MERS MIN Number: Number used by MERS to identify loans. Referred to as the MIN, Mortgage Identification Number.

"This alliance is consistent with this Administration's efforts to encourage federal agencies to adopt industry standards developed by a public-private collaborative process. We look forward to working with MISMO and expect this experience to be very productive." --FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery, on an alliance announced last week with MISMO on data standards for government electronic transactions.

Employees 'Indifferent' About Workplace Monitoring, Report Says
MBA Staff

'Big Brother' may be watching at work, but that's not deterring workers, according to a report from Harris Interactive, commissioned by Lawyers.com.

Despite the fact that nearly one-half (45 percent) of office workers have been explicitly informed their at-work technology usage is monitored, a majority still use their employers' technology resources for personal reasons, the survey said. Seven of ten (69 percent) U.S. adult office workers access the Internet at work for non-work purposes, and the same proportion (69 percent) make or receive personal phone calls on their work telephone.

More than one-half (55 percent) send and receive personal messages on their work email accounts. Moreover, nearly three of four (73 percent) office workers are either as or more likely to use the Internet at work for personal reasons than they were two years ago; 68 percent are as or more likely to send or receive personal emails on their work accounts.

"It's not a mystery to most employees that their bosses may be reading their work emails or checking out the Web sites they visit on work computers, yet employees apparently are more willing than ever to ignore that potential scrutiny and engage in risky work behavior," said attorney Alan Kopit, legal editor of lawyers.com. "Using employers' technology for non-work purposes can be the same as stealing in some instances, and may be grounds for termination. Employees should have no expectation of privacy at work, and are well-served to learn and abide by their offices' policies on such matters."

Young office workers in particular are making their private lives available online, leaving themselves vulnerable to unintended exposure to employers, the survey found. Seventy-one percent of workers age 18 to 34 maintain some type of personal Web site, the most common of which are personal blogs or networking accounts such as those on MySpace or Facebook, maintained by 52 percent of young workers. Thirteen percent currently have an online dating account.

Young workers are also the most likely to use their employers' technology for personal reasons. Nearly three-in-four (72 percent) check their personal email accounts during work (compared to 61 percent of the general population), and 77 percent use their work Internet personally (compared to 69 percent of office workers overall).

"We've seen instances where current or potential employers reviewed content of personal Web sites, and held employees accountable in different ways for what they post," Kopit said. "Young people tend to live lives very openly online, which may have unintended repercussions when it comes to their employment."

"Younger employees are generally more comfortable with technology than their older counterparts, and are in the habit of continually using the Internet and email, at work or not," Kopit added. "They may not differentiate between 'work' and 'personal' when it comes to some activity, which can put them in potential hot water with employers."

According to Kopit, employee violations of technology usage policies directly affect the bottom line of small businesses. "Diverted employee resources hurt the productivity of the business, and in some cases the installation of certain technologies on employer equipment, such as instant messenger services, could compromise the security of employer communication systems," he said. "Employers should evaluate current practices in place regarding technology use and, as necessary, implement additional systems to ensure the business is protected," said Kopit.

The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Lawyers.com between December 7 and December 11 among 1,711 U.S. adults 18 years of age or older employed full-time and/or part-time and work in an office setting. The margin or error is plus/minus 5 percent.
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IT Salaries Up by 5.2 percent in 2006; Financial Services Drives Demand
MBA Staff

An annual salary survey from Dice Holdings Inc., a career site for technology and engineering professionals, found that IT salaries in the U.S. increased 5.2 percent to $73,308 in 2006 from $69,700 in 2005.

The 2006 Annual Salary Survey of more than 19,000 technology professionals also found that certain IT professionals, such as those with experience in Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, were in higher demand and commanded higher salaries. Overall, however, the survey said the technology job market appeared to be "tightening."

Highlights of the survey include:

 Technology professionals earning the highest salaries in 2006 possessed hard-to-find, specialized experience in areas such as Enterprise Resource Planning ($96,161), Sarbanes-Oxley compliance ($91,998) and Customer Relationship Management ($90,499). Additionally some of the most consistently in-demand skills such as Oracle and Java/J2EE also commanded top salaries ($84,692 and $82,851, respectively) as companies strived to fill those positions;

 Banking, financial and insurance were once again the highest-paying industries for tech professionals with an average salary of $82,504 in 2006, while telecommunications and computer software followed behind with average salaries of $78,003 and $77,582, respectively.

 A rise in entry-level salaries as companies increase their efforts to recruit new workers to the field to fulfill the growing talent gap;

 A continuing gender gap as women in technology earned an average of 9.7 percent less than men; and

 The growth of West Coast technology markets such Silicon Valley, San Diego, Seattle and Los Angeles, which all saw high-percentage salary growth last year.

Scot Melland, president and CEO of Dice Holdings, said the overall increase in technology salaries can be traced back to the continued improvement in the technology job market. "Strong demand for technology professionals to fulfill available jobs is driving many companies to use higher salaries to attract and retain technology professionals," he said.

The survey found that starting salaries outpaced the overall national average, with an increase of 13.1 percent to $42,414 in 2006. Those with one to two years of technology experience also saw strong gains, with a 13.8 percent increase to $46,935.

"By offering competitive salary and benefit plans, companies are more likely to attract and retain new employees, which will help fill the growing gap in available talent," Melland said. "The survey also found that higher salaries often correlate with higher job satisfaction, which underscores the importance of regularly reviewing compensation."

For 2006, Sybase was the top paying database skill ($85,049), while SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) led all programming skills with $89,243. The gender gap narrowed slightly in 2006, as women in technology earned an average of $67,542 or 9.7 percent less than their male counterparts. Comparatively, women earned 10.9 percent less than men in 2005. However, women did show significant gains in salary for specific job titles and as a result they actually earned more than their male counterparts in certain jobs.

Salaries also increased across the majority of surveyed metro areas. In 2006, Silicon Valley once again ranked as the highest-paying metro area for tech professionals with an average salary of $90,310, up 5.7 percent from 2005. Other top-paying cities include: Boston ($80,308), New York ($80,006), and Baltimore/Washington D.C. ($79,911). The survey also showed strong gains for West Coast metro areas, such as San Diego (up 10.1 percent to $79,416), Seattle (up 9.1 percent to $79,787) and Los Angeles (up 7.7 percent to $79,583).
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Acquisitions, Partnerships, 'Tall Trees' Boost eLynx Growth
Murray, Michael

As Cincinnati-based eLynx enters 2007, the company is looking back to what it calls a "milestone year" and looking forward to further upgrades and expansion.
 
Based on network traffic transactions, unique mortgage closings and data published by the Mortgage Bankers Association, eLynx says its services account for nearly 10 million unique mortgage transactions and that the company handled nearly two-thirds of all mortgage closings. 
 
"I think it's pretty conservative, actually," said Phil Huff, president of eLynx.
 
The company also said 300,000 registered settlement agents used the network in 2006, and it supported more than 500 financial institutions-including 17 of the top 20 mortgage lenders in the United States.

Huff said e-Lynx accomplishments stem from a vision to be the "most sought-after vendor of e-business services in this marketplace." The second piece of that vision was to go after the top 50 mortgage lenders with a theme of service-a vision for the future-and security.
 
"We felt that our service offering was built in such a way that the security, stability, the processes and the checks were akin to Fort Knox as far as what we offer our customers," Huff said. "We have gone after those big customers who have specialized needs-who are looking for a tier-one provider."
 
Part of eLynx's theme of service has been in its partnerships with "tier-one" providers whose services differ from eLynx, including telecommunications firms Cable & Wireless, London, and SAAVIS Inc., St. Louis, Mo.; Calabasas, Calif.-based SunGard Availability Systems and Dynatek, Livonia, Mich. Huff described the eLynx clients Washington Mutual, Seattle and Wells Fargo, Des Moines, as "partnerships." 
 
"They look to us for a total solution," Huff said. "They want to partner with us for all their secure electronic document communications."
 
Last year, eLynx acquired Portland, Ore.-based Swiftview, an electronic provider for small- to mid-sized mortgage lenders as a mean to gain greater market traction.
 
"With that acquisition, it is almost like two pieces of a puzzle coming together," Huff said. "I think [our growth] has been a focus on quality, a focus on 'tall trees' and growth through acquisition, as is the case with Swiftview."
 
Adding to its success, eLynx continues to move forward this year with the announcement of an upgrade of its uSign product to version 4.0, a product created in 2003. Security and quality are top priorities of the uSign product as it secures review and signing of documents through the Internet, "reducing costs by as much as 75 percent," according to eLynx.
 
Huff forecast mainstream digital signature technology in the mortgage market as five years away, but he also realizes digital signatures can be completed during mortgage processing-behind the scenes-and they can speed cross-selling capabilities.
 
"We serve the financial services industry," Huff said. "That means insurance, it means auto lending, commercial lending--mortgage is one very important piece for us. It is not the only piece. There are alot of places that are using e-signature technology."
 
Robert Nilsson, vice president of marketing and business development at eLynx, works to expand the eLynx services into other areas financial service and into other industries, including insurance and auto lending. The firm recently signed two major insurance carriers into uSign 4.0.
 
"This is helping our customers improve their business-capturing customers, increasing adoption," Nilsson said. "We are keeping the electronic side of the business on signature service. That's the big deal here. It is not about more PKI or public keys inside a system-they have been there for a long time now. We are now taking t