Many product companies are setting up centers of excellence to drive profitable delivery of services. Unfortunately, the back office is not yet industrialized enough to deliver these productively. Gupta and Saxena have several years of experience building centers of excellence in underserved markets to drive globalization, productivity and innovation. They will share their standardized process, which leverages metrics for Globalization, Productivity and Innovation (something Cisco has branded Smart Global Delivery©), and the methodologies, tools and technologies they use to drive centers of excellence ‘one notch higher.’

Many companies are now pressuring their localization departments to implement Agile development methods. However, there are very few successful implementations of ‘Agile-ized localization’ that are publicly available. Pehkonen will describe how F-Secure has done it and then open up the session for questions/comments. Come prepared to discuss how ‘Agile-ized localization’ affects your daily business decisions, technology choices, purchasing strategies, work workflow and QA processes.

Machine translated (MT) segments are increasingly included as fuzzy matches within translation memory (TM) systems in the localization workflow. Guerberof will share the results of a pilot study on the correlation between statistical-based MT segments (based on Language Weaver output) and TM fuzzy matches vis-à-vis productivity and final quality. The findings reveal that translators show higher productivity and quality when using MT output than when processing TM fuzzy matches.

Definitions for the terms we use enable us to communicate clearly. However, advances in technology and business needs often require some level of flux in our definitions. And, sometimes, well-entrenched definitions can present hurdles during the revision process. Schultz will explain how IBM has tackled this problem with the revision of the fundamental terminology used in the globalization /internationalization /localization realm.

After a short introduction detailing how language standards apply to the current business environment, customers, tools developers and standards experts will spar back and forth on-stage and with the audience about (1) why developers can't/won't support standards in their current form, (2) what customers are expecting in their products vis-à-vis standards, and (3) what all of us need to do to make this happen going forward. Come prepared to participate!

Do you have large volumes of content that are too expensive or urgent to translate? Would you like to communicate better with colleagues and customers in their own language? Marshall will provide an overview of the new SDL Automated Translation Solutions™ (SDL ATS). Learn how SDL ATS can provide instant translation to support communication through chat, email, documents, presentations and the web to provide a rapid and highly cost-effective solution for both 'gisted' and high-quality translations.

Sommer will present an engaging and entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the world of localization from the vendors’ viewpoint, with an emphasis on the steps taken to meet quality, budget and scheduling goals. The audience will learn just how large a role risk management plays in localization, while enjoying humorous, real world anecdotes from the trenches.

The complexities of localizing products for sale worldwide can be staggering, as can the loss of competitive advantage, the amount of unrealized profit and the high cost of inefficient processes. Hernandez-Lasa will show how Tek’s OneWorld On-Demand Platform can help you to (1) make informed decisions, (2) track and measure the results of your process, (3) avoid industry-specific pitfalls and (4) reap the value of regionally-centralized operations.

Brandt has developed a unique and innovative tool called Shadow™ that allows simultaneous cross platform and cross-language testing. Winterlich will demonstrate through a case study how to use the product to help clients optimize their QA process and shorten their testing cycles.

Based on the current multiple language authoring and production process used by the Life Sciences unit of Rockwell Software, Herzog will discuss the advantages of standardization in content creation when transitioning from Word-based, single-source authoring with DocToHelp 2000 to database-supported content creation with Author-it. She will highlight the efficiencies and quality improvement which her company has gained during content creation, as well as the cost savings downstream in localization.

Braster will discuss the concept of using standards such as Simplified Technical English for controlled authoring, and demonstrate how translations can be improved and their cost reduced by as much as 30%.

Senellart and Roturier will present two types of automatic post-editing approaches that can be used to increase the effectiveness of machine translation (MT) within localization workflows. They will first focus on how to use translation standards (TMX and XLIFF) to integrate MT within a traditional translation workflow. They will then review automatic post-editing approaches to show how they can improve the quality of MT output and increase the productivity of post-editors working in a TM environment. They will provide a number of metrics to show how automatically post-edited MT segments can be more useful than traditional TM fuzzy matches.

Media content created in Adobe Flash and Flash Lite have become a standard. Localization of Flash is equally frequent, but despite the advanced features built into the authoring platform itself, it is often not as effective as it could be. Civín will focus on the critical business and process considerations when designing and developing Flash media content for multilingual localization. He will describe the typical Flash localization process, along with the critical elements that determine its effectiveness, and how these are affected by Flash content design. He will also demonstrate the role XML plays in Flash localization and how this standard can be leveraged.

O'Dowd will challenge traditional beliefs and approaches to standards and processes within our industry, and question how we can push thought and technology leaders to revolutionize current models to achieve more productivity at a reduced cost. He will also present alternative models for dealing with international content and products through technology innovation and breaking down traditional barriers to cost-efficiencies and quality.

Translation automation is a must, not only to reduce costs, but to increase throughput for the translation industry in a constantly growing world of content. The panelists will address the impact of standards on translation automation and the technologies involved, including the type of standards required and whether it is possible to standardize content (such as terminology) and exchange formats.

The presenters will draw on several years of successful research collaboration to describe the interesting dilemmas that emerge when industry and academia agree to collaborate on localization research. They will compare and contrast initial expectations and address questions such as researcher and supervisor profiles, the responsibilities of each party and how to secure funding. They will also share their collaboration to date on MT and Controlled Language, and discuss the standards they have used in their research (XLIFF, TMX and BLEU, among others).

Translation agencies are increasingly using adaptable, browser-based, all-in-one solutions in their daily work. These highly specialized programs combine the formerly separate disciplines of translation, project and business management in one integrated, automated platform. Of specific interest is the increased efficiency and transparency to be gained by integrating diverse project workflows. Enners will demonstrate the significant advantages for both translation agencies and corporate language departments by using such an integrated software solution on a daily basis.

Iakovidis will show how you can easily integrate TermWeb with your company's applications and processes to share, distribute and control how your standardized terminology is used across different systems.

With its philosophy of “automate what you can, control what you need,” LTC Worx really puts the user in charge. Maroney will show how it can be customized to fit existing multilingual workflows, so that you can boost productivity substantially without having to change your current processes. He will also demonstrate how it can help save time and money spent significantly by optimizing every step of your workflow – from a client request right through to financial processing.

Braster will demo HyperSTE, the leading quality assurance software for technical content. HyperSTE helps you create clear and consistent content, comply with your corporate style guide, standardize on terminology and style, and measure the quality of your content. HyperSTE can help you save up to 40% in translation cost per language, while facilitating XML, DITA and CMS as it optimizes the reusability of content.

Ireland, a global thought leader and center of excellence for localization since the 1980s, has seen many changes over the last thirty years. Drawing from a diverse pool of industry leaders who hail from the academic, end-user and LSP communities, this presentation will dynamically explore the evolution of the industry on these shores, sharing insights from their experiences of lessons learned, current challenges, and crucially what may lie ahead for us all. Localization newcomers will come away with a sense of how far we have come and the fun we had along the way. At the same time, we hope to resurrect some fond memories for the old-timers.

This session will serve as the inaugural meeting for the new TermExchange Special Interest Group (SIG). It will introduce the TermExchange project and its goals. Participants will help develop the working plan and strategy for the SIG and discuss ways to contribute to the project. If you would like to attend this meeting, please contact Arle Lommel at arle@lisa.org.