Welocalize Winter Newsletter

February 2003

Distributors Translate?

Success Stories: Yosemite

Technologies

Year in Review

PPT Localization Tool

Notes From The Field

The Year in Review

2004 was an exciting year for Welocalize. The company was selected by 62 new clients, completed some of its largest projects ever, added staff, upgraded infrastructure and refined certain processes. As a result, we are stronger than ever as we begin 2005! Here are some highlights:

· Q4 marked the company’s 12^th successive quarter over previous year’s quarter growth.

· Welocalize was named to Deloitte & Touche's prestigious “Technology Fast 50" Program for the Maryland area for a fourth year.

· The company was awarded “Firm of the Year” by the Tech Council of Maryland’s Frederick County Chapter.

· E. Smith Yewell, CEO of Welocalize, was named a winner by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 Awards in Maryland in the Realizing Business Potential category presented by Microsoft.

Tech Tip

PowerPoint Localization

Welocalize offers an internally built tool that improves PowerPoint localization by 50% or greater.

The tool will:

1. Extract the text out of a .ppt file.

2. Generate a translation file.

3. Insert the translated text back into the same relative position.

This works for most files and dramatically improves PPT localization.

Please talk to your Project Manager or Account Manager for details or call: 800-370-9515.

Yosemite Success Story

A Client’s Perspective on Project Management, Single-Source, Unicode, Quality and Pricing

“Welocalize has performed localization services for Yosemite Technologies since 1998. They have translated all software strings, user documentation and online help.

All translations are delivered simultaneously and Welocalize has never missed a deadline.

Project Management

Welocalize project managers effectively communicate schedules and deadlines. Their project plans and accompanying documents are useful. Their localization kits and templates provide a solid foundation for communicating specific needs in our project. They are very good about ensuring that their customers understand the requirements for translations.

Their online translation query-tracking program is quite helpful and is easy to use.

Single-Source and Unicode

With our current release, we implemented a new single-source strategy for the documentation. Welocalize did an excellent job in helping to define all the requirements for our source file types. They ran early tests to identify any issues with the technology in our target languages. They developed some custom macros for use in our future projects.

For our latest release, they also provided consulting services concerning a switchover to Unicode and supporting Simplified and Traditional Chinese. We have also expanded the use of their services to include production of our online help and Desktop Publishing for the user documentation.”

Quarterly Summary

I am happy to report that the 4th quarter marked our 12^th consecutive quarter of growth and that 2004 was a record year.

2004 ranks as the best year in the company’s history with a 69% increase in total revenue over 2003, and a 51% increase over Q4 of 2003. The company was also profitable and cash-flow positive.

We invested heavily in our infrastructure in 2004, spending over $100,000 on software and hardware upgrades. The result is an enterprise-class back office built upon Microsoft Project Server and The Microsoft Solomon accounting package.

The strength and scalability of our new infrastructure will support us well into the future.

2004 was a fantastic year, and I congratulate our staff and partners and thank our clients.

E. Smith Yewell

President & CEO

smith.yewell@welocalize.com

Should You Leave It to Your Distributor to Translate?

By Willem Stoeller,

Vice President

Willem.stoeller@welocalize.com

Historically many software companies have tried this route and run into trouble with very few exceptions.

Typically this type of arrangement has involved:

- Payment through royalties instead of direct development expenses

- An exclusive distributor relationship

The distributor almost always outsources the work to a third party out of your control creating:

- Quality and branding issues

- Branching of code bases and often issues of ownership of the globalized code base

(possession of the code is the driving force here, you would have a hard time suing a company in China for intellectual property rights or ownership)

This is why virtually every software company I know of has backed off from this approach and taken the following route:

- Internationalization fully in-house with help from a specialized vendor

- Localization of software and docs through a specialized vendor

- - No exclusive distributorships

Notes From the Field

(a travel log)

By Chris Grebisz

Vice President

chris.grebisz@welocalize.com

I’m not sure you are at all interested in my travel ramblings, which are actually quite atypical of me, but it has provided a definite source of distraction from writing an SOW. I've had some personal revelations on this trip, such as I've entered 9 countries this year and all but 1 had an 'a' in their name, Peru. Anyway, I now have a new interest and appetite for Asia!

Japan: My last day in Japan with Tsutsumi-san, after completing a hearty breakfast of fermented soy beans that are mixed with mustard and soy sauce, accompanied by fish soup was fairly uneventful but confirmed that 'Lost in Translation' was a great movie.

China: Today in Beijing was a good day, Beijing, although less populated than Tokyo seems twice as big. I'm very impressed with the city; it’s not at all what I expected, very modern, fairly clean in perspective and fairly orderly. After my meeting, I took a 1 hour cab ride ($5) to the forbidden city. As I walk to the entrance, I am approached by a student who's very interested in learning about America; he speaks very good English. His art class is displaying in a showroom and he politely asks me to check it out. Before I realize I'm getting sold, I’ve already handed over 50 bucks and bought two original pieces.

Well, I wised up after that; but what I realized was that each country’s enterprising street salespeople are smarter than your average Joe or XaoLin. The interesting thing is that they expertly adapt their sales standard to the client, in my case the dumb American site-seeing for a day. As for deals, the bottom is far lower in China, than in other countries. If something is offered for a 100 Huan (about $9), they will actually sell it to you for $15. It took some trial and error to figure this out as it always does.

Tiananmen Square: In the course of walking across Tiananmen Square, I was “Chris” from Oregon, “Bob” from Washington, “Rick” from California, and “Marco” from New York. The approaching entrepreneur’s products ranged from trinkets, to art, to evening entertainment and all had a common thread, all sellers coincidentally had a teacher who had been to my state and declared it the most beautiful state. Fortunately, you only have to say “no” about 10 times vs. Mexico’s, 30 and they politely disband.

Did you all know that they don't have coins in China? I didn't, but a very angry cab driver, in his native tongue supported by universally understood body communications, educated me on currency. I was attempting to pay him .15 for a $1.50 fare. They have a small 5 bill and a big 5 bill, which is 5 Huan. Funny, yes, but I thought he was going to do some kung fu on me, until a bellman came to my assistance.

Welocalize West
144 NW Overton St.

Suite 125
Portland OR 97209
Phone: +1.503.274.2211
Toll Free: +1.800.370.9515

Welocalize East
241 East 4th St.

Suite 207
Frederick MD 21701
Phone: +1.301.668.0330
Toll Free: +1.800.370.9515

Welocalize Europe
Nell-Breuning-Allee 10
66115 Saarbrücken GERMANY
Phone: +49.681/99294-0

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