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Wiki Wiki Summary
Operation Mincemeat Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as the fictitious Captain (Acting Major) William Martin.
Bitwise operation In computer programming, a bitwise operation operates on a bit string, a bit array or a binary numeral (considered as a bit string) at the level of its individual bits. It is a fast and simple action, basic to the higher-level arithmetic operations and directly supported by the processor.
Special Activities Center The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert operations and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015.
Operations management Operations management is an area of management concerned with designing and controlling the process of production and redesigning business operations in the production of goods or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as needed and effective in meeting customer requirements.
Emergency operations center An emergency operations center (EOC) is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization.\nAn EOC is responsible for strategic direction and operational decisions and does not normally directly control field assets, instead leaving tactical decisions to lower commands.
Operation (mathematics) In mathematics, an operation is a function which takes zero or more input values (called operands) to a well-defined output value. The number of operands (also known as arguments) is the arity of the operation.
Porter's five forces analysis Porter's Five Forces Framework is a method of analysing the operating environment of a competition of a business. It draws from industrial organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and, therefore, the attractiveness (or lack thereof) of an industry in terms of its profitability.
Emerging technologies Emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized, such that they are figuratively emerging into prominence from a background of nonexistence or obscurity. These technologies are generally new but also include older technologies.
Customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information.CRM systems compile data from a range of different communication channels, including a company's website, telephone, email, live chat, marketing materials and more recently, social media. They allow businesses to learn more about their target audiences and how to best cater for their needs, thus retaining customers and driving sales growth.
Availability In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings:\n\nThe degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at an unknown, i.e. a random, time.
High-availability cluster High-availability clusters (also known as HA clusters, fail-over clusters) are groups of computers that support server applications that can be reliably utilized with a minimum amount of down-time. They operate by using high availability software to harness redundant computers in groups or clusters that provide continued service when system components fail.
Route availability Route Availability (RA) is the system by which the permanent way and supporting works (bridges, embankments, etc.) of the railway network of Great Britain are graded. All routes are allocated an RA number between 1 and 10.
Continuous availability Continuous availability is an approach to computer system and application design that protects users against downtime, whatever the cause and ensures that users remain connected to their documents, data files and business applications. Continuous availability describes the information technology methods to ensure business continuity.In early days of computing, availability was not considered business critical.
Availability cascade An availability cascade is a self-reinforcing cycle that explains the development of certain kinds of collective beliefs. A novel idea or insight, usually one that seems to explain a complex process in a simple or straightforward manner, gains rapid currency in the popular discourse by its very simplicity and by its apparent insightfulness.
Technology Technology is the result of accumulated knowledge and application of skills, methods, and processes used in industrial production and scientific research. Technology is embedded in the operation of all machines, with or without detailed knowledge of their function, for the intended purpose of an organization.
Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy.
Original equipment manufacturer An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer.\nHowever, the term is also used in several other ways, which causes ambiguity.
List of computer hardware manufacturers Current notable computer hardware manufacturers:\n\n\n== Cases ==\nList of computer case manufacturers:\n\n\n=== Rack-mount computer cases ===\n\n\n== Laptop computer cases ==\nClevo\nMSI\n\n\n== Motherboards ==\nTop motherboard manufacturers:\n\nList of motherboard manufacturers:\n\nDefunct:\n\n\n== Chipsets for motherboards ==\n\n\n== Central processing units (CPUs) ==\nNote: most of these companies only make designs, and do not manufacture their own designs. \nTop x86 CPU manufacturers:\n\nList of CPU manufacturers (most of the companies sell ARM-based CPUs, assumed if nothing else stated):\n\nAcquired or defunct:\n\n\n== Hard disk drives (HDDs) ==\n\n\n=== Internal ===\nList of current hard disk drive manufacturers:\n\nSeagate Technology\nToshiba\nWestern Digital\n\n\n=== External ===\nNote: the HDDs internal to these devices are manufactured only by the internal HDD manufacturers listed above.
Competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individuals, economic and social groups, etc.
Yoda conditions In programming jargon, Yoda conditions (also called Yoda notation) is a programming style where the two parts of an expression are reversed from the typical order in a conditional statement. A Yoda condition places the constant portion of the expression on the left side of the conditional statement.
Dirichlet conditions In mathematics, the Dirichlet conditions are sufficient conditions for a real-valued, periodic function f to be equal to the sum of its Fourier series at each point where f is continuous. Moreover, the behavior of the Fourier series at points of discontinuity is determined as well (it is the midpoint of the values of the discontinuity).
Twenty-one Conditions The Twenty-one Conditions, officially the Conditions of Admission to the Communist International, refer to the conditions, most of which were suggested by Vladimir Lenin, to the adhesion of the socialist parties to the Third International (Comintern) created in 1919. The conditions were formally adopted by the Second Congress of the Comintern in 1920.
Wolfe conditions In the unconstrained minimization problem, the Wolfe conditions are a set of inequalities for performing inexact line search, especially in quasi-Newton methods, first published by Philip Wolfe in 1969.In these methods the idea is to find\n\n \n \n \n \n min\n \n x\n \n \n f\n (\n \n x\n \n )\n \n \n {\displaystyle \min _{x}f(\mathbf {x} )}\n for some smooth \n \n \n \n f\n :\n \n \n R\n \n \n n\n \n \n →\n \n R\n \n \n \n {\displaystyle f\colon \mathbb {R} ^{n}\to \mathbb {R} }\n . Each step often involves approximately solving the subproblem\n\n \n \n \n \n min\n \n α\n \n \n f\n (\n \n \n x\n \n \n k\n \n \n +\n α\n \n \n p\n \n \n k\n \n \n )\n \n \n {\displaystyle \min _{\alpha }f(\mathbf {x} _{k}+\alpha \mathbf {p} _{k})}\n where \n \n \n \n \n \n x\n \n \n k\n \n \n \n \n {\displaystyle \mathbf {x} _{k}}\n is the current best guess, \n \n \n \n \n \n p\n \n \n k\n \n \n ∈\n \n \n R\n \n \n n\n \n \n \n \n {\displaystyle \mathbf {p} _{k}\in \mathbb {R} ^{n}}\n is a search direction, and \n \n \n \n α\n ∈\n \n R\n \n \n \n {\displaystyle \alpha \in \mathbb {R} }\n is the step length.
Conditions (album) Conditions is the debut studio album by Australian rock band The Temper Trap, released in Australia through Liberation Music on 19 June 2009. It was later released in the United Kingdom on 10 August 2009.
Conditions of Learning Conditions of Learning, by Robert M. Gagné, was originally published in 1965 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston and describes eight kinds of learning and nine events of instruction. This theory of learning involved two steps.
Conditions races Conditions races are horse races in which the weights carried by the runners are laid down by the conditions attached to the race. Weights are allocated according to the sex of the runners, with female runners carrying less weight than males; the age of the runners, with younger horses receiving weight from older runners to allow for relative maturity, referred to as weight for age; and the quality of the runners, with horses that have won certain values of races giving weight to less successful entrants.
Standard temperature and pressure Standard temperature and pressure (STP) are standard sets of conditions for experimental measurements to be established to allow comparisons to be made between different sets of data. The most used standards are those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), although these are not universally accepted standards.
Latin Extended Additional Latin Extended Additional is a Unicode block.\nThe characters in this block are mostly precomposed combinations of Latin letters with one or more general diacritical marks.
Additional Mathematics Additional Mathematics is a qualification in mathematics, commonly taken by students in high-school (or GCSE exam takers in the United Kingdom). It is applied to a range of problems set out in a different format and wider content to the standard Mathematics at the same level.
Additionality Additionality is the property of an activity being additional by adding something new to the context. It is a determination of whether an intervention has an effect when compared to a baseline.
Additional director general of police Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) is an Indian Police Service rank. Though having the maximum possible 3-star police rank just like Director General of Police, ADGP's are considered same to DGP's.
Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Government.
International Standards on Auditing International Standards on Auditing (ISA) are professional standards for the auditing of financial information. These standards are issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).
Systems analyst A systems analyst, also known as business technology analyst, is an information technology (IT) professional who specializes in analyzing, designing and implementing information systems. Systems analysts assess the suitability of information systems in terms of their intended outcomes and liaise with end users, software vendors and programmers in order to achieve these outcomes.
Microelectromechanical systems Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also written as micro-electro-mechanical systems (or microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems) and the related micromechatronics and microsystems constitute the technology of microscopic devices, particularly those with moving parts. They merge at the nanoscale into nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and nanotechnology.
Information system An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people, structure (or roles), and technology.
Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest aerospace, intelligence services providers, and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitalization.
Risk Factors
CDW CORP Item 1A Risk Factors
There are many factors that affect our business and the results of operations, some of which are beyond our control
The following is a description of some important factors that may cause the actual results of operations in future periods to differ materially from those currently expected or desired
Our sales and profitability may be affected by changes in the economic environment and other factors
There are many factors which could affect our business, including: • the capital and technology spending patterns of existing and prospective customers; • general economic trends; • the addition of new customers and further penetration of our existing customer base; • the productivity and retention of our sales force; • the optimization of our product mix and pricing strategies; • the availability of products from our vendors; • the successful development of new technology and products by equipment manufacturers and software developers; and • new competitors and new forms of competition
Our business depends on our vendor relationships and the availability of products
We purchase products for resale from manufacturers, distributors and other sources, all of whom we consider our vendors
During 2005, we purchased approximately 52prca of the products we sold directly from manufacturers and the remaining amount from distributors and other sources
We are authorized by manufacturers to sell all or some of their products via direct marketing activities
Our authorization with each manufacturer is subject to specific terms and conditions regarding such things as product return privileges, price protection policies, purchase discounts and vendor incentive programs, including purchase rebates, sales volume rebates and cooperative advertising reimbursements
From time to time, vendors may terminate our right to sell some or all of their products or change these terms and conditions or reduce or discontinue the incentives that they offer us
Any such termination or the implementation of such changes could have a negative impact on our operating income
Additionally, some products are subject to manufacturer allocation, which limits the number of units of those products that are available to resellers, including us
Sales of Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, Sony and Toshiba products comprise a substantial portion of our sales
In 2005, sales of products manufactured by Hewlett-Packard represented approximately 28prca of our total sales and, therefore, we are dependent on the economic condition and product competitiveness of, and our business relationship with, this manufacturer in particular
In addition, although we purchase from a diverse vendor base, in 2005, products we purchased from distributors Tech Data and Ingram Micro represented approximately 17prca and 15prca, respectively, of our total purchases
The loss of, or change in business relationship with, any of these or any other key vendors, or the diminished availability of their products, could reduce the supply and increase the cost of products we sell and negatively impact our competitive position
Additionally, the relocation of key distributors utilized in our purchasing model could adversely impact our results of operations
Although to date mergers among manufacturers have not had an 7 _________________________________________________________________ [65]Table of Contents adverse impact on our business and results of operations, further consolidation could adversely impact us
The success of our business depends on the continuing development, maintenance and operation of our information technology systems
Our success is dependent on the accuracy, proper utilization and continuing development of our information technology systems, including our business application systems, Web servers and telephony system
The quality and our utilization of the information generated by our information technology systems, and our success in implementing new systems and upgrades, affects, among other things, our ability to: • conduct business with our customers; • manage our inventory and accounts receivable; • purchase, sell, ship and invoice our products efficiently and on a timely basis; and • maintain our cost-efficient operating model
The integrity of our information technology systems is vulnerable to certain forms of disaster including, but not limited to, natural disasters such as tornadoes
While we have taken steps to protect our information technology systems from a variety of threats, including computer viruses and malicious hackers, there can be no guarantee that those steps will be effective
Furthermore, although we have redundant systems at a separate location to back up our primary application systems, there can be no assurance that these redundant systems will operate properly if and when required
Any disruption to or infiltration of our information technology systems could significantly harm our business and results of operations
Our sales are dependent on the continued development of new technologies and products
The market for information technology products and services has evolved as a result of the development of new technologies that are transformed by manufacturers into new products and applications
We have been and will continue to be dependent on the development of new technologies and products by manufacturers, as well as the acceptance of those technologies and products by customers
A decrease in the rate of development of new technologies and new products by manufacturers, or the lack of acceptance of those technologies and products by customers, could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations
We would be adversely affected if we are not able to expand or retain our sales force or if we are not able to maintain or increase their productivity
Our statistics show that the level of sales achieved by our account managers increases with the number of years of experience they have with us
Our rate of sales growth and our operating results would be negatively affected if we are unable to expand the size of our sales force, if the turnover rate of account managers increases from relatively constant historical levels or if the sales volumes achieved by our account managers do not increase with experience
Substantial competition could reduce our market share and significantly harm our financial performance
The market for information technology products and accessories is highly competitive
Our competition includes: • national direct marketers, such as Insight Enterprises, PC Connection, PC Mall and Zones; • value-added resellers; • manufacturers, such as Dell, who sell directly to customers; • computer superstores, such as CompUSA; • government resellers, such as GTSI; • consumer electronic and office supply superstores, such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, Office Max and Staples; • corporate resellers; and • Web resellers, such as Amazon
Some of our hardware and software vendors, such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Lenovo, have sold, and could intensify their efforts to sell, their products directly to customers
In addition, some software manufacturers have developed, and may continue to develop, sales methods that directly provide customers with 8 _________________________________________________________________ [66]Table of Contents subscription-based software programs and packages
If either of these trends becomes more prevalent, it could adversely affect our sales growth and profitability
We believe that competition may increase in the future, which could require us to reduce prices, increase advertising expenditures or take other actions which may have an adverse effect on our operating results
Some of our competitors have reduced their prices in an attempt to stimulate sales
Decreasing prices of information technology products and accessories resulting from competition and technological changes require us to sell a greater number of products to achieve the same level of net sales and gross profit
If this trend continues and we are unable to attract new customers and sell increased quantities of products, our sales growth and profitability could be adversely affected
We are exposed to inventory risks
We are exposed to inventory risks as a result of the rapid technological changes that affect the market and pricing for the products we sell
We seek to minimize our inventory exposure through a variety of inventory management procedures and policies, including our rapid-turn inventory model, as well as vendor price protection and product return programs
However, if we were unable to maintain our rapid-turn inventory model, if there were unforeseen product developments that created more rapid obsolescence or if vendors were to change their terms and conditions, our inventory risks could increase
We also periodically take advantage of cost savings associated with certain opportunistic bulk inventory purchases offered by our vendors
These bulk purchases could increase our exposure to inventory obsolescence
Our future operating results may fluctuate significantly
We may experience significant variations in our future quarterly results of operations
These fluctuations may result from many factors, including the condition of the information technology industry in general, shifts in demand and pricing for hardware and software products and the introduction of new products or upgrades
Our operating results are also highly dependent on our level of gross profit as a percentage of net sales
Our gross profit percentage fluctuates due to numerous factors, some of which may be outside of our control
These factors include: • our pricing strategies; • changes in product costs from vendors; • the availability of price protection, purchase discounts and incentive programs from vendors; • the availability of cooperative advertising funds from vendors, which are classified as a reduction of cost of sales; • the risk of some of the items in our inventory becoming obsolete; • the relative mix of products sold, and customers sold to, during the period; • general market and competitive conditions; and • increases in delivery costs that we cannot pass on to customers
A natural disaster or other adverse occurrence at our primary facility could damage our business
We operate our business from a primary facility in Vernon Hills, Illinois
Although we have multiple sales office locations and a second distribution center in North Las Vegas, Nevada, substantially all of our corporate, warehouse and distribution functions are located at our Vernon Hills facility
If the warehouse and distribution equipment at our Vernon Hills facility were to be seriously damaged by a natural disaster or other adverse occurrence, we could utilize third-party distributors to ship products to our customers
However, this may not be sufficient to avoid interruptions in our service and may not enable us to meet all of the needs of our customers
Additionally, this would cause us to incur incremental operating costs
As a result, a natural disaster or other adverse occurrence at our primary facility in Vernon Hills could negatively impact our business and profitability
We are heavily dependent on commercial delivery services
We generally ship our products to customers by AIT, DHL, Eagle, FedEx, United Parcel Service and other commercial delivery services and invoice customers for delivery charges
If we are unable to pass on to our customers future increases in the cost of commercial delivery services, our profitability could be adversely affected
Additionally, strikes or other service interruptions by such shippers could adversely affect our ability to deliver products on a timely basis
9 _________________________________________________________________ [67]Table of Contents Our earnings and growth rate could be adversely affected by changes in general economic conditions and uncertain geopolitical conditions
Weak general economic conditions, along with uncertainties in geopolitical conditions, could adversely impact our revenue and growth rate
In addition, our revenue, gross margin and earnings could deteriorate in the future as a result of unfavorable economic or political conditions
We could be exposed to additional risks if we make acquisitions or alliances
We may pursue transactions, including acquisitions or alliances, to extend or complement our existing business
These types of transactions involve numerous risks, including investor acceptance, finding suitable transaction partners and negotiating terms that are acceptable to us, the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns, entering product or geographic markets in which we have limited experience, the potential loss of key coworkers or business relationships and successfully integrating acquired businesses, any of which could adversely affect our operations or the price of our stock
The failure to comply with our public sector contracts could result in, among other things, fines or other liabilities
Revenues from the public sector segment are derived from sales to federal, state and local governmental departments and agencies, as well as to educational institutions and healthcare customers, through various contracts and open market sales
Government contracting is a highly regulated area
Noncompliance with government procurement regulations or contract provisions could result in civil, criminal, and administrative liability, including substantial monetary fines or damages, termination of government contracts, and suspension, debarment or ineligibility from doing business with the government
The effect of any of these possible actions by any governmental department or agency could adversely affect our business and results of operations
We are exposed to the risks of a global market
Many of our products are either produced, or have major components produced, in the Asia Pacific region
We engage in US dollar denominated transactions with US divisions and subsidiaries of companies located in this region
As a result, we may be indirectly affected by risks associated with international events, including economic and labor conditions, political instability, tariffs and taxes, availability of products and currency fluctuations in the US dollar versus the regional currencies
In the past, countries in the Asia Pacific region have experienced volatility in their currency, banking and equity markets
Future volatility could adversely affect the supply and price of products and components and ultimately, our results of operations
We are exposed to litigation risk
CDW is party to legal proceedings that arise from time to time, both with respect to specific transactions, such as our acquisition of selected US assets of Micro Warehouse, and in the ordinary course of our business
We do not believe that any currently pending or threatened litigation will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition
Litigation, however, involves uncertainties and it is possible that the eventual outcome of litigation could adversely affect our results of operations for a particular period