GSA Technology Council

Fluor Corporation has announced that several of its senior executives, along with notable UK Government officials, local dignitaries and SEGRO executives participated in the official groundbreaking ceremony for Fluor’s new UK headquarters in Farnborough.

In November 2008, Fluor announced the relocation of its UK operations centre to SEGRO’s IQ Farnborough development in Hampshire. While financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, it was reported that the deal was one of the largest real estate transactions in the Thames Valley since 2001.

“This will be a world-class centre of excellence in Farnborough,” said Lord Mandelson, the UK Government’s Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. “The jobs and skills that this sustains will help strengthen Britain’s capacity as a world leader in engineering. The sector is vital to the UK’s future success, and we welcome Fluor’s investment. I am gladdened that a well-regarded global business such as Fluor is placing the UK at the heart of its operations.”

“Fluor has a long history of meeting the needs of our UK and international clients from our UK operations centre and this new location and state-of-the-art facilities will greatly improve our ability to do just that,” said David Seaton, president of Fluor Corporation’s Energy & Chemicals Group. “Relocating to Farnborough IQ will help Fluor with recruiting and retaining employees, commuting to and from work, realizing energy efficiencies as well as having access to world class amenities. We look forward to being an active corporate citizen in the region.”

“Today is a great day for Fluor and for our UK employees.” said Ian Thomas, Managing Director of Fluor LTD. “For more than 50 years, Fluor has been active in many key UK markets such as energy and chemicals; power; renewable energy; manufacturing and life sciences; nuclear; transportation and telecommunications. In the UK, we have nearly 1,800 employees working for clients from around the globe helping them meet the needs of their customers in diverse end markets. Farnborough is the ideal place for Fluor to execute our work of behalf of these clients.”

Construction of the new campus is now underway, with completion expected by mid-2010. Fluor has been headquartered in Camberley since the mid-1980s and has maintained a permanent operation centre in the UK for more than 50 years.

Fluor’s new UK headquarters will include a state-of-the art, four-building complex comprising approximately 210,000 square feet. It will consist of one building of approximately 76,000 square feet owned by Fluor and an additional 134,000 square feet of leases in three other adjoining buildings. All four buildings will be new construction. Fluor’s current UK office is located in Camberley, Surrey, which is a short five miles from the new office site.

IQ Farnborough is a SEGRO-owned work/live development located approximately 35 minutes southwest of London and adjacent to the Farnborough airport. Many UK-based and international companies maintain offices and operations at the location.

via Fluor

ScanSource, Inc., an international value-added distributor of specialty technology products, has been named to Forbes Magazine’s annual Platinum 400 – Best Big Companies list for the fourth time. ScanSource is included in the Technology Hardware and Equipment industry, one of 26 industries highlighted.

Forbes Magazine develops its Platinum 400 list by screening more than 1,000 corporations with $1 billion or more in revenue, a stock price of at least $5 per share and positive equity. They select their list based on such factors as sales and earnings growth, debt to total capital, earnings outlook and stock market returns.

According to Forbes Magazine, to get down to a final list of 400 Platinum companies, they began by assigning companies into 26 industries and ranking them against their industry peers on five-year and 12-month sales and earnings growth, as well as total return to shareholders. The ranking system also included consensus forecasts for long-term earnings growth and debt-to-capital ratios. Using these individual rankings – weighted more for some items than others – Forbes gave each company a composite ranking score and an overall rank within its industry.

“It’s always an honor to be recognized for achievement and growth,” said Mike Baur, CEO, ScanSource, Inc. “This is further evidence of the strength and commitment of our employees, as well as the solid relationships we have with our manufacturer and reseller partners.”

via ScanSource

TPM of Charlotte announces the purchase of a 74,000 SF building in Pressley Park office complex to house their Charlotte business and production operations. The new office building, located at 900 Pressley Road, will provide TPM with a strategic location and workplace they need to service and build upon their growing customer base.

The new facility will house state-of-the-art Autodesk training facilities, in-house operating demo room designed for Canon multifunction devices as well as HP, Canon, Xerox and Océ large-format printers and plotters, full-service reprographics plan room and Color Lab large-format graphics department.

Greenville based TPM expanded its business into the Charlotte market in 2007 by acquiring A&E Printing and Graphics.

via: TPM

EDTS, LLC, a full-service technology consulting firm, specializing in networking, security, and managed services support solutions for businesses throughout the Southeast, announces the hiring of Tremayne Washington as an Account Manager in its Augusta, Georgia office.

Washington received a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from Newberry College and has been working in sales for twelve years. He was previously employed by Office Max in Business Sales.

“Tremayne’s knowledge and experience will be a true asset to the EDTS Sales Team,” said Lynn Huff, EDTS Sales Manager. “We are very pleased to have him on board,” added Huff.

EDTS began in 1999 with only two employees and has continually expanded its services and increased its staff to twenty-four in 2009. The combined knowledge of the EDTS workforce represents more than 175 years of experience in the Information Technology industry.

via: www.edtsolutions.com

Topaz Publications, Inc. announces the launch of a new service called “Virtual Training Department,” offering employers a broad range of training management, planning, and development services.

“A lot of small and medium-sized manufacturing firms need to provide training for their skill workers, and sometimes their customers, but often they can’t justify the cost of a full-time training manager and training staff. We serve as an adjunct training department, helping companies identify and meet their ongoing training needs without having to absorb the financial burden of maintaining a full-time training staff,” said Thomas P. Burke, CEO of Topaz Publications, Inc.

The Upstate is host to nearly 1000 manufacturers, all of whom use skill workers in their manufacturing operations. Burke observed that the technical colleges in the area do a fantastic job of training workers for employment as machine operators and industrial technicians, but each employer has its own processes, procedures, and machines that their employees must learn. There is also a need for in-plant cross-training that must be addressed.

“Designing, developing, and delivering training requires a wide array of skills that can only be acquired through education and experience,” he said. “That’s what Topaz brings to the table. We start out by identifying the knowledge and performance skills needed for each job classification. Then we look at all the training methods that can be applied to the need, including community college offerings, manufacturer schools, off-the-shelf training programs, OJT, and finally, in-house computer-based and instructor-led training.”

Topaz Publications, Inc. – a national leader in the design and development of technical training courses and technical documentation relocated the company’s corporate headquarters to Greenville SC, last year. The company is celebrating its 20th anniversary in business this year.

Topaz employees have developed technical manuals and training programs for leading U.S. manufacturers. Topaz is also the select source for the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and Prentice Hall, one of the nation’s leading publishers of technical textbooks in print and electronic form.

ScanSource, Inc., an international distributor of AIDC (automatic identification and data capture), point of sale, communications and electronic security products for the reseller market, today announced complete financial results for its second quarter ended December 31, 2008.

“Customers in all our business segments experienced less demand for their products and services due to the global economic crisis,” said Mike Baur, CEO, ScanSource, Inc. “In spite of these lower sales results, we achieved higher profitability than expected.”

For the quarter ended December 31, 2008, net sales decreased 14% to $477 million compared to $553 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007. Quarterly operating income decreased 27.7% to $18.4 million from $25.4 million for the comparable prior year quarter. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 34.8%, compared to 37.7% for the prior year quarter. Net income decreased 12.5% to $13.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 versus $15.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007. It should be noted that during the current quarter, the Company settled a legal claim against a former service provider, which resulted in a $3.5 million recovery ($2.2 million after tax or $0.08 per diluted share) that was recorded as Other Income in the accompanying condensed consolidated income statement.

via ScanSource

FORTUNE announced Thursday that Milliken & Company has been ranked #64 on the 12th annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. Once again, Milliken is the only South Carolina-based company to make the list. Milliken also ranked #17 on the Best MEDIUM-Sized Company list. The full list and related stories appear in the February 2 issue of FORTUNE, available on newsstands on Monday, January 26, and now at www.fortune.com/bestcompanies.

A driving factor for the companies on this year’s list is that they excel at creating jobs. Of the 100 companies on the 2009 list, 73 are currently hiring.

In his FORTUNE.com blog, Managing Editor Andy Serwer writes, “No matter what happens with the economy, the demand for talent will remain. Great companies know that super-motivated, happy, world-class employees are an incredible competitive advantage.”

To pick the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” FORTUNE works with Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz of the Great Place to Work(R) Institute — a global research and consulting firm with offices in 30 countries — to conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America.

“Making FORTUNE’s ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list for a fifth time is great recognition for all our associates,” stated Joe Salley, President & CEO. “Their constant engagement and dedication to building a strong culture of integrity, innovation, and excellence is truly what makes Milliken successful.”

More than 81,000 employees from 353 companies responded to the 57-question survey created by the Institute. Two-thirds of a company’s score is based on the survey, which is sent to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees. The remaining third is based on a company’s responses to the Culture Audit questionnaire, which asks detailed questions about demographics, pay and benefits, and open-ended questions on philosophy, communication and more.

Any company that is at least seven years old with more the 1,000 U.S. employees is eligible to be included on the list. The deadline for applying for next year’s list is March 31, 2009. For an online nomination form, go to www.greatplacetowork-100best.com.

via Milliken & Company

It looks like the cold weather did not keep people away Tech After Five. We had a good crowd and there seemed to be a lot happening in the room. Check out this month’s photos:

Thanks to Patrick Greer for capturing this month’s event.

So you’re either new to Twitter and you want to know who the cool kids are, or your an old hand at Twitter looking for some local tech types to keep in touch with. For you we offer a Twitter list of the 50 people who gave us their Twitter name for last night’s Tech After Five.

The list is unadorned because I couldn’t think of any way to decorate it. I am absolutely open to suggestions in that area. What you can do, however, courtesy of our Snap plug-in is let your cursor drift over the names and get a preview of their Twitter page before you even click on it.

@rmaris
@allella
@andrewramos
@Noneya
@buzzcloud
@technologythree
@richardsheehy
@BBRUT834
@grimfx
@Lee_Bo
@bigleapgps
@maddd
@nickballinger
@danwaldo
@carriam
@Jim_Henderson
@russell_cook
@DamienStevens
@brettarp
@wdkrebs
@iamdave
@slimerr
@twoodham
@MasonL87
@theBigLou
@pswaters
@roblanning
@brismith1966
@orangecoat
@Breezman
@vmorrill
@andrewbishop
@webaggression
@linkerjpatrick
@chrisrackley
@jredd77
@Chandlervdw
@jschnyder
@joefeser
@f1fe
@brianirey
@reginairey
@designspring
@jimsharp
@coach_manfred
@agautsc
@SwampFox
@chandlervdw
@nhlord
@thinkhammer

But wait, there’s more!

If you were at the meeting but didn’t register in advance, send me a note and I’ll add you manually. That way you can add these tech types to your Twitter Posse:

@nullvariable
@thebrandbuilder

Get the GSATC events via Twitter

Did you know you can also follow the GSATC with Twitter?

Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 first quarter ended December 27, 2008. The Company posted record revenue of $10.17 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, equal to the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

In accordance with the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP, the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for iPhone and Apple TV over their economic lives. Adjusting GAAP sales and product costs to eliminate the impact of subscription accounting, the corresponding non-GAAP measures* for the quarter are $11.8 billion of “Adjusted Sales” and $2.3 billion of “Adjusted Net Income.”

Apple sold 2,524,000 Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing nine percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold a record 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.

“Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history—surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

“Our outstanding results generated over $3.6 billion in cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $7.6 billion to $8 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $.90 to $1.00.”

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q1 2009 financial results conference call utilizing QuickTime®, Apple’s standards-based technology for live and on-demand audio and video streaming. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PST on January 21, 2009 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq109/ and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

via Apple