GSA Technology Council

The July Executive IT Forum will be on July 14th.  It is expected to be hosted at Rockwell Automation headquarters at I-85 & I-385 in Greenville this month, confirmation, location and direction details will follow.

As always, a full breakfast will be served buffet style beginning at 7:30 a.m.  Presentations will begin at 8:00 a.m.  The final presentations will be delivered during our catered lunch and will end just before 1:00 p.m.

The Forum agenda for July will feature Part II of successful strategies for “Running IT Like a Business.”  This month reviews an in-depth case study of how USAA spun off their IT department as a separate business so that it now runs as a profit center. There have been some interesting obstacles along the way, but IT productivity is now double what it was before the change and their annual budget is 20% lower

The forum will also consider the pro’s and con’s and how-to’s for effective internal marketing of IT within a corporation and professor Ron Fulbright will lead a discussion on improving IT personnel morale. Additional presentations will be made on “How to choose an enterprise standard Java application server” and “How to put hard value numbers on your IT infrastructure.”

Lunch-time presentations will include IT News Tidbits, The Skill Set of a Successful CIO, Why CIO’s should become privacy champions, Why is IT Alignment so elusive, A Gartner Report: Backlash against offshoring to vanish by 2006 and HP’s latest push:  “Adaptive Enterprise”

RSVP to rrouth@ginesys.com

Executive Alliance, Inc. and Computer Security Institute today announced the official Call for Nominations for the first annual Information Security Executive (ISE) of the Year National Award(TM) 2004. Nomination forms for this prestigious award are currently available at www.infosecaward.com and will be accepted until Friday, August 13, 2004. The winner of the ISE National Award will be named at an evening Award Ceremony held in conjunction with the CSI 31st Annual Computer Security Conference and Exhibition on Monday, November 8, 2004.

The GSP Developers Guild Meets 6:30 PM on Tuesday, June 15th  at TEC Knowledge, 600 Laurens Rd. for a discussion of SQL Server Reporting Services by Ryan Wood of Datastream and Sourcescape. RSVP to jwalling@wallingis.com. (full story)

Wany Robotics’ Pekee™ robot is an open robotic development toolkit for researchers, educators, and students in technology. Pekee helps you understand robotics and robotic software, from basic concepts to high-level development in the Wany Robotic Software Lab™. These tools give fast hands-on experience with all the latest in robotics, from algorithms for autonomous movement and obstacle avoidance, to embedded video, network, signal analysis, and artificial intelligence. Pekee is the ideal platform for complete experimentation in electronics, computer science, and robotics.

More info: http://www.wanyrobotics.com/robots.html

Wany Robotics’ Pekee™ robot is an open robotic development toolkit for researchers, educators, and students in technology. Pekee helps you understand robotics and robotic software, from basic concepts to high-level development in the Wany Robotic Software Lab™. These tools give fast hands-on experience with all the latest in robotics, from algorithms for autonomous movement and obstacle avoidance, to embedded video, network, signal analysis, and artificial intelligence. Pekee is the ideal platform for complete experimentation in electronics, computer science, and robotics.

More info: http://www.wanyrobotics.com/robots.html

palmOne, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLMO) today announced that Good Samaritan Society, the nation’s largest not-for-profit long-term care provider, purchased 500 Tungsten(TM) E handhelds, which will be used to streamline resident information management, improve the quality of care for residents and improve communication between staff members. Good Samaritan also plans to provide certified nursing assistants with Tungsten E handhelds in the fourth calendar quarter of 2004. (more)

palmOne, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLMO) today announced that Good Samaritan Society, the nation’s largest not-for-profit long-term care provider, purchased 500 Tungsten(TM) E handhelds, which will be used to streamline resident information management, improve the quality of care for residents and improve communication between staff members. Good Samaritan also plans to provide certified nursing assistants with Tungsten E handhelds in the fourth calendar quarter of 2004.

Keeping accurate and up-to-date paper-based records about each resident’s activities was difficult and time-consuming for caregivers working at Good Samaritan’s 250 care centers in 25 states nationwide. By developing a custom application for tracking resident’s activities with Tungsten E handhelds, Good Samaritan caregivers can now review resident activity schedules and more accurately document details about resident participation right at the point of care. At the end of a shift, all resident data collected that day can be downloaded to Good Samaritan’s servers in less than one minute. Previously it took an average of 28 minutes at the end of a day for staff to document their shifts.

“Good Samaritan Society is a non-profit organization, and better than 75 percent of our caregivers have little if any technology experience, so affordability and ease of use were two key reasons we chose the Tungsten E,” said Gary Sikma, project manager at Good Samaritan Society. “The handhelds cut the amount of time our staff spends on data entry and administrative tasks so they can spend more time caring for residents and providing them a richer, fuller life experience.”

Later this year, Good Samaritan Society will expand its handheld program to include 1,200-1,500 of Good Samaritan Society’s 7,200 certified nursing assistants, who work in shifts around the clock.

“palmOne is making a difference in the everyday work life of today’s healthcare providers by increasing staff efficiency, lowering costs, improving information accuracy and ultimately providing better patient care,” said Mike Lorion, vice president, vertical markets, at palmOne. “The variety of applications palmOne(TM) handhelds and smartphones support enables us to address the needs of the healthcare industry at every level — from physicians who need sophisticated decision support, to long-term care staff that require a simple, efficient way to gather information about people in their care.”

Nursing assistants at Good Samaritan’s care centers will use Tungsten E handhelds to review the residents’ care plans at the point of care and document health information concerning the residents, such as blood pressure, pulse, weight, dietary intake, and a host of other data required to adequately ensure proper care that currently is collected on various paper forms and patient charts located in different areas of each facility.

ScanSource, Inc. (Nasdaq:SCSC), a leading international distributor of AIDC (automatic identification and data capture), POS (point of sale) and telephony products for the reseller market has been named one of the nation’s “100 Hot Growth Companies” by BusinessWeek magazine.

To select its Hot Growth companies, BusinessWeek considers publicly traded companies with revenues ranging from $50 million to $1.5 billion who have a minimum market cap and share price of $25 million and $5 per share, respectively. These companies are then ranked by sales and earnings growth and return on capital over a three-year period. Companies are cut if they have had a recent earnings drop or have underperformed the S&P Industrial Composite Index. (more)

ScanSource, Inc. (Nasdaq:SCSC), a leading international distributor of AIDC (automatic identification and data capture), POS (point of sale) and telephony products for the reseller market has been named one of the nation’s “100 Hot Growth Companies” by BusinessWeek magazine.

To select its Hot Growth companies, BusinessWeek considers publicly traded companies with revenues ranging from $50 million to $1.5 billion who have a minimum market cap and share price of $25 million and $5 per share, respectively. These companies are then ranked by sales and earnings growth and return on capital over a three-year period. Companies are cut if they have had a recent earnings drop or have underperformed the S&P Industrial Composite Index.

The Company ranked #84 on this list for 2004, and, according to BusinessWeek, over the three year period, ScanSource posted a 27% annual increase in sales, an 18% annual increase in earnings, and had a 13% annual return on capital.

“We’re pleased to be recognized for our growth. We’ve continued to grow by expanding to international markets and by adding programs to enhance the value of the indirect channel,” said Mike Baur President and CEO of ScanSource. “We appreciate the dedicated efforts of our employees, the continued support of our customers, and the valued partnerships we have with our vendors.”

About ScanSource, Inc.

ScanSource, Inc. is the leading international distributor of specialty technology products, including automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) and point-of-sale (POS) products through its ScanSource sales unit; Avaya voice, data and converged communications products through its Catalyst Telecom sales unit; and communications products from Intel and NEC through its Paracon sales unit.

The Company serves the North America marketplace and has an international segment, which sells AIDC and POS products in Latin America and Europe. Founded in 1992, the Company markets products from more than 80 technology manufacturers to over 15,000 value-added technology resellers and is committed to empowering them with tools and services designed to help them grow. For more information, call the toll-free sales telephone number at 800.944.2432 or visit www.scansource.com.

Stratatomic has recently launched a new website and business venture at www.ExploreHiltonHead.com. The new website will serve as a resource for Hilton Head Island visitors and locals alike with links and contact information for area Accommodations, Golf, Tennis, Restaurants, Marinas, Real Estate and Shopping.

The site features more than 20 different categories pertaining to Hilton Head activities, offering island businesses unique advertising opportunities in a number of categories. Stratatomic plans to mount an aggressive search engine marketing campaign with a goal of 10,000 unique visitors per month,