GSA Technology Council

Blackbaud, Inc. has announced that it has acquired RLC CCT, a privately-owned company located in Almere, the Netherlands. RLC is the leading provider of software and services to nonprofits in the Netherlands. Its constituent relationship management products, Charibase and OneDirect, are used by more than 80 of the largest nonprofit organizations in the Netherlands.

“We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of RLC,” said Marc Chardon, Blackbaud’s president and chief executive officer. “The RLC team brings deep experience working within the vibrant Dutch nonprofit sector and industry-leading solutions that have been tailored to its local target markets. In addition, RLC’s Netherlands’ installed base of influential customers provides Blackbaud with a solid foundation to expand into other Western European countries, which is consistent with our global mission of providing nonprofits with leading solutions and services in order to make the world a better place.”

RLC’s organization, which consists of 25 employees, will operate as a Blackbaud company and continue to serve its growing customer base of leading nonprofit organizations in the Netherlands. Blackbaud will continue to support all of RLC’s product offerings, in addition to dedicating incremental R&D resources to extend RLC’s technology platform and solutions to best meet the needs of nonprofits, wherever their operational bases may be.

“RLC is focused on helping nonprofit organizations achieve their missions,” said Edwin Schalk, RLC’s managing director. “Our combination with Blackbaud, the global market leader, will enable us to offer our customers a broader range of value-add solutions while further enhancing our already deep level of domain expertise.”

Andrew Mosawi, Blackbaud’s vice president of international business development, said “RLC has a proven track record in partnering with nonprofits in the Netherlands and we are delighted that they are joining the Blackbaud team.”

Mosawi added, “The Netherlands is consistently ranked highest in the world for the scale of its volunteering and giving as a share of GDP. With powerful software and a deep knowledge of the needs of nonprofit organizations in the Netherlands, RLC will play a key role in expanding Blackbaud’s presence throughout the European region.”

via Blackbaud

Tekgraf, a distributor in the wide-format color printing industry, has announced their partnership with PLP Digital Systems, Inc., a leading provider of production workflow management applications. As a PLP Digital Systems distributor for North America, Tekgraf will distribute PLP’s PlotWorks EZ batch plotting software for the reprographics market.

PlotWorks EZ software enables multi-function printer placements to gather accurate usage information while offering users the simplicity of preparing accurate print jobs using various file formats (.pdf, .dwf, .tif, .plt) from one easy-to-use application. This feature-rich software includes options such as batch printing, collated sets, multiple image formats/options, scaling, rotation, and alignment all with a simple to use graphically-driven user interface.

“Tekgraf is very pleased to have become a PLP distribution partner,” said Scott Barker, president and CEO of Tekgraf. “With today’s economy and the increasing cost of printing, there is a very real and immediate need to gather accurate records from dealer supported printing devices. With these new products from PLP, a distinction has been made in both cost and functionality between cost accounting, which is not always necessary, and consumable reporting, which is always critical in these dealer supported environments.”

“As workflows move to a ‘distribute then print’ paradigm, consumers need affordable and easy to use solutions. Dealers need new tools to help them provide these solutions,” said John Cronin, President and CEO of PLP. “We are pleased to announce a partnership with Tekgraf to bring these solutions to market.”

via Tekgraf

AFL Telecommunications has signed an agreement to purchase Draka’s Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) business based in Monchengladbach, Germany. This acquisition positions AFL Telecommunications as the leading OPGW manufacturer worldwide, increasing its reach in additional countries of Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

“The combined business synergies will enhance our technologies, increase manufacturing efficiencies and leverage the value of what we offer our customers,” said Jody Gallagher, AFL Telecommunications’ President and CEO. “Not only will our capacity increase, but it will enable us to enhance our capability and flexibility along with our ability to meet the increasing demands of our customers.” AFL Telecommunications currently manufactures OPGW cables in the United States and United Kingdom.

Optical Ground Wire is a dual functioning cable that serves as ground wire for power lines, while providing a path for the transmission of voice, video or data signals by incorporating optical fibers into the design of the cable. OPGW is placed at the highest point on power utility structures, allowing for fast, cost-effective installations with exceptional reliability.

With over 20 years of experience in the aerial cable market, AFL supplies a full range of OPGW products, hardware accessories, engineering and installation services.

Terms of the acquisition are undisclosed, and are subject to customary closing conditions and standard procedures due to local legislation. For additional information on AFL Telecommunications, visit www.AFLtele.com.

About AFL Telecommunications
AFL Telecommunications, a subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan, is an industry leader in providing fiber optic products, engineering expertise and integrated services to the Electric Utility, Broadband, Telco, OEM, Private Network and Wireless markets. AFL Telecommunications is headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina and has additional operations in the U.S., Mexico and the U.K.

via: AFL Telecommunications

At this years 15th biennial United States Championship Cheese Contest, located in Green Bay WI, ARAMARK’s Clemson Blue Cheese recived a ranking of 14th in the blue veined cheese catagory.  Last year the cheese came in at 33rd place.

The traditionally made artisan cheese, the origins of which date to 1941, was originally made in the Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel near Walhalla by a Clemson dairy professor.  In more recent years the production has moved to Clemson’s Newman Hall, in well regulated rooms that replicate the temperature and humidity levels found in the tunnel.

“Both ARAMARK and Clemson Dining Services are very excited and proud of our blue cheese team. They are a very special group of people who are dedicated to preserving the integrity and the history of Clemson Blue Cheese,”  said Susan Clee the ARAMARK food service director.

For more information or blue cheese ordering visit http://www.clemsonbluecheese.com/

Immedion is pleased to announce the addition of Chris McCall to the Managed Services Engineering team. McCall’s placement follows three years as a Level II LAN Administrator with Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Co. and four years with Nuvox as a Data Technician. Immedion COO Rob Moser said, “The addition of Chris and the experience he gained while working in IT for the manufacturing industry will greatly help us meet the needs of our expanding client base.”

McCall has lived his entire life in upstate South Carolina, in the Williamston and Pelzer areas, and attended Palmetto High School. He earned an Associate Degree in Business Administration from American Intercontinental University in 2003 and received CCNA training from New Horizons in 2006. Regarding his decision to join Immedion, Chris remarked, “I’m excited to be part of Immedion and to have the opportunity to work with such a talented group of people. It’s great to have the chance to utilize my skills with the services that Immedion offers to our customers.”

Immedion would also like to announce the addition of Charles Adams to their customer support team. Adams joins Immedion after two years with QS1 as a Customer Support Technician. “We are pleased to add Charles’ support experience and strong customer service background to our 24×7 Network Operations Center team,” said Moser.

Adams attended Dorman High School in Spartanburg and later received his BS in Business Administration from USC Upstate in 2004. He went on to add a BA in Information Management Systems from USC Upstate in 2005.

via Immedion

The Telecom Association recently recognized NuVox with three 2009 ‘Members Choice’ Awards: NuVox received a top ten distinction in the Carrier, CLEC, and Disaster Recovery categories. NuVox was selected from among 300 eligible providers.

The Telecom Association, a professional membership organization comprised of over 3,500 telecom distributors, recognizes top communications providers through its “Members Choice” program. Award winners are selected by agents and dealers who are current TA members. For the past four years, the program has provided Telecom Association members with an avenue to publicly recognize telecom providers who are excelling in the industry in a variety of areas.

The categories in which NuVox won highlight the company’s strengths in providing superior voice and data; managing control switching equipment and transport networks; and delivering a total disaster recovery solution for business customers.

“Winning our annual ‘Members Choice’ award in a specific category is a significant tribute to each winner’s telecom agent, channel partner, and customer service programs,” stated Dan Baldwin, Founder of Telecom Association. “This is the fourth consecutive year for our annual Members Choice awards and over 320 qualified member ballots were cast this year, a new record.”

“At NuVox, we’re excited to be recognized as a top CLEC, carrier, and provider of superior disaster recovery through Telecom Association’s ‘Members Choice’ award program,” stated Dan Sterling, Vice President of Indirect Sales for NuVox. “The fact that agents and dealers from across our footprint made the effort to vote for NuVox is a true testament to our product suite, market presence, and exceptional customer service.”

via NuVox

Vigilix, a leading provider of PCI compliant point-of-sale support software, is pleased to announce it has extended its product offering with the successful launch of an offsite backup solution specific for point-of-sale systems. Since the pilot release in January, several hundred point-of-sale systems have been backed up using the Vigilix offsite backup solution.

Delivered as a software-as-a-service application Vigilix provides point-of sale support providers with a disaster recovery solution using offsite backup that is built and configured specific for the needs of a point-of-sale system. Now in addition to receiving proactive alerts and providing remote support, technicians can also provide the additional service for offsite backup and recovery.

The Vigilix offsite backup solution utilizes a mirrored SAS – 70 Type II data center. The product itself uses military grade security, 256 / 128 bit encryption and compression at the point of origin and in storage.

“The disaster recovery market is growing quickly and many of our customers were asking for us to add this capability to our existing POS support product offering” says Andrew Kurtz, Vigilix CEO. “For merchants in the hospitality and retail space their point-of-sale data is mission critical to say the least. Many of our customers were previously using USB or backing up to a partitioned hard-drive on an on-site server. Our offsite backup solution now offers them an efficient way to safely and easily get that critical data offsite to a secure location and to have access to it on demand when they need it”.

via: Vigilix

KEMET Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: KEME) will host a conference call at 9:00 AM (ET) on Tuesday, May 19, 2009, to discuss its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.

To access the call via telephone, participants in the United States should dial 1-800-416-8033, and participants outside the United States should dial 1-706-643-0979. Participants should reference “KEMET Corporation” and Conference ID # 96842558. Participants can view a corresponding presentation from the KEMET website at www.kemet.com by clicking on the fourth quarter conference call link in the investor relations section of the website. The presentation will be available immediately prior to the beginning of the call. Following management’s comments, there will be an opportunity for questions.

In conjunction with the conference call, there will be a simultaneous live broadcast over the internet, which can be accessed at http://www.kemet.com/ir. A replay of the conference call will be available until midnight, June 2, 2009, through the same link. Also available in the Investor Relations section of the website is additional company information and a link to subscribe to KEMET news and financial releases.

via: Kemet

Stacey Lemmond, President of Ask & Receive, Inc. has moved to 4109 East North Street, Suite 500 in Greenville. This new location offers additional space to provide excellent customer service, easier access and ample parking for clients. Serving Greenville and the Upstate since 1999, Lemmond offers expertise in all areas of web design, programming, search engine optimization and web hosting. Ask & Receive is one of the Upstate’s fastest-growing full service marketing and IT support firms and provides a broad range of website, graphics, marketing and communications services to small and mid-sized businesses across the Carolinas.

via: Ask and Receive

Merge, an Upstate developer of high-performance web sites, announces the completion of the site design for Carolina Center for Foreign Investment.

The Carolina Center for Foreign Investment engaged Merge to create the www.carolinaregionalcenter.com web site to promote foreign investment in the State of South Carolina. These investments will promote job growth through real estate development projects that qualify under the EB-5 (immigration) program. Merge created this site using a customized content management system to allow CCFI staff to maintain the site on a daily basis.

via: Merge