By now, everyone is completely sick and tired of the capital letter G and the number 20. Especially when they are linked up with a hyphen. The Pittsburgh Summit 2009 or G-20 went off without a hitch and it was a wonderful thing, but we’re all a little burned out on it by now.

The Council and I (I am an employee after all.), had G-20 on the brain all summer long. I was in the thick of it all last week and had sweet press credentials for the entire conference. (Thanks Allegheny Conference for making that happen!) I had to decompress what was left of my mind over the weekend and sort out my thoughts on key takeaways from this wonderful, yet extremely stressful experience to share with Techburgher readers.

I think my breathing is just about back to normal and all of my grey matter is in its proper place, so in no real particular order:

The Council and its TEQ newsmagazine maximized exposure of the local technology industry with the special G-20 issue that was sent to hundreds of media contacts around the world. During the week of the summit, the magazine was placed into thousands more hands at the G-20 Media Center downtown, the airport and a slew of events, including our Pre-G-20 Forum with Eric Schmidt of Google. He said that the PTC is the nation’s most effective technology council. Wow! What an honor!

The Pre-G-20 event was a smash hit, drawing some 400 people to the first session and more than 600 to the second session as Schmidt detailed his views on Pittsburgh as a tech center and the overall blistering pace of technology transformation.

Operating an elevator is rewarding work. It gets people to the places that they want to go. I operated the elevators all morning at the Google event taking attendees to the second floor of Heinz Field. It’s definitely a job with its ups and downs!

The United States military and law enforcement are supremely awesome. I tip my hat to these men and women. They kept G-20 running like a well-oiled machine and were the backbone to a successful conference.

Love him or hate him, President Obama is a magnetic speaker. He addressed the press at the end of the conference. I’ve never heard him speak in public until then, but he has a captivating mixture of charisma, speaking presence and personality. He still talks about those freaking pancakes from Pamela’s…Very cool to see him and hear him speak.

The success of the Pittsburgh Summit really goes to show how well all of the region’s disparate stakeholders came together and worked for one common cause – that being Pittsburgh. Truly a remarkable example of how we can all work together. I hope there will be more of it in the future.

I overheard a number of media (We were packed onto buses at Mellon Arena to be shipped over to the Convention Center.) commenting positively about the city. It’s purely anecdotal and I try not to eavesdrop on people’s conversations, but I heard numerous comments from media who were surprised to witness our cleanliness and forward-looking vibe. Take that Mr. Hell with the Lid Off.

Anarchist protestors are basically inarticulate at best and look pretty stupid pushing dumpsters. Tibetan Monks know how to protest. Free Tibet!
The price of hot pretzels at the Convention Center is ridiculous. I’ve got the expense report to prove it. It is of global consequence and should be on the agenda of the next G-20 meeting.

Last, but not least, Pittsburgh looked pretty damned cool on the national evening and morning news. Makes me pretty happy to be here.

Here’s some sweet news from enterprise search leader Vivisimo: Gartner, Inc., positioned the company in the leaders quadrant of its Information Access Technology Magic Quadrant report.  The evaluation is based on Vivisimo’s “Completeness of Vision” and its “Ability to Execute.”

“We believe Vivisimo’s leadership position in the Information Access Technology Quadrant reflects the success we have had in helping our customers maximize the business value of their information,” said John Kealey, CEO of Vivisimo.  “Our Velocity search platform unifies access to secure business repositories, presents search results with an unmatched user experience, with an end result of enabling true knowledge sharing across an organization.  We look forward to continued growth in the ever-evolving information access technology market.”

The Vivisimo Velocity Enterprise Search Platform is a flexible and scalable solution for enhancing information access and knowledge sharing across an organization. Velocity customers and partners utilize the rich set of discovery, personalization and collaboration functionality to provide end-users with greater control over their search experience.  Its back-end architecture introduces unprecedented security, connectivity and relevancy into the overall search experience.  The result is improved workforce productivity, enhanced decision making, streamlined business processes and the creation of real value for key external audiences.

Avere Systems, a startup company focused on delivering Demand-Driven Storage solutions, nailed down $15 million in Series A funding from Menlo Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners.  Avere is pioneering the use of multiple storage media in a new scalable architecture that provides enterprise storage customers with breakthrough reductions in cost, space and power. 

Avere founders were members of the visionary team that created Spinnaker Networks, an innovator in scalable grid storage solutions, acquired by NetApp, Inc. in 2004 for $300 million.  Avere’s founder and CEO Ron Bianchini, most recently Senior Vice President, Scalable Systems at NetApp and CEO of Spinnaker Networks, reunited with CTO Michael Kazar and VP of Engineering Daniel Nydick to form Avere in January 2008.  Joining these three to round out the management team are: CFO John Dean, another Spinnaker alumni; VP Sales Brian Gladden, storage veteran and former NetApp colleague; and VP Marketing Rebecca Thompson.

Get more details right here.

Techburgher lassoed a week’s worth of news nuggets that almost slipped between the slats of our super-hot media grill. We pulled these bad boys from the fire to satisfy your never-ending hunger for Pittsburgh tech news. Sink your teeth in right here:

DATAVIBES HONORS BRIAN BERGER

Datavibes, Inc. awarded Brian Berger, Manager – MIS at ServiceLink, a BI Champion award, the first of its kind to be instituted in the tri-state area. The award recognizes individuals who have made a contribution to the local business intelligence (BI) community by demonstrating the impact that BI can make on the business bottom line. Brian Berger was chosen from a pool of influential nominees for his innovative use of Business Intelligence technology to create measurable business impact. Brian used disruptive business intelligence technology to cut down information integration time for a ServiceLink business unit by 10-12 hours every week. This saved the mortgage services company, which is a division of Fidelity National Financial, nearly 500 hours in reporting time on an annual basis.

CTC WINS ARMY CONTRACT

Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) won a competitively-bid contract to participate in the support of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) Omnibus Program. The contract is a five-year, multi-award, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $430 million.  The Omnibus Program is intended to provide TARDEC with additional resources to augment its in-house capability across the entire product acquisition lifecycle.

ANSYS LAUNCHES IMMERSED BOUNDARY MODULE FOR RAPID DESIGN EVALUATION

ANSYS, Inc., a global innovator of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, announced the availability of the Immersed Boundary module for ANSYS® FLUENT® 12.0 software. Jointly developed by ANSYS and long-time partner Cascade Technologies Inc., the module dramatically reduces the amount of time needed for fluid flow simulations and provides fast results by directly addressing challenges associated with meshing. This first release, which is fully parallelized, supports the physical models and boundary conditions needed for modeling low-speed external aerodynamics and automotive front-end airflows. The Immersed Boundary tool offers the ability to save customers time and money by reducing the human effort needed to go from computer-aided design (CAD) to an analysis solution.

PITT NABS $1.06 MILLION PROJECT

The U.S. Department of Energy recently selected the University of Pittsburgh as one of nine national partners that will develop techniques for curtailing the possible environmental and health hazards associated with tapping the massive natural gas reserves lying beneath Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Roughly 70 percent of Pennsylvania sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation, which experts estimate contains up to 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas with about $500 billion worth of recoverable gas.

Researchers in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering will lead a three-year, $1.06 million project to better manage the wastewater generated by the extraction process used on the Marcellus Shale. Difficult to treat, the wastewater usually languishes in reservoirs or the environment. The Pitt approach calls for a new method that would allow the water to be safely reused in gas wells that would contain extraction costs, limit the byproducts flowing into the environment, and reduce the strain on freshwater sources currently tapped during extraction.

Here’s some serious breaking tech news. Looks like The Bosch Group, one of the world’s top MEMS manufacturers, has acquired Pittsburgh-based Akustica, the maker of the world’s smallest and only single-chip MEMS (micro electro-mechanical systems) microphone.

By acquiring Akustica, Bosch has extended its position in the fast-growing MEMS sensor market for consumer electronic devices.

Under the terms of the agreement, Akustica will be integrated into Bosch’s MEMS business and will continue to operate as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary headquartered here in the ‘Burgh.

By most estimates, the MEMS microphone market is predicted to have an annual growth rate of greater than 30%, approaching a 1B unit market in 2012. Also, recent forecasts predict that the overall market for MEMS sensors in consumer and mobile devices will be $2.5B in 2012. This market is expected to be dominated by inertial sensors and microphones, both now mainstays of Bosch’s MEMS product portfolio.

Read more about the acquisition right here.

]]> http://techburgher.pghtech.org/2009/08/03/2009-tech-50-finalists-announced/feed/ 1 bikenerd http://techburgher.pghtech.org/2009/07/29/pioneering-one-to-one-laptop-district-selects-carnegie-learning-math-curricula/ http://techburgher.pghtech.org/2009/07/29/pioneering-one-to-one-laptop-district-selects-carnegie-learning-math-curricula/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:14:05 +0000 bikenerd http://techburgher.pghtech.org/?p=1624 ]]>

It’ll be back to school soon for kids everywhere. Some are going to be getting a richer experience in North Carolina because of some technology developed here in Pittsburgh.

The full suite of Carnegie Learning® Math Curricula Solutions has been adopted by Greene County North Carolina Schools for the District’s middle school and two high schools beginning in August. The 1800-student implementation includes Carnegie Learning® Blended Math Curricula Solutions which integrate interactive software, textbooks, and collaborative classroom activity supported by ongoing formative assessments and professional development services.

Located in rural Snow Hill in eastern North Carolina, Greene County Schools is an innovative leader in integrating technology in the classroom. In 2003, the District instituted iTech, an initiative giving every middle school and high school student a laptop as part of the District’s mission to offer students challenging curricula to prepare them for the 21st century. iTECH has impacted End Of Course scores which rose from 67%-78% during the first year of implementation, and the college-going rate among Greene Central High School students has increased to 94% in the most recent school year, from 26% when the program was introduced.

Students in Greene County will be using Cognitive Tutor® Bridge to Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II programs. The Cognitive Tutor® Software is based upon an artificial intelligence model that incorporates ongoing formative and summative assessments that individualize and differentiate instruction based upon students’ prior knowledge and needs. Carnegie Learning® Textbooks engage students in solving problems that encourage collaboration that strengthens both declarative and procedural knowledge of mathematics. Carnegie Learning® Textbooks will replace McGraw-Hill’s Glencoe math textbooks in the middle school and Pearson’s Prentice Hall math textbooks in the high schools.

Professional development services include implementation training and in-classroom support and coaching, as well as a leadership seminar for district administrators and principals providing an overview of data tools and strategies to support mathematics teachers using Carnegie Learning® instructional materials.

Be sure to tune in to TechVibe Radio on Pittsburgh Business Radio 1360 AM WMNY this Tuesday (7/28) from 3-6 p.m.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo will be behind mic interviewing some of Pittsburgh’s coolest technology industry personalities. Check out who’s on the show this week:

• Five Star Development
• Bike-PGH
• Skill-Life
• Civic Science

All of the cool kids are listening. You should be too! Don’t have access to the AM dial? No worries. Stream it here.

Techburgher has been slacking the past few weeks, straying from its usual Friday technology news roundup. Never fear, we’ve got a few savory headlines for your end-of-the-week enjoyment. Take a few extra napkins. These are juicy:

Carnegie Learning Nabs Top Honors

Carnegie Learning cognitive scientists and research assistants took top honors at EDM ‘09, the Second International Conference on Education Data Mining in Cordoba, Spain, earlier this month. Based upon analysis of data gathered from the company’s Cognitive Tutor® mathematics software the paper, “Reducing the Knowledge Tracing Space”, demonstrated one way to more efficiently model student learning of cognitive skills.

Gatesman Promotes Shannon Baker

GatesmanMarmionDrake, Inc., one of Pittsburgh’s premier marketing and communications agencies, promoted senior staffer Shannon Baker to director of the agency’s public relations practice today. Baker is an experienced and award-winning PR professional whose expertise in media relations has garnered valuable relationships with top national media where she has a proven track record of successfully placing clients with news outlets like Fox News Channel, Good Morning America, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Confluence/USBFS Complete 1st XBRL filing

Confluence, the global investment management industry’s leading provider of automated data management solutions and U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (USBFS) completed their first successful Schedule of Investments filing as part of the SEC’s XBRL Voluntary Filing Program.  ”In order to meet our clients’ expectations for industry-leading technology, we partnered with Confluence to enhance its Unity™ Holdings product by adding the ability to create XBRL filings for Schedules of Investments,” said Eric Falkeis, Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President Technology, USBFS. “With the heightened focus in the industry on mitigation of risk, we are committed to providing our clients with innovative tools to report data with a high level of integrity and accuracy.”

Landslide Makes Another Key Sale

Landslide Technologies, Inc. announced that Metro Fire, provider of comprehensive fire protection equipment, has selected Landslide’s Sales P3 (LSP3) System as its corporate sales system. An experienced provider of fire and safety equipment, Metro Fire has grown as a result of its focus on providing high quality products and prompt service. The need to standardize successful and proven selling practices became important as the size of the sales team grew. The Landslide Sales P3 System’s ability to provide salespeople step by step best-practice process for closing deals not only provided the standardization Metro Fire was looking for, it also provided far greater visibility into the pipeline than traditional CRM solutions.

Looks like GENCO is on a news-making spree this week. This announcement actually made it into the Post-Gazette! Get a quick synopsis right here.

GENCO Supply Chain Solutions, North America’s second largest and a Global Top 50 third-party logistics provider, today announced the acquisition of Dell’s North American remanufacturing operations.  The contract coupled with GENCO’s existing reverse logistics service offerings provides Dell with a complete North American margin recovery solution.

The acquisition includes Dell’s receipt and remanufacturing operations include test, remanufacture, repair and refurbishment of desktop, notebook, server and storage systems, which Dell then sells as refurbished product.  GENCO will extend similar service offerings to other manufacturers of electronic devices in the 298,000 square foot facility located in Lebanon, TN.  GENCO has partnered with Ft. Worth, TX-based InteliSol to provide critical parts harvesting, management and end-of-life recovery services in the same facility.

GENCO Supply Chain Solutions is North America’s second largest and a Global Top 50 third-party logistics provider and the recognized leader in Reverse Logistics.  The company manages over 130 operations and 37 million square feet of warehouse space throughout North America for a diverse range of retail, manufacturing and government customers. The company provides initial and ongoing value through a complete range of solutions, including contract logistics, transportation logistics, parcel negotiation and audits, reverse logistics, damage research, product liquidation, pharmaceutical services, government solutions and technology solutions.  For more information, visit www.genco.com.