Press Releases - Directions Magazine: "IID to Provide Seamless Data Access Using ESRI Enterprise GIS Software April 27, 2006 Users Can Better Manage Network Maintenance, Plan Future Growth, and Improve Customer Service Imperial Irrigation District (IID) has selected ESRI for its enterprise geographic information system (GIS) platform. The implementation will create a systemwide GIS environment of electrical asset, configuration, and grid coordinate information that is accurate and current with real-time updating. ESRI is providing professional services including design and application customization services. In addition, the GIS will fully interface with the organization's SAP enterprise resource planning software. "We're one of the fastest-growing utilities in the country in terms of percentage of growth per year," says John Federowicz, manager, IID Energy . "This growth has forced us to move beyond previous processes. GIS will be one of the cornerstones of our enterprise technology solution. It will provide us with new ways for maintaining data and providing accurate information throughout the organization. We want our employees to have the best information and applications to do their work and give our customers the finest service possible." "IID will be able to leverage the advantage of enterprise GIS for integrating all types of datasets including asset, network, operations, customer, and more," says Bill Meehan , director of Utility Solutions, ESRI. "They will be able to build a true enterprise platform with an open architecture and state-of-the-art technologies."

AutoCAD 2007 DWG looks like bad ju-ju.: "From Evan Yates' blog: What's the bottom line here? Based on what I know now, I don't think the Open Design Alliance can legally provide support for the AutoCAD 2007 file format. By all appearances, Autodesk has got it technically and legally locked up, to where users will only be able to access DWG 2007 files with Autodesk software. Think of it like a tax: You have to pay Autodesk for the right to access your DWG 2007 files. I'm more than a little concerned about this -- and if you are thinking about upgrading to the new version of AutoCAD when it comes out (about March 15), you ought to be concerned too. I'm going to continue to look at this situation, and see if there are any ways around it. But I suspect that there will be no easy solutions. It's pretty sad that, when even Microsoft is recognizing the importance of open data formats, Autodesk has gone in the complete opposite direction."

Gov. Perry: State and Local Officials Best In Responding to Disaster - Government Technology: "With the start of the hurricane season just two months away, Gov. Rick Perry said recent recommendations that the federal government assume primary control of disaster response is the wrong approach to take. Our firefighters, peace officers and EMS personnel are the ones who know their communities best," Perry said. "They have done the emergency training exercises in those communities and they can respond the quickest to emergencies in their communities. To put it simply, when Texans dial 911, they need the phone to be picked up by an operator who knows their community, not someone at a switchboard in Washington, DC. Perry said the federal government does have an important role in disaster response, but it is a supporting role that must center on supplying state and local leaders with the resources they need to do their job. Perry said the most important reform the federal government can enact is to provide a single point of contact during a disaster so states do not have to navigate various bureaucratic mazes to get things done."