Consumer Confidence

American consumer confidence has ticked up to its highest since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The Reuters/University of Michigan index rose to 61.9 in April, from 57.3 in March, to be at its highest since 70.3 last September.

The U.S. has 304 million consumers and they have more than one million retail outlets at which to shop (not to mention mail order and web-based businesses). Retail is a $4 trillion a year industry.

NAB 2009 Event

The event "where content comes to life" is in Las Vegas from April 20 to 23, 2009. ExportAction has a list of exhibitors with profiles available on request. Visit our web site and email us.

Federal Government to spend $135 million on technology

Tech Data is holding its annual TechEDG Government and Education Conference at which resellers, vendors, industry experts and Tech Data’s government and education services team will discuss trends and share strategies for capitalizing on an estimated $135 billion in technology spending in the government and education markets for 2009.

Construction sentiment

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index of sentiment rose to 14 in April from 9 in March, emerging from single digits for the first time in six months. It was the largest one-month gain since May 2003.

One-to-Watch: Easy Price Pro is estimating software for the building industry. The main pricing system was started in 1990 by a builder who couldn't find an easy way of producing estimates. Now more than 3,000 copies of the software are in use. http://www.easypricepro.com

Still Using Fax?

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Medical Center, which receives 50,000 faxed pages per month and sends another 10,000, recently found that faxing was rapidly becoming both a cost issue and a logistical nightmare. Many industries like healthcare still rely heavily on faxing to transmit sensitive information. Because of requirements for security and privacy in HIPAA, email is considered too vulnerable to interception without having a costly and complex secure messaging system in place, thereby putting patient privacy at risk. Faxes are considered more secure since they cannot be pulled out of cyberspace. MUSC chose MyFax to initially serve the inbound fax needs of 700 users. Today when faxes come in, they are tagged with medical record numbers, if required, critical patient information is pulled in from the medical records system. The faxes are then routed automatically to the right department by software that scans the cover sheets and determines where they should go, regardless of the fax number it was sent to originally. Paper consumption has been reduced by a total of nearly 60,000 sheets per month, which works out to nearly three quarters of a million sheets of paper per year. The organization is also saving the energy needed to power all the old fax machines. (Sujit Kar, IT manager for business development and marketing services at MUSC.)

One-to-Watch: NewField IT is an independent software and services company that helps organisations significantly reduce their print and document storage costs. It achieves this by accurately auditing the current costs, transforming paper related processes to an optimised state, and finally managing the new estate through the use of an innovative toolset. http://www.newfieldit.com

95 Express - $62.9 million

TransCore provides integration and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for the deployment of high occupancy tolling or HOT lanes on I-95 in Miami-Dade County, Florida’s first variably priced toll facility. The project known as “95 Express” received $62.9 million in funding from the U. S. Department of Transportation as part of the Urban Partnership Agreement to fight grid lock. I-95 between Miami and Fort Lauderdale is one of the most heavily traveled highways in the nation. South of the Golden Glades Interchange, I-95 carries over 290,000 vehicles per day, with traffic volumes expected to exceed 360,000 vehicles per day by year 2030. It was cost prohibitive to widen the corridor, so congestion management strategies were explored to increase capacity on the existing infrastructure. (Bill Kesselring, deputy director for Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise.)

High performance computing

Clemson University Computational Center for Mobility Systems (CU-CCMS) has selected Voltaire Grid Director InfiniBand switches and 10 Gigabit Ethernet gateways for a high performance computing system based on products from Sun Microsystems. CU-CCMS is a new world-class computational center dedicated to the automotive and transportation industries located at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). Computational simulations that previously required many weeks of processor time should be completed within hours, saving time and costs. In one study with an automotive supplier, CU-CCMS researchers reduced turnaround time for new product simulation by over 80 percent. In another case, prototype development that would have required 12 weeks was replaced with a simulation that requires less than 3 weeks — a 75 percent reduction in the time required from concept to results. (James H. Leylek, Ph.D, CU-CCMS executive director.)

One-to-Watch: Replify virtualized products accelerate applications over wide area and mobile connections without the need for costly hardware. http://www.replify.com

Speech Intelligence

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has entered into an agreement to install Nexidia’s Enterprise Speech Intelligence (ESI) software. The CFTC will use Nexidia ESI for reviewing audio content produced in its investigations of trading activities. The CFTC’s mission is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive trading practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets. In fulfilling its mission, the CFTC routinely requests and receives large volumes of audio recordings. Transcription of hundreds or thousands of hours of content requires weeks or months of processing, while human listening is labor-intensive and inaccurate. The ability to process and review audio recordings quickly and efficiently was at the heart of the agency’s decision to install ESI.

DoD Finance and Accounting - $92 million

The General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) Desktop Management Initiative (DMI) II task order to Unisys. DMI II is a cost plus award fee task order that provides a full suite of managed desktop and help desk services for more than 14,000 DFAS desktop and laptop computers. The task order is valued at an estimated $92 million if all options are exercised. Established in 1991, DFAS is the accounting arm of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the largest accounting and finance agency in the world – processing nearly $2 billion in payments daily. DFAS processes salaries and pensions for 5.3 million active and retired military members and their dependents; disburses payments to DoD contractors; and processes all expenses related to DoD business travel.

Risk mitigation and compliance at Wachovia

Wachovia Dealer Services, a Wells Fargo Company, has joined the AppOne platform. AppOne provides risk mitigation, compliance and automotive-related finance technology to lenders and independent auto dealers throughout the continental United States. Wachovia Dealer Services, the fifth-largest auto finance company in the nation, will purchase automotive retail installment contracts from AppOne’s growing network of independent auto dealers nationwide.

One-to-Watch: Naultilus' unique holography revolutionizes overt and covert solutions for brand and print security. http://www.nautilussecurity.com

Check imaging and item processing

Fulton Financial Corporation, a $16.2 billion regional financial holding company, has selected Metavante Corporation’s Direct Branch and VisionIP as its new enterprise-wide check imaging and item processing solution. (Charlotte Anderson, senior vice president, Fulton Financial.)

Authentication at Devon Bank

Devon Bank has implemented US Biometrics’ multi-factor authentication products in its new Wheeling branch. Devon Bank’s Wheeling branch is a leading example of green design. The project expects to achieve a Gold LEED certification, and is the first bank branch in the state of Illinois to be LEED registered. Devon Bank has deployed the logical and physical control system, including hardware, software and services, with the goal of increasing security and adding convenience to everyday tasks for its employees. Not only is it making employee access to entryways, networks and software easier and faster, but it has also increased customer identity security and securely addressed risk assessment procedures required by regulators. (Dan Loundy, Vice President, Devon Bank.)

ExportAction estimates there are more than 7,000 commercial banks and 2,000 savings banks in the U.S. - not including credit unions.

Customer care

Convergys has won a contract to provide end-to-end customer care for the credit card customers of “a global Fortune Top 10 financial services company” with over 200 million customer accounts. The three-year contract is valued at over $195 million.

Surveillance and data capture at Delta Community Credit Union

Delta Community Credit Union has implemented the Nextiva NetDVR II and MicroDVR II solutions from Verint Video Intelligence Solutions. The deployments – which deliver surveillance and data capture capabilities to Delta Community Credit Union’s entire branch of ATM and teller operations – build upon the organization’s use of the Verint Nextiva portfolio and are part of its core focus on providing members with safe and secure banking. (Gail Ruppersburg, physical security specialist of properties and facilities, Delta Community Credit Union.)

One-toWatch: Lanxoma, security software developed by Unity Solutions, restricts access to the root level of computer operating systems, grants limited time access permission to authorized users and records all activity while the authorized user is logged-on - so being a deterrent to the "insider threat." http://lanxoma.com

IRS electronic payment solutions

Official Payments Corporation, has been awarded a multi-year contract by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide electronic payment solutions for personal and business taxes. Since 1999, when Official Payments began processing federal tax payments for the IRS, the company has processed over $9.0 billion in federal taxes. Official Payments was selected by the IRS to pilot federal electronic tax payments and is the only company that has provided these services continuously since 1999. Payments may be made securely with an American Express, Discover Network, MasterCard card or Visa card.

Credit and debit card processing

Elavon has signed with Tappan Street Restaurant Group’s Taco Mac. The agreement provides credit and debit card processing for all 24 Taco Mac locations throughout metro-Atlanta and Chattanooga. “We’ve been around since 1979,” said Bob Campbell, president of Tappan Street Restaurant Group, Taco Mac’s parent company. “When we first opened our doors, credit card acceptance was a novelty.”

County financial management

San Patricio County, Texas has signed with Tyler Technologies for its financial management solution. The contract includes software licenses, corresponding professional services, maintenance and support. (David Wendel, San Patricio County auditor.)

Energy saving $175,000

The County of Santa Clara has completed a major retrofit of County buildings to save energy using Cypress Envirosystems’ Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT) system. Most commercial buildings ten years or older have pneumatic thermostats that require manual adjustment. The County operates eleven million square feet of existing facilities, with an annual energy cost of $15 million. “The wireless thermostat installation took only eight days and was one of the easiest, fastest and most cost effective energy efficiency improvements we have ever made in our buildings,” said Jeff Draper, Manager of Building Operations. “We installed 350 wireless thermostats for a total project cost of $175,000.” (Supervisor Liz Kniss, President of the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors.)

One-to-Watch: Vesternet, the number one source for anything ZigBee. http://www.zigbee.eu

County wireless links

The County of Buncombe, N.C., has deployed four BridgeWave AR80 point-to-point wireless links, providing backup to the existing county fiber-based network. The BridgeWave links offer full-rate gigabit Ethernet backhaul capacity with the strongest data encryption commercially available. Buncombe County’s IT department supports 1,800 employees working in 20 locations scattered across 660 square miles. Major public safety facilities, including the police station, fire department and emergency medical dispatch, are connected via fiber-optic links. The county sought a reliable wireless solution to back up existing fiber lines, with ample bandwidth to support the county’s VOIP 911 call center. (Bryan Dillingham, network communications manager for Buncombe County.)

One-to-Watch: Brainboxes is a world leader in design, manufacture and support of serial solutions with products selected time after time for commercial, industrial and mission critical applications. http://www.brainboxes.com

Health and safety - $18 million

AECOM Technology, a provider of professional technical and management support services,has won a three-year, $18-million contract to provide environmental, health and safety management services for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP). AECOM will perform the work as part of a joint venture with American Safety Consultants/Allied North America. The project is a continuation of the joint venture’s EH&S oversight services for all NYCDEP projects throughout New York City and parts of upstate New York until 2012. The contract is part of NYCDEP’s $16-billion capital construction program.