GSA Technology Council

South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies, presented by The Capital Corporation to recognize the achievements of South Carolina’s top-performing private and publicly-owned companies, has unveiled a new sponsorship roster and expanded plans for the eagerly-awaited 2010 competition.

Joining as co-sponsors are Dixon Hughes, PLLC, the largest accounting firm based in the Southern U.S. and ranked among the nation’s top 20 accounting and advisory organizations, and SC Biz News, LLC, a leading publisher of print and electronic news serving businesses and their leadership across the Palmetto State. The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce continues in an associate sponsor role as they have since the program’s inception in 2002.

Now in its ninth year, the exclusive ranking honors the achievements of the fastest-growing companies across the state for their numerous contributions to South Carolina’s economy. The ranking system tabulates results based on a combination of increases in gross revenue (or assets) and increases in full-time employment in South Carolina in the most recently completed fiscal year as compared to prior years. As always, the Top 25 highest-ranking companies will be honored at South Carolina’s Chamber of Commerce Annual Summit event on Nov. 11, 2010 at the Wild Dunes Resort near Charleston, S.C.

In addition to new sponsors joining the program, event organizers cited the addition of a planned brand awareness campaign to encourage even greater participation from across the state, as well as the addition of semi-annual Chief Executive events. The events, limited to management team members of past honoree organizations, are “designed to encourage cross- pollination of ideas

and best practices to better benefit job growth and investment in every corner of the Palmetto State,” and will debut in late summer 2010, noted Dan Adams, chairman of The Capital Corporation.

“We see the addition of Dixon Hughes and SC Biz News as important steps in taking the South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies program to the next level, and we welcome them as our partners in this important program,” said Adams. “With their recognized leadership positions in our state – Dixon Hughes as a preeminent accounting firm and SC Biz News as a recognized media innovator with statewide reach and a commitment to economic growth – we believe that this program will continue the rapid trajectory of success it has realized since its inception in 2002, and continue to honor this state’s best and brightest companies.”

South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies annually recognizes an exceptional and diverse assembly of businesses from across the state among its Top 25 winners, with 2009 winners representing a broad cross section of industries and business categories, including advertising, construction, financial services/insurance, industrial services, information technology, manufacturing and distribution, professional services, retail, staffing and transportation.

Direct Source Imports, LLC of Mount Pleasant was honored as the state’s fastest-growing company in 2009.

“Celebrating the rich tapestry of talents, companies and accomplishments that combine to represent the economy of the Palmetto State has always been a point of emphasis and celebration for Dixon Hughes, noted Michael Crawford, managing member of Dixon Hughes Western Carolinas offices in explaining the firm’s decision to sponsor South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies program. Tricia Wilson, Charleston’s managing member commented, “This commitment reflects our dedication to South Carolina businesses and their leaders as an integral part of our practice and our firm’s future.”

SC Biz News is the owner and publisher of SCBIZ magazine, Charleston Regional Business Journal, Columbia Regional Business Report and GSA Business, along with numerous associated media outlets, web channels and a custom publishing division. CEO and group publisher Grady Johnson attributed his organization’s interest in sponsoring the program as “a natural evolution of our organization.”

“SC Biz News and our roster of media outlets exist to serve senior level decision-makers across the entire state by providing a thoughtful, analytical look at complex issues, opportunities and challenges facing state business leaders and serving as a media catalyst for economic growth here,” added Johnson. “The South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies program is a logical extension of our commitment to serving and informing business, and we are pleased to become a
full partner in this critical initiative to advance our home state.”

As part of plans to encourage even more businesses to participate in the program, a broad-based branding and awareness campaign will be underway shortly in media markets across the state and via Internet channels, viral marketing and grassroots public relations efforts, added South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies program director Cristina Schleifer of The Capital Corporation. “Our goal is to reach out to as many eligible businesses as possible to encourage them to consider nominating their organization, or even a vendor or affiliate, for consideration in this important honors program. By doing so, they will benefit from expanded awareness of their products and services, networking with other successful business leaders, increased employee morale and regional/national recognition. It’s truly a win-win for everyone.”

The 2010 South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies call for nominations will kick off in May and continue throughout June, Schleifer added. To be eligible for consideration, all nominees must complete a nomination form, available at www.thecapitalcorp.com, including three years of revenue/asset and employment information along with basic company information. Nominations may be submitted by companies directly or by third parties.

Submittals will be compiled, evaluated for completeness and ranked by a review panel from The Capital Corporation based solely on responses received.

The Top 25 highest-ranking companies will be recognized through a regional print and broadcast publicity campaign including a feature in South Carolina Business 2010 magazine, debuting at the South Carolina Chamber’s Annual Summit in November 2010, and through interviews on ETV Radio’s South Carolina Business Review, among other media outlets.

“The Fastest-Growing Companies program always attracts a diverse group of honorees from across the state,” said Otis Rawl, president and CEO of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. “These successful companies greatly enhance South Carolina’s economic development by inspiring other business from around the world to invest in the Palmetto State.”

To learn more about the South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies initiative, visit www.thecapitalcorp.com or contact Cristina Schleifer at (864) 672-8400.

via: The Capital Corp

Immedion, LLC, South Carolina’s first dedicated data center and managed services provider, announces they have successfully completed their second SAS 70 Type II certification audit. This third-party certification by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) demonstrates Immedion’s commitment to security and industry standards. With this certification, clients get greater assurance Immedion’s policies and processes associated with physical security, logical security and change control are on par with the best in the industry.

SAS 70 is the authoritative guidance that allows service organizations to disclose their control activities and processes to their customers and their customers’ auditors in a uniform reporting format. The SAS 70 Type II audit included comprehensive reviews and tests of Immedion’s infrastructure, including power, physical and electronic security measures, backup and recovery procedures, customer setup, network security, maintenance procedures, infrastructure change management, environmental safeguards, communications, customer service, management and user controls and insurance coverage.

“SAS 70 Type II certification further validates the level of service Immedion provides our clients,” shares Immedion CEO, Frank Mobley. “Our customers outsource their data center needs with us because we provide them with an enterprise-class data center at a fraction of what it would cost to build their own.”

“This audit requires a dedicated focus to ensure our processes and services are reliable, repeatable and deliverable,” said Immedion COO, Rob Moser. “SAS 70 Type II certification is further validation of Immedion’s longevity and authority as a managed hosting data center service provider.”

via: http://www.immedion.com/

Each year, Hospitality Technology (HT) magazine presents a select group of lodging companies with its Hotel Visionary Awards. These awards honor hotel companies for their outstanding vision and achievement in technology and service innovation. Winning companies are chosen based on their vision and execution; consideration is given to size, resources and individual market segment benchmarks to ensure that companies from across the lodging industry are recognized for their efforts. The 2010 Hotel Visionary Awards go to: JHM Hotels, CityCenter and Marriott International’s Courtyard by Marriott Brand.

Hospitality Technology received nominations for nearly 40 individual hotel companies, covering everything from sustainability to excellence in guest service, from in-room technologies to back-of-house system integration. The nomination pool was comprised of both corporate hotel brands and management companies from all size and market segments. Winners are judged by HT editorial staff on a basis of innovation, thought leadership, execution, and forward-thinking vision, and announced at the Hotel Technology Forum on Thursday, April 22, 2010. (The Forum is a three-day networking and educational event, scheduled April 21-23, 2010 at the Mandarin Oriental in CityCenter, Las Vegas, that brings together executives from leading hotel companies to share strategies and tactics for using technology to achieve operational excellence and exceed guest expectations.)

JHM Hotels, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, is a privately-held owner-operator of 40 hotels across such brands as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood. JHM Hotels was chosen based on its significant back-office innovation for a company of its size. JHM Hotels leveraged a document management solution with business intelligence that has enabled complete paperless invoicing and document storage. The technology has allowed the company to eliminate storage costs and manage labor much more efficiently, while providing full visibility into its financials for compliance and audits. JHM Hotels Green Technology initiatives at their Resource Center has been a cutting edge Technology initiative which is technology that is best. “Our IT Department’s mission statement is to provide complete, accurate, timely and paperless information to users of the technology in our company. SYSTEMS + INFRASTRUCTURE = CONTROL + SAVINGS. Green Technology Implementation is our goal” says Raman (R. P.) Rama, B. Com, CHA, CHTP, CHAE the VP and Dir. of IT and Telecommunications. JHM Hotel’s Information Technology architecture and infrastructure was constructed with substantial investment with extensive experienced support staff.

Each associate in each department is able to retrieve data from the wide area network in a timely manner because of the sophistication of the JHM Information Technology. The information is automated and processed so that the reports generated contain meaningful information allowing for a productive and proactive business decision-making process. Some of the reporting is currently automated and the goal is to have a paperless information system has been accomplished.

JHM Hotel’s centralized infrastructure provides the power to serve its three stake holders: Guests, Associates, and Owners. The JHM Hotels IT is a tool that can improve the productivity and cost-effectiveness of every stake holder while it also allows JHM to meet its guests’ expectations.

via: HFTP

InnoVenture Southeast 2010 will be held May 11 and 12, 2010, at the Carolina First Center in Greenville, SC. The theme of this year’s conference is “Creating the Future”.

“InnoVenture Southeast is all about making connections with people in our region who are among the world’s best at what they do. The conference is a unique opportunity to connect with people in and around each of the major anchors led by our keynote speakers,” said John Warner, founder and principal of InnoVenture LLC. “Understanding where these major drivers of our economy are heading creates business opportunities for all of us to help them and the organizations around them be successful.”

InnoVenture Southeast announces that seven senior leaders of major organizations will be keynote speakers this year.

– Harris Pastides, President of the University of South Carolina

– Don Herriott, Director of Innovista Partnerships, University of South Carolina

– John Kelly , VP for Public Service and Economic Development of Clemson University

– David Stafford, COO of the Michelin Americas Research Company

– Chris Desoiza, VP of the Milliken Research Corporation

– Ed Sellers, CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

– Bill Mahoney, CEO of SCRA

In addition to the keynote speakers, InnoVenture Southeast will also have 60 champions from across academic, industry and entrepreneurs making eight minute elevator pitch presentations of the future they are creating and the expertise and resources they need to get there. Like the senior leaders presenting, these champions are also among the world’s best at what they do. A sample of champions presenting include:

Academic Leaders:

– John Ballato – Clemson University Advanced Materials Center

– Tom Vogt – NanoCenter at the University of South Carolina

– Hildy Teegen – Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina

– Paul Venhovens – Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research

Industry Leaders:

– Philip Wilson – Milliken & Company

– Bill Roberts – Sealed Air Corporation

– Jeff Archie – South Carolina Electric and Gas Nuclear Division

– Lonnie Emard – Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management

Entrepreneurial Leaders:

– Ralph Heredia – Zipit Wireless

– Jeff Granato – Proterra

– Michael Bolick – Lab21

– Chad Sands – NextGenEn

About InnoVenture Southeast

InnoVenture Southeast 2010 will be held May 11 and 12, 2010, at the Carolina First Center in Greenville, SC. The theme of this year’s conference is “Creating the Future”. In its seventh year, the conference is a show case of innovation, which connects innovation champions with the customers, capital, talent and technology they need to succeed.

Registration details and more information can be found at InnoVentureSoutheast.com

via: Innoventure Southeast

Immedion, LLC, South Carolina’s first dedicated data center and managed services provider announced today they are looking to fill two senior level positions in their Columbia office, a Senior Sales Engineer and a Senior Managed Services Engineer. Immedion is looking for highly qualified, results-driven candidates.

“We are excited to bring jobs to the Columbia market and we look forward to meeting the exceptional professionals this region of our state has to offer,” comments Immedion CEO, Frank Mobley. “As we extend our footprint into the midlands we need the right people to help us.”

Immedion is looking to fill both positions soon. The Columbia data center will be open in early August, 2010. For more information on these two positions, go to Immedion’s career page for full descriptions and information on where you can submit your resume.

via: Immedion

For the time being, registration is open for the Palmetto Open Source Software Conference, the premier open source event in the Southeast, April 15-17.

Open source software is one of the most exciting and relevant topics in information technology today. It provides small-business owners and company executives a cost-effective way to provide function, while encouraging developers to be innovative.

POSSCON brings together experts in open source software, top information technology executives, innovative developers and educators teaching the latest technology. They are the knowledge economy.

POSSCON is expanding from one day on the University of South Carolina campus to three days and moving to the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center to accommodate the growing interest.

April 15 will focus on business and government IT managers and will feature an Executive CIO/CTO Forum and keynote speaker Robert X. Cringley, author of the book “Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make their … Millions, Battle Foreign Competition and Still Can’t Get a Date.”

April 16 will focus on education and programming and feature Jon “Maddog” Hall, executive director of Linux International; Chris Wanstrath, co-founder of GitHub; and Bryant Patten, executive director of the National Center for Open Source in Education.

April 17, which will be at the University of South Carolina, is dedicated to training and education, including hands-on workshops in technologies such as Moodle, GoogleDocs, WordPress, Drupal and Git/GitHub.

The goal of the conference is to provide affordable access to quality open source education in the Southeast. The cost to attend is $49 for Thursday and Friday and $39 for Saturday, or $85 for all three days. Space is limited, and the deadline for early registration is April 9. For more information and to register, visit www.posscon.org, and to watch a video about POSSCON visit www.posscon.org/videos.

POSSCON is presented by the Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management, working from the classroom to the boardroom to strengthen the supply in the IT talent pipeline.

via: POSSCON

Immedion, LLC, South Carolina’s first dedicated data center and managed services provider has named Jim Stritzinger to manage their new Columbia location. Jim will play a vital role in developing Immedion’s presence in the Midlands region of SC. He has a proven track record as a business leader in SC and was selected to the inaugural Liberty Fellowship class in 2004.

Before joining Immedion, Jim was the Director of the Carolinas for Tribridge, Inc. where he was responsible for expanding business into North and South Carolina and managed Tribridge’s national Microsoft Dynamics SL practice. Prior to joining Tribridge, Stritzinger served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of SC Public Interest Research for the South Carolina Research Authority. He was heavily involved in the creation of SC Launch!, South Carolina’s seed capital investment program and served as its’ first President. In addition, he previously worked for IBM, Schlumberger, and General Electric before becoming founder and president of ClearView Software. ClearView was eventually acquired by Solomon Software and then later became part of Great Plains Software and then ultimately Microsoft Business Solutions.

“Immedion is a well-respected, fast-growing, knowledge economy company that provides key data center infrastructure for small to enterprise-class businesses” said Stritzinger. “I’m excited to join the Immedion team and look forward to using all of my resources to make the Columbia data center a huge success. It’s a special opportunity to live and work in Columbia – especially when I get to be one of the first InnoVista partners!”

Jim has served on numerous Boards including the SC Venture Capital Investment Authority, Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, SC Biotechnical Incubator, Technical College of the Lowcountry Foundation and the SC Chamber of Commerce. He is currently active on the Philanthropy Committee of the American Red Cross and serves as an Advisory Board member for several Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) at USC’s Arnold School of Public Health. In addition, Stritzinger is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and has served as a coach, mentor and judge for the Palmetto FIRST Robotics
Competition.

“Jim is a valuable asset to our team as we expand into Columbia and the Midlands region” said Frank Mobley, CEO of Immedion. “His experience and his knowledge of the Columbia area will be important for Immedion as we prepare to open our new data center and hire more people to join our team.”

via: http://www.immedion.com/

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), have signed an agreement for the launch of an SS/L manufactured satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as early as 2012. For this mission, Falcon 9 will launch from the SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral and insert the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) is the world’s leading provider of GEO commercial satellites with 40 percent of the high-power market since 2004. The company has an international roster of blue-chip customers, and its 1300 model satellite is a decades-proven, modular platform with the industry’s highest power capability and the flexibility to support a broad range of applications including high definition television and broadband.

“SpaceX is proud to be selected by Space Systems/Loral as they are one of the premier manufacturers of commercial satellites and the industry leader in satellite sales,” said Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX. “With 24 Falcon 9 flights now on manifest, SpaceX has established itself as an excellent partner for both commercial and government customers, and we look forward to supporting Space Systems/Loral on this launch.”

“Like SS/L, the SpaceX team is committed to flawless performance and reliability,” said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. “We are working closely with SpaceX to ensure the success of a 1300 launch based on our many years of experience. With numerous Falcon 9 launches on their manifest over the next two years, we are assured of a successful flight history in advance of our mission.”

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is a medium-to-heavy lift, two-stage launch vehicle capable of lifting approximately 11 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) and in excess of 4.5 tons to GTO. Designed to the highest levels of reliability and performance, Falcon 9, along with SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, were selected by NASA to resupply the International Space Station starting in 2010.

via: SpaceX

Verizon Wireless recently completed a comprehensive network upgrade that delivers expanded service in the Upstate of South Carolina. The result is 58 new cell towers into the already robust and industry-leading Verizon Wireless voice and data network in the Upstate. The addition of these new towers, a result of the Alltel purchase, means dramatically denser site coverage. For Verizon Wireless customers, more cell towers means 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. “Our network techs, switch engineers, project managers and performance engineers have been working around the clock to integrate these two networks. With the addition of these towers to our already superior network, customers are experiencing a density in coverage unmatched in this market.”

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 apps, 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 increasing traffic of 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 Upstate with seven times the 3G coverage of their closest competitor. “Not only are we the largest network, but with the security of our facilities, redundancy built into our systems and backup batteries and generators at our sites, we provide unmatched reliability for our customers. When they want to make a call or access the web, we’re ready,” 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

SC Launch company,Ice Dragon Cooling was named one of the top five innovations at the International CES, a convention produced by the Consumer Electronics Association. The convention is the largest and most recognized electronic technology event in the world, and hosts thousands of exhibitors and tens of thousands of attendees each year.

The company, based in Columbia, SC, offers an innovative product that cools electronics systems. The technology combines water, surfactants, and antimicrobial metallic nanoparticles to create a solution for improved cooling performance. This technology is the result of a joint research project of the University of South Carolina and the U.S. Air Force.

“SC Launch was established to support the growth of promising technology-based companies in South Carolina. Ice Dragon has proven to clearly fit this role,” said SC Launch Executive Director Dave McNamara.

“We are thrilled for Ice Dragon to receive this honor and recognition,” said Bill Mahoney, SCRA CEO.
“Ice Dragon’s achievement reflects the world-class science and technology commercialization results which are now consistently emerging from South Carolina.”
The Ice Dragon solution is estimated to reduce temperatures by up to 20% more efficiently than water. Liquid cooled systems can take advantage of cost savings as Ice Dragon is able to reduce pump and radiator fan velocities while maintaining a consistent temperature that is similar to water.

via: SC Launch