Intergen's newsletter, Smarts, now available for online reading. Intergen provides information technology solutions across Australia, New Zealand and the world based exclusively on Microsoft’s tools and technologies.

1. INTERGEN NEWS >>
PROJECT CASE STUDY >>
HOT NEWS >>
CREATIVE STUDIO >>
EVENTS & LEISURE >>
INTERNET HOSTING >>
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS >>
TWILIGHT SEMINARS >>
2
3
4
4
5
6
7
8
The next wave
I S S U E T W O
>> HOT NEWS:
We are now in Auckland - Intergen
Auckland opened its doors on June
6th. This is a significant and exciting
move for us ....
The Vault - We have launched a
complimentary online research
service. If you need to keep abreast
of topics like Content Management
then here is a way to find out what
industry commentators are saying ....
A cost effective Microsoft
Content Management Server
offering! - There is little doubt that
Microsoft Content Management
Server is a fully functional industrial
strength Content Management
product .....
For more information go to page 4
>> T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E
SMARTSmagazinedesignandproductionbyIntergenCreativeStudio
It is almost a year since the inaugural issue of
“SMARTS”. We set ourselves an ambitious target
of delivering a quarterly newsletter but,
unfortunately, talking about
what we are doing has to come
second to the doing. Hence
this is issue number two.
About this time last year, as part of re-establishing
ourselves as Intergen, we chose four areas to focus
on: Microsoft .NET, Content Management Server,
SharePoint Portal Server and Mobility. I am
pleased to say that we have had a lot of
success in all these areas.
We have delivered more than 10 significant
applications developed using the Microsoft
.NET Framework. In doing so we have proved
that we can quickly develop applications, with
more features and less bugs.
We are working on our fourth Microsoft Content Management Server project
and have recently established a facility for providing CM Server site hosting for
a monthly fee to bring the advanced capabilities to clients who would otherwise
not be able to justify the license outlay.
With more than 7 million seats of SharePoint Portal Server world wide, we saw a
huge opportunity to develop a product for that market. We have developed a Records
Management Web part to complement the Document Management features of
SharePoint Portal Server. We are yet to formally begin marketing CustodianRMS but
have already been receiving enquiries from Europe and the USA.
Our work in Mobility has largely been R&D and marketing to date but we expect
that to bear fruit over the coming weeks.
As we move in to our second year as Intergen, we refocused our efforts along
four primary service lines. Business Intelligence, Enterprise Application
Integration, Portals and Mobility. These areas are not new to us but our
focus now extends beyond a “product view” to consider all aspects of
services related to them. You will hear more from us about these areas
over the next few months. We are planning more Twilight Seminars
and are happy to discuss these or any other areas where we can
help you or your business.
We look forward to speaking with you in the months ahead
and hope that you enjoy issue two of SMARTS, our Intelligent
Business Magazine.
tony.stewart@intergen.co.nz
< Copyright 2002 Intergen Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of Intergen Limited >

2. >>2
< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W O >
Intergen ranks as one of the best workplaces in NZ
The survey is sponsored by Haines Recruitment Advertising, designed and
conducted by HR consulting firm John Robertson & Associates.
We are proud to have participated and done so well.
We believe the result reinforces one of our key values:
People: We have fun and genuinely enjoy work. We
work as a team without egos and recognize the value
and diversity of the team members. We strive to learn,
to always do better and to help others in the team
to realize their potential.
Thanks to all our clients for the positive feedback we
have received. We wish to extend our thanks to you
for your support and assistance with helping us achieve
our goals and have fun along the way.
If you would like any further information about the Unlimited Best Places to
Work Survey go to http://www.unlimited.co.nz
Unlimited magazine undertakes an annual best
places to work survey. We are happy
to advise that in the largest and most
authoritative survey of its kind
Intergen ranked 6th. The Unlimited
Best Places to Work survey was
completed online and in total
confidentiality by 6,927 employees
from 87 companies.
“The winning companies don’t just say that people are their
best asset, they act like it by providing extensive benefits,
strong staff development and heaps of fun,” says Unlimited
publisher Vincent Heeringa. “As a result their work forces are pro-active, flexible
and enthusiastic – they are treated as knowledge workers, not factory drones.”
Dwayne Bace
Dwayne contributes extensive project
management and technical consulting
experience in both government and
private sector organisations.
What do you do?
Manager, Technical Services –
responsible for Intergen’s Internet
Hosting, Technical Consulting and
Facilities Management.
How do you make a difference?
I love a challenge, and find none
greater than when people claim “it
can’t be done!”. For me, making a
difference is about going the extra
mile, anticipating and clearing the
hurdles, and exceeding expectations!
Share one thing about your job?
My job is about delivering
dependable, high performance
Internet Hosting and Facilities
Management. In many ways, an
indicator of my success is when people
forget that I exist.
A bit about yourself?
I divide my spare time between
playing golf, turning my barren,
Johnsonville section into a garden
and pursuing my career as an
armchair sports critic (an often
conflicting combination!).
>> INTERGENITE:
>> I N T E R G E N N E W S

3. < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W O >
The Challenge
Time was one of the tightest parts of the equation when Local Government
Online Limited sought a partner to help them deliver the most important phase
to date within their online strategies and Community On Line web product.
Existing concerns and the growing information needs of councils, helped them
zero in on the answer. To take the next step, they needed a partner to face not
only a tight transfer deadline, but a partner who could bring a business face to
the strategic targets they had set for the future.
Others demonstrated they could give us what we asked for.
Intergen asked what we wanted in a partner.
Not just a one time answer, but a long time alliance.
“We needed more than just technical abilities. Intergen stood out because they’re
all about people. They have strong marketing and what I call ‘envisioning’ skills,
and the further down the track we go, we’re seeing even more and more value
from this alliance”. Bob Vine, Executive Director, Local Government Online Ltd.
It had to be right and it was right
A deadline was struck for transferring from their existing provider, so in six weeks
not just one, but 23 sites needed to be re-engineered and seamlessly turned over
to a very tight time schedule. There could be no loss of service, in short, the
public wouldn’t even know about the frenzy of work behind the scenes.
What made it possible was Microsoft’s new .NET environment which allowed
the task to be broken down and tackled in simpler blocks, and the fact that the
team at Intergen had a lot of local government experience on their side.
23 sites + 1 deadline = a 24 hour a day effort?
>> P R O J E C T C A S E S T U D Y
“Intergen demonstrated a keen interest in local government and came to us with
a recent history of web services and development in the public sector. That
experience showed right from the start”. Bob Vine.
The Business Difference
As effectively a “local government tool kit” the new Community On Line model
is now well positioned to help regional and local councils. More importantly,
the investment needed is minimal. The solution can be delivered many times
over without a continual reinvestment of the core elements. As a model, councils
aren’t re-inventing but rather leveraging off a combined investment that has
been made.
“This solution holds so much potential to be used many times over, but what
really makes this investment work is Intergen’s principle of self maintaining, self-
sustainable sites that give the client all the control”. Bob Vine
A Model for the Future
Now that the first critical step has been taken to advancing the quality of local
government web sites throughout New Zealand, the future is well in sight. Under
the Local Government Bill 2001, the future will be about giving a much higher
emphasis to true online interaction with the public and in the delivery of the
wide range of local government services. “The model which has been developed
will be hugely advantageous in allowing us to fulfill that strategy”. Bob Vine
>> TECH TIP:
.NET caching
An ASP.NET feature is a system for caching
page and application data, avoiding
recalculation on every page request.
Page caching:
Caching can be performed on a per-page
basis, or on a per-user-control basis, letting
you store part or whole pages in a cache,
and customise their expiration.
Page caching is controlled by the
OutputCache page directive which has
two compulsory parameters:
* Duration: The number of seconds to
keep the page in the cache
* VaryByParam: The query string
parameters to use when determining page
uniqueness e.g. for news.aspx?id=2 you
would vary by the “id” parameter.
Object caching:
You can insert a value into the cache
object giving it a unique key and set its
absolute or relative expiration time.
For example, to cache some xml resulting
from a complicated process, and store it
for 12 hours. Each time we use the xml
we check if it’s still in the cache:
XmlDataDocument x = null;
if (Cache["xmldata"] == null) {
x = ComplexProcess();
Cache.Insert("xmldata", x,
null, DateTime.MaxValue,
TimeSpan.FromHours(12),
CacheItemPriority.High, null);
} else {
x = Cache["xmldata"];
}
>>3

4. < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E >
>> H O T N E W S
Auckland Office
Intergen Auckland opened its doors on June 6th. This is a significant and exciting
move for us and demonstrates growth amidst a rebounding market for our
robust, innovative software design and development services. Shaun Donaghey,
General Manager has been very busy since we opened, fielding numerous calls
about our offering to the Auckland marketplace:
"Over the last few weeks I've been meeting with many organisations and potential
partners, and the recurring feedback is that Intergen is a welcome and strong
alternative to other local providers, especially with our leading skills in .NET.
We're hungry and can demonstrate world-class capability and talent. We're also
kicking off our Auckland Twilight Seminars on Wednesday 21st August at Totem
on the Viaduct - these are great opportunities to hear from industry experts and
meet colleagues. For more info and to register please visit our web site.
If you would like to know more about our approach in Auckland and how we can
add value to your business please call me direct on 09 488 1604 or 021 359 061"
Cost effective Content
Management!
There is little doubt that Microsoft Content Management Server is a fully
functional industrial strength Content Management product.
Unfortunately for a lot of New Zealand organisations it can be prohibitively
priced. There is now a solution. Intergen has recently signed up as a Microsoft
SPLA reseller enabling us to offer Microsoft Content Management Server on an
Application Service Provider basis.
Now you can get the power of this fully functional industrial strength product
without huge capital outlay.
If you would like more information about this offering or would like someone
to contact you regarding this please contact us at info@intergen.co.nz
The Vault
We have launched a
complimentary online research
service. If you need to keep abreast
of topics like Content Management
then here is a way to find out what
industry commentators are saying.
We constantly undertake
significant research and have had
so many requests to share this
research that we have decided to
make it available. We crawl the
Internet and collect the best and
most informative articles covering
all aspects of the chosen topic.
Registered subscribers will be able
to log into the knowledge base to
review articles and get regular
emails with article summaries.
Our initial topic is Content
Management and we have plans
to extend this with a series of new
topics earmarked for release later
this year.
For additional information or to
subscribe go to
www.intergen.co.nz/thevault
>> C R E A T I V E S T U D I O
Hot from the Studio!
Intergen Creative Studio continues its focus on
delivering intelligent user interface design for
business communications and applications.
Our experience with large and complex intranets has been extended further
with the recent completion of projects like the Meridian Energy Intranet
“Wired” (pictured). The solution required the application of usability best
practice to the structure, navigation and tools of a major site in terms of
both breadth and depth. Our approach was driven by the most recent Nielsen
Norman Group simplification design research.
>>NEW INTERNET PROJECTS LIVE:
Totem - new website www.totem-auckland.co.nz
Totally Wellington - screensaver, downloadable at www.wellingtonNZ.com
Western Bay of Plenty District Council - new website www.wbopdc.govt.nz
“Wired”
Meridian Energy’s
new Intranet
>>4

5. >> E V E N T S & L E I S U R E
Wine - art and technology
When technologists need a break from technology, they will often seek solace
in the enjoyment that a glass of wine can bring. Sometimes, when the opportunity
presents, a tour of modern wine making facilities and a look over their technology
deployed provides a happy coincidence of technology and the pleasure
of sharing a drop. Modern winemaking is now a hi-tech study, and it
seems appropriate that we support the efforts of these endeavours.
One thing appears certain, and it is that the overall quality
of most of the red wines being produced in New Zealand
grows steadily from harvest to harvest. It is possible to
purchase excellent value for money in the under $25 a bottle
range for New Zealand red wines. And to prove it, I suggest
you try any of the following excellent examples of the “Hawkes
Bay” Y2k vintage (tech-talk for the 1st year of the millennium
vintage) with food, of course.
All of these wines are currently available at around the $20 mark. All of them
continue to reassure me that from a value for money standpoint, red wine in
New Zealand is on a continuous improvement curve. Long live the conjunction
of art and technology. Cheers everyone.
Ngatarawa Cabernet Merlot 2000
Drinking well already. Luscious, berries and plums flavour. Excellent
accompaniment to lamb or pasta with tomatoes.
Te Mata Estate Cabernet Merlot 2000
Sharper (more tannic) than the Ngatarawa, but with the same pronounced
flavours. Keep this a while. Currently it would accompany most red
meats and the tastier of cheeses.
Estate Cabernet Merlot 2000
Also drinking well now, but will improve over the next 3 years.
Shows all of the varieties’ characteristic flavours of plums
and berries, and represents excellent value for its price - a very
reasonable $16 to $18 or so. Stay with the lamb or pasta.
Alpha Domus Navigator 2000
OK, just one wine above $25 (slightly). It has just been released and is simply
lovely, complex and sophisticated. It’s a Merlot-predominant wine, blended with
Cabernet Franc and Malbec. The Malbec appears to give it an almost food-like
satisfaction to your drinking pleasure. I really love this wine, and find it an excellent
accompaniment to steak and mushrooms, or just plain mushrooms on toast.
From left:
Team Intergen wave a
yellow flag at Dev
Days; Mark Orange
attends CMS “Airlift”
in the US and brings
back Fire Engine
photos!; Wayne cuts
the cake at our
birthday party; Our
Microsoft Gold
Certification star at
the Worldwide Fusion
partners conference;
Tony with fellow kiwis
at Fusion.
Jillian Ross
What do you do?
I am a graphic designer for Intergen.
I design web sites and build
production graphics for our clients.
What are you known for ?
Riding my bike. I've been cycle racing
for two years now - on and off road.
How do you make a difference?
I'm the 'user-interface' creator that
takes the web applications that we
build and presents them in an
intuitive, easy to use way.
What do you love about your job?
The clients, and the variety. We get
a lot of scope to be really creative
and its good to see a site that you
have contributed to go live.
Tell us about yourself?
I've been at Intergen for two years.
I studied post graduate graphic
design at Wanganui Polytech, and
also have a Fine Arts degree in
Photography. I’ve spent the last three
months overseas - touring around
Europe and cycling down the Danube
River through Hungary. Now I am
settling back into work and trying to
acclimatise to the Wellington winter.
>>5
>> INTERGENITE:

6. < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W O >
>> I N T E R N E T H O S T I N G
>> 7 x 24 hour monitoring and application availability
>> On call engineers able to respond quickly to issues raised
>> Access to a call logging service 24 hours per day
>> A supplier who knows and understands Service Level Arrangements
and commitments
>> Flexibility that allows for remote management of equipment on
your premises
>> Options for you to provide your own equipment
>> A secure facility
>> Highly experienced and capable staff
>> Scalability options capable of catering with demand peaks
and troughs
>> Purpose built facilities
>> Back-up and Disaster Recovery options
>> A proven methodology and operational procedures
>> Solid track record
Intergen offers Internet Application Hosting in a secure hosting and systems
management facility, in Wellington.
Applications we host include:
>> Kachingo
>> NZ Government Jobs Online
>> State Insurance iTravel Internet Travel Insurance solution
>> Local Government Online portal
>> Palmerston North City Council
>> Community Development Group – COGs Online
>> ACT New Zealand
>> Woolnet
>> Aviation Security Service
>> Meridian Energy
Intergen also provides monitoring and management services for application and
Internet servers housed in remote locations.
Benefits of using external specialists include:
>> Avoiding reliance on already over-burdened or under-skilled
internal resources
>> Ability to deploy solutions more quickly
>> Maintaining currency with Hardware and Software
>> Predictable costs with ability to spread operational costs over
duration of agreement
>> Access to scarce specialist resources
>> Formalised Service Level Arrangements
>> Service-centric approach
Our offering
Is designed to reflect the importance of the Internet medium as a communication
and business channel. To achieve the required levels of availability, reliability,
scalability and security a minimum set of services is required including:
>> DID YOU KNOW?
That in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel,
Powerpoint, Visio), the format painter
button can copy the current
selections’ style to another part of
the document?
Also, by double clicking the format
painter button, it will stay turned on
and you can apply the style to many
parts of the document. To turn the
feature off simply press ‘escape’ or click
on the format painter button again.
Intelligent Internet Application Hosting
The Internet is propelling businesses into a new model of interdependencies and
online communication with partners and customers. This new model requires
business-critical systems availability.
It also more commonly requires high speed network services, highly skilled engineering and implementation services, support
utilities and broadly-based technology management services. Lastly it requires an environment conducive to rapid systems
commissioning and set up.
The high level of investment or organisation change required to provide these services in-house is major. Often it results in
poorly implemented solutions and a failure to deliver to requirements. The use of an external specialist who delivers economies
of scale for processing power, scalability, availability, network bandwidth and security is often the best choice.
>>6

7. CustodianRMS - Records Management for your Portal
>> B U S I N E S S S O L U T I O N S
The document management features of SharePoint Portal Server are excellent and provide rich functionality.
However, the functionality stops short of record-specific management requirements. These requirements
arise from archiving responsibilities that have become more defined within the public sector, but they are
also determined by key record retention policies imposed by general commerce legislation in all sectors.
CustodianRMS records management capability has
been developed by Intergen to complement
Microsoft’s SharePoint Portal server offering.
CustodianRMS is an application comprising a series
of web parts that complement the document
management features of Microsoft’s SharePoint
Portal Server product. As such it has been designed
to be used with SharePoint Portal Server and within
that product’s Digital Dashboard environment.
The main web part accessed by all users
(coordinators, authors and readers) is the Records
Management Web Part. Here, the record-specific
features utilise the full range of SharePoint Portal
Server’s existing functionality, but combines with
CustodianRMS’s own features to provide for the inclusion of electronic and
physical records, management of the processes of checking them in and out,
physical labeling and ‘boxing’, and record-specific classification and metadata
management. This web part is tightly integrated with SharePoint and also
uses the features of other Microsoft Office products (such as the label printing
functions within Word)
Kevin Hayman
Kevin Hayman has returned to
Intergen from his OE.
What are you doing now?
Senior Developer
How do you make a difference?
Delivering the best solution we can
is very important to me. A solution
that meets all the client’s needs as
well as one that we can learn from
and feel proud of as a company.
What do you love about your job?
Learning and using new skills. It’s a
constant learning curve with what
we do but it’s very satisfying to
acquire and use these new skills in
real projects.
Brief about yourself?
I'm originally from Taihape. Yip.
Gumboot city / town. I studied
Computer Graphic Design at
Wanganui Polytechnic and then
moved to Wellington for a few years
before heading to Europe to see some
of the world. Although London is an
amazing place and was great to
experience, I’m glad to be back in
Wellington now where I am closer to
my family and can enjoy the outdoors
again.
The second web part focuses on record retention
scheduling and actions to be undertaken with
records once their retention periods have expired.
This web part records audit trails of actions, archiving
and destruction actions, approvals, freezing and
unfreezing a record once closed, retention schedules
creation and management and reporting.
Finally, CustodianRMS uses the exact same
coordinator, author, and reader roles as SharePoint
Portal Server. Any information relevant to SharePoint
Portal Server will also be applicable to
CustodianRMS. It is also designed to use SharePoint
Portal Server and Digital Dashboard functionality.
The product is designed to co-exist with SharePoint
Portal Server and therefore all information pertaining to SharePoint Portal Server
that relate to the technology environment and client requirements are also
relevant to CustodianRMS.
More information on CustodianRMS, its features and functions or ordering
details are available at www.custodianrms.com
>> INTERGENITE:
>>7

8. < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W O >
>> MICROSOFT NEWS
Intergen was very lucky to be invited
by Microsoft to join the New Zealand
contingent attending Fusion 2002
in Los Angeles.
Fusion is Microsoft’s annual partner
conference. It is an opportunity for
Microsoft to lay out its plans for the
coming year.
The conference gave us some very
valuable information about what is
coming from Microsoft over the next
12 months and where they are putting
emphasis in the longer-term. This allows
us to make informed decisions about
where Intergen should focus and allows
us to provide better advice to our
clients.
Last year Intergen made a decision
to invest in developing a Microsoft
Content Management Server
capability.
We were very pleased to be able to
continue that investment by sending
Mark Orange to Seattle for advance
training in the up and coming .NET
version of Content Management Server.
Mark joined Ian Morrish from Microsoft
NZ at the CM Server 2002 Airlift in
June. They are both very enthusiastic
about the new features and
capabilities.
We are working to be able to offer CM
Server 2002 based solutions as soon
as it is released.
The Intergen Twilight Seminars are informal late
afternoon sessions designed to inform you about
current trends, technologies and initiatives in the
space where business and information technology
overlap.
The seminars consist of an interactive presentation followed by open questions,
drinks and nibbles. They are presented by topic experts either from within Intergen
or from one of our business partners. They are not “Sales” oriented but designed
to inform, educate and initiate informed discussion. Guests are welcome to stay
around for a drink and discussion with the presenters and fellow attendees.
Topics we have covered include:
>> "A history from 2020 - how technology transformed our business
style and lifestyle"
>> "Current dynamics and uncertainties within the global Information
Technology markets"
>> Mobility
>> Content Management – including Microsoft Content Management
Server and Viatx Content
>> New thinking in Interface design and usability
>> Knowledge Management – including SharePoint Portal Server
and our records management add on for SharePoint Portal Server
>> .NET – using .NET for development of applications and solutions
>> Hosting Internet sites
>> Quality Assurance/ Testing
To be added to the Twilight Seminar invitation list contact Gina Harper at
ginah@intergen.co.nz or (04) 472 2021
Keeping up with the pace of change?
We look forward to your company. However, if you are unable to attend a
scheduled Seminar for any reason but are interested in the topic let us know.
We are often able to schedule another session and provide copies of presentation
materials.
>> I N T E R G E N T W I L I G H T S E M I N A R S E R I E S
SMARTSmagazinedesignandproductionbyIntergenCreativeStudio
>> SCHEDULE:
Time
4.20 For a 4.30 start
4.30 – 5.30 Presentation
5.30 + Q/A, discussion and drinks
Wellington: August – December
August 7th & 21st
September 4th & 18th
October 2nd & 23rd
November 6th & 20th
December – none planned at this stage
Auckland: August – December
August 21st
Other dates and events will be
scheduled as appropriate.