October 28, 2003 (No. 17)
The NTC News Summary Edition Sponsor
is
NTC Sustaining Sponsor for this Edition is
Other NTC Sustaining Sponsors, here.
The next edition of the news
summary is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov.
5.
UPFRONT:
Vanderbilt University
School of Engineering
announced the school and fuel-cell manufacturer Power
Avenue, a unit linked to Swiss-based PowerTek
International, have signed a
memorandum of understanding for collaboration on
hydrogen fuel-cell research. Engineering Dean
Kenneth Galloway says the agreement will further
strengthen VU efforts to establish a world-class
research facility for fuel-cell research. VUSE
Mechanical Engineering Prof. Alvin Strauss will lead the
effort and he told NTC this morning that further
important ramifications from his work lie ahead. VUSE
Statement here. Nash. Bus. Journal item, Oct. 28, here.
Tenn. Bureau of Investigation Deputy
Director David Jennings told NTC earlier today that TBI
is preparing RFPs and/or requests for grants and other
funding to strengthen TBI systems related to
cell-phone tracking; wiretap and electronic surveillance
(digital intercepts); sex-offender registration
database; case file management system; further
strengthening lab and criminal MIS systems, as well as
all systems' interoperability with FBI and other
technologies. Story on retirement of TBI Director Larry
Wallace, Green Hills News, Oct. 23, p. 2, not on web.
TN Lottery CEO Rebecca Paul defends
drafting Georgia Lottery's SVP/F&IS Andy Davis as
Chief Technology Officer and other staff, The
Tennessean, 1B, Oct. 28, here. The City Paper, Oct. 28, p. 1, here. Knox.
News Sentinel, Oct. 28, here.
Tennessean, Oct. 25, 1B, here. Nash.
Bus. Journal, Oct. 24, here. See
description of Davis' tech domain while at Georgia, NTC
news summary of Sept. 23, here. Few
bidders on Lottery gaming operations, Knox. News
Sentinel, Oct. 28, here.
New Economy Institute (NEI) says TVA,
Oak Ridge NL, AEDC, other sites will experience massive
tech brain drain, as post-Sputnik-era tech pros
retire, The Associated Press, Oct. 27. NEI Director
Greg Sedrick leads the Workforce Aging Management
Program (WAMP), with U.S. Dept of Labor funding secured
in part through efforts of Rep. Zach WAMP (R-3). Sedrick
told NTC this morning that with the recovery of the
stock market and, thus, the value of stock-supported
retirement benefits, the retirement trend seems to be
worsening. An OakRidge newspaper story (3/03) explained
the overall strategy, here. NEI
website should go active Saturday (11/1), here. Oak
Ridge NL Deputy Director for Science and Technology Lee
Riedinger told NTC (10/27) that while the
retiring-workforce issue is a "challenge," it is
manageable, thus far. He noted that ORNL, Marshall Space
Flight Center and Arnold Engineering center are
addressing challenges and opportunities as part of a
"trilateral alliance." Oak Ridge NL strategy to recruit
key talent: "Make this the most desirable national lab
in which one could want to work," says
Riedinger.
Cybera
Inc. lands big VPN
deal with Mapco for 248 retail outlets in seven
states, Nash. Bus. Journal, Oct. 24, p. 1, here. Also, Amanda C. Cauley has been named
Cybera VP-Marketing. Cauley was previously with
Help4Life and that firm's purchasor, EBM
Solutions, itself now part of Healthgate
(see Healthcare, below).
NETWORK
2003 Business and
Technology Showcase launches
tomorrow evening with Tech/Business After Hours, followed by Thursday's keynote session
and technology, management and sales/marketing educational
offerings. The Technology
Track features: CIO Leadership
Challenges, with Paul Cleckner, Deloitte &
Touche; John Doss, Healthcare Management Systems, Inc.;
Tim Getsay, Vanderbilt University; Richard McKinney,
Metro Nashville/Davidson County. Panel on
Security includes Ray Wagner of Gartner; Thomas
Lewis of Praemunio and Bradley Lide of The CyberAngel.
The WiFi-Cellular panel features Dale Rosnowski
of Cisco, David Kessler of Verizon Wireless. Customer
Service Technologies features Joel Jensen of
Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions and Doug Blumhardt
of Gideons International. Thursday, also, Nashville Technology Council President
David Condra convenes the first NTC Forum. Keynote speaker is Asurion CEO Bret
Comolli -- all in Nashville
Convention Center. Register now, visit here!
Inflow will host web and e-commerce and
provide managed services for Cracker Barrel Old
Country Store, parent CBRL Group, Inc., and sister
subsidiary, Logan's Roadhouse, Inc. Inflow release, Oct.
27, here.
Grand jury subpoena probes State
contracts with Technology Partners, Education Networks
of America, The Tennessean, Oct. 24, B1, here. AP via Knox. News Sentinel, Oct. 25,
here. ENA
summary of service in Tennessee, here.
HealthTrust signs McKesson to 3-year
agreement, Nash. Bus. Journal, Oct. 24, here. BusinessWire release, here, Oct.
24.
Spring Hill resident commutes to
Huntsville for technology job at NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center, Tennessean, Oct. 27, here.
BellSouth, AT&T merger talks face
hurdles, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 27, (sub) here. Speculation resumes around prospect of
BellSouth acquisition of AT&T, Wall Street Journal,
Oct. 24, (sub), here.
Related, Investors Business Daily, Oct. 27, here.
Bloomberg via Tennessean, Oct. 25, page 2E, not on web.
BellSouth analysts briefing set for Nov. 10, here.
AT&T has global relationship with The Associated
Press, AT&T release, Oct. 14, here.
HEALTHCARE:
Healthstream's 3rd quarter investor
conference call tomorrow (10/29, 8 a.m. CST) will be
live via the web, and posted thereafter; live and later,here.
Ingram
Goup President David
Jarrard told NTC (10/24) that Health Management
Directions Inc.'s "Smart Hospital"
unit has retained his firm for execution of a
grassroots PR campaign supporting HMD's proposal to build hospital in Brentwood, and the
campaign is underway. Coverage of the HMD hospital
proposal: The City Paper, p. 17, Oct. 24, here.
Area hospitals' quality rankings widely
available to consumers via Internet, Tennessean,
Oct. 28, 1A & 1E.
WEST & EAST
TENN:
FedEx Institute for Technnology at
University of Memphis celebrates grand opening, Nov.
19, with FedEx CEO Frederick Smith and Senator Bill
Frist among celebrants. Commercial Appeal, Oct. 24,
here.
Verizon Communications cuts Enterprise
Solutions Group in Memphis, Commercial Appeal, Oct.
23, here.
Memphis incubator hosts Lan One Inc. IP
telephony/IT services provider, Commercial Appeal,
Oct. 23, here.
Technology Resources Foundation,
partner of TN Techology Development Corp., moves
into FedEx Institute of Technology at U. of Memphis,
Commercial Appeal, Oct. 24, here.
Memphis' "The
Seam" trades 5-millionth cotton
bale online, Commercial Appeal, Oct. 24, here.
DC court action reached Memphis
Thursday, when the Justice Department moved to stop
Concord EFS (Memphis) deal with First Data Corp., on
concerns that PIN debit network competition will suffer,
Commercial Appeal, Oct. 24, here.
VENTURE /
ENTERPRISE:
Tennessean sees Venture capital
investments seen escalating in 3rd Quarter '03,
Tennessean, 3E, Oct. 28, here. Roundup cites DigiScript, Geriatrix,
GTx, PerfectServe and others. Nationally, Washington
Post reports slight drop-off in 3Q VC investments,
WaPost, Oct. 28, here.
Related, Nash. Bus. Journal, Oct. 28, here.
Rush Capital LLC seeks to securitize
intellectual property and patents (Rush Law Group), Nash. Bus. Journal, Oct. 24, p. 3,
here.
Nashville Technology Council is
identifying NTC Members who are creating proprietary
software products that they own and re-sell,
license, deliver via web, etc., with an eye toward
creation of a special-interest group focusing on
software development and marketing. Initially, the
emphasis is on firms that create products for sale to
other enterprises. If your firm meets these criteria,
please write Milt Capps at mcapps@technologycouncil.com or call (615)
743-3168.
BulldogIT raises $1.4 million for
growth, The City Paper, Oct. 24, p. 17, here. For earlier stories, here.
Frank Platt, a telephony veteran since
1970, recently joined Ideacom
Networks, the Tim
Meehan-driven franchise descendant of Executone
Nashville (founded 1945), as vice president-business
development. A longtime NTC volunteer leader, Platt's
technology career began with South Central Bell
(BellSouth). He was associated with JLC Corp
(Teledata/Blackbox) from 1976 to 1983, a founding
partner with the healthcare consulting firm of Hospital
Communications Consultants and a partner in the IT
Solutions firm Cottonwood (1990 til its acquisition in
2000). He was most recently a senior business consultant
for Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions. Platt joins
Ideacom as the PBX-oriented company evolves to meet
increased emphasis on open systems, including IP
telephony, converged networks, unified messaging and
customer-management centers. Platt said Oct. 24 that
Ideacom has more than 4,000 customers, nationwide;
regionally, there are about 40 Ideacom employees and
over 500 customers.
Kevin Ancelin named president of Adtec
Digital, Nash. Bus. Journal, p. 17 Achievers, Oct.
24, not on web. Earlier NBJ story, Oct. 2, here.
GOVERNMENT:
Knoxville/Knox County Audit shows needs
for greater integration of data systems and related
operations, Knox. News Sentinel, Oct. 27, here.
Tennessee's trade mission to Japan and
Korea continues through Friday (10/31). Governor
Bredesen, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, TN
Economic-Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber
visiting Bridgestone, Toyota, Toshiba, Fuji Photo Film,
others.
Metro Nashville
IS using Accela
Kiva
DMS to connect six key Metro
departments, by moving to enterprise
land-information system, including modules for
data-access for permit application and tracking,
inspections, planning, zoning, licensing and code
enforcement, Nash. Bus. Journal, Oct. 27, here. Accela will exhibit during the December
Congress of
Cities in Nashville.
Friday, Oct. 31 is deadline for Metro
RFP
03-139 for Business continuity,
disaster recovery services. Metro says three
prospective bidders attended the Oct. 14 pre-proposal
conference.
GAO says competition among pay-tv
providers in cable and direct-satellite sectors is good
for consumers, Washington Post, Oct. 25, here. Bloomberg via The Tennessean, p. 2E,
Oct. 25, not on web. Related, Cable economics and
Comcast growth, New York Times, Oct. 20, here.
To urge consumer firewalls and other
precautions, a Cybersecurity consumer ad campaign
planned by Department of Homeland Security and National
Cyber Security Alliance, Washington Post, Oct. 23, here.
State and local governments' IT
outsourcing to grow from $10 billion to $23 billion per
year in five years, according to Input report, via
Washington Post, Oct. 23. To view report free with
registration, visit here.
Tennessee opens Homeland Security
Office in Madison County, Nash. Bus. Journal, Oct.
27, here.
FedEx reportedly wants to block
nomination of DOT official, Commercial Appeal, Oct.
25, here.
EDUCATION & PROF.
DEVELOPMENT:
"Management Skills for IT
Professionals," Nov. 5-7, inclusive, 24 PDUs from
Project Management Institute, cosponsored by
Nashville Technology Council with Jay Ress. For details,
costs, registration, visit here.
Report: Tennessee universities only
"marginally competitive" in winning National Science
Foundation grants, but laggard status produces some
advantage in set-aside grant program, Knox. News
Sentinel, Oct. 24, here.
Resources:
A majority of readers of this News
Summary who responded to our recent Readership Survey
indicated they hope we can continue to provide the
Summary to all who are interested. If you are not
already an NTC member, please know your membership would
make a big difference in fulfilling NTC's mission. When
you join and take full advantage of your NTC member
benefits, membership pays for itself. Please join now or
refer a non-member, today. (There's still time to be
included in both print and online NTC Tech directories.)
Just visit NTC Membership
for the Membership menu. Thank you!
Software, hardware geeks create tech
tools that find investors and markets, and they're
key as Silicon Valley "reboots," New York Times,
Oct. 26, here.
MIT Students' approach to file-sharing
via campus cable system could make controversy moot,
New York Times, Oct. 27, here.
Microsoft gives fuller look at
Longhorn, Washington Post, Oct. 27, here. IBM and Microsoft views differ on
future of the Internet, New York Times, Oct. 27, here.
Monitoring Metro and State Requests for
Proposals and Bids
State of Tennessee:
Tennessee Lottery, here.
Lottery procurement policies, here.
Capital Projects Management,here.
University of
Tennessee:
University of Tennessee purchasing, here. UT
contracts list, here.
TN Board of Regents IT Contracts, here.
Cities/Counties:
Metro Nashville/Davidson County, here.
City of Memphis, here. Shelby
County, here.
City of Chattanooga, here.
Scheduled Events: Asterisk (
* ) denotes new or revised
item.
(Oct. 28) "Wireless Technology": Trends
& Solutions for Business, by Sumner County
Technology Council, Forward Sumner and area
Chambers. No charge, 4-6 p.m., Hendersonville High
School, register (615) 822-9320 or rsvp@sumnertechnology.org
(Oct. 28) Women in Technology in
Tennessee (WITT) program, details here. Business Continuity Planning:
Corporate Pain or Corporate Gain? Panel: Gary Seay,
CIO, Community Health Systems; Rick Henry, CTO/COO,
Paymaxx; Belinda Watkins, IT VP and CISO, Federal
Express; Mary Beth Wilson, Principal, Business
Resilience and Continuity Services Consulting Practice.
(Oct. 28) PMI Nashville meeting with
Herb Gabora on "No-Bull Project Management,"
details
here.
(Oct. 29-30) NTC / Chamber - Annual
"NETWORK Showcase of Business & Technology."
Networking, exhibitors, educational tracks -- more than
100 exhibitors already signed, click.
(Oct. 30) Nashville Technology Council
Forum, President David Condra, for details,
registration, see item in Upfront section above or write
here.
(Nov. 5) Professional-Technical Career
Fair, Nashville State Community College, details,
here. Current
exhibitors, here.
(Nov. 5-7) Nashville Technology
Council, "Management Skills for IT Professionals,"
Jay Ress of TMA Seminars, TN Economic Development
Center, 8:30a-4:30p., click.
(Nov. 6) NTC Technology Round Table,
"Sarbanes-Oxley: Risk Assessment and IT
responsibility," Steve Tisdell, Principal, Nashville Management
Group, register, here.
(Nov. 6) Annual Forum, Memphis Chapter
of Society for Information Management, here.
(Nov. 10-11) Innovation Strategy:
Identifying Barriers to Business, Owen GSM,
Vanderbilt, here.
(Nov. 10-12) Healthcare Delivery
Solutions Congress, co-sponsored by NTC, for
details, click.
Speakers announced, here.
(Nov. 12-15) American Society of Civil
Engineers, national conference and expo,
Nashville, here.
(Nov. 13) Bureau of Industry and
Security Outreach and Educational Services Division,
"Essentials of Export Controls,"
BellSouth Tower, 7:30 a.m. registration, program
8:30a.m.-4:30 p.m., details here.
(Nov. 13) HIPAA Impact on IT, Ed
Miller, CTO of Digichart, AITP Nashville, register,
here.
(Nov. 13) Dr. Duncan T. Moore,
Prof.-Optical Engng., Univ. Rochester, former Assoc.
Director for Technology in The White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, discusses "Establishing Federal Priorities in
Science and Technology," Jacobs Audit.,
Featheringill Hall, VU School of
Engineering.
(Nov. 17-19) TN Venture Forum, by
TN Tech. Development Corp., Chattanooga, details, here.
(Nov. 19-20) ITEC, Memphis. TN OIR
Deputy Commissioner Richard Rognehaugh and City of
Memphis CIO Darryl Anderson are the keynote speakers,
here.
(Dec. 3-5) Tennessee Education
Technology Conference, details here.
Related, here.
(Dec. 4) Seminar on Liability issues
for engineers, Tennessee Engineering Center,
Adventure Sci. Center, Don Friedman of Crow Friedman
Group, presented by TN Society of Professional
Engineers, et al, write ctoler@tnec.org
for details or call (615) 242-2486
(Dec. 4) NTC Technology Round Table,
"State of Tennessee IT: Strategic Planning, Project
Management, & Cyber Security," Richard Rognehaugh,
Deputy Commissioner - Office of Information Resources,
State of Tennessee, reception and dinner. Related
resources, here.
(Dec. 9) Nashville Technology Council
"Holiday Business Mixer," Tuesday, 5:30 p.m., Two
Doors Down, Demonbreun Street, cash bar. Map, here.
(Dec. 11) AITP Nashville chapter
meeting, Dr. Sonny Reynolds (humor). Register, here.
(Dec. 18) InfraGard mid-TN, chapter
meeting, 2 p.m., presentation to be announced.
Updates,
here.
For information about Nashville Technology
Council programs, services and sponsorships:
For previous editions of "News of
Nashville Technology," click here. |
|
