Egg delivery routes: NFC shells out

Major egg producer and processor, National Food Corporation, has revolutionized the way it plans and coordinates its delivery routes to customers throughout North and Midwest America and the Pacific Rim. Using routing and scheduling software from Paragon Software Systems, Inc, (http://us.paragonrouting.com) one person is able to plan up to 50 complex routes per day to complete over 11,000 deliveries per week. This high efficiency also enables the company to provide third party logistics services for several clients, including some very recognisable names in retail.

National Food Corporation uses a combination of Paragon Multi Depot and Integrated Fleets software. This has proven to be the ideal solution to automate planning and optimize transportation from its distribution centers and DCs. The system replaces a time consuming, manual process that was completely dependent on local DC managers. (Kevin Bookey, Transportation Manager, National Food Corporation.)

Monitoring for 4600 stores' cold chain visibility

C&S Wholesale Grocers, the second largest food wholesaler in the U.S., has selected Par’s RT-200 monitoring solution for cold chain visibility and control of their products. Par’s RT-200 system will allow C&S constant real-time visibility and remote control of their refrigerated trailers while also affording for better yields in asset utilization and fuel savings. C&S Wholesale Grocers’ integration will optimize the protection of perishable products while in transit.

C&S Wholesale Grocers is the 12th largest privately held company in the United States. The company distributes food to supermarkets, retail stores and military bases across the country. Currently, C&S serves about 4600 stores from more than 50 locations in 11 states. C&S provides more than 95,000 food and nonfood items including produce, meat, dairy products, delicatessen products, fresh/frozen bakery items, health and beauty aids, candy and tobacco.

In Utah in-vehicle credit card payments

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has announced the fleet-wide deployment of the onBoard Mobile Gateway from In Motion Technology. The solution provides wireless communications capabilities to enable in-vehicle credit card payments, Internet access and other services for passengers utilizing UTA’s 530-vehicle bus service. In Motion’s onBoard Mobility Manager will give UTA’s headquarters staff a virtual dashboard of information about networks, devices and vehicles from the field, and a high level of information and control over its wireless communications.(Clair Fiet, Chief Technology Officer for the Utah Transit Authority.)

One-to-Watch: Onboard Retail Solutions.

St Petersburg to share crime data

St. Petersburg, Floirda has become the 500^th law enforcement agency to share crime data with the public through CrimeReports.com. St. Petersburg joins other agencies that have chosen to inform and engage their citizens through timely, block-level crime data. The city’s 250,000 residents can now more fully benefit from the St. Petersburg Police Department’s continued commitment to cutting–edge technology and community outreach efforts and local neighborhood watch efforts have gained a valuable tool that will enable them to work more closely with officers to keep their communities safe. (Chief Charles Harmon.)

Voice and data for Bath showroom

Renaissance Tile & Bath has implemented MegaPath’s Duet service to deliver voice and data capabilities for the company’s showroom location. Renaissance Tile & Bath, a design resource providing luxury tile, stone and bath products for the home, leverages Duet to increase productivity, connect to headquarters and decrease costs. (David Amos, Systems Administrator, Renaissance Tile & Bath.)

EMS for 900 retail locations

Michaels Stores has deployed Site-Command Energy Management System (EMS) at more than 900 retail locations. To date, Michaels has seen energy usage drop by more than 25 percent at stores equipped with Site-Command. The solution helps chain retailers reduce energy and maintenance costs through equipment monitoring and control combined with web-based business intelligence. Site-Command lowers energy consumption and maintenance costs in retail and restaurant facilities through an on-site EMS unit which monitors and controls Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, interior and exterior lighting, store signage, refrigerators, trash compactors, solar panels and wind power. In addition, enterprise-wide issue reporting and asset intelligence are provided through a hosted data center. Besides lowering costs, Site-Command also improves customer comfort by ensuring corporate standards for temperature and lighting are consistently maintained across the chain.

Besides lowering energy costs, Site Controls has helped significantly reduce Michaels’ carbon emissions. By lowering electricity usage by 137 million kilowatt hours annually, Michaels has reduced CO2 emissions by approximately 192 million lbs. This is the equivalent of removing 17,400 cars from the road or powering over 12,900 households for a year. (Rob McClay, VP of Store Development and Construction for Michaels.)

Voice services for New York

New York State Office of the Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) has selected PAETEC to deliver core voice services to the State agencies on the State’s network. The agreement will represent over six million minutes per month in voice services, distributed between local and long distance service.

CIO/OFT provides statewide technology direction and centralized technology policies and services to New York State government entities. The agency’s voice and data telecommunication systems support over 90,000 users and 10,000 teleconferences per year. The local and long distance (toll) services provided from PAETEC are expected to save the state approximately $370,000 annually for the next five years, representing a 20 percent cost savings. (Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, New York State Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office for Technology.)

Case management solution

Kansas City Municipal Court (KCMC) in Kansas City, Kansas recently integrated their JustWare | Municipal Court case management solution with their local law enforcement's Advanced Public Safety, Inc.'s (APS) electronic ticketing devices. This integration automatically enters ticket information directly into JustWare using the data from each officer's APS PocketCitation ticketing device, saving both the municipal court and police department both time and resources. Prior to implementing an eticket solution, the Court would receive two of the four paper copies of the citation. Once data entry entered all citation information, KCMC manually filed each citation with the appropriate court date and would relocate the ticket when the date approached. Not only was this process time consuming but also expensive to store and maintain old violation records. (Lisa Garcia, KCMC Administrative Supervisor.)

Virtualization services to state agencies

Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) has awarded Infinite Group a three-year contract to deliver virtualization services to state agencies. Under terms of the agreement, various Mississippi state agencies can engage Infinite Group to virtualize servers and migrate applications into ITS’ virtual data center environments, housed in the State Data Center facilities. Infinite Group will manage and implement server consolidations that will migrate physical servers to virtual machines, using VMware vSphere technology – reducing the number of physical servers, with resulting benefits in both physical footprint and energy savings.

Remote deposit capture for Florida bank

First National Bank of Omaha has selected Epson’s CaptureOne check scanner as a standard component of its remote deposit capture (RDC) solution. Available immediately to the bank’s corporate and commercial customers, Epson’s CaptureOne check scanner enables fast, two-sided check scanning with the highest MICR accuracy in its class and a two-year warranty. (Toby Asplin, Strategic Partnership Officer, First National Bank of Omaha.)

Emergency management solution

Upp Technology will provide a centralized emergency management solution to the Tennessee Department of Health that will improve the availability of patient information and the efficiency of an emergency response. Already utilizing Upp’s irms|Go-Kits, to provide mobile emergency response solutions, Tennessee is now looking to add a centralized server to link the Go-Kits together in the field. This centralized approach is designed to provide accurate, reliable, and responsive patient tracking, inventory management and distribution of critical resources during an emergency.

$7 million research and development contract

Alion Science and Technology has been awarded a $7 million research and development contract to assist the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWC TSD) in solving several challenges associated with stimulating airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) platforms and training environments.

Under the Improved Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) Integration research program, Alion will develop prototype computer interface technologies – known as Live Platform Integration -- for surface ship, submarine and aircraft platforms. The research will produce alternative methods for synthetic threat scenarios to be injected into Warfighters’ sensor and combat systems to improve training. Alion will assist NAWC TSD with virtual training technology integration and the development of advanced constructive technologies. Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., NAWC TSD is a component of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division and Naval Air Systems Command. The division is the Navy’s principal source for a full range of training products and services, including requirements analysis, design, development and full life cycle support.

$35.3 million from the U.S. Army

iRobot has received an order for $35.3 million from the U.S. Army TACOM Contracting Center. This order falls under the $286 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) xBot contract and calls for the delivery of 486 iRobot PackBot 510 with FasTac Kit robots prior to March 31, 2010. The total contract value to date under this IDIQ is approximately $125 million.

Lockheed orders

VirTra has received another order from Lockheed Martin Simulation Training and Support business for their smallest Threat-Fire device, the Threat-Fire II. The Threat-Fire II is a clip-on return fire simulator, similar in function to the Threat-Fire belt; however, the Threat-Fire II is designed to clip-onto an officer or soldier’s duty belt. The Threat-Fire II is not only small and lightweight to be unobtrusive, but it is also rechargeable and compatible with VirTra’s wireless system.

Major League Soccer tackles counterfeits

Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-level professional soccer league in the United States, has extended its partnership with OpSec Security to acquire expanded services for anti-counterfeiting and brand licensing management. “All of our licensed merchandise totaling $300M in sales is protected by our product authentication program. OpSec’s advanced anti-counterfeiting holograms are a recognized symbol of authenticity for consumers to identify genuine MLS merchandise,” said Stuart Crystal, Vice President of Consumer Products, MLS. MLS’ holographic labels use overt and covert anti-counterfeiting technologies to provide a deterrent to counterfeiting. It also provides a convenient means for fans to identify genuine merchandise from fakes.

Headquartered in New York City, Major League Soccer is the top-level professional soccer league in the United States and features many stars from the United States and around the world. The League's 14th season kicked off on March 19, 2009. The 15 teams in MLS are: the Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, Chivas USA, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy, Red Bull New York, New England Revolution, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Toronto FC, and the newest team that debuted this year, Seattle Sounders FC. MLS continues to grow as the Philadelphia Union will begin play in 2010 and teams in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Portland, Oregon will become the 17th and 18th clubs in 2011. For more information about MLS, log on to the League's official web site at www.MLSnet.com.