GSA Technology Council

Verizon Wireless recently completed a comprehensive network upgrade that delivers expanded service in the Midlands of South Carolina. The result is 55 new cell towers into the already robust and industry-leading Verizon Wireless voice and data network in the Midlands. The addition of these new towers, a result of the Alltel purchase, means dramatically denser site coverage. For Verizon Wireless customers in Bethune, Bishopville, Blythewood, Camden, Cassatt, Cayce, Chapin, Columbia, Eastover, Gadsden, Gaston, Gilbert, Irmo, Leesville, Lexington, Little Mountain, Lugoff, Pelion, Sumter, West Columbia and Westville more cell towers mean a more expansive voice and data footprint, more coverage inside buildings, improved throughput speeds and stronger signals throughout the market.

“The best network continues to get better,” said Jerry Fountain, Verizon Wireless Carolinas Region President. “We are committed to continuing enhancements to our network so that our customers know they can depend on us every time they use their wireless devices. With the addition of these towers, we have achieved network enhancements in just one year that would have taken several years to complete through a typical build plan.”

To celebrate the expansion of the Verizon Wireless network, the following Verizon Wireless stores will host Network Appreciation Days June 25-27:
• Northeast Columbia – 10110 Two Notch Rd, Columbia, SC 29223
• Two Notch – 7007A Two Notch Rd, Columbia, SC 29223
• Columbiana – 173 Columbiana Cir, Columbia, SC 29212
• Lexington – 5596 Sunset Blvd, Lexington, SC 29072
• Sumter – 73 W Wesmark Blvd, Sumter, SC 29150

As customers continue to expand the way they use their devices, Verizon Wireless continues to stay ahead of their demand. “People are doing more with their phones these days,” said Fountain. “The skyrocketing popularity of applications, music and video downloads, web browsing, texting, emailing, calendar management and navigation tools utilizes a tremendous amount of wireless bandwidth. With this integration, combined with our annual capital investments over the past several years, we are ready for today’s traffic and the increases we anticipate tomorrow.”

In 2009 alone, Verizon Wireless invested nearly $87 million in South Carolina for improvements to their network, bringing the total investment in the state to $770 million since the company was formed in 2000. That investment, combined with the recent purchase and integration of the Alltel network assets, strategically positions Verizon Wireless’ network as the largest and most reliable for customers in the Columbia area, with seven times the 3G coverage of their closest competitor. “Our superior network is what makes it possible for customers to truly enjoy the features of their devices. Our focus on providing the best customer experience is largely driven by our network. We will continue investing to make the experience better every day,” said Fountain.

Beyond 3G: Verizon’s Investment in LTE

While recognizing the ongoing investment in its 3G network has been considerable throughout the state, Verizon Wireless is already looking beyond the most recent network expansion. Committed to continued improvements and advancements in wireless technology to ensure the best possible wireless experience for their customers, Verizon Wireless is already laying the groundwork to begin rolling out 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology this year. LTE will offer significant benefits to Verizon Wireless customers, including:

• LTE will support faster download and upload rates enabling customers to run larger and more complex applications faster.
• LTE will operate in the 700 MHz spectrum, which provides better coverage and in-building penetration.
• Because of the increased data speeds and wider coverage, LTE will make mass deployment of machine-to-machine applications and devices possible.
• And, LTE is the global mobile communications standard chosen by a majority of the world’s leading carriers, which means greater opportunities for seamless roaming.
LTE is currently being tested in select markets and will be commercially available in select markets this year.

via: Verizon Wireless

Elsevier, the leading global publisher of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, announced today the acquisition of assets from Collexis Holdings, Inc., a leading developer of semantic technology and knowledge discovery software. The combination of Elsevier’s content with Collexis’ semantic technology will provide institutions and researchers new ways to collaborate, showcase accomplishments and improve grant related workflow efficiencies.

“Elsevier’s research performance, planning and funding (PPF) strategy, delivered through our SciVal suite of research tools and integrated workflow solutions, helps accelerate scientific discovery and improve the social and economic impact of research while improving research driven ROI,” said Jay Katzen, Managing Director, Elsevier Science and Technology. “By combining Collexis’ solutions that address several PPF pain points across our customer’s collaboration, funding and strategic planning initiatives with SciVal, we’ve created a unique set of solutions that enable Universities and Government agencies to improve research outcomes.”

Collexis technology is considered market leading in the academic segment; well architected and thoughtfully developed over time. Main products include:

* Expert Profiler: helps institutions better expose their research history and capabilities by aggregating the “conceptual fingerprints” of existing published papers. By using historic publishing and citation data to expose unique relationships among people and institutions, Expert Profiler provides senior decision makers with transparency while researchers can use it to identify others with whom to collaborate.
* Reviewer Finder: helps grant managers identify the best reviewer available by automatically identifying the most highly qualified researcher with the lowest conflict of interest. This solution can reduce the time grant managers spend identifying a reviewer from upwards of a month down to one week. Reviewer Finder won the 2010 SIIA CODiE Award for the Best Solution Integrating Content into Workflow.
* Professional Networking: BiomedExperts.com connects biomedical researchers to each other through the display and analysis of each scientist’s co-author network allowing scientists and researchers across organizations to collaborate in new and time-saving ways.
* Knowledge Engine and Knowledge Services: Using the Collexis Knowledge Engine, Collexis helps institutions search, index, categorize, trend and match information inside their own custom data for discovery. They build embedded knowledge solutions in integrated workflows for academic, government and corporate clients.

Collexis Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina with operations in Cologne, Germany and Valparaiso, Chile. The acquisition is effective immediately and terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

via: Elsevier

Immedion, LLC, South Carolina’s first dedicated data center and managed services provider announces they have hired Tommy Crutchfield as their new Senior Account Executive for Columbia data center facility. Tommy will be responsible for expanding the Immedion brand and their footprint in the midlands region.

Tommy brings over 20 years of sales experience working with Fortune 500 companies as well as small technology firms. Most recently, Tommy was employed with Team IA, a regional software technology and services company headquartered in Lexington, SC. In addition, Tommy was the Midlands Portfolio Manager for SC Launch!, Partner and EVP of business development for Truematter, Vice President of Crutchfield Associates and Sales Executive for Motorola Communications and Electronics.

On top of his sales experience, Tommy has been directly involved in growing the knowledge economy in the Columbia area for many years. He is a member of the South Carolina Information Technology Directors Association, Information Technology Professionals of South Carolina, the South Carolina Chapter of Government Management Information Sciences (GMIS), a current Board member of EngenuitySC and formerly a two-term Chairman of the Information Technology Council for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

“Tommy is exactly the person we were looking for to help us develop our presence in the Columbia market” said Frank Mobley, CEO of Immedion. “His experience and his knowledge of the Columbia area will be invaluable to us as we grow and expand in the midlands region. We are pleased he has chosen to join our team.”

via: Immedion

ConvergeSE will take place on Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26, at Amoco Hall on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, S.C. Geared for web designers, web developers, and marketing professionals, this two-day conference will feature industry-leading speakers and workshops.

Gene Crawford, President of Period Three, a Columbia-based web development firm, and co-founder of the conference, says that last year’s ConvergeSC was such a success that they have expanded the conference to two days and changed its name to ConvergeSE. Day one will be a series of workshops and day two will feature speakers covering a wide range of topics.

“We’re encouraging web folks from all over the Southeast to join us and we’re excited about our line-up of talented speakers from around the country,” says Crawford. “This isn’t a one-dimensional conference. Be ready to learn more about your niche and how other fields are innovating for the Web.”

ConvergeSE is for: Web designers, web developers, marketing professionals, content creators, business professionals that deal with the Web, and students.

Where: Amoco Hall, Swearingen Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Carolina, 301 Main Street, Columbia, S.C. Workshops will take place at the South Carolina ETV campus, 1101 George Rogers Blvd.

When: Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26, 2010

To register online and to learn more about group discounts, go to http://convergese.com.

About ConvergeSE: ConvergeSE is a two-day conference for web, marketing and business professionals to collaborate on and gain insight into all things Web from some of the best and brightest industry professionals. ConvergeSE is coordinated by ConfSquad.com. For more info, go to http://convergese.com. Follow the conference on Twitter (@convergese) and Facebook (facebook.com/ConvergeSE).

via: Convergese