Kennametal Inc. - Kennametal Inc. aspires to be the premier tooling solutions supplier in the world with operational excellence throughout the value chain and best-in-class manufacturing and technology. http://www.kennametal.com

MECCO – MECCO offers the latest innovations in direct part marking for traceability, verification, and part identification in manufacturing, assembly, and other harsh environments. MECCO features a full range of marking technology, including MeccoMark fiber lasers, as well as CO₂, diode-pumped, and flash lamp lasers as well as a complete line of dot-peen indent markers with portable, benchtop, integrated, and custom systems available. http://www.mecco.com

 New Perspective Productions – New Perspective is a full-service provider of corporate video, broadcast TV and radio spots and interactive multimedia solutions, including CD and DVD authoring and specialized Internet applications. http://www.new-perspective.com

Pennatronics Corporation – Pennatronics Corporation provides electronic manufacturing services on a contract basis to original equipment manufacturers. We have a state-of-the-art facility in western Pennsylvania capable of assembling leading-edge component and design technology used in the printed circuit industry. http://www.pennatronics.com

ReGear Life Sciences, Inc. – ReGear Life Sciences develops and markets innovative products that provide deep-tissue therapeutic heating to promote pain relief, reduce joint stiffness, and facilitate the body’s natural healing process. http://www.regearlife.com

SCA Technologies, LLC – SCA Technologies is the leading provider of Intelligent Cost Management solutions. Our methodologies focus clients’ enterprise processes on anticipating changes and taking timely action. Our solutions predict the impact of changes in demand and operations on revenue, cost and profits that drive decision making to improve results in anticipation of changes. http://www.sca-tech.com

Sustainable Pittsburgh – Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses. http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org

Thar Technologies – Thar Technologies, Inc., is a global leader in supercritical fluid technology whose single-point-of-access platform delivers supercritical fluid process and equipment technologies to the food, chemical, electronics and pharmaceutical industries. http://www.thartech.com

True Commerce, Inc. – TrueCommerce is a Pittsburgh-based EDI solutions provider founded in 1995. From the beginning, the company vision has been to provide small to mid-tier companies with a comprehensive, end-to-end EDI solution that is easy to implement and fully integrates with their accounting software. http://www.truecommerce.com

Vox Energy – Vox Energy Solutions provides professional design, installation and maintenance for alternative energy systems.  We leverage our expertise and services to enable customers to save money, meet their energy goals and environmental objectives. http://www.voxenergysolutions.com

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“With increasing demand for sleep disorder tests, sleep centers, physicians and technicians need tools and services that offer improved scoring consistency and efficiency; enabling them to focus on those parts of the sleep study and other activities that require their professional expertise,“ said Don Spence, CEO of Philips Home Healthcare Solutions. “The Somnolyzer 24 x 7 solution is a strategically valuable addition to Philips’ sleep diagnostic portfolio which will enable us to offer improved sleep lab productivity and further drive growth of sleep diagnostics for our customers and our business.”

Sleep diagnostic testing is expected to continue to grow in the next few years with increasing global awareness of sleep disorders such as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). In developed markets, automated scoring technology represents an opportunity to improve the productivity of sleep centers. This automated scoring technology can also enable sleep centers in emerging markets to cope with the challenges of increasing demand for sleep diagnostic testing and the scarcity of sleep specialists.

The acquisition of the auto-scoring business of the Siesta Group will further reinforce Philips’ leadership in the strategic growth area of home healthcare, sustaining Philips’ expansion in the sleep diagnostics and OSA therapy markets globally.

“In today’s knowledge economy, Vivisimo does more than simply throw sophisticated technology at its customers, it provides real solutions through inspired planning and execution throughout the entire constituency chain,” says Hugh McKellar, editor in chief of KMWorld. Read all about it right here.

“Cyber security involves more than small barriers, such as anti-virus software and knowing to delete spam,” said Wiam Younes, training and awareness coordinator with CMU’s Information Security Office, who presented the cross-state videoconference from PSC. “It requires a wall of defenses. Cyber-security education must be thorough to help students and teachers keep themselves safe from the wide range of threats and dangers online.”

“The K-12 community, understandably, is particularly sensitive to security threats and this session was very helpful in fostering safe Internet practices,” said Greg Palmer, executive director of MAGPI, which is part of the central Information Systems and Computing division at Penn.  “With a growing emphasis on incorporating Web sites and virtual tours into the curriculum, it’s important to have sessions like this, and videoconferencing allows the widest possible distribution without tapping into already strained budgets. We’re looking forward to collaborating with PSC and 3ROX to offer additional program sessions, the next being on February 26.”

Wendy Huntoon, PSC director of networking, helped to arrange the collaboration with MAGPI, an eastern Pennsylvania counterpart to 3ROX (Three Rivers Optical Exchange), a high-performance network hub for education and research in southwest-central Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  “This PSC and 3ROX collaboration with MAGPI,” said Huntoon, “leveraged their expertise in K-12 education with videoconferencing to deliver services in K-12 school districts. With SAFE-Net as a pilot program, we demonstrated that we can use video as a content delivery method, as MAGPI has done for years, as an effective way to reach educators within the school environment, with the convenience and economy of not having to gather at a central location.”

Through SAFE-Net, PSC presents workshops that train educators and provide materials for classroom learning — developed in collaboration with the CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) Program at CMU’s Software Engineering Institute. These materials address cyber threats, measures of protection, and questions of cyber ethics that arise as a result of social networking and other wide uses of the Internet.

Coming off a record year in revenue in 2009, Zycron’s vision is to increase revenue to $100 million within the next five to seven years as stated by President and CEO Steven Howard Smith. The recent expansion of Zycron’s IT Governance practice, a solid foundation with long- term clients in shipping, health care, energy, and government, and the anticipation of new business generation are all factors that he expects to support Zycron’s growth.   

 “Our expansion into Pittsburgh is consistent with the Zycron model to follow our clients,” Smith said. “Zycron-Pittsburgh was strategically placed to support one of Zycron’s long-term clients who we’ve served since 2003. However, we have immediately begun to seek new client partners in the IT industry in that region.”  

 The Zycron-Pittsburgh office will be managed by Marjorie Spegar, who has 15 years experience in IT account management in the Pittsburgh area. She most recently was a senior sales manager at Elite Staffing & Consulting in Washington, Pa., where she was responsible for all operations including sales, recruiting, client management, marketing and overall business strategy. 

 Zycron experienced a net 38 percent growth in staff companywide from January to December 2009, and record revenue of $21 million. Zycron is a full-service IT consulting firm and has operations in four U.S. cities and a joint venture in Latin America. Founded in 1991, Zycron is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., employing 250 professionals. 

 Zycron Chairman and Founder Darrell Freeman will be the keynote speaker tomorrow, Feb. 24, at the Western Pennsylvania Minority Supplier Development Council’s Supplier Diversity Town Hall Meeting at CCAC- Student Services Center Auditorium, 800 Ridge Ave. on Pittsburgh’s North Side. The meeting has a special focus to help MBEs and Corporations focus on the threats and opportunities they will face in 2010 and provide specific steps they can take to grow their businesses.

The presentation will showcase the state’s efforts to manage the IT challenges of 45 state agencies that employ 80,000 people in service of Pennsylvania’s 12.5 million citizens. Equally important, Secretary Creedon will be joined by Anne Rung, Deputy Secretary for Procurement, who will discuss the state’s procurement processes and provide an overview of specific procurement provisions that are designed to support small and minority owned businesses.

With more than $1 billion in annual IT expenditures, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has become of one the world’s largest IT consumers/users. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to learn about the role that IT plays in state government and how your company can help the state meet its goals!

Get all of the details right here.

Cheetah Technologies, LP, a leader in HFC network performance and monitoring, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Symmetricom’s (NASDAQ: SYMM) Video Quality Monitoring Business – a leading provider of video quality, performance and monitoring software. Today’s acquisition extends Cheetah’s powerful solutions for real-time voice, video and data quality of service and performance monitoring. The transaction is expected to close in late February, subject to customary closing conditions.

Adding the Video Quality Monitoring solution builds upon an already successful monitoring platform. Cheetah Technologies’ network management solutions are deployed in more than 25 countries and manage hundreds of thousands of network devices. The resulting outcome of the combined businesses will help network service providers unify their network monitoring, deploy a unique and innovative origination-to-edge monitoring fabric and improve quality monitoring capabilities, offering video consumers a best-in-class video experience.

“Consumers of entertainment-grade video have high expectations of virtually perfect video quality. As a result, our customers are becoming much more sophisticated in developing their companywide video monitoring strategies. They are looking for unified tools and processes to help them monitor the video quality across their entire network more effectively – from source to consumer experience,” said Cheetah’s Steve John, Chief Executive Officer. “With the Video Quality Monitoring Business, we’re gaining a market-leading solution, giving customers the power to dive deep into video packets throughout every key part of their network and resulting in the best video experience on any screen for their customers. Cheetah now offers the strongest and most complete combination of source to experience unified network monitoring tools on the market today.”

Formally part of the Telecom Solutions Division of Symmetricom, the Video Quality Monitoring platform enables carriers, Internet service providers and cable operators to understand how their actual video service quality is perceived by end-users. Knowing in real-time the quality of the video offerings end-to-end is critical for assuring customer satisfaction and avoiding churn. With over $30 million invested in the Video Quality Monitoring Business, it has been deployed or is in trials with twenty-one MSOs, Telcos, programmers and communication technology providers. The group has also inked strategic partnership and/or reseller agreements with Ericsson, HP, Alcatel-Lucent, IBM and is part of Microsoft’s Mediaroom Ecosystem.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cheetah Technologies will purchase all assets of the Video Quality Monitoring Business including the technology and intellectual property for $2.25 million. The transaction is subject to normal closing requirements and should close by the end of February. Walt Ungerer of Corporate Game Plan acted as strategic M&A advisor to Cheetah Technologies.