Plenty to see at Telematics 2008, ITEC show I took a quick spin around both the big tech shows being held this week at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi. The ITEC show seemed a little smaller than last year, with about 55 exhibitors, but still drew high-profile speakers, including Dan Lohrmann, chief information security officer for the state of Michigan. I'll be back at ITEC for a Thursday keynote on information security. Literally next door the Telematics 2008 show was a little larger and I thought significantly cooler. Maybe that's because the car seems to be the next vanguard for high-tech and the computer. More.
Altair opens HyperWorks to third-party applications Troy-based Altair Engineering Inc. Wednesday announced that its HyperWorks computer aided engineering program has been opened to third-party applications, all of which are available to customers under its revolutionary on-demand software licensing system. Six leading independent software vendors have already joined the HyperWorks Partner Solutions Program, which enables customers to operate 15 new third-party applications for zero incremental cost utilizing their existing HyperWorks licenses. More.
More good news from QuatRx on menopause drug
Ann Arbor-based QuatRx Pharmaceuticals Wednesday announced more positive data from its Phase 3 clinical study of its drug candidate Ophena. The drug is intended to treat postmenopausal women with symptoms of vulvovaginal atrophy, a common condition associated with menopause. The company reported initial positive results of the study in January. More analysis of the results, the company said, showed that women treated with Ophena experienced improvements in vaginal dryness and dyspareunia (painful intercourse), two of the most frequent symptoms associated with vulvovaginal atrophy. More.
Plexus user conference hears warning about U.S. manufacturing Auburn Hills-based Plexus Systems Inc. played host to nearly 300 guests at its PowerPlex 2008 User conference in Grand Rapids Wednesday and showcased a prominent speaker who provided a poignant report on the state of American manufacturing. David R. Brousell, editor-in-chief of Managing Automation, was keynote speaker at PowerPlex 2008, hosted at the JW Marriott. The survey found deep concern about the future of manufacturing, and wide agreement the federal government should do something to even the playing field. More.
Cielo releases new clinical quality management software Ann Arbor-based Cielo MedSolutions, a provider of health care software, said it had released a new version of Cielo Clinic, a clinical quality management system that assists practices and health systems with patient care, patient-clinic communication and quality metric reporting. Release 1.8.2 offers several enhancements to the system's robust patient registry and reporting features, as well as improved functionality for maintaining direct patient communication. More.
Anyone looking to streamline operations with no downtime needs a trusted resource for IT and other tech services. One of the biggest decisions a new spinoff company has to decide in this era of corporate divestiture and private equity firms is: Rebuild and manage the IT department or outsource? Harnessing information is one the most important and far reaching questions facing many businesses today. While it affects costs, so much more is at stake.
Secure-24 of Southfield offers State of the Art Solutions
IAC, International Automotive Components Group, is a $5 billion-plus global supplier of automotive components and systems that decided to outsource IT. With more than 20 plants across North America running on those systems, there was a great deal at stake. Secure-24 created an entirely new IT department with highly specialized technologies. It was redesigned, built, relocated, and up and running in record time.
Outsourced IT
24/7 support from Secure-24 means that IAC now focuses on the competitive business of supplying the best automotive parts around the world, not on their IT department. Secure-24 constantly identifies, recommends and manages improvements to the system so they can respond to the technological challenges of the future.
Keeping ahead of IT developments
The team at Secure-24 knows that customizable processes are proven to boost development productivity. Among their specialties are virtualization, SAP, QAD, Linux, Unix, Hyperion and Oracle. In some cases a complete platform change is called for. For IAC, Secure-24 recommended the switch from UNIX and realized substantial cost savings and increased efficiency.
Feeling secure about outsourcing
It's definitely not easy giving up control or handing over sensitive information to an outside company. That is why Secure-24 uses carrier-grade data centers and 24/7 service. The multiple data centers in Michigan and Arizona are permanently and continuously connected to each other to ensure redundancy and high availability.
All business is critical
In a highly competitive industry -- and which today are not? -- there is no time for a learning curve or mistakes. Niche Retail is a $19 million e-commerce retailer in Sylvan Lake. When it transferred its critical applications to Secure-24 it had 20 e-commerce Web sites operating 24/7. These sites demanded a hosting environment be highly available, scalable and 100 percent secure -- all the time.
A partner, not a vendor
In developing the critical applications, Secure-24 leverages its expertise to create a tech team knowledgeable in developing applications as well as the design and technical support of the sites. Typically after a site is launched, there is little, if any, contact with the tech team that worked on the development or migration. While this is common, it is not necessarily productive or satisfying to clients who commit a great deal of resources in sharing info with that team. Secure-24 approaches its clients, whether they are Fortune 100 companies with global offices or companies poised for growth, as a partner. And in so doing they are looking for ways to constantly improve systems.
Secure-24 Always Moving Clients Forward While Niche Retail is confident their sites are being hosted in a secure and efficient manner, they also draw on the expert technical resources at Secure-24 to identify new opportunities for growth and greater efficiency. One innovation Secure-24 is developing for Niche Retail is a virtual hosting environment for all their internal systems. This VM Ware farm includes warehouse management, accounting and database as well as other systems. The duplication is still there but the resources are allocated in the most efficient manner. Niche Retail plans to look at VM Ware for all their retail sites in the coming years. Says Matthias Horch, Secure-24 CEO (pictured at right):“We always need to know where our clients have been. We design our solutions to work where they are heading.”
About Secure-24 Secure-24 specializes in managed hosting, disaster recovery, and services for enterprise-level, business-critical applications. The company, which has experienced 100 percent or more year-to-year growth for each of the past seven years, was recognized by Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. The company takes advantage of its carrier-grade data centers in Michigan and Arizona to provide a high security, high availability, failover-capable environment for customer solutions. Secure-24's business model allows the company to take advantage of economies of scale in providing premier, fully managed hosting solutions at a minimal cost. To learn more about Secure-24, visit www.secure-24.com. For a complimentary IT or managed hosting analysis, please call Matt Wenzler at (248) 784-1024, ext. 227.
Note: Today's Blue Box was sponsored by Secure-24. For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Dan Keelan at (248) 455-7380 or dkeelan@cbs.com.
Azure gets order from AT&T for hybrid trucks Oak Park-based Azure Dynamics Corp. said Wednesday that it has received an order from AT&T for 15 gasoline parallel hybrid electric Ford E-450 trucks. Azure, a manufacturer of hybrid and electric drivetrains for commercial vehicles, did not disclose the value of the contract. More.
Kettering prof mentoring a rare intellect Dr. Mark Wicks, professor of computer engineering and interim associate vice president of academic affairs at Kettering University in Flint, is mentoring a gifted 14-year-old in the art and theory of computer engineering. Matthew R. Bauerle of Fenton is a young man destined for a compelling career perhaps in the field of electrical and computer engineering. The evidence thus far is clear: a perfect 36 score on the science ACT test on his first try. Although his score on the math section was lower -- a 33 -- his parents and Wicks feel it’s only a matter of time before Matthew achieves perfection in the math section as well. More.
Michigan Tech named to federal vehicle challenge competition
The United States Department of Energy, General Motors Corp. and Natural Resources Canada Wednesday announced the 17 teams selected to participate in EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, a collegiate vehicle engineering competition set to begin in the fall of 2008. EcoCAR will challenge university engineering students across North America to re-engineer a Saturn Vue to achieve improved fuel economy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, while retaining the vehicle’s performance and consumer appeal. Michigan Technological University in Houghton was the only Michigan school selected. More.
Japan cracks down on virus with copyright law
A student who allegedly spread a computer virus was convicted Friday of copyright infringement in a case that has highlighted the lack of laws in Japan to police cyberspace. Masato Nakatsuji, 24, a graduate student at Osaka Electro-Communication University, was charged with maliciously spreading a virus by embedding it in an image from a Japanese animation film he illegally copied and distributed. The virus he allegedly used, the "Harada virus," is one of Japan's top viruses, and Nakatsuji's arrest in January was the first in Japan involving the making or spreading of viruses. More.
Time Warner to reap $9.25 billion in cable spinoff
Time Warner Inc. said Wednesday it would formally split off its cable TV business, giving the media conglomerate a $9.25 billion windfall and allowing it to focus on cable network, entertainment and publishing operations. The separation of Time Warner Cable Inc. gets Time Warner out of the media distribution business altogether, something investors had been clamoring for. The company announced its decision to split up last month and said Wednesday that the boards of the two companies had agreed to financial terms. Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable provider in the country after Comcast Corp. with about 13.3 million video subscribers. It has been a public company for more than a year, but Time Warner had held on to an 84 percent stake. More.
Microsoft lures search traffic with cash rebates Microsoft Corp. is offering cash rebates when people make purchases after using its search engine as the software maker begins to reveal how it plans to take on Google Inc. following the failure of its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo. Analysts and investors have been eagerly awaiting details about "Plan C" after Microsoft acknowledged that its Plan A of going solo was troubled but also withdrew its Plan B -- acquiring Yahoo -- because Yahoo executives sought more money. Under the cash program revealed Wednesday, Web shoppers who sign up for an account and buy items found using Microsoft's Live Search cashback site will receive a percentage of the purchase price deposited into their account. When the total reaches $5, the shoppers can redeem their "cold, hard cash" via eBay Inc.'s PayPal. Microsoft said the rebates are funded with a portion of the money it collects from advertisers. More.
Experts warn of cyberterrorism threat Officials from around the world agree they must cooperate better to fight the threat of cyberterrorism at facilities such as nuclear power plants. Government authorities and technology experts from more than 30 nations called for improved coordination at the meeting's opening in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday. "The harsh reality is that (information technology) has become a tool for cybercrime and cyberterrorism," Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union, the U.N.'s leading information technology agency, said in a speech. "Cybersecurity must become a cornerstone of every aspect of keeping ourselves, our countries and our world safe." Delegates came from countries including Australia, Canada, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand and the United States. More.
Stocks: Techs tumble after mixed earnings report from Cisco Stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed central bankers hesitant to cut interest rates further due to mounting inflation concerns. The market was already under selling pressure as crude-oil prices topped $133 a barrel, fueling concerns that inflation is hurting U.S. consumption and the economy at large. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) fell 43.99 points or 1.8 percent to close at 2,448.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) tumbled 227.49 points or 1.8 percent to 12,601.19. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) fell 5.07 points or 1.2 percent to 401.57 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 9.99 points or 1.7 percent to 592.78. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) fell 2.68 points or 0.9 percent to 300.08, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) fell 17.57 points or 2.3 percent to 734.66. The S&P 500 ($SPX) closed down 22.69 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,390.71.
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I took a quick spin around both the big tech shows being held this week at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi. The ITEC show seemed a little smaller than last year, with about 55 exhibitors, but still drew high-profile speakers, including Dan Lohrmann, chief information security officer for the state of Michigan. I'll be back at ITEC for a Thursday keynote on information security. Literally next door the Telematics 2008 show was a little larger and I thought significantly cooler. Maybe that's because the car seems to be the next vanguard for high-tech and the computer. 
While Niche Retail is confident their sites are being hosted in a secure and efficient manner, they also draw on the expert technical resources at Secure-24 to identify new opportunities for growth and greater efficiency. One innovation Secure-24 is developing for Niche Retail is a virtual hosting environment for all their internal systems. This VM Ware farm includes warehouse management, accounting and database as well as other systems. The duplication is still there but the resources are allocated in the most efficient manner. Niche Retail plans to look at VM Ware for all their retail sites in the coming years. Says Matthias Horch, Secure-24 CEO (pictured at right):“We always need to know where our clients have been. We design our solutions to work where they are heading.”
