Partner Press Release
Helsinki University of Technology Partners with IBM and Sonera Juxto International to Bring RosettaNet Standards to University Level

For Release February 4, 2002

Helsinki, Finland --

The Software Business and Engineering Institute (SoberIT) and Institute for Strategy and International Business (ISIB) of Helsinki University of T echnology (HUT) announced today that they have elected to integrate RosettaNet standards into the existing technology educational programme. Finland is among the first countries in Europe to introduce XML-based RosettaNet e-business processes to students at the University level. Moving forward, RosettaNet standards solutions will play a major role in the ICTEC (Information and Communication Technology Enabled Commerce) courses being offered by HUT. The ICTEC course consists of developing software applications that support the business activities of companies such as Nokia, Sonera and Telering.

The RosettaNet consortium and programme partners, including IBM and Sonera Juxto International, will work together to develop content for courseware and contribute resources to the ICTEC Programme.  Specifically, IBM will provide guest lecturers, technical knowledge, equipment and software for the project, while Sonera will identify customer projects and coordinate related business activities.

The primary objective of the ICTEC Programme is to provide broad insight around information and communication technology enabled commerce. The course is targeted at students enrolled in computer science studies, but also being offered to individuals majoring in managerial studies, economics and law.

The value network scenario in today’s electronic and mobile commerce suggests that businesses worldwide will have more intimate trading relationships and increased interdependencies with partners, such as suppliers, distributors, information brokers, trusted third parties or other intermediaries, in the future. Using integrated program features that leverage Internet-based standards such as RosettaNet, companies can begin to streamline and optimize critical business processes across the value network.

”As RosettaNet standards continue to be adopted by world-class companies in Europe and around the world, progressive educational programmes like ICTEC’s take on an even greater significance,” said Thierry Ceillier, Vice President RosettaNet Europe. “We are truly excited about the prospect of this academic initiative and look forward to working closely with the Helsinki University of Technology.”

The ICTEC Programme featuring RosettaNet standards will act as a catalyst to familiarize university level students with business concepts related to information and communication technology enabled commerce. The ICTEC project course commenced on January 24 and is being led by Professor Reijo Sulonen, a recognized specialist in software management. Guest lecturers including Finnish and international scholars and experts from the industry will present during the course of the program. All coursework will be presented in the English language.

About RosettaNet
RosettaNet is an independent, non-profit consortium dedicated to the collaborative development and rapid deployment of open Internet-based business standards that align processes within the global high-technology trading network.  

More than 400 companies worldwide representing over $1000 billion ($1 trillion US) in annual information technology, electronic components and semiconductor manufacturing revenues currently participate in RosettaNet's standards development, strategy and implementation activities. A complete list of member companies and more information on RosettaNet is available at http://www.rosettanet.org .

About Helsinki University of Technology

Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) was founded in 1849 and it received university status in 1908. Twelve faculties and nine separate institutes include 224 professors and 13 807 under- and postgraduate students. In 2000 HUT awarded 869 Masters´ degrees and 90 doctorates. Total funding from state and other sources are FIM 1 040 million marks (2000). Spanning the administrative division are eleven institutes, whose task is to draw together the disparate research resources of the various units. In 2000, HUT had 737 research projects whose funding exceeded FIM 100,000. Most of the projects are realized in co-operation with international and Finnish research institutes, universities or companies. 47 projects were initiated in the EU Fifth Framework Programme. HUT has supported high-quality research by focusing its internal project funding on areas of special interest and strategic development. http://www.hut.fi/English/