalization Strategy
• Glossary Development and Cultural Correctness Assessments
• Translation and Copy Writing
• Graphics and Multimedia Localization (Authoring, Recording and Talent)
• CMS Internationalization and deployments including Ektron CMS400.NET
• Global Search Engine Marketing (country-specific SEO)
• Website Testing

Awards included:

Two Awards for Outstanding Achievement from the Web Marketing Association (WMA)
Two Gold Awards from World Wide Web Awards
Three Silver Awards from the W3 International Academy of Visual Arts Awards
Four Gold Awards from the Davey Awards
One Silver Award from the Davey Awards
Selected as an Official Honoree in the Webby Awards Competition

“Our websites won a range of categories in five of the six contests we entered including, ‘Best Professional Services, Best Microsite, Best Landing page, Best International Business Interactive Application, Best Structure and Navigation, and Best Home Page’,” says Martin Spethman, GPI’s Managing Partner. “The 2006 W3 Awards received over 2,300 entries, the Davey Awards received over 3,500 entries and The American Association of Webmasters received roughly 16,000 applications making the awards and recognition received by GPI especially significant.”

“GPI provides website internationalization, localization and translation services to interactive agencies and end clients in order to help them globalize their websites and web applications,” says Ken Renfro, GPI’s Director of Operations. “Our own sites showcase our skills in utilizing global best practices for designing, developing and deploying multilingual websites, as well as our new global search engine optimization launch services.”

GPI offers one of the most comprehensive website translation packages in the marketplace with services including:

• Website Globalization Strategy
• Content, Creative and Technology Consultation
• Glossary Development
• Cultural Correctness Assessments and Customizations
• Translation and/or copy writing
• Graphics Localization
• Localization of Multimedia (Authoring, Recording and Talent)
• Search Engine Marketing (country-specific SEO)
• Website Quality Assurance & Testing

“GPI has extensive experience interfacing with a wide range of web content management systems for clients who need to localize their websites into other languages,” said Mariano Drzazga, Global IT Manager for GPI. “GPI’s team can design, develop and deploy Ektron’s CMS from scratch or work with a client or interactive agency to provide website localization services in over 75 languages for a site already developed.”

GPI’s website localization services utilizing Ektron’s CMS400.NET platform may include:

• Comprehensive design, development and hosting for multilingual websites
• Localization of existing websites into other languages
• Partnering with interactive agencies to create language versions of English sites
• Global Search Engine Optimization Launch Services

CMS400.NET is Ektron’s all-in-one platform for creating, deploying and managing interactive web, intranet and extranet sites. It offers support for organizations’ globalization strategies by making it easy to manage all aspects of content creation, localization and publishing from within a single web-based application. CMS400.NET provides:

• Complete integration between a site’s native language and translated content
• Automated workflows for reviews and approvals
• Built-in support for the XLIFF XML standard
• Machine translation for a head start on multilingual projects

“Ektron CMS400.NET manages more than just content. It enables organizations to create and manage all aspects of a multilingual site unique for each language presented on a site,” said George Rassias, vice president of sales, Ektron. “By coupling our content management system with GPI’s extensive language and localization expertise, companies can deliver content to a global audience, support their brands in many languages, and expand their potential markets.”

“GPI’s Translation Services Portal (www.translationportal.com) now offers telephonic language interpretation services for healthcare providers, membership organizations and corporations who need 24/7 access to interpreters in over 150 languages,” says Ken Renfro, GPI’s Managing Partner. “Our translation portal which clients can uniquely brand and customize for their hospital, membership organization or company, now provides access to both documentation translation and interpretation services.”

GPI’s telephonic interpretation services include:

• 24/7 access in over 150 languages
• Supported by over 1000 professional, certified linguists
• Average connect time of 30 seconds
• Pay-As-You-Go Fee Structure - You pay only for the minutes you use
• Special tracking and billing for different departments within organizations
• Comprehensive E & O Policy Coverage on all sessions

GPI provides professional interpretation services to companies who have face-to-face language needs throughout the United States and the world. GPI’s interpreters are trained, certified professionals fluent in both source and target languages. These interpreters work in accordance with the 2000 American Standards Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standards for Interpretation Services.

GPI provides three types of Interpretation Services:

• Consecutive Interpreters for business meetings, training sessions, tours, seminars, judicial proceedings, depositions, etc.
• Simultaneous Interpreters for conferences or events requiring UN-style interpretation and special equipment.
• Telephonic Interpreters for access to live interpreters by simply dialing a toll free 1-800 number and inputting an access code.

Globalization Partners International (GPI), a provider of website, software and document translation services, announced today that two of its corporate websites, www.globalizationpartners.com and www.globalwidgets.com, won World Wide Web Gold Awards from the American Association of Webmasters (AAWM).

“So far this year both our corporate website and viral marketing site have won awards in three different competitions,” says Martin Spethman, GPI’s Managing Partner. “Both sites showcase our skills in utilizing global best practices for designing, developing and deploying multilingual websites, as well as our globalization expertise with Adobe/Macromedia applications such as FLASH and Dreamweaver.”

"The American Association of Webmasters receives roughly 800-1,200 applications per month and about 16,000 applications per year, and only 14% of applicants have achieved the Gold Award Title in 2006,” says Donna Snyder, CEO of American Association Of Webmasters (www.worldwidewebawards.net). “The Gold Award represents Web Presence at its best. To achieve this award is truly an honor.”

GPI’s corporate website www.globalizationpartners.com was a winner in the Best Professional Services Microsite/Landing page category. “Our corporate website was designed and developed using Adobe and Macromedia’s MX Suite and is an example of utilizing global best practices for the design, development and deployment of multilingual websites,” says Martin Spethman, GPI’s Managing Partner. “We designed the site in order showcase our own multilingual website creation and translation capabilities, and combined audio, video, a persuasive architecture and a clear conversion path in the site to help educate and convert potential clients”.

GPI’s viral marketing site www.globalwidgets.com was a winner in the Best International Business Interactive application category. “Globalwidgets started as part of a suite of in-house translator and translation project management tools that we turned into a viral marketing site,” says Ken Renfro, GPI’s Production Director. “It is a very useful, interactive application for any translation, business and/or web professional.”