Wireless Matrix, a Herndon, VA-based provider of software solutions designed to improve service fleet delivery metrics, and Colorado-based GeoNav Group International, announced yesterday their first client since establishing a formal business partnership several days ago that is designed to maximize data and navigation capabilities for their clients.

The companies new joint solution will be implemented for the Victory Electric Cooperative, which serves southwestern Kansas residents with electricity. The goal of the implementation is to combine Wireless Matrix’s in-cab navigation and messaging solution, TechConnect™, with GeoNav’s Utility Navigator – a solution that utilizes data in a Garmin Personal Navigation Device. The system to be installed will incorporate infrastructure data from the Victory Electric Cooperative and enable its fleet to see poles, meters, transformers and other critical infrastructure on a Garmin device.

According to a press release posted on their website, J. Richard Carlson, president and CEO of Wireless Matrix said that, “Utility companies like Victory Electric expect and demand more from their mobile resource management providers than dots on a map. Our solution has become an integral part of their day-to-day operations and by partnering with GeoNav, together we can provide valuable data to the utility marketplace, enabling them to better operate and drive bottom-line results.”

AOL’s board officially approved layoffs of approximately 7,000 workers (about 1/3 the company’s total workforce) yesterday. The company had announced the layoffs previously, but this was the first official act by the board since AOL became a separate company from Time Warner a few weeks ago.

The news pushed AOL’s stock higher in the NYSE this past week, however, AOL faces a number of challenges as seeks to stand on its own two-feet.

Namely, AOL was the only top 5 web property in the US to have year over year declines in visitors to its web sites. In fact, AOL has suffered a 28% year over year decline in its subscriber base.

Despite the layoffs and some declines in subscribers,  AOL continues to adapt and reshape itself. A recent Wall Street Journal report noted that the company was in talks to sell its ICQ instant-messaging service in a deal that could inject some fresh capital into the company – ranging from $175 million to $300 million.

BoxTone, a Columbia, Maryland-based company that develops software for smartphone device management, announced it has established a public sector unit designed to serve federal, state and local governments as well as other public sector organizations and the military.

The Company, which recently surpassed 500,000 enterprise-connected BlackBerry smartphones that are being managed, tracked and controlled by the BoxTone software suite, has over 230 businesses and government agencies as clients. In addition to supporting BlackBerry users on an enterprise level, BoxTone also supports the ActiveSync platform, which features iPhone, Android, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile devices.

With the rapid growth of smartphone deployment through the government and public sector, BoxTone has seen the need for a mobile platform that supports emergency communication, mobile applications and other critical needs rise. Already the provider for the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Capitol Police, General Services Administration, and state and local government clients, BoxTone sees the rollout of a public sector unit as a logical step to help provide enhance services and support.

In a recent press release, BoxTone vice president for the public sector practice, Brian Murphy, confirmed as much, saying, “With an existing client base of top-tier federal, state and local governments and military organizations using our software to harden their mobile platforms, BoxTone is now launching our Public Sector Practice to focus increased resources on the support and success of all mobile government professionals.”

This article originally appears in dcTechSource at: http://www.dctechsource.com/boxtone_launches_mobility_management_unit_for_public_sector.aspx

Centrifuge Systems, a leading provider of business intelligence software and interactive analytics based in McLean, Virginia, announced Vince Barrett and Chris Walton had joined their senior management team.

Vince Barrett has joined Centrifuge as Vice President of Business Development and is responsible for growing the company’s partner relationships and commercial market penetration. Barrett was with QlikTech, a business intelligence company based in Pennsylvania with over a dozen offices globally. Barrett has more than 15 years experience in marketing, business development and building alliances. In addition to QlikTech, Barrett has worked at SAP, Mediaguide and Siebel Systems, and oversaw development of mission-critical systems for the B-1 and B-2 aircraft as a US Air Force officer. Mr. Barrett has a BS in Economics from the US Air Force Academy, a Master’s in Public Management from University of Maryland, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In addition to Barrett, Chris Walton was promoted to Vice President of Intelligence Operations. Walton has been with Centrifuge for 3 years as Director of Professional Services, handling deployments for government clients. Walton will now manage all operations involving Intelligence markets for state and local governments, as well as the US Government. Walton also has a military background, flying surface surveillance, counter narcotics and antisubmarine missions for the US Navy. He has a BS in Mathematics from the US Naval Academy.

This article originally appears in dcTechSource at: http://www.dctechsource.com/centrifuge_announces_hire_of_vince_barrett_as_vp.aspx

OutStart, a social business software and learning systems developer based in Boston, Massachusetts, has merged with Warrenton, VA-based Hot Lava Software, in a deal that will roll Hot Lava’s mobile learning application product line under the OutStart name. Hot Lava Software CEO, Bob Sanregret, will serve as Vice President of the OutStart Hot Lava division.

Hot Lava Software become an industry leader in mobile learning with a mobile desktop authoring solution that allowed users to build mobile content and applications that are deployable in 98 percent of all mobile phones. Hot Lava’s delivery and tracking services distribute mlearning content via WAP or directly to mobile devices, and automatically tracks who accessed the mobile content and can compile results from people who took surveys or tests using the Hot Lava built application.

According to a recent release, OutStart CEO Massood Zarrabian was quoted as saying that customers desired mobile applications. To meet the growing need of customers, Zarrabian said, “We identified Hot Lava Software as the leader in both mobile technology and, with over 1,000,000 registered users, customer implementations. Merging with Hot Lava enables us to leap far ahead of our industry in support of mobile requirements.”

Bob Sanregret said that “Merging with OutStart provides Hot Lava with additional resources and a link to OutStart customers who will enable us to better take advantage of the incredible potential that mobile offers.

This article originally appears in dcTechSource at: http://www.dctechsource.com/outstart_merges_with_hot_lava.aspx

Today marks the last day that AOL will have a corporate connection to Time Warner. The two companies officially separate on December 10 and a “new” AOL will emerge on the New York Stock Exchange listed as a separate company.

Over the last several weeks, AOL has been aggressively moving to put the merger with Time Warner behind them. To accomplish this AOL has partnered with Wolff Olins, a brand management consulting firm, to give the company a more creative image – one with expression. Though the official transfer of AOL’s logo occurs tomorrow, the new imagery was unveiled last month (click here to see AOL’s new brand identity video), and demonstrates that the company is setting out on a course to redefine itself as more of a unique media and global web services company.

As part of this process, AOL has announced layoffs of roughly 2,500 employees across all its divisions, and began hiring more journalists and media professionals to help build staff for its new content management platform and media properties.

One such hire occurred yesterday as Saul Hansell, a former technology reporter and editor for The New York Times, joined AOL. He will be programming director for AOL’s Seed.com, a content management platform expected to be launched this month. Hansell will work to leverage Seed’s content throughout AOL’s media platforms. Seed, which is a platform for freelance journalists, photographers and videographers, is designed to give AOL’s media properties more of an edge in displaying fresh and dynamic content – as opposed to relying on just internal staff to cover content production for all its units. Seed has a few thousand freelancers and determines payment terms and edits content.

More information about AOL’s new independence is expected over the coming days. Many industry observers will be watching Chairman and CEO, Tim Armstrong, who is speaking this afternoon at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference at 12:00 noon, Eastern.  AOL is providing an audio webcast online at http://ir.aol.com. According to AOL, to listen to the live webcast, go to: http://ir.aol.com and click on the “UBS Global Media and Communications Conference” link under “Events and Presentations.”  AOL urges people to visit the site 15 minutes prior to ensure you can register and download any applicable software prior to Armstrong’s remarks.

This post originally appeared at dcTechSource at: http://www.dctechsource.com/aol_set_to_unveil_new_identity.aspx

It also has appeared on the Local Media Blog at: http://blog.kelseygroup.com/index.php/2009/12/09/aol-set-to-stand-on-its-own-and-unveil-its-new-identity/

BroadSoft, a Gaithersburg-based company that specializes in VoIP applications to the telecommunications industry, has announced that XO Communications will harness its trunking capabilities to provide a more centralized and cost-effective VoIP offering to large-scale businesses.

The enterprise trunking feature in the BroadWorks VoIP application platform coupled with XO Communication’s SIP Communications Solution will enable larger organizations to “transform their distributed PBX/PSTN interconnection to a more centralized and cost-effective VoIP solution.”

According to a recent release, Vince Margiotta, vice president of product marketing at XO Communications, said that “Leveraging BroadWorks to support our new XO Enterprise SIP service is a natural evolution for us given the success of XO IP Flex services and our long-term relationship with BroadSoft®.

“Working with large enterprises, we discovered they have unique business continuity requirements that the BroadWorks platform could address for our new offering. BroadSoft successfully translated these service requirements into technology, allowing us to further expand penetration into the Fortune 500 market.”

The new solution offered by XO will help larger organizations that operate in multiple states, including banks, retailers and others who have specialized needs in SIP trunking.

SIP, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is used to control multimedia sessions. The process of trunking is used to allow VoIP outside of an enterprise network by using the same connection as the Internet connection.

This post originally appears in dcTechSource at: http://www.dctechsource.com/broadsoft_to_help_enable_xos_voip_solution.aspx

5AM Solutions, a company that develops innovative software solutions for academic, government, commercial, and non-profit life sciences organizations, announced the launch of the Family Helix Community, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people use family history to improve human health. The Family Helix Community is designed to provide an interactive forum for researchers, epidemiologists and clinicians so they may collaborate. The site also provides free online tools for patients to securely record, track and store family health history.

“To date, efforts to collect health histories have resulted in the development of disparate tools and technologies to gather and disseminate information from patients to caregivers to researchers,” noted Brent Gendleman, 5AM Solutions CEO.  “We were happy to provide initial funding and support of the Family Helix Community, where people can exchange ideas and information on the best and most efficient ways to define and accurately collect family health data in a standardized manner.”

Both 5AM Solutions and Family Helix are working closely with the National Coalition for Health Integration in a strategic partnership to ensure development of online tools meets the needs of patients and healthcare professionals.

The site includes portals for patients and professionals, as well as a tool where people can build their online health history (the service is offered in English and Spanish), a blog as well as information on important healthcare meetings taking place around the country.

“Patients and physicians aren’t the only ones interested in family health histories. Researchers are curious to measure how “it runs in the family” correlates to diagnosis, accords with genetic results, or actually predicts risk. Geneticists want to see testing results next to patient family histories because it gives them context beyond the dna. Etiologists, policy- and grant-makers want to understand the value and best ways to collect family health histories. Across the spectrum of science, health, government, and the personal, there is a need to explore, discuss, collaborate, and share questions and ideas and technologies around this issue. Family Helix exists to be a forum for those who are interested in the topic of family health history. Family Helix aims to foster awareness, collaboration, community, and communication that support the impact of family health history information on research, treatment, policy, and health.” – Leslie Power, Founder of 5AM Solutions

Power notes that “we seek to be the go-to source of information for the family health history community. This forum is wide open to those with an interest in the topic. We welcome you to join the conversation!”

This post originally appeared in dcTechSource at: http://www.dctechsource.com/5am_solutions_announces_launch_of_family_helix_community.aspx

In a region more known for being the seat of the federal government and home to the Redskins, many companies are striving to be more innovative in developing technologies, solutions and best-practices that are environmentally sound, and conserve energy and resources.
The resulting emergence of companies increasingly focused on green IT and technology is starting to recast the region into a different mold – one of an incubator for businesses focused on renewable energy and more environmentally-sound technologies.

One company blazing the new trail is Power Loft. Nestled in Innovation Park in Prince William County, Virginia, Power Loft, a northern Virginia-based company that specializes in the development and ownership of high-density, high-security data centers, has built a facility that will not only allow for increased computing capacity, but uses 30% less electricity in the process.

In fact, Power Loft’s data center is expected to generate an annual environmental savings equivalent to 270,000 barrels of oil or enough electricity to power over 12,000 homes for one year.

“We wanted to do something different,” said James Coakley, Power Loft’s president and chief executive officer. “In every facility we’ve seen, the more you increased demand at the rack the more your non-IT and IT equipment compete for space, power and cooling.”

So, with that traditional data center challenge in mind, Coakley and his team set out to solve the scaling of IT systems and resources. Along the way they sought out best practices to reduce power demands from almost every industry imaginable, and worked to design a data center that is set to leave one of the best environmental footprints in the nation without sacrificing computing power.

In the end, Power Loft built a two-story complex that allows for high densities and incorporates numerous green technologies, from forced air cooling and water cooling, to state-of-the-art air ventilation systems and a green wall that scales the building to reduce the impact of outside temperatures. The design has garnered Power Loft numerous accolades, including the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Green Award.

Such an accomplishment sets a new standard in data center development certain to be studied and replicated throughout the country. But the fact that such an environmental trend-setter has come from the metro-DC area and not out in the west coast or in Europe has helped raised the profile of Washington, DC as an emerging leader in environmental technologies and practices.

“A lot of the early green movement is rooted in technology,” notes Art Stewart, President and Chief Strategy Officer at Stewart Strategies Group, a strategic consulting firm that helps companies hone their corporate and social responsibility policies.

“Now corporations include green technology as part of their overall strategy around corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility is now the broad, connecting platform that ties green and other company initiatives together.”

Stewart sees the strong technology base in the metro-DC region as an excellent launching pad for more green technologies and environmental-friendly business practices.

“I do agree that in many instances technology is driving a new consciousness for green strategy, for sustainability strategy and for responsibility strategy,” Stewart said, pointing out that a few area technology companies are now developing software to help businesses better measure their carbon footprint and implement more sustainable office policies.

One of the regional leaders in developing green business practices for their corporate operations has been CSC. Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., CSC is a global leader in providing technology-enabled solutions and services, and was credited with implementing corporate-wide efforts to reduce energy use and recycle waste and technology during the NVTC TechCelebration banquet. CSC, like Power Loft, also won a Green Award and has been recognized in other journals for its efforts.

Turtle Wings is another company that is striving to shift the traditional paradigm of how companies do business. Based in Capitol Heights, MD, Turtle Wings is a woman-owned business that helps companies reuse and recycle their electronics hardware.

According to Elizabeth Wilmot, president of Turtle Wings, “Green technology encompasses a total life-cycle of all equipment.” She notes that a lot of companies talk about recycling computer equipment and hardware, but said it is important for businesses to be diligent in their recycling efforts to ensure that the materials turned over are going to go back “into circulation or recycle it here in the United States.”

In addition to the many companies that have focused on local markets, corporate-wide efforts or strategic planning, Catch the Wind, a high technology company headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, is carrying the Washington, DC mantle across the country and overseas.

A developer and manufacturer of laser based wind sensor systems that help guide wind turbines, Catch the Wind is focused on developing technology to serve the wind power generation industry – a market strategy that gives it quite a powerful reach throughout the world.

“There are more than 80,000 1 mega watt, or larger, turbines globally,” David Samuels, chief financial officer for Catch the Wind noted. Samuels added, “We are looking at retrofit right now on older turbines as well as installing new systems.”

Many other area companies also have received accolades for their development of green technologies, as noted by the wide range of finalists in NVTC’s recent Green Awards.

As businesses recover from the current recession, all indicators are that technology, and more specifically – green technologies – are going to help lead the way. With a growing tech surge in the metropolitan Washington, DC region, this should mean more area businesses will end up growing green.

This post originally appears in dcTechSource at: http://www.dctechsource.com/green_technology_growing_strong_in_washington_area.aspx

It seems as if a lot more people are talking about Twitter, its lack of a business model and how the service can be monetized. One idea is to charge users a small fee. I’ve heard various proposals around this, including – a charge up to your first 1,000 followers or a charge after you reach 1,000 followers.

The truth of the matter is – if Twitter were to charge anything for its basic service, people would stop using Twitter and jump onto another free service. Or another service would evolve and take Twitter’s place.

For the company as a whole, it’s time to start thinking less about advertising or a fee-for-service model for all Twitter users and think more about an enterprise model for Twitter’s corporate base. I recognize that on the surface this may seem contradictory to Twitter’s overall purpose or what many in the Twitter-sphere like about the microblogging platform. But the core reality of what Twitter is and what makes Twitter strong is the opt-in / opt-out nature of its user base; and the ability of people to find other people or companies that have something interesting to say. The truth of the matter is that if a corporation were to ever abuse its audience – its audience would essentially disappear. Twitter is not ABC – so mass appeal is not required – however appeal is absolutely necessary for success.

In my view an enterprise level application or SaaS for Twitter would be fine, but it would need to encompass a few key attributes:

1) There would need to be better management of each person a business account user had as a follower. This means Twitter users in general would need to offer up more data about themselves, such as a valid e-mail, website, and greater description of who they are. In turn, Twitter would need to develop a better system to allow for organizing followers by geographic information and other identifiers.

2) Following a business account with an enterprise-level profile would have to include more opt-in features. Followers would need to be able to specify their preferred method of contact beyond Twitter, and outline how they do not want to be contacted.

3) Similarly, business account holders would be able to offer information to a user that goes beyond Twitter feeds, such as discount coupons, targeted product placements and better customer support.

These are just a few items that would be needed in an enterprise version of Twitter.

Whether or not Twitter goes down this path, I think the alternatives offer Twitter less longevity in the market. Developing a more business-friendly solution would accelerate its adoption and allow for greater interaction to take place between a consumer and a business.