News

Etnoteam sponsors the award for the best Usability related academic thesis 2007

The winner of the best Usability related academic thesis 2007 competition in Finland was announced in the World Usability Day event in Helsinki 8.11.2007. The competition was arranged by SIGCHI Finland (Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction) and the price award of 1000 Euro was sponsored by Etnoteam Finland Oy. The winner of the competition with over 20 participants from universities in Finland is Pekka Parhi, University of Oulu, with his master thesis “Two case studies in the design and evaluation of mobile interactive systems”.

The World Usability Day in Helsinki contained also presentations from two companies where usability is part of their global product offering. At the event Aapo Puskala, Usability Specialist at Kone, presented the importance of Usability for Kone as a leading innovator in the elevator and escalator business. “Elevators has been around for over 100 years, but usability is now being more important than ever before”.

Harri Kiljander, Director Experience Design at Nokia, spoke about the role of usability in purchasing decision situation. “With consumer devices such as mobile handsets, ease-of-use is playing an increasingly important role both in the purchasing decision process and later in the daily use of the products and services”, says Harri.

The event has been arranged for 3 years in a row in several places globally.

For more information about the World Usability Day please visit www.worldusabilityday.org

Value Team (Value Partners Group):
The Acquisition of Etnoteam Has Been Closed

Milan, March 30 2007 – Value Team, the IT Consulting and Solutions company of the Value Partners group, announces that, having received authorization from the Italian Competition Authority, the acquisition of Etnoteam Spa has been closed, pursuant to the terms of the agreement announced last February 2 2007.

Value Team website

Value Team, The Value Partners Group Company, Acquires Etnoteam And Becomes The Third Italian ICT Player

With the acquisition of Etnoteam, one of Italy’s longest-established ICT company, Value Team IT Consulting and Solutions now draws on 2600 professionals.

Milan, 2 February 2007- Value Team, the Value Partners group company leader in the IT Consulting and Solutions sector, has signed an agreement for the acquisition of Etnoteam, a leader in the design and management of innovative ICT solutions.

Established in Milan in 1978, Etnoteam is among Europe’s most accredited players in the development of Mobile VAS and serves leading vendors such as Nokia and Siemens. The company is also Italy’s leader in designing web applications and highly usable web sites. These activities are carried out in particular by the E-TREE business unit, which received numerous international awards such as the Interactive Key Award and the Hallvarsson&Halvarsson.

Etnoteam is also active in the media, retail, public administration and financial institution sectors. The main solutions offered regard logistics, billing and IT management consulting. The offering also covers the outsourced management of platforms and applications in collaboration with I.NET. Innovation and ongoing R&D activities are supported by the EtnoteamLabs which cooperate with the most important Italian and USA universities.

Today the Etnoteam group draws on 1170 professionals from 8 offices in Italy as well as from offices in Helsinki and Rio de Janeiro. The company will close 2006 with a Group turnover greater than 110 million euros.

“The agreement makes Value Team the third Italian player and leader in innovative IT services”, says Giorgio Rossi Cairo, chairman of the Value Partners group. “Etnoteam has an excellent positioning and a strong and valuable brand. The two companies together will generate further value leveraging on complementary competencies and client portfolios as well as high quality standards already recognized by the market.”

“I am happy for this agreement”, continues Roberto Galimberti, chairman of Etnoteam. “It guarantees Etnoteam a strategic partner with a stronger international scope to further our thirty-year story. Value Partners and its sister company Value Team share our DNA: a client-first and innovation-oriented approach. They are also younger than us.”

Patrizio Mapelli and Patrizia Grieco, managing partners of Value Team, join the Etnoteam board and flank the CEO Alberto Cazziol who, together with Ornella Fouillouze, will guarantee continuity to the management of Etnoteam. Giorgio Rossi Cairo and Roberto Galimberti will be respectively President and Vice President.

Etnoteam has been assisted by NCTM lawyers, while Value Team by Studio Chiomenti lawyers.

The operation will be concluded once authorization from the competent Government Authority arrives.

Value Team is the IT Consulting and Solutions company of the Value Partners group. It ended 2006 with a 20% organic growth and with pro forma revenues of around 290 million euros. Value Team offering covers IT Consulting, System Integration, Application Management and Outsourcing. Value Team serves multinationals across the world out of offices in Italy, Latin America and Northern Europe, drawing on 2600 professionals, 600 of whom work abroad.

Value Team website

Etnoteam sponsoring MobileHCI 06

Etnoteam is sponsoring the 8th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services which takes place on 12th to 15th September 2006 in Espoo, Finland. If you would like to meet Etnoteam's representative in the conference, please contact Petri Wilska (email: [email protected] , phone: +358 (0)40 750 9554.

Visit event website

Meet Etnoteam at Microsoft's WEB DAY 2006

Jussi Salminen, Technical Account Manager of Etnoteam Finland speaks about Media Center services at WEB DAY 2006 (Helsinki, 24th of August).

visit www.microsoft.fi

Dr. Simo Säde was invited speaker at design seminar

Dr. Simo Säde, director of user experience services of Etnoteam Finland, was an invited keynote speaker at the 1st international design seminar organised by Rede Gaúcha de Design and other Brazilian industrial organizations in Porto Alegre, Brazil. His presentation was titled "Usability and Innovation in Design".

The 500 person audience consisted of representatives of south Brazilian companies and public organizations. Säde also had the pleasure of presenting the CEO of the winner company with the trophy of the first annual "Premio Design.RS" prize.

Etnoteam founding member of DITE Consortium

Etnoteam, the leading Italian Company for the research, implementation and management of ICT based
Solutions and VAS, is founder member of DITE Consortium (Digital Interactive Television Experiences).

Read full press release (pdf)

Simo Säde talks about usability

Etnoteam Finland usability team leader, Dr. Simo Säde was interviewed by Tekniikka & Talous.

Read full article at Tekniikka & Talous (Finnish only).

Etnoteam Finland Oy official inauguration

Etnoteam Finland officially celebrated the start of the operations in its new offices in Helsinki. All the friends that attended the House-Warming Party had a chance to touch with their hands the new Nokia creature, the 770 Internet Tablet.

Moreover, Kalle Saarinen, Design and Consumer Research Manager at Nokia's Open Source Software Operations, who is one of the fathers of the 770 user interface, explained the paradigms and strategy beneath the creation of this innovative Nokia product.

Etnoteam top management explained to all the guests, including Finnish and Italian journalists, the Group international strategy and the strategic value of Etnoteam Finland Oy in an ICT group voted to Innovation in business solutions.

Etnoteam Group and Icareus to cooperate in DTT

Etnoteam Group, the leading Italian Business Solution Aggregator, and the Finnish software company Icareus have signed a Cooperation Agreement aimed to strengthen their position in the DTT market.

Read full press release (pdf)

Usability presentation at MobileMonday in Milan

A video featuring Dr. Simo Säde was presented at Mobile Monday in Milan on June 6. The topic was Designing with the users (in mind).

See video (large WMF file)

New address

Etnoteam Finland Oy has relocated to Vilhonkatu 6 A, 00100 Helsinki. Our phone and fax numbers remain same as before.

NETikos Finland Oy becomes Etnoteam Finland Oy

Etnoteam S.p.A., one of the main Italian IT companiesin the market of e-Business services, acquired NETikos group in September 2004. Etnoteam was founded in Milan in 1978 and it offers integrated services of consulting, site design and development, system integration, management and monitoring of Internet solutions. Etnoteam group has a staff of 1,100 people in Italy, Finland and Brazil.

NETikos Finland Oy will change it name to Etnoteam Finland Oy to reflect its new owner. The new name and new visual look will be implemented in June.

With the name change email addresses will also change to form [email protected]. Netikos.fi addresses will also remain functional during