$6.8 billion worth of wireless communications

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, also known simply as the Stimulus Bill) will provide funding for a massive $6.8 billion worth of wireless communications upgrades and new deployments over 2009-2010. The Act offers a significant one-off opportunity for wireless equipment vendors, an opportunity examined in a study from ABI Research.

“The ARRA represents a windfall for wireless service providers as well as for satellite service providers,” comments ABI Research vice president Stan Schatt. “It will have an enormous impact on Wi-Fi and wireless broadband vendors. It will also immediately benefit a number of specific vertical industries including healthcare, education, homeland security, the environment, and the nation’s electricity infrastructure.”

In healthcare, the scope for adding wireless to the technology mix encompasses Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices and sensors, communications systems linking health networks, telepresence, wireless LAN equipment, and Wi-Fi-enabled video surveillance systems.

In education, already a leading adopter of Wi-Fi solutions, equipment vendors are developing templated solutions in such areas as WLANs for “learning anywhere,” voice-over-Wi-Fi, and WLAN equipment and software to track students’ progress for “No Child Left Behind” record keeping.

The Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Border Protection are potential goldmines for wireless vendors because of the many agencies within them that will use ARRA funds for tactical communications equipment, infrastructure equipment, and security equipment. Even critical infrastructure construction projects such as bridges and tunnels often require wireless video surveillance systems.

In fact, notes Schatt, “Many of the spending opportunities lie ‘under the surface’. A civil engineering project which seems mainly about concrete and steel may actually benefit from a lot of wireless technology. And because vendors can’t apply for funds themselves, they are – and should be – doing everything in their power to help their customers do so.”

ABI Research’s “The 2009 Federal Stimulus Bill” (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1004117) examines the ARRA funds most appropriate for wireless solutions on a federal department-by-department basis. It discusses the types of partnerships necessary to fill product gaps as well as the opportunities to take advantage of ARRA “green” funding. 

Bank of America and Merrill Lynch 2009 U.S. Technology Conference

One of the more interesting presentations at the Bank of America and Merrill Lynch 2009 U.S. Technology Conference on June 3rd will be that of speaker, Jeffery P. Howells, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Tech Data Corporation, one of the world’s largest distributors of technology products from leading IT hardware and software producers. Tech Data serves more than 125,000 IT solution providers in over 100 countries. Every day, these value-added resellers depend on Tech Data to cost-effectively support the technology needs of end users, including small and medium businesses, large enterprises and government agencies. Ranked 102^nd on the FORTUNE 500, Tech Data generated $24.1 billion in net sales for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2009. Tech Data is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. www.techdata.com.

UBS Global Technology and Services Conference

At the UBS Global Technology and Services Conference on June 9, 2009 CEO Scott Moody, CEO of AuthenTec will present. With more than 45 million sensors sold worldwide, AuthenTec is a leader in providing smart fingerprint sensors and solutions to the high-volume PC, wireless device, and access control markets. AuthenTec is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida. Portfolio managers and analysts who wish to request a meeting with management should contact Anya Raab at anya.raab@ubs.com.

Electronic Arts may disclose material developments

John Pleasants, Chief Operating Officer of Electronic Arts will present at the William Blair 29th Annual Growth Stock Conference on June 10, 2009. During the course of this event, Electronic Arts may disclose material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet under four brand names: EA SPORTS, EA, EA Mobile and POGO. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies.

E3 Expo 2009 takes place June 2 – 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. Contact Roger Frampton at ExportAction for a list of exhibitors with profiles.

One title to watch includes The Six Week Golf Lesson, an innovative online tutorial presenting a sequence of six lessons coaching and explaining the elements required for you to accomplish your golf swing. "I would wholeheartedly recommend the 6 Week Golf Lesson to anyone wishing to take up golf, or improve their swing. This is a revolutionary teaching product which is easy to understand, but will teach pupils everything they need to know to form a good golf swing." - Michael Bannon, head golf professional at Bangor Golf Club, and the coach of Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland's golfing sensation.  http://www.6weekgolflesson.co.uk

Another to watch is Spysure. At home this PC product 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

Taking the UK by storm, GrowVeg.com is an innovative garden planning tool which helps you grow fruit and vegetables to the best of their ability, whatever the size or shape of your garden or plot. With GrowVeg.com it is easy to draw out your garden plan and decide how best to plant it. The GrowVeg.com planning tool clearly shows how much space plants require and how to group them for maximum success, removing the need to look up planting distances and crop families. Growing advice is just one click away as you select the plants that you wish to include, enabling you to solve problems and maximise your harvest from the space you have. An annual subscription costs just $25. http://www.growveg.com

Target previews at Electronic Entertainment Expo

Target is getting together with Ubisoft and Activision Publishing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, June 2–4, for a preview of upcoming titles. For the first time Target will be participating in one of the world’s most influential video game trade shows. By partnering with publishing partners to showcase upcoming titles. Target Corporation serves consumers at 1,699 stores nationwide and at Target.com. Since 1946, the corporation has given 5 percent of its income through community grants and programs like Take Charge of Education. Today, that giving equals more than $3 million a week.

Gaming industry research

According to recent market reports, consumer spending has slowed in all markets, but less so in the gaming industry, and in particular less in the PC gaming segment. Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, has announced the market forecast for PC gaming hardware and the results are encouraging overall, even with the modest drop due to economic conditions. The total PC Gaming Hardware market is forecasted to drop $1.4 billion (-7%) in 2009 versus 2008 (from $20.07 to $18.65 billion.). The decline is due to reduced sales because of the recession, and lower prices on PCs and components (also due to the recession and competitive pressures.) But, in such an environment, PC gaming systems seem to have suffered the least discounting which illustrates the value consumers place on such systems. Furthermore, in 2009 the PC Gaming Hardware Market, approaching $19 billion, is forecasted to eclipse the hardware market for all gaming consoles combined by almost $2 billion. (Console costs include the console, a certain amount of accessories, and a factor for the cost of an HDTV to display the games on.) http://www.jonpeddie.com/about/press/index.shtml

Operators of computer-based gaming centers enhance customer loyalty and optimse profits with software from Game the World. http://www.gametheworld.com

US Web analytics market will grow

Fueled by a need for marketing organizations to be more accountable to the business and a shift in marketing budgets' allocation for interactive channels, in order to match consumers’ migration online, the US Web analytics market will grow to $953 million by 2014 — an impressive 17 percent compound annual growth rate — according to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc.

$10 million subcontract

ICF has been awarded a subcontract with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Office of Security Technology (OST) to provide program management and acquisition support. The five-year agreement is valued at $10 million. Under the contract, ICF will work with prime Deloitte Consulting to support the day-to-day operations of OST’s program management office and its support organizations. Specific tasks include program management support, acquisition documentation development, test and evaluation support, deployment support, integrated logistics support, and budget planning and formulation.

Integrated Topside (InTop) program

Argon ST has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) to provide system development support for the Integrated Topside (InTop) program. A new initiative by the ONR, InTop aims to integrate topside radio frequency capabilities into multi-functional solutions using common apertures and processing equipment to reduce antenna clutter, mitigate electromagnetic interference (EMI), and reduce radar cross-section (RCS) for U.S. Navy platforms.

e-prescribing

An e-prescribing capability that allows Alabama Medicaid physicians to electronically send an accurate and easy-to-understand prescription directly to pharmacies is helping the state agency move toward its goal of providing better health care at a lower cost. Based on technology developed by Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., the new capability is part of QTool, a Web-based electronic health record and clinical support tool developed by ACS to support Alabama Medicaid’s initiative to build a statewide electronic health information system. Approximately 150 Medicaid-enrolled physicians are pilot testing QTool in nine Alabama counties: Calhoun, Houston, Lamar, Jefferson, Montgomery, Pickens, Talladega, Tuscaloosa and Winston. E-prescribing allows participating physicians to consult a patient’s medical history, check the agency’s preferred drug list, enter the prescription and securely transmit it to the pharmacy of the patient’s choice. Additionally, e-prescribing provides added protection to patients by displaying key alerts such as Drug Interaction, excessive dose and allergy warnings to notify the physician prior to completing the e-prescription. The patient can then pick up the medicine at the pharmacy without the need for a paper prescription. (Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Carol H. Steckel.)

50 percent of hotel guests use Wi-Fi

BelAir Networks has been selected for Wi-Fi deployments in Omni Hotels. The Omni Fort Worth, the city’s newest and largest hotel was the brand’s first BelAir Networks deployment site, followed by the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. AFL Network Services provided network design, installation and technical support for the projects. This trend is driven by the growing number of Wi-Fi applications and mobile-enabled devices that guests use when they travel. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), in its study “2008 Current and Future Technology Use in the Hospitality Industry”, identified Wi-Fi services as the “IT system that guests care about most.” “With nearly 50 percent of our guests using Wi-Fi and their bandwidth demands continuing to accelerate, we sought a high-performance network partner which could ensure we continue to serve our customers’ needs on a ‘go-forward basis’,” said Richard Tudgay, vice president of information technology for Omni Hotels.

Basel II at Union Bank

Compliance with Basel II regulation has fueled an evolution of risk management programs within the financial services industry. When Union Bank needed to comply with Basel II, the organization determined that SAS® Credit Scoring for Banking could help generate, deploy, validate and monitor critical risk models in an integrated, auditable and flexible platform. (Hans Helbekkmo, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Wide Risk, Union Bank.)

Lake City Bank processes and products

Lake City Bank has chosen Cypress Professional Services (CPS) to evaluate the bank’s small business lending processes and products, and perform a series of enhancements that increase productivity and efficiency in the institution’s lending operations. During the three-day project, the CPS team performed its Strategic Configuration Assessment service, evaluating and reconstructing Lake City Bank’s small business lending rules, database and products, and integrating those changes with the bank’s existing installation of BizMark, Cypress’ small business lending platform. The bank consulting project also included additional training for Lake City associates from its four commercial loan regions and its small business underwriters. With the improvements, Lake City Bank has witnessed faster turnaround time on loan decisions and an overall smoother operational flow. The enhanced system also has allowed bank management to increase the maximum funding limit on their small business loans from $50,000 to a goal of $250,000 per loan. (Lisa Bicknese, assistant vice president and loan product manager at Lake City Bank.)

Criminal Justice Information Network

Memex thas reached an agreement with the Mountain Empire Criminal Justice Information Network (MECJIN) in Virginia. The contract calls for the deployment of Memex software and services, giving the 15 southwest Virginia counties and 50 municipalities in the MECJIN an intelligence system for crime analysis and data sharing. MECJIN is a multi-jurisdictional computer network that links law enforcement agencies in the Appalachian Mountain area of Virginia. The Memex platform enables MECJIN law enforcement officers to correlate Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from a wide region using various Memex tools. This upgrade is also in compliance with the N-DEX (National Data Exchange) data sharing initiative, setting the foundation for the sharing of incident data within MEJCIN from the many regional and municipal systems, such as Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Record Management Systems (RMS). Functionality includes visualization and mapping tools, intelligence management, analysis of suspicious activity reports, and correlation of data to expose organized criminal activity. While MECJIN is planning to use the new capabilities to fight gangs and narcotics, it will also target other criminal activities with the Memex platform as well. (William Puckett, the Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety with Richlands Police Department, and the Chairman of MECJIN.)

University digital repository - access Culpeper online

Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) has launched its digital repository using ebrary’s hosted e-publishing services. The purpose of the SWOSU Digital Repository is to make a full range of SWOSU historical documents freely available to the public. Among the documents that will soon be added is the 1651 edition of Nicholai Culpeper’s A Physical Directory, which will be keyword searchable. The number of titles available through the site will continue to grow. “When we first looked at ebrary last year, we were primarily interested in subscribing to Academic Complete and offering simultaneous, multi-user access to over 42,900 multidisciplinary titles to our students, faculty and staff,” said Dr. Jon Sparks, Director of Libraries at SWOSU. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/swosudr

College administrative and fundraising solution

Allegany College of Maryland has selected Datatel to create a Strategic Academic Enterprise that will consolidate administrative and fundraising functions within a single solution. The College has licensed Datatel Colleague, which will replace a homegrown administration system, and Colleague Advancement, which will replace The Raiser’s Edge fundraising solution currently in use. (Tim Pelesky, associate dean of Information Technology at Allegany College of Maryland.)

Data certification software for Portland Public Schools

Portland Public Schools (PPS), with 46,000 students, has chosen Certica’s K-12 data certification software to implement a data quality improvement process to support student achievement, ensuring the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the data the district is required to submit to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) several times each year. Certica’s Certify, provides daily, personalized, web-based data certification scorecards to central office and school personnel, so they can easily review, investigate and correct data errors. This capability will allow PPS to shorten the time it takes to identify and resolve data problems and improve data quality. Certify will also allow PPS to monitor data for program compliance and policy issues, such as student dropout rate, providing alerts to patterns of attendance data that could indicate that certain students are at risk of dropping out and are in need of intervention services. Like many districts across the country, PPS has been challenged by complex and changing data reporting requirements, which can be stressful and burdensome for school districts. In addition to changes in data requirements, ODE recently made changes to the frequency and content of submissions. In reviewing its approach to state reporting, PPS searched for a way to best utilize valuable personnel resources, while satisfying the changing ODE mandates. The district has adopted Certify to institute an ongoing, automated process, which reduces the time pressure associated with reconciling and verifying data just prior to state submission. In addition, Certify will allow PPS to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of all other district data reporting and analysis based on the same information. (Dona Lehr, program director for data and policy analysis at PPS.)

$10 million contracts

dB Control, a manufacturer of high-power microwave amplifiers, radar transmitters and power supplies, has recently signed contracts worth more than $10 million to provide high-power traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifiers and microwave power modules (MPMs) to major U.S. defense contractors supplying the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. Each of these contracts has the potential for renewal over the next six to eight years. The largest contract worth close to $3 million is from the U.S. Air Force for high-power, power-combined TWTAs for radar applications. A multi-year contract worth $2.9 million is from an international defense contractor for a follow-on product order of X-Band TWTAs. Several contracts from major U.S. and foreign defense contractors, worth a combined total of $2.7 million, will provide the military with TWTAs and MPMs for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems for Unmanned Aeronautical Vehicles (UAVs). An $800,000 contract from a well-known U.S. defense contractor is for the development of high-power TWTAs for use in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) data collection applications. A major contractor for the U.S. Navy awarded dB Control a contract worth $800,000 to provide high-power TWTAs for airborne electronic-countermeasures (ECM).

Consumer confidence rises

Consumer confidence in the overall US economy moved up sharply in May, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The CEA-CNET Indexes also show that consumers continue to feel more confident about future spending on technology and consumer electronics (CE). The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE) climbed in May, reaching 174.6, up nearly six points from last month. The ICE, which measures consumers’ confidence in the overall economy, is at its highest level since February 2008 and up over eleven points year-over-year. “We see significant indications that consumers believe an economic recovery is underway,” said Shawn DuBravac, CEA’s director of research and economist. “Consumers are showing increasing signs of optimism as both their outlook for the economy and their personal financial health improve.” Confidence in technology and consumer electronics also reached its highest level of the year. The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Technology Expectations (ICTE) climbed to 81.1, an increase of nearly four points from last month. The ICTE, which measures consumer confidence in technology and consumer electronics, is nearly eight percent higher than the same period last year. “Consumer spending on technology appears to have bottomed,” said DuBravac. “While the economy continues to deteriorate, albeit at a slower rate, consumer spending generally and specifically consumer spending on technology are likely beginning to rebound, which is inline with the timing of consumer spending in past recessions.”

The CEA-CNET Indexes are comprised of the ICE and the ICTE, both of which are updated on a monthly basis through consumer surveys. New data is released on the fourth Tuesday of each month. CEA and CNET have been tracking index data since January 2007. To find current and past indexes, charts, methodology and future release dates, log on to www.CEACNETindexes.org.

SMBs - high value customers

AMI’s segmentation of the US small and medium business (SMB) markets reveals that 30% of US firms can be classified as “high-value customers”—those with a deep reliance on IT and communications technologies and a continuous need to invest in technology to drive their growth and streamline operations. These 30% account for more than 60% of the total amount spent on IT and communications gear and services each year. For IP-based communications products and services—such as IP-PBXs and web conferencing—their share of spending is significantly higher. An analysis of the customer bases of AT&T, Verizon, cable broadband providers and other CLECs reveals that CLECs and cable providers have done a good job of attracting some of these high-value small businesses (1-99 employees), when compared to national averages. Similarly, AT&T is doing very well on those metrics in the mid-market space (100-999 employees) where cable providers are notably losing out quite significantly. ISP’s, such as AT&T, Verizon, and cable companies’ customer bases are examined from a segmentation standpoint to assess who is better positioned to sell higher margin managed IP services down the road. The report also highlights a simple process ISPs/vendors may follow to optimize/balance the composition of their customer base by applying AMI’s segmentation and predictive analytics tools. www.ami-partners.com.

AT&T plans

AT&T Mobility, the second largest mobile operator by subscribers in the US, has outlined plans to upgrade its 3G network with High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology by 2011. The upgrade will boost mobile data transmission speeds from the current 3Mbps to up to 7.2Mbps. Deployment of the 3.5G technology is scheduled to start later this year. AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network is currently available in nearly 350 US major metropolitan areas, with about 20 additional locations planned for deployment in 2009. Investment for these projects is covered by the cellco’s previously announced capital spending budget for 2009 of $17 billion to $18 billion. The company has also announced plans to commence testing of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in 2010, with a view to rolling out the technology in 2011.

CTIA speaking opportunity

CTIA - The Wireless Association is accepting applications to speak at their wireless and entertainment event in San Diego, CA October 6-9, 2009. The deadline for submitting applications is June 20th. For more details, email Roger Frampton.