Accudata Integrated Marketing has tapped SmartFocus to add analytic, campaigning and reporting tools to its offering. The direct marketing company, which helps clients with prospecting, new customer acquisition, data management and analytics, will be using using SmartFocus' SmartMarketer software suite to add to its existing services.

Looking to bridge the gap between e-mail and social networking campaigns, Atlanta-based Silverpop has developed a new technology that allows recipients to post offers, promotion and other content embedded in e-mails to their Facebook, MySpace or other social network pages.

Microsoft has released Silverlight 2, a solution meant to aid in the creation and delivery of Web applications. Silverlight 2 improves upon Silverlight, which was launched over a year ago and now reaches one in four worldwide consumers with access to Silverlight-enabled computers.

In 1999, I entered the SEO/SEM industry. The amount of changes since then has been staggering. The largest search engine today, Google, wasn't even on the map.

The delivery model for DM computer programs has been ingrained over the years: You investigate vendors, select a provider, sign a contract and enter a lengthy and potentially difficult implementation phase. Then, you deal repeatedly with your vendor post-installation to iron out bugs and glitches. However, one of the most popular trends in technology in recent years is designed to collapse that timeline and streamline the installation and maintenance process.

Yesmail, an e-mail service provider and InfoGroup company, has formed a partnership with content delivery service EdgeCast Networks to deliver all of the e-mails sent through Yesmail's service.

Over the past five years, the client summit has become a popular, annual event among search engine marketing agencies. I have had the privilege to participate at a number of these events; most recently, Range Online Media's Client Summit and Fall Fest, which was held last week in Dallas. While I initially intended to report on a social media panel that I moderated, I felt compelled to relay that almost half of the afternoon was not spent on SEO, PPC, social media or even creative development — rather, it was spent on attribution models that effectively move measurement away from the last click before conversion.

Scott Ballantyne, VP and GM of consumer direct for HP, discusses how HP and Buzz Corps, an Austin-based agency, engaged bloggers to spur sales of HP's new HDX Dragon system.

Today marked the formal launch of Acxiom's marketing database solution, MarketEdge-X. MarketEdge-X is meant to offer midsize businesses customer data insight and provide the information, segmentation and analysis a company needs for customer acquisition, retention and expansion.

The Jones Apparel Group is using the VendorNet StoreNet Manager to enable e-commerce sales and automate fulfillment of e-commerce orders using bricks and mortar store inventory. Jones Apparel Group rolled out the new platform to its Nine West stores over a six-week period this summer.