US Market Statistics

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Warehouse Management for Sargento

Sargento Foods, a leading manufacturer, packager and marketer of natural cheese, has upgraded to a new version of RedPrairie Warehouse Management. (Dennis Roehrborn, VP of Logistics at Sargento Foods.)

Kelsius automates temperature monitoring of refrigerators and cold rooms, simplifying task management and providing cost effective compliancy reporting for users in the food industries. http://www.kelsius.com

Workforce management solution suite selected

Silicon Valley Security & Patrol, a contract security provider, has selected the Valiant workforce management solution suite. Offering a 360-degree, real-time view of Silicon Valley’s entire workforce, the Valiant solution has already begun automating and improving the company’s Scheduling, Billing and Time Collection processes and new Silicon Valley clients are reaping the benefits of the more timely bidding and more accurate job costing metrics the software enables. (Paul Wassem, Silicon Valley’s Vice President and General Manager.)

$750,000 Research for OLED

Universal Display Corporation, an innovator in displays and lighting through its UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent OLED technology, has been awarded a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from the United States Air Force Research Laboratory. Work under the program, titled “Low-Power, Direct-View Flexible Displays,” will focus on the development of a non-glass, ejection-safe, flexible OLED display prototype for prospective use by pilots in tactical cockpit settings.

Parent notification services

SchoolReach, provider of parent notification services used by public, private and parochial schools, has entered into a partnership agreement with the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA). Through this alliance, the SchoolReach system will be made available to MASA member schools at a discount. A state-chartered association of the American Association of School Administrators, MASA is the leading advocacy organization for school administrators in the state of Minnesota. With its three-step ‘Record-Select-Send’ instant messaging process, SchoolReach allows administrators to record a brief message, select a specific list of parents, teachers, district staff, or community members to whom the message can be sent, and deliver those messages simultaneously via voice, e-mail, or text messaging. (Dr. Charles Kyte, executive director of MASA.)

When the children get home to their PC, Spysure can help protect children from paedophiles and blocks adult content. In the office it monitors and views employees' activities and tells you what is happening online. http://www.spysure.com

State of Utah selects Qwest

The State of Utah (www.utah.gov) has chosen Qwest Communications International Inc. to deliver a cost-saving, converged voice and data network. With Qwest’s Ethernet solution, state and local government and businesses in Utah have access to additional bandwidth speeds to help satisfy increasing public demand for online services. Qwest began connecting 300 locations in Salt Lake City and along Utah’s Wasatch Front using Qwest’s Metro Optical Ethernet (QMOE) data networking platform. Thirty government sites have already been connected as part of the 3-year, $7.2 million agreement. (Stephen Fletcher, CIO, State of Utah.)

$21 million on MIDS terminals

ViaSat has won a delivery order valued at approximately $21 million for Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals from The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), San Diego. MIDS provides greater situational awareness in combat for U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and for U.S. defense partners by gathering information into a digital view of the battlefield. The secure, high capacity, jam resistant wireless (non-satellite) system connects users with both digital data and digital voice communications.

$4.7 billion loan and grant programme for broadband

US vice president Joe Biden has outlined a state-funded $4.7 billion loan and grant programme designed to fund the deployment of broadband infrastructure in underserved areas, the Associated Press reports. Biden launched the programme on 1 July, saying, ‘Getting broadband to every American is a priority for this administration.’ The £4.7 billion investment is part of £7.2 billion included in the federal stimulus package to improve rural internet access. The US Department of Commerce will consider applications for funding that propose to provide wired or wireless access starting at low-end DSL speeds, but will give priority to ones promising high speed access. An area qualifies as being “underserved” and therefore eligible for grants, if half or fewer of households can get wired broadband today. Companies can apply to the scheme from 14 July and the first round of funding will be awarded in September this year.

Protecting young PC users

Web filtering vendor SmoothWall (www.smoothwall.com) has launched a filtering offer for schools. In the last couple of months, the company has installed over 10,000 licenses for Guardian in K12 schools in New York State alone. The standard version of Guardian is a perimeter or gateway-based web filtering device, designed to control internet use within the school network. But with laptop numbers rising rapidly in schools, there is an increasing requirement to extend web filtering beyond the school gates to protect and ensure the same safe-surfing experience for laptop users too. Mobile Guardian is designed to enforce filtering regardless of location, with laptop browsing logs automatically uploaded as soon as users return to the network.

Dell says a growing commitment among U.S. educators, policymakers and parents to invest in technology that enhances the learning environment is driving the early success of its Latitude 2100 netbook designed for students. More than 500 U.S. school districts have purchased the Latitude 2100, launched last month. According to Dell, the ARRA and an increasing appreciation among education stakeholders for the impact technology has on learning will help modernize U.S. classrooms and transform the country’s education system. Netbook or “mininotebook” shipments are expected to have a five–year growth rate of 60.1% from 2008 to 2013, according to research firm IDC.

Parents will be interested in Spysure, a PC product that helps protect children from paedophiles and blocks adult content. In the office it monitors and views employees' activities and tells you what is happening online. http://www.spysure.com

Value of Early Feedback in an LMS Implementation

SumTotal® Systems a provider of talent development solutions, will present a live webinar, “A Good Old-Fashioned Pilot Test: Wendy’s Demonstrates the Value of Early Feedback in an LMS Implementation,” at 1:00 pm Eastern time on Wednesday, July 15, 2009. The webinar will examine how usability and pilot testing can be used to enhance a learning management system (LMS) implementation.

The featured speaker is Coley O’Brien, National Director, Operations Training for Wendy’s Corporation – one of the country's largest quick-service restaurant companies – ensuring the success of its LMS rollout meant first getting feedback from Wendy’s crew members and managers across the country through formal usability and pilot testing. Before rolling the learning solution out to approximately 45,000 employees in 1,400 restaurants that are multi-lingual, multi-generational and with varied levels of technology experience, Wendy’s conducted a series of tests to assess usability, feasibility and impact. As a result, the company was able to streamline the implementation, increase user adoption by engaging employees in the process and reap maximum benefits.

Viewers can expect to learn Wendy’s process for conducting usability and pilot testing with a broad target audience spanning a wide geography and using multiple test leads. Specific topics to be discussed include: why Wendy’s chose to conduct formal usability and pilot tests prior to implementation; how Wendy's conducted testing with a geographically-dispersed pilot audience; how Wendy’s harnessed test feedback to enhance their LMS implementation and custom e-Learning course development.

To attend this webinar, register here.

Truck and load matching

Location Based Technologies (LBT), a provider of personal, pet and asset location devices, has received its first Purchase Order for LoadRack Tracker devices. LoadRack.com is a provider of truck and load matching, with a real-time asset tracking application. Their technology allows shippers, carriers, and truck brokers to optimize resources and coordination by procuring available trucks and loads, while ensuring load integrity across the supply chain. Accessed via the Internet, the system allows users to determine load location and status, designate safe and unsafe zones and lanes, monitor load temperatures, facilitate route changes, and effectively manage equipment problems and delays.

A customized interface for the LoadRack solution is accessed via the Internet to show its exact location in real time. In addition, the devices include features such as: users may designate customizable zones or lanes providing stakeholder notification when a device leaves or enters a zone; load temperature monitoring; route changes; and the ability to manage time delays. By combining the PocketFinder solution with the LoadRack software, load integrity, customer service and load visibility will enhance the procurement and delivery of goods.

Licensing and Study Support Services at GSK

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts covering Licensing and Study Support Services with Phase Forward, a provider of data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety. (Diane Fuell, Vice President of Business Support in the Centre for Clinical Study Excellence Operations and Data Quality at GSK.)

Licensing and Study Support Services at GSK

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts covering Licensing and Study Support Services with Phase Forward, a provider of data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety. (Diane Fuell, Vice President of Business Support in the Centre for Clinical Study Excellence Operations and Data Quality at GSK.)

Mutual of Omaha and customer data

Mutual of Omaha has deployed Navagate’s Agility to track and manage its customer data, provide its agents with quick access to information, and improve marketing and service. A full-service, multi-line provider of insurance and financial services products, Mutual of Omaha offers products and services for families, individuals, businesses and groups with a product line including Annuities, Retirement Plans, Banking, Critical Illness, Dental Insurance, Disability Insurance, Employee Benefit Plans, Investments, Life Insurance, Long-Term Care Insurance, Medicare Supplement Insurance, and Voluntary/Worksite Products. (Scott Campbell, Director of Distribution Marketing, Mutual of Omaha.) www.mutualofomaha.com.

Four Universities join program

California State University, Sacramento, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Virginia Tech have joined Unicon's Cooperative Support Program for the open source Sakai, uPortal, and/or CAS (Centralized Authentication Service) platforms. The Sakai software is a community source effort to develop a platform for innovation in collaboration, teaching and learning, and research support software.

$1.5 million on appraisal & tax solutions

Tyler Technologies has signed contracts totaling approximately $1.5 million to provide product upgrades to Bernalillo County in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Town of Brookhaven, New York, for Tyler’s Appraisal & Tax Solution, iasWorld. The most populous county in New Mexico, Bernalillo County is located within the Albuquerque metropolitan area and is home to over 635,000 people. The Town of Brookhaven is part of the New York City metropolitan area, the town has a population of more than 400,000 and is the second most populous town in New York.

$17.4 million for QinetiQ North America

The Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) Acquisition Center for Support Services (ACSS) awarded QinetiQ North America a prime contract to provide a wide range of services to the MCSC’s Program Manager for Autonomic Logistics (PM AL). The contract has a one-year base period of performance, two one-year options, and a ceiling value of $17.4 million.

$375 million spend by USAFE

L-3 Communications’ MPRI division has been awarded a follow-on contract by the U.S. Air Forces Europe (USAFE). This five-year IDIQ contract consists of a base year plus four option years, with a total contract potential of $375 million. Under this contract, L-3 will provide the USAFE with a variety of advisory and assistance services (A&AS), including engineering and technical services; management and professional support; and studies, analysis and evaluation services to maintain and enhance government owned computer software and provide intelligence analysis support.