$335,000 surveillance contract

INX has been awarded a $335,000 contract with the City of McAllen, Texas to build out a wireless network for city-wide video surveillance. The City is one step closer to installing city-wide video surveillance cameras. This week, the city commission approved a $335,000 contract with INX, tasked with building a wireless Internet network that will provide the backbone for the video surveillance program. The surveillance system, which will record video and store it in a police database, will be used primarily to help identify crime suspects, corroborate victims' accounts of a crime and help authorities detect evidence after a crime has occurred. (McAllen's Information Technology Director, Belinda Mercado.) http://www.mcallen.net/police.

(Picture shows: Police Chief Victor Rodriguez.)

SaaS will play a key role

A recent IDC survey of IT and line of business (LOB) professionals shows that more than 60% of respondents believe that now is a good time to negotiate steep discounts for traditional on-premise software. "In this economy, traditional licensing approaches are under fire, with steep license discounts and maintenance concessions the norm," said Amy Konary, program director, Software Pricing, Licensing, and Delivery. "In order to survive the downturn and position for growth in an eventual recovery, software companies will have to evolve their go-to-market approach, and subscription pricing and SaaS will play a key role."

This IDC survey also showed that organizations are highly interested in software pricing options that help shift spending from capital budgets to operating budgets. Additionally, more than half of C-Level executives surveyed are open to buying software from a small firm with a very short track record, if the price is good and functionality seems at least comparable.

68 percent of households play...

68 percent of American households play computer or video games, according to research from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. The number of households playing games increased three percent over 2008.

Other findings of the survey include: 42 percent of American homes have a video game console; adult gamers have been playing for twelve years on average, a decrease from 2008, an indication that more Americans are picking up video game controllers for the first time; the average game player is 35 years old; 78 percent of parents believe that the parental controls available in all recent video game consoles are useful; only 45 percent are rated ‘E’ for Everyone by the Entertainment Software Rating Board; and, 43 percent of online game players are female.

In addition, the report includes statistics about the high level of parental involvement in video game play. 63 percent of parents who have children under 18 with a gaming console in the home believe games are a positive part of their children's lives. Those parents are present when games are purchased or rented 92 percent of the time and report always or sometimes monitoring the games their children play 91 percent of the time.

The research was conducted by Ipsos MediaCT and gathered data from almost 1,200 nationally representative households that have been identified as owning either or both a video game console or a personal computer used to run entertainment software.

The Entertainment Software Association is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. www.theESA.com.

Increased student access through network

The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), one of four U.S. interstate compacts created to advance higher education through increased student access, research and policy analysis, and reduced administrative costs, has selected Juniper solutions for inclusion in the MHEC purchase order program. Through the MHEC contract, Juniper solutions in core routing, switching, and security will be available at rates discounted for higher education institutions, K-12 districts and schools, education-related non-profit organizations, cities, counties, local subdivisions, and state governments within MHEC’s 12-state membership. (Heath Hollenbeck, network engineer for the University of Nebraska.)

Patient safety surveillance at Henry Ford

Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit has selected TheraDoc’s unique patient safety surveillance and clinical decision support technology as part of its programs to combat healthcare-acquired infections and drug-resistant infectious diseases in the hospital and surrounding community.

Henry Ford Hospital pharmacists and infection prevention practitioners will use the TheraDoc Infection Control Assistant for hospital-wide infection surveillance and reporting and the Antibiotic Assistant for individual patient-based infection management and antimicrobial stewardship. Suboptimal use of antibiotics has contributed to an alarming rise in resistant infectious diseases, including MRSA. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70 percent of bacteria that cause healthcare-acquired infections are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used to treat them. Antimicrobial stewardship plays a critical role in fighting antibiotic resistance by helping to ensure appropriate drug selection, dosing, and duration to cure infections, while minimizing toxicity and conditions for emergence of resistant bacterial strains. (Ed Szandzik, R.Ph., M.B.A., director of pharmacy, Henry Ford Hospital.) www.henryford.com.

Asset Management and Temperature Monitoring at SUNY

University Hospital, part of State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, has implemented AeroScout’s Wi-Fi-based Asset Management and Temperature Monitoring solutions. University Hospital is using the solutions to increase equipment utilization, staff productivity and patient satisfaction. In addition, its O.R. throughput and on-time start rates have improved due to faster searches for and retrieval of critical medical equipment. The University Hospital management team recognized an opportunity to leverage its wireless network to better utilize its mobile medical equipment, including beds, wheelchairs, expensive rental equipment and approximately 600 IV pumps, all of which are constantly moving throughout the facility. Said Roxanne Taylor, Deputy Director of Perioperative Services. “We can now instantly locate the items we need, such as a specific type of table we need for a surgery. It saves us a tremendous amount of time, letting us focus on the patient and the situation at hand. This is particularly important for our trauma cases where every second counts.” In addition, to comply with The Joint Commission requirements for monitoring the temperature of refrigerators used to store items such as pharmaceuticals, vaccines and bone and tissue samples, the hospital has also placed AeroScout Temperature Monitoring Tags in refrigerators in the pharmacy and on nursing units. Previously, the nursing and pharmacy staff had to manually track and record the temperature of the refrigerators multiple times a day – an inefficient and potentially error-prone process. By using the Temperature Monitoring solution, University Hospital accurately and automatically tracks and records temperatures, and the appropriate personnel are alerted if readings deviate from the acceptable range. This has relieved the nursing staff from having to perform these duties manually, which means they’re able to spend more time caring for patients. (Terry Wagner, University Hospital’s CIO.)

A major concern for hospitals is keeping blood at the correct temperature. Kelsius automates temperature monitoring of refrigerators and cold rooms, simplifying task management and providing cost effective compliancy reporting for users in healthcare industries. http://www.kelsius.com

MMIS for North Carolina

CSC has selected Pegasystems’ Build for Change technology to provide critical system functions to the new Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) for North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Pegasystems’ technology will provide the ability to respond quickly to legislative and programmatic changes, and improve service to North Carolina’s Medicaid recipients and providers. The North Carolina MMIS will provide claims processing, automated workflow, standardized reporting and analytics, and a secure Web portal for use by providers in performing claims entry and eligibility verification. In addition, the North Carolina MMIS will include service processes for providers, tailored service interactions, work automation for improved efficiencies, enhanced scripting to guide manual work and improve quality, and rapid development of ongoing service enhancements. (Thomas P. Anderson, president of CSC’s North American Public Sector Civil and Health Services group.)

$97 million contract to support CHINFO

Alion Science and Technology has been awarded a $97 million contract to support the Chief of Navy Information Office (CHINFO) with media relations, community outreach, visual information systems, information technology support, Web site portal management and business case analysis development and assessment. CHINFO is responsible for coordinating, planning and implementing public affairs policies and programs, visual information services and community relations efforts for all naval fleet and forces. Under the contract, Alion will support evolving public affairs requirements globally. The Alion team will develop strategies and tactical plans, produce communications materials and support community outreach programs and events.

$600,000 on lanterns

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has placed an order for hundreds of solar-LED marine lanterns from Carmanah Technologies. Valued at approximately $600,000, this shipment of 701-5 and 704-5 lanterns will replace older incandescent lanterns throughout the region, while providing an additional level of safety and security for marine traffic and Gulf Coast communities during the hurricane season.

New York Lottery

The New York Lottery has awarded Multimedia Games a contract extension for the operation of the central determinant system for video lottery terminals (“VLTs”) throughout the state. There are currently approximately 13,000 VLTs installed at 8 facilities in the state. (Gordon Medenica, Director of the New York Lottery.)

In-store photo processing at CVS

CVS/pharmacy has signed an agreement naming Kodak as the national chain’s provider of in-store photo processing systems, including the KODAK Adaptive Picture Exchange (APEX) dry lab system, KODAK Picture Kiosk, and Kodak Service and Support. In 2008, CVS/pharmacy was the first national retailer to offer customers both KODAK Picture Movie DVDs and Photo Books. These photo processing products turn customers’ photos into hard-cover books and movies in minutes using the KODAK Picture Kiosk. Both of these products are now available in more than 5,600 CVS/pharmacy stores nationwide. (Grant Pill, Vice President, CVS/Pharmacy.)

CVS/pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Caremark Corporation, is America's largest retail pharmacy. The Company operates more than 6,900 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drugs stores. www.cvscaremark.com.

Personal prescription history at Walgreens

Walgreens has reached an agreement with Microsoft to provide pharmacy patients access to their personal prescription history through Microsoft HealthVault, a Web-based platform that helps people gather, store and share health information. In addition to prescription information, people can use HealthVault to store copies of their health records obtained from their other providers, insurance plans, government or employers; upload information from health and fitness devices; and share information with health care providers and trainers. (Don Huonker, Walgreens senior vice president of health care innovation.)

Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2008 sales of $59 billion. The company operates 6,783 drugstores in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Walgreens Health and Wellness division includes Take Care Health Systems, the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 715 locations throughout the country.

e-Commerce for The Container Store

The Container Store, the retailer of storage and organization products, has selected Broadleaf Commerce as its eCommerce solution. The Container Store selected Broadleaf Commerce for its low cost, extensibility, and leading edge framework and technologies. By using this solution, The Container Store will be better able to manage their online catalog and shopping cart, provide customers with a more user-friendly online shopping experience, and reduce their costs. Credera, a business and technology consulting firm based in Dallas, has been selected to implement and customize the solution for The Container Store. (Tom Birmingham, CIO with The Container Store.)

The Container Store, founded in 1978, is the nation’s originator and leading retailer of storage and organization products. The retailer offers more than 10,000 solutions designed to save space and time in each of its 47 nationwide locations and online at www.containerstore.com. Sales for fiscal year 2009 will exceed half a billion. The Container Store is privately held.

Email marketing for Dave & Buster’s

Dave & Buster's, Inc. has selected ExactTarget to power the email marketing campaigns for its more than 50 entertainment/dining locations across the United States and Canada. Dave & Buster’s, an upscale dining and entertainment concept that features a signature menu along with electronic and interactive games, is now using ExactTarget’s Enterprise Edition software to automate and streamline its email marketing efforts with advanced email technologies such as event-triggered emails and localized content. (Diana Rhodes, Dave & Buster’s loyalty and online marketing manager.) www.daveandbusters.com.

Database marketing for Outback and Bonefish

AccuData is to provide OSI Restaurant Partners (OSI) with a scalable, cost-effective customer and prospect database marketing solution, AccuBase. AccuBase will allow each of OSI’s individual brands to operate their CRM programs independently while offering OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC a comprehensive view of the programs across the brands. The database management program is currently being implemented in Outback Steakhouse and Bonefish Grill and could be rolled out in other brands. AccuData is based in Fort Myers, Florida. (Jody Bilney, Chief Brand Officer for OSI Restaurant Partners.)

Credit Union's Internet PIN debit service

Credit Union 24, the country’s largest credit union-owned ATM and point-of-sale (POS) network, has entered into a pilot agreement with Acculynk to provide the company’s Internet PIN debit service, PaySecure, to its member credit unions. (Jim Park, President and CEO of Credit Union 24.)

Headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, Credit Union 24 is a flexible, member-owned, full-service, deposit-taking ATM and POS network with multiple processor links, hundreds of thousands of POS locations at national retailers and local merchants, and more than 100,000 ATM terminals across the country. Credit Union 24’s CU HERE surcharge-free programs combine to create the largest surcharge-free ATM presence in the country. www.cu24.com.

Staples Canada

Staples Canada has standardized on PC-Doctor Service Center, the hardware diagnostic toolkit. Staples EasyTech (ET) repair technicians across Canada will use the software in stores to troubleshoot suspected hardware issues, and to validate repairs have been made properly. (Paul Stire, manager technical service of Staples Canada.)

Also Staples Canada is implementing ClairVista’s Live Expert system for its Live Video Agent services. With this system, Staples Canada store customers can instantly videoconference with a remote agent for Copy & Print Centre orders. Remote agents design and show customers, in real time, custom-created forms, stationery, business cards, and signs, while providing face-to-face, personalized service. (John Castiglione, Vice President of Sales & Operations for Staples Canada.)

The Business Depot Ltd./STAPLES Canada Inc. is Canada's largest supplier of office supplies, business machines, office furniture and business services for the small business and home office customer. The company has over 13,500 employees serving customers through more than 300 office superstores, catalogue, and e-commerce. www.staples.ca.

Tax discovery

The State of Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) has selected a Teradata Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) to assist the ODT in its tax discovery efforts. The system will provide access to and compile data from a variety of sources and will run complex information discovery programs against these sources of data, looking for non-compliant taxpayers and other revenue bottlenecks. (Vaughn Lombardo, Ohio tax discovery administrator.)

The State of Missouri Department of Revenue (Missouri DOR) recently reported that it has recovered $60 million – and counting – in four years of EDW use. The Missouri DOR had over 25 tax databases that were not communicating with each other. As a result, the Missouri DOR had to run a number of large manual paper reports and saw an opportunity to effectively identify more underreported revenue. The Missouri DOR recovered the $60 million in revenue with $2.2 million coming in one 14 day period. 

More projects with fewer resources

The State of California Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) has selected WorkLenz to provide transparency to their IT initiatives and improve visibility across their portfolio. Using WorkLenz, the State of California will be able to identify inefficiencies, allowing them to reduce costs and save money. The adoption of PPM, along with consolidation initiatives, is designed to reduce technology costs, while producing more projects with fewer resources. Ultimately, PPM will help the state deploy new, yet more effective, IT systems. PMO Central, integrated with the WorkLenz software, provides subject matter expertise as well as serving as the steward to drive continued PPM maturity.

Judicial Branch information system

Shavlik Technologies is implementing a system-wide deployment of Shavlik NetChk Protect for the State of Connecticut’s Judicial Branch information system. The deployment automatically manages security updates for the department’s entire central server system and meets strict requirements for security, flexibility and costs that deliver an immediate ROI. “We really like the GUI interface, particularly the rollback and history features,” said Jane Gu, judicial branch platform analyst. “Being able to see the update history showing which patches had been applied and when they were applied is a big benefit for us. We now have the ability to generate reports for internal audits or managers that show the exact state and health of our systems. 

Mobile electronic ticketing

Anyware Mobile Solutions has signed an agreement with the City of Krebs police department to implement the company’s proprietary mobile electronic ticketing solution, digiTICKET. (Krebs Chief of Police, Dennis Cook.)

Construction contractor invests in software upgrade

T.A. Loving Company is upgrading to eCMS 3.7. The company has further enhanced its current technology solutions with the purchase of Computer Guidance’s Order Processing, Equipment Maintenance and Project Collaborator applications. T.A. Loving Company is consistently ranked one of the nation's top 400 contractors, providing complete construction and pre-construction services for the general building, utility and bridge/heavy trades. (Al Grisette, Chief Financial Officer, T.A. Loving Company.)

Building the US housing market

The number of US homebuyers who agreed to purchase a previously occupied home in April was the largest monthly jump in nearly eight years, a sign that property sales are coming back to life. The National Association of Realtors said that its seasonally adjusted index of sales contracts signed in April had risen by 6.7 per cent to 90.3, far exceeding analysts' forecasts. It was the biggest monthly jump since October 2001, when pending sales had risen by 9.2 per cent.

This will be good news for many, including “One-to-Watch,” Easy Price Pro, developer and marketer of estimating software for the building industry. http://www.easypricepro.com.

Wireless PCI compliance at Fuddruckers

Fuddruckers, the restaurant chain that is home to “the world’s greatest hamburgers,” has selected AirMagnet Enterprise to help guarantee wireless PCI compliance. Fuddruckers, established in 1980, currently operates more than 220 restaurant locations across the United States. As data theft continues to evolve and make the headlines – for example, TJX (TJ Maxx parent), Bank of New York, and Hannaford – companies are becoming more sensitive to achieving PCI compliance. PCI security standards are technical and operational requirements set by the PCI Security Standards Council to protect cardholder data. It offers merchants that use payment cards a single approach to safeguard sensitive data. (Cameron Pumphrey, Director of IT at Fuddruckers.)  http://www.fuddruckers.com

Criminal intelligence system

Pennsylvania State Police has upgraded its criminal intelligence system to Memex Patriarch software and made the platform accessible to hundreds of state law enforcement officials over the Web. A Memex intelligence solution allows organizations to manage and retrieve intelligence that prevents all scales of crime, and it enables law enforcement to efficiently predict, prevent and respond to threats in real-time. Memex expands the availability and usability of intelligence through configurable software, flexible workflow management, multi-level security and a robust platform for information sharing. (Major George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.)

Parent notification services

The Texas Region 17 Education Service Center (ESC) has partnered with SchoolReach, one of the parent notification services used among K-12 schools in the United States. Through the partnership agreement, the SchoolReach Instant Parent Contact system will be made available to the service center’s member schools at an exclusive discount. The service center is an organization created to provide services to schools in Region 17, which encompasses the 20 counties surrounding Lubbock, Texas. (Kyle Wargo, executive director of ESC 17.) www.esc17.net.

Hosting and services agreement

EnSite, a provider of software solutions and transaction management services for energy companies and service providers, has won an extension to the hosting and services agreement with the manager of the School Project for Utility Rate Reduction (“SPURR”). SPURR provides gas supply management and purchasing, regulatory, and gas operations services to nearly 4,000 facilities operated by over 200 public K-12 districts, community colleges, county offices of education, universities, and other public agencies in California. (Michael Rochman, Managing Director of SPURR.) www.spurr.org.

Cameras across the nation

Clear Channel Radio’s Total Traffic Network (CCTTN) has signed a deal with EarthCam, Inc. to supply the installation, software and infrastructure that will help CCTTN expand its proprietary camera network across the nation. EarthCam’s webcams serve City and State Departments of Transportation as well as private traffic networks throughout the country as they monitor and manage transportation activities. Their systems work with the latest communication technology from fiber optic to solar powered-wireless configurations.

Look at Lockheed: placing orders

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics will be using GNAT Pro to develop the Flight Management System Interface Manager and Radio Control software on the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The specific product is GNAT Pro High-Integrity Edition for a PowerPC target running VxWorks 653, the time- and memory-partitioned real-time operating system from Wind River Systems.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, builder of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), is expanding the use of Teamcenter® software, Siemens PLM Software’s digital lifecycle management solution, to enable a fully digital PLM backbone for design, manufacturing and maintenance support for the JSF program.

Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

$6.2 million Navy award

Argon ST, a systems engineering, development and services company providing full-service C5ISR (command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) systems and services to a wide range of defense and intelligence customers, has received a $6.2 million award for engineering development in support of the U.S. Navy’s Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) program.

$1.23 million Navy contract

Alion Science and Technology has been awarded a $1.23 million Navy contract to provide Link-16 EMC radio waveform certification support to the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center San Diego, Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I). Link-16 is a Department of Defense (DoD) secure, jam-resistant, high-speed spectrum data link that allows military aircraft, ships and ground forces to exchange near real-time text, imagery data and digital voice messages.

35 years of barcodes

The 35^th anniversary of the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) bar code will be celebrated on June 3, 2009 by GS1 US, the developer and administrator of the U.P.C. for more than 200,000 businesses in the United States. The organization will mark the event with a giant U.P.C.-adorned birthday cake for more than 800 attendees at its annual U Connect Conference in Orlando.

One of the world’s best-known symbols, the U.P.C. comprises a row of 59 machine-readable black and white bars and 12 human-readable digits. Both the bars and the digits convey the same information: the identity of a specific product and its manufacturer. Originally developed to help supermarkets speed up the checkout process, the first live use of a U.P.C. took place in a Marsh Supermarkets store in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974, when a cashier scanned a package of Wrigley’s gum. It ushered in extraordinary economic and productivity gains for shoppers, retailers and manufacturers alike, with estimated annual cost savings of $17 billion in the grocery sector alone, according to one study. The U.P.C. was quickly adopted by other industries, which sought to capture the benefits it had delivered to the grocery industry. Today U.P.C.s are scanned more than 10 billion times a day in applications spanning more than 25 industries, including consumer packaged goods, apparel, hardware, food services, healthcare, logistics, government, and high-tech. Contrary to one popular myth, the U.P.C. does not contain a product’s country of origin. But the U.P.C. is one manifestation of the Global Trade Item Number, a foundational aspect of the GS1 System that enables consistent, standard identification of products and other items in the supply chain globally.

Upcoming 3G network

Starent Networks, an S-based equipment vendor, has been contracted by triple-play cable operator Cox Communications to supply the multimedia core of its upcoming 3G network. Cox will use Starent’s Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) and Home Agent (HA) platforms to deliver data and multimedia services. Cox plans to enter the 3G market in the second half of 2009 but already has one eye on future developments, deploying technology geared towards migration to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. Jon Morgan, Starent senior director of product marketing claims carriers "don't need a new hardware platform to go to LTE with us. It's all software upgradeable."