48 million households pay bills online

The number of US households paying bills online will grow from 48 million this year to 63 million by 2014, according to a forecast by Forrester Research.

$14 million on real-time rail data

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. has won a renewed three-year contract for outsourced information technology services valued at $14 million with Railinc, the rail industry’s largest and most accurate source for real-time interline rail data. Under the contract, ACS will continue to provide network operational services and midrange and mainframe system operations services from its data centers. In addition, ACS will continue to provide disaster recovery/business continuity and testing services for Railinc’s midrange and mainframe systems. This includes a designated hot site, ensuring that Railinc’s critical operations remain up and running pending a disaster. (Todd Bolon, vice president and chief information officer for Railinc.)

Personal robots market will grow from $1.16 billion in 2009

According to the study “Personal Robotics 2009: Task, Security & Surveillance/Telepresence, Entertainment and Education Robot, and Robotic Components Markets Through 2015” (http://www.nextgenresearch.com/research/1004160-Personal_Robotics_2009), the global personal robots market will grow from $1.16 billion in 2009 to more than $5 billion in 2015. The majority of such robots in 2009 are entertainment robots -- toys -- and single-task robots, such as vacuum cleaners or floor washers.

1.23 million messages at school

Glen Ridge Public Schools, a K-12 public school system, has selected MXsense’sWeb-based email archiving solution to manage and archive school-wide emails, meet regulatory requirements and provide the ability to easily search through email messages. As a measure of success, the school system is already storing 80GB spanning 1.23 million messages. Regulations such as the Department of Education’s Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (34 CFR Part 99) are driving the need for school districts such as Glen Ridge to effectively archive their email communications. (Winnie Boswell, Director of Technology at Glen Ridge Public Schools.)

At home Spysure 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

First operators intending to deploy LTE named

The tally of wireless operators committed to deploying LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks and offering LTE-based services to their subscribers in 2010 has climbed to at least 12, according to a study from ABI Research. By the following year nearly 34 million users worldwide are forecast to subscribe to the new ultra-fast data services, which promise speeds rivaling those available via cable or DSL. “Spectrum availability is the primary factor impacting deployment plans,” comments senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. “In countries where telecommunications regulators are making appropriate spectrum available, many operators have announced plans to launch LTE. These include the US, Sweden, China, and others. Where no such spectrum allocations exist, operators are postponing LTE plans.” The first operators intending to deploy LTE include Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS Wireless, and U.S. Cellular in the United States.

$2 trillion this year on health care

According to Bloomberg: The largest expansion of U.S. health care since the creation of Medicare in 1965 may emerge from legislation designed to reshape the medical industry and change how Americans receive and pay for care. Congress today begins crafting legislation that may require all Americans to get medical insurance, force insurers to accept all patients and end the tax break for employer-paid health benefits. These changes may be hammered out with unprecedented speed at the urging of President Barack Obama, who four days ago said “this is the moment.”

Obama has made a health-care overhaul his top domestic priority, using his February budget proposal to call it a “moral” imperative to extend coverage to the country’s 46 million uninsured. Obama also tied the long-term fiscal soundness of the U.S. to controlling medical costs. Health care consumes 18 percent of the U.S. economy and may rise to 34 percent by 2040, the White House Council of Economic Advisers reported June 2.

The U.S. will spend more than $2 trillion this year on health care, the Health and Human Services department reported in February.

Exclusive deals - review?

Four U.S. have senators asked the Federal Communications Commission to review exclusive deals between wireless-phone companies and handset makers to see whether the arrangements unfairly restrict consumer choice. The FCC should “act expeditiously” if it finds exclusive deals adversely affect competition, said the lawmakers, who included Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. AT&T Inc. has an exclusive arrangement to offer Apple Inc.’s iPhone on its network, and Sprint Nextel Corp. has sole rights for Palm Inc.’s Pre. The iPhone made up 41 percent of AT&T’s 11.8 million smart-phone subscriptions, ComScore said. Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless operator, has exclusive rights to the Pre through at least the end of the year.

Smart grid software platform

GridPoint has been selected by Hometown Connections as its exclusive smart grid software platform provider. A marketing agreement enables APPA utility members to purchase GridPoint’s software platform with favorable commercial terms and deliver innovative energy savings programs to public power customers. GridPoint Platform 3.0 allows utilities to progressively integrate and customize smart grid solutions, including energy efficiency, load management, renewable integration, storage management and electric vehicle management. (Tim Blodgett, President and CEO, Hometown Connections.)

Crash Prevention Program

The North Dakota Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation’s Office of Traffic Safety have certified North Dakota’s approved Crash Prevention Program, NorthDakotaCrashPrevention.com, providing a new alternative to North Dakota motorists who want to remove points from their driving records or obtain an insurance discount. The program provides Internet-based instruction in defensive driving techniques and other safe-driving skills. North Dakota drivers who successfully complete the course may be able to use it to reduce fines or dismiss the ticket after receiving a traffic citation. Or, drivers may opt to use it to obtain a two-year reduction of 5% to their auto insurance premium rates.

$750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research

UQM Technologies, a developer of alternative energy technologies, has received orders from military customers totaling $2.77 million for propulsion systems, generators and funded engineering activities. The most recent order is a $750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research contract from the U.S. Navy to develop a high torque electro-magnetic actuator system. The focus of this two-year effort will be to improve the torque capability of electric motors through the use of advanced materials research and the company’s proprietary magnet architecture. The Company will also collaborate with the University of Texas to develop an advanced gearbox as part of the development effort.

Operational awareness of critical infrastructures

Battelle has been named one of two companies awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract with a ceiling of $94 million. As part of the contract award by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Battelle was awarded the largest task order with a five-year value of $29 million. Battelle, and its key subcontractor Capstone, will support all DHS National Infrastructure Coordination Center (NICC) Watch locations and the Office of Infrastructure Protection Incident Management Cell (IMC) to maintain operational awareness of the nation’s critical infrastructures and key resources. The NICC is the round-the-clock watch mechanism through which the National Operations Center (NOC) maintains contact and exchanges information with the agencies and people responsible for protecting key resources and critical infrastructure.