GSA Technology Council

AOL Music, yesterday, announced the launch of Tour Tracker, a free web service that allows people to track upcoming tour dates of their favorite musicians.  The site is presented by American Express and available through AOL Music’s home page.  Tour Tracker will not only provide dates and locations of multiple bands’ and musicians’ upcoming shows, but will also provide users with information on the artists’ tours, set lists, and personal experiences on the road.  Some highlights of Tour Tracker include:

• National search by artist, location and date
• Functionality to allow fans and music labels alike to track the artists and tours
• JamBase powered listings provides extensive concert listings – including indie bands and smaller venues and theaters
• MapQuest powered maps and directions to venue locations
• Artist/tour updates and news – including new concert dates

via AOL

A leader in the complex field of automotive systems integration will join the Clemson University faculty as BMW Endowed Chair in Systems Integration in the automotive engineering graduate program at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).
 
Paul Venhovens comes to the university from BMW’s Research and Development headquarters in Munich, Germany, where he worked in the field of systems integration since joining the company in 1995. He most recently served as the leader for Functional Concept Design for the 1 and 3 series with responsibility for functional design and integration of vehicle safety, NVH (noise/vibration/harshness), durability, performance, fuel economy and vehicle dynamics.

Imtiaz Haque, Clemson’s mechanical engineering department chairman, to whom Venhovens will report, said the university’s decision process for this position was the most challenging of the four CU-ICAR-related chairs funded by the state and private investors in 2003 as part of the S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence program.

“Systems integration is the unique focus, one might say the ‘brand’ of CU-ICAR research and education efforts,” Haque said. “The graduate engineering program is designed to meet the complex needs of the worldwide automotive industry and ultimately of consumers by conducting cutting-edge research into the process of integrating the many systems and people that result in the automobile of today and of the future.

“It was essential that we find an individual with both academic and industry perspective to lead our team, to provide our students with a depth of understanding of both academic and industry environments and to deliver on the promise that CU-ICAR will be the premier automotive and motorsports research and educational facility in the world. In our five-year search, Dr. Venhovens stood out as the candidate who clearly fulfills our needs. We are very excited about the broad range of experience he brings to the program.”

In addition to Venhovens, the other CU-ICAR endowed chairs include Tom Kurfess, BMW Endowed Chair in Manufacturing and director of the Carroll A. Campbell Graduate Engineering Center at CU-ICAR (hired in 2005); John Ziegert, Timken Endowed Chair in Automotive Design and Development (hired in 2006); and Todd Hubing, Michelin Endowed Chair in Vehicular Electronic Systems Integration (hired in 2007).

Venhovens received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1993 from Delft University of Technology in his home country of the Netherlands. Before joining BMW, he conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) in Ann Arbor, Mich., in the area of simulation and control design for ITS (lane departure warning and control) applications.  

At BMW his experiences ranged from supervising research projects in Driver Assistance Systems and software engineering at such major universities as Stanford, UMTRI and the University of California-Berkeley, to developing new methods of testing and software tools for functional integration of BIW (literally body-in-white, refers to the basic steel vehicle frame before any components are added), chassis and drivelines to mitigate noise, vibration and harshness.

Tom Kurfess, who chaired the search committee that recommended Venhovens for the position, said he and faculty colleagues welcome the perspective Venhovens brings.

“The concept of this program, with a campus that includes both academic and industry partners in daily contact, offers students, faculty and our partners the best of both worlds,” Kurfess said. “Adding Dr. Venhovens — with his impressive automotive-industry experience — to the Clemson team gives us additional strength in educating the automotive engineers of the future. We welcome his expertise and believe his presence will attract many young researchers to our program.”

via Clemson

At Facebook’s annual f8 Conference yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg announced the latest advancements to the Facebook platform as well as the launch of Facebook Connect.

Facebook Connect provides developers with a sandbox of tools to further enhance the quality and usefulness of the thousands of applications available to Facebook users.  Connect further allows for user interoperability between Facebook and third party websites, providing a safe way for people to move their account information from one site to another.  Some of the key features of Connects, as mentioned at the conference, are:

• Trusted Authentication – easily authenticate into partner sites using their Facebook account
•  Real Identity – leverage their real identity across the Web in a trusted environment
• Friend Linking – take their friends with them wherever they go, enabling trusted social context anywhere on the Web
• Dynamic Privacy – assurance that the same privacy settings users have set up on Facebook will follow them wherever they decide to login throughout the Web
• Social Distribution – share actions on partner sites with their friends back on Facebook through feeds Additional planned participants at launch include: Amiando, CBS.com, CNET, CollegeHumor, Disney-ABC Television Group, Evite, Flock, Hulu, Kongregate, Loopt, Plaxo, Radar, Red Bull, Seesmic, Socialthing!, StumbleUpon, The Insider, Twitter, Uber, Vimeo and Xobni

While the features of Connect obviously provide Facebook with substantial further advertising opportunities it will also allow socially involved web users to operate more seamlessly on a whole variety of different websites that promote people connectedness.

Facebook has also recently been working on a whole new site design which is now beginning to be rolled out to the over 90 million users of the social networking site.

via Facebook 

GE Energy’s fuel-flexible turbine technology has been selected for the expansion of the world’s largest COREX combined-cycle power plant at the Baoshan Iron & Steel Company (Baosteel) complex in Baoshan District, Shanghai, China. Fuel flexibility enables Baosteel to take advantage of a wider range of fuels helping to reduce overall energy costs.

The Baosteel facility is the largest iron and steel production complex in China and exports to more than 40 countries worldwide. The power plant expansion project is designed to increase steel and iron production and also help reduce Baosteel’s operational costs and site emissions.

Under a $150 million contract, GE will supply a Frame 9E gas turbine, a SC5 steam turbine, a fuel gas compressor, generators and additional equipment for the project. GE previously provided similar equipment for the original power plant that was recently constructed at the site.

In addition to the traditional use of natural gas, GE’s fuel-flexible gas turbines will enable the Baosteel power plant to utilize waste gas created during the steel production process. And, the project offers environmental benefits since less waste gas will be available to escape into the atmosphere.

Fuel flexibility is a hallmark of the GE Frame 9E gas turbine, which has the capability to switch from one fuel to another while running under load. The machine can accommodate a range of fuels such as natural gas, light and heavy distillate oil, naphtha, crude oil, residual oil, steel mill gases including COREX and syngases. More than 400 Frame 9E gas turbines have been selected for power generation and industrial projects worldwide.

The project features the integration of world-leading iron technology using a COREX furnace instead of the traditional blast furnace. The COREX process burns uncoked coal, eliminating the need for a coking plant—one of the primary sources of an iron or steel production plant’s emissions.

The gas produced by the COREX process will be used as the primary fuel for the 169-megawatt combined-cycle plant, which will provide electricity to the steel mill and to the local power grid. Backup fuel will be distillated oil.

“Integrating GE’s gas turbine combined-cycle system into the COREX process improves energy conservation by approximately 10 percent. The project will help Baosteel address China’s growing environmental concerns while also saving on energy costs,” said Jack Wen, GE Energy’s region executive for China. “The Baosteel projects mark the first applications of our gas turbine technology for a COREX steel mill in the country, underscoring the value that world-class technology plays in meeting China’s power and environmental needs. “

Shipments of the GE gas and steam turbines to the site are scheduled for September and November of 2009, respectively. Commercial startup of the plant expansion is scheduled for January 2010.

GE Energy has been active in China for more than 90 years and has provided the country with nearly 60 steam turbines and more than 160 gas turbines. GE is a leading supplier of gas turbines for China’s Gas Turbine Power Plants Construction Project, a centerpiece in the nation’s efforts to meet its growing power requirements.

In addition, GE has been providing engineering and service solutions to help Chinese customers improve the reliability and availability of their energy production and transmission assets. GE’s China Technology Center in Shanghai is one of the company’s four global research centers.

vie GE

Google today has announced the first two investments in its RechargeIT initiative, which aims to promote and accelerate the adoption of rechargable plug-in electric vehicles.  The two companies that Google will be Investing in are Aptera Motors of Carlsbad California and ActaCell from Austin Texas.  Both companies are in the process of developing reliable and affordable battery powered vehicles.  Aptera Motors has also developed a prototype vehicle which has achieved 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in testing.

Find out more about these two companies and Google’s plug-in electric vehicle goals by visiting RechargeIT

via Google

Steve, tells it like he sees it, including a bit about their latest high profile defection.

From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:30 PM
To: Microsoft–All Employees
Subject: FY09 Strategic Update

With FY08 complete, I want to discuss my priorities for the year ahead and share my thoughts about the key strategic topics that are on everybody’s mind, including Windows, competition with Apple and Google, our software plus services strategy, and Yahoo.

I also have news about an organizational change and a transition in our Senior Leadership Team.

First, I want to thank you for your hard work and the dedication you showed during the past 12 months. FY08 was a milestone year. Our revenue jumped $9.3 billion to more than $60 billion. Operating profit grew 21 percent to $22.5 billion.

These outstanding numbers are the direct result of your commitment to the priorities I outlined last July. A lot has happened since then, but our fundamental strengths, challenges, and strategic goals remain largely the same. Therefore, my priorities are consistent with last year. In FY09 we must continue to:

1. Invest in the right opportunities;

2. Expand our presence with Windows, Office, and developers;

3. Drive end user excitement for our products;

4. Embrace software plus services; and

5. Focus on employee excellence.

By focusing on these five areas, we can continue to grow revenue, increase profit, and expand our market share. These priorities are also critical as we work to address key issues surrounding our business in the coming year:

· Windows: The success of Windows is our number one job. With SP1 and the work we’ve done with PC manufacturers and our software ecosystem, we’ve addressed device and application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. Now it’s time to tell our story. In the weeks ahead, we’ll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista. And later this year, you’ll see a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers.

We also have to drive developers to create rich applications for Windows. With Internet Explorer and Silverlight, we have great tools for creating applications that run everywhere. But we also need to make sure developers have the .NET skills to write unique Windows applications using Windows Presentation Foundation. To keep today’s Windows applications alive, vibrant, and exciting, we need both—applications that run everywhere and rich client applications.

· Apple: In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple 30-to-1. But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why? Because they are good at providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience. Today, we’re changing the way we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experiences with absolutely no compromises. We’ll do the same with phones—providing choice as we work to create great end-to-end experiences.

· Business and enterprise: Our enterprise and server business has never been stronger—today we are on the verge of becoming the number one enterprise software company. We need to continue to push on all fronts—mail with Exchange, business intelligence with PerformancePoint, virtualization with Hyper-V, and databases with SQL Server. We have to drive our enterprise search capabilities, our unified communications solutions, and our collaboration technologies. And we must continue to compete against Linux in key workloads such as Web servers and high performance computing.

· Software plus services: Some people think software plus services is all about search. But it’s really about changing the way software is written and deployed. The future is about having a platform in the cloud and delivering applications across PCs, phones, TVs, and other devices, at work and in the home. It’s also about driving change in business models through advertising, subscriptions, and online transactions. Software plus services is a huge opportunity for us to deliver new value on the desktop and the server to all of our customers. This year at PDC, you’ll hear more about our cloud platform initiatives and the next versions of our Live and Online technologies.

· Google: We continue to compete with Google on two fronts—in the enterprise, where we lead; and in search, where we trail. In search, our technology has come a long way in a very short time and it’s an area where we’ll continue to invest to be a market leader. Why? Because search is the key to unlocking the enormous market opportunities in advertising, and it is an area that is ripe for innovation. In the coming years, we’ll make progress against Google in search first by upping the ante in R&D through organic innovation and strategic acquisitions. Second, we will out-innovate Google in key areas—we’re already seeing this in our maps and news search. Third, we are going to reinvent the search category through user experience and business model innovation. We’ll introduce new approaches that move beyond a white page with 10 blue links to provide customers with a customized view of their world. This is a long-term battle for our company—and it’s one we’ll continue to fight with persistence and tenacity.

· Yahoo: Related to Google and our search strategy are the discussions we had with Yahoo. I want to emphasize the point I’ve been making all along—Yahoo was a tactic, not a strategy. We want to accelerate our share of search queries and create a bigger pool of advertisers, and Yahoo would have helped us get there faster. But we will get there with or without Yahoo. We have the right people, we’ve made incredible progress in our technology, and we’ll continue to make smart investments that will enable us to build an industry-leading business.

As I mentioned earlier, I have important organizational news. Today we are announcing that the Platforms and Services Division will be split into two businesses: Windows/Windows Live and Online Services. We are also announcing that Kevin Johnson will leave the company. He will work to ensure a smooth transition.

Since 1992, Kevin has been a key contributor to many of this company’s most important achievements. As president of the Platforms and Services Division, Kevin has built an incredibly talented organization and laid the foundation for the future success of Windows and our Online Services Business. Over the last 16 years, through everything from his work as head of the company’s worldwide sales, marketing, and services efforts, to his leadership in transforming our field operations and repositioning the company to focus on opportunities in emerging markets, Kevin has played a vital role in this company’s success. There is no doubt that his passion and dedication will be missed.

Effective immediately, Steven Sinofsky, Jon DeVaan, and Bill Veghte will report directly to me to lead Windows/Windows Live. In the Online Services Business, we will create a new senior leadership position and conduct a search that will span internal and external candidates. In the meantime, Satya Nadella will continue to lead Microsoft’s search, ad platform, and MSN engineering efforts, and Brian McAndrews will continue to lead the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group. Both Windows/Windows Live and the Online Services Business are led by a strong group of executives on the technical and business side who have the talent and experience to address the challenges we face and drive the next generation of growth and success.

Looking ahead, I see an incredibly bright future for our company. As I said at the June 27th Town Hall for Bill, we are the best in the world at doing software and nobody should be confused about this. It doesn’t mean that we can’t improve, but nobody is better than we are. Nobody works harder than we do. Nobody is more tenacious than we are. We’re investing more broadly and more seriously than anybody else. Our opportunities to change the world have never been greater.

I look forward to working with all of you as we focus on our five priorities in FY09.

Steve

Immedion, LLC, a data center and managed services provider, announces the addition of Computer Software Innovations, Inc. (CSI), a South Carolina company, to its client portfolio. CSI outfits school systems, governments and businesses with fully integrated hardware and software systems.

“Immedion is a perfect partner for us”, said Dale Fowler, Software Delivery & Technical Services Manager at CSI. “The 24/7/365 uptime, redundancy, and tight security are required for the data that we manage for county governments, municipalities, and school districts. For example, our Gemini Managed Back-Up solution provides organizations with warm-site access to their back-up data in the event of a natural disaster or system failure. We also host a number of web servers for Online Bill Payments and ASP customers running our Financial Application. Immedion is ideal for these mission critical solutions and has always provided the highest level of service.”

CSI provides software and technology solutions primarily to public sector markets. CSI has more than doubled its revenue in the past two years to over $55 million by using organic growth and acquisitions to fuel an aggressive expansion from its Southeast base. Over 600 school, government and non-profit organizations have CSI solutions that encompass financial management software specialized for the public sector, IT infrastructure, IP telephony, IP video surveillance, printing/imaging and interactive classroom technologies.

Immedion CEO, Frank Mobley commented, “We are very pleased to have CSI Technology Outfitters as a client and are proud that our technical staff was able to create a finely honed solution for their needs. Immedion is dedicated to supporting and protecting IT infrastructure, and we look forward to working with Dale and his group at CSI.”

Immedion’s client services include data center space, Internet resources and managed services including technology management, network security, and primary and backup data storage solutions. Immedion customers are able to leverage the enterprise level data center to minimize critical computer system downtime caused by commercial power outages, Internet problems, or other system failures. By leveraging biometrics, 24/7 staffing and other security measures, Immedion provides customers around the clock access to computing systems without the need of a prior appointment.

via Immedion

Topaz Publications, Inc., a provider of design and development of technical training courses and technical documentation today announced the opening of its new corporate headquarters in Greenville, SC. The company will continue to maintain its existing operations in Liverpool, NY, a Syracuse suburb, and Gainesville FL.

“Topaz Publications is eager to join the dynamic Upstate business community and we look forward to collaborating with businesses in the Upstate and the Southeast that require high-quality technical training and documentation,” Topaz Publications CEO Thomas P. Burke said. “As we began to explore corporate relocation opportunities, it rapidly became evident that the Upstate business and manufacturing climate and the market’s needs match the offerings of Topaz Publications.

Topaz Publications works in development and production of technical training courses and technical documentation, offering customers manuals and multimedia courseware for internal and external use and providing total outsourced management of technical documentation and training projects.

Topaz primarily targets manufacturers and engineering firms who must train operators and maintenance workers, document their internal work procedures, or communicate product safety, operation, and maintenance to their customers and employees.

The company, which moved from Liverpool, NY, a suburb of Syracuse, has opened an office on Garlington Road in Greenville to service Southeastern clients, including manufacturers and engineering firms. The company, which willcelebrate its 20th  year in operation in 2009, prides itself on its ability to handle

via Topaz Publications

Fluor Corporation  announced today that it is expanding its presence in southeast Asia with a new and expanded operations office in Singapore. The new location will offer a range of services to Fluor’s clients in the energy, chemicals, industrial, infrastructure, operations and maintenance sectors.

Fluor’s new office is located at 80 Robinson Road, #02-00 in Singapore’s central business district. Nearly 100 employees are expected to be working in the 15,000 square-foot facility by the end of the year. The company will host an open house for clients, business associates, dignitaries and employees on Thursday, July 24, 2008, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Singapore Standard Time.

For more than 30 years, Fluor has maintained a substantial long-term presence in the area supporting ongoing projects and is now expanding its operations to accommodate the developing market in Singapore and to better serve client needs.

The Singapore office will offer a base of operations to serve many of Fluor’s local client project sites and will complement existing Asian operations located in the Philippines, Indonesia, India and China.

“Our expansion in Singapore is a direct response to the needs of our clients,” said David Seaton, Fluor’s group president of Energy and Chemicals. “Having a strong base of operations in Singapore will help Fluor better execute our projects and meet client goals as well as enhance our ability to work with the people and business community in southeast Asia.”

via Fluor

The prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences has elected Roger Stolen, a distinguished visiting professor in materials science and engineering at Clemson University, as a foreign member.

Stolen is a pioneer in the field of optics, the science and technology of generating and harnessing light, and is a Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) faculty member. He studies new materials that interact with light in ways that have critical commercial application in the fields of telecommunications, defense, sensing and displays.

“This is a very significant honor,” said Chris Przirembel, vice president for research and economic development at Clemson. “This membership gives Roger Stolen, and therefore the Clemson optics community, the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most brilliant minds in the world in the field of optics.”

Stolen worked for Bell Labs for 30 years and was part of the team that first observed optical solitons, which are ultra-short pulses that travel great distances without dispersion. Soliton properties of optical pulses play an important role in modern high-capacity optical communication systems. Since 1971, he has been involved in most aspects of fiber optics research, especially fiber nonlinear optics, fiber measurements, novel fibers and fiber components. He is a retired professor of electrical engineering at Virginia Tech and joined COMSET in April 2006.

Stolen received a bachelor of arts from St. Olaf College and a Ph.D. in solid state physics from the University of California at Berkley, followed by post-doctoral work at the University of Toronto. In 1990, he was awarded the Optical Society of America’s (OSA) R.W. Wood Prize in recognition of pioneering studies in optical fibers, and in 2005 he received the Institute of Electrical Engineers/OSA John Tyndall Award for contributions that include the identification and understanding of the alteration in frequency and in the phase of light passing through a transparent optical fiber. The IEEE and OSA are two of the world’s leading professional associations for the advancement of technology.

The Russian Academy of Sciences was established in 1724 and is recognized not only as the supreme scientific institution in Russia but as one of the most successful science academies in the world. Many of its members have made invaluable contributions to world science.

via Clemson