Posts Tagged ‘FL’
Monday, March 28th, 2011
 JUPITER, FL - Hydro Alternative Energy, which is testing technologies to harness the power of ocean waves to create clean energy, has raised $782,000 of an equity offering targeted at $9 million, according to a regulatory filing.
The company plans to provide energy to one of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, which are known for stimulating Charles Darwin’s thinking on the theory of evolution due to the diversity he saw in a bird species.
The company notes on its Web site that the world is two-thirds water. It generates 800X more energy than wind, and tidal currents are as predictable as “the tide coming in.”
It plans to acquire patents and technologies that harness that clean and renewable alternative energy source.
It is currently working on a patented water power generation turbine that does not use any complex curves or require any expensive tooling to create, and has a much different efficiency profile than traditional hydrokinetic turbines, it says.
The company disclosed the funding in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. — Allan Maurer
To contact TechJournal South Editor & Writer Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: financing, FL, Hydro Alternative Energy, Jupiter, ocean power generation
Posted in Energy, Florida, Money | Comments Off
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
 An EMX Inc. Mobile Surveillance device MELBOURNE, FL – EMX International, which sells security and intelligence solutions to the U.S. Militarty, Homeland Security, and infrastructure protection clients, has raised $750,000 of a round targeted at $4 million, according to a regulatory filing. The funds are being held in esrow until they reach $2 million.
Part of the raise will be used to acquire two businesses, including EMX Inc.
EMX Inc. sells cutting-edge thermal imaging surveillance cameras, thermal weapon sights, field services and integrated solutions to defense, government agency and commercial clients. Focused on integrated security solutions technologies, EMX develops and manufactures a broad range of products that uniquely positions the company to support the world community’s commitment and emphasis on security and safety.
The company disclosed the financing in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Acquisitions, EMX Inc., EMX International, financing, FL, Melbourne, security & suveillance products
Posted in Florida, Money, Security | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
 CLEARWATER, FL – GFI Software, an IT solutions provider for small and medium-sized enterprises, says an independent survey conducted by Opinion Matters, in which more than 200 U.S.-based IT decision makers participated, revealed a dramatic lack of adoption of email archiving.
According to the study, 62.4% of SMEs do not currently use a mail archiving solution – opening the door to a host of issues including: limited email backup and restore, which could lead to data loss; an inability to search for pertinent messages in the event of an audit or eDiscovery request – which could result in costly compliance violations or legal suits; strain on Exchange servers; and storage problems.
The survey also revealed that greater than 38% of the 202 businesses polled do not have an archiving or backup solution of any kind in place, further exacerbating the chances that a network failure could result in a complete loss of critical data stored in email.
Additional results from the survey:
- Two-thirds (66.8%) of respondents were unfamiliar with U.S. regulatory compliance standards regarding email archiving. This number ballooned to over 90% in businesses that rely on only one IT professional.
- 37% said they are required to search for old or deleted emails on a monthly basis, if not more frequently, because of requests from end users, the need to meet compliance requirements, the need to provide copies of correspondence for a lawsuit or audit, or any other requirements.
- 31% of respondents said they would consider a hosted approach to email archiving.
Implementation of a mail archiving solution can enable several email-related necessities, including maintaining an archive of all corporate email correspondence, meeting the growing number of regulations for compliance, eDiscovery and other legislation, significantly reducing the demands on the Exchange server, and managing and reducing the company’s dependency on PST files.
“Email infrastructure is quickly becoming a complex beast, and IT administrators have more factors to consider than ever before – including an increasing level of compliance standards that many are apparently unaware of,” said Walter Scott, CEO, GFI Software.
“As the survey clearly indicates, IT managers are routinely required to search for specific emails, and without the automated search capabilities that a mail archiving solution brings, they can take up valuable IT staff time to locate. Critical data stored in email needs to be easily retrievable and accessible, for both day-to-day business concerns as well as for good compliance. Finally, taking the risk of not backing up or archiving key data stored in email can be a very costly gamble depending on the type of data your business is dealing with.”
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Clearwater, email archiving, FL, GFI Software, survey
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
 By Allan Maurer
ORLANDO, FL – FindVenture.com, an Orlando-based Internet company has just launched its site, which connects entrepreneurs and startups with investors, but already has five deals in term sheets and expects to see its first deal close by the end of the first quarter.
Founded in 2010 by David Bayer, CEO of DataBanq and of ChamberofCommerce.com and a founder of Chamberperks (2002), a web-based group buying program in Flordia, and Seth Ellis, managing partner of the $450 million Florida Mezzanine Fund, the site is free to both investors and entrepreneurs. DataBanq and the FMF funded the project.
Investors can pay a membership fee for increased deal flow and more sophisticated deal matching/searching features.
“Entrepreneurs and CFOs are turning to the web to find investment and lending resources,” said Bayer, managing partner of FindVenture.
“What they are finding is that most investors are still operating offline and seeking deal flow by utilizing traditional methods. FindVenture.com brings both the investor, or fund, and the business owner or entrepreneur into a more efficient marketplace exchange.”
Using a sophisticated matching algorithm, FindVenture connects investors with individuals and organizations. “Eliminating the need to filter through investment opportunities that don’t fit the core criteria of a fund saves both the investor and the business a tremendous amount of time,” said Bayer. FindVenture.com provides detailed profiles of both funds and prospective investment companies, in addition to a platform and subscription model similar to Monster.com, where like employers; investors have access to view prospective investment opportunities.
Bayer tells us, “Our focus is on creating enough deal flow that we can attract a senior management team and raise money to deploy to the deal flow as a venture fund. Similar to what Lending Tree has done by starting off in mortgage lead generation and then eventually becoming a mortgage underwriter themselves.”
The five-employee firm has more than 50 funds/investors registered on the platform in just its first 30 days.
We asked Bayer what differentiates the company from others in the space.
“We are in a unique position,” he said, “in that we have no immediate need to make money off of our customers. Our model – instead of needing to make money off of investors, entrepreneurs or the connecting of the two – our focus is simply deal flow.”
He added, “In partnership with Acxiom and ChamberofCommerce.com, we have a direct communication channel to more than 14MM businesses. Using a sophisticated algorithm we are able to identify those businesses which are likely to need and qualify for funding and approach them directly to participate in our platform. The net result, higher volume and quality of deals in the system and a fraction of the cost of most other companies in the space.”
. When a business posts a funding request on FindVenture.com, they put their idea and business plan in front of thousands of investors and funds. Additionally, FindVenture provides small businesses and entrepreneurs with the resources and education to find the fund that’s the right fit.
FindVenture’s resources section provides insight into the fundraising process with articles written by industry leaders such as Karen Klein – an expert in small businesses and entrepreneurship who has appeared in Bloomberg Business Week and the Los Angeles Times for more than a decade.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: ChamberofCommerce.com, Chamberperks, DataBanq, David Bayer, FindVenture.com, FL, Florida Mezzaanine Fund, Orlando, Seth Ellis
Posted in Company Profile, Florida, Internet/New Media, Money | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
 BOCA-RATON, FL – Cortera Inc., a company that collects and analyzes business-to-business financial data, has raised $49.76 million of a $52.33 million offering of stock, according to a regulatory filing.
Among the principals in the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the raise are: Larry Cheng, Boston-based Volition Capital; Geraldine Alies, Volition Capital; Soctt Tobin, MA-based Battery Ventures; Mark Hastings, MA-based Garvin Hill Capital Partners; and Dwayne Spradlin, from MA-based InnovCentive Inc.
The company analyzes B2B financial intelligence — from payment histories to trend comparisons — on over 20 million businesses of every size so its clients can monitor the financial health and credit worthiness of their customers and suppliers. It sells its reports for $5 each or a $49 monthly subscription to the online service.
It uses Yelp-like community ratings and comments to help businesses determine if their partners and customers can pay bills on time or may be troublesome. The company’s focus is on smaller businesses that could ill afford similar services from Dun & Bradstreet.
Boston.com wrote, “Cortera aims to be a kind of “wisdom of the crowds”-driven business credit agency. And in the same way that the user-powered review site Yelp has taken on established players like Zagat, Cortera has Dun & Bradstreet in its sights.”
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: B2B financial data, Battery Ventures, Boca Raton, Cortera, crowd sourcing, financing, FL, Garvin Hill Capital Partners, InnovCentive, Volition Capital
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, Money | Comments Off
Monday, March 14th, 2011
 OpenTablet7 BOCA RATON, FL – OpenPeak, a company selling touchscreen devices and a cloud-based device management platform that streamlines deployment and management for service providers and enterprises, has raised $15.54 million of a $26 million mixed securities offering, according to a regulatory filing.
The company previously raised $82 million from investors who include Intel Capital, Horizon Technology Finance, Velocity Financial Group, and GE Capital’s Commercial Distribution Finance unit.
We reported that the company raised $52 million of that amount June 2010.
At that time, Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president, said, “OpenPeak’s hardware, software and services harness the capabilities of the Intel Atom processor, creating new mobile, digital home and embedded products in a variety of vertical market segments.”
OpenPeak designs and develops end-to-end managed platforms and devices that enable service providers, utilities, applications developers, and content owners to interact with customers in their homes, offices, and while traveling.
Its OpenServices is a cloud-based device management platform that streamlines application/service deployment and management for service providers and enterprises.
It introduced its 4G ready OpenTablet touchscreen devices that run on the Android operating system during hte 2011 Mobile World Congress in Spain.
OpenPeak says its complementary software framework enables designers and developers to create highly interactive applications. Integrated device management services allow providers to remotely provision, monitor and update customer devices on demand over broadband networks to ensure the delivery of the most up-to-date services and software.
The company disclosed the latest raise in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing cites principals from New York’s RRE Ventures, Texas-based Castletop Capital, Illinois-based Ritchie Capital, New York’s GMG Capital Partners, and The Blackstone Group, among others.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Boca Raton, Castletop Capital, financing, FL, GMG Capital Parnters, Horizon Technology Finance, Intel Capital, OpenPeak, OpenTablet 7, Richie Capital, RRE Ventures, The Blackstone Group, touch screen devices, Velocity Financial Group
Posted in Florida, IT, Money | Comments Off
Friday, March 4th, 2011
 ORLANDO, FL – You don’t often hear good news about online security, but here’s some. Malware infections fell 11 percent last month, according to Orlando-based Panda Security.
Panda Security, a Cloud Security Co., says that during the month of February, data gathered by Panda ActiveScan, the company’s free online scanner, found that only 39 percent of computers scanned in February were infected with malware, compared to 50 percent last month.
Trojans were found to be the most prolific malware threat, responsible for 61 percent of all cases, followed by traditional viruses and worms which caused 11.59 percent and nine percent of cases worldwide, respectively.
Personally, I’ve noticed that Trojans targeting java have been prevalent.
These figures have hardly changed compared to similar data collected in January. A graphical representation is available at: press.pandasecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/FEB-Malware-ENG.jpg. The most prevalent malware specimens detected this February also remained consistent with last month’s findings. The CI.A, Downloader.MDW or Lineage.KDB Trojans continued to spread and infect systems in approximately the same numbers.
China, Ukraine, Thailand and Taiwan held the top four highest rates of infection (more than 50 percent of cases). Other countries such as Italy, the U.S. or France recorded rates below 40 percent, but ranked higher than last month.
Tags: Feb. 2011, FL, malware report, Orlando, Panda Security, Security
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, IT, Security | Comments Off
Friday, March 4th, 2011
 SANFORD, FL – ArchPoint Corp., an independent investment banking firm focused on financial and strategic advisory services to growth companies in the technology and media sectors, has closed on a $1.53 million financing, according to a regulatory filing. The company raised the equity from four investors.
The company provides strategic advice around mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, private capital raising and restructuring in addition to long and short term board advisory services.
It says it has eveloped long-lasting relationships with private equity investors, venture capital firms, and key strategic buyers in technology and media.
It disclosed the raise in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tags: ArchPoint, financing, FL, investment banking, Sandford
Posted in Florida, IT, Money | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
 University of Florida computer researcher Herman Lam (left) and Alan George, founder and director of the NSF CHREC Center, display UF’s supercomputer, the Novo-G, on Feb. 8, 2011. The Novo-G, built and developed at UF, is believed to be the world’s most powerful reconfigurable computer. GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida researchers say their supercomputer, named Novo-G, is the world’s fastest reconfigurable supercomputer and is able to perform some important science applications faster than the Chinese supercomputer touted as the world’s most powerful.
In November, the TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, for the first time ever, named the Chinese Tianhe-1A system at the National Computer Center in Tainjin, China as No. 1.
In his state of the union speech, President Barack Obama noted, “Just recently, China became home of the world’s largest solar research facility, and the world’s fastest computer.”
But that list does not include reconfigurable supercomputers such as Novo-G, built and developed at the University of Florida, said Alan George, UF professor and director of the National Science Foundation’s Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing, known as CHREC.
Novo-G most powerful reconfigurable machine
“Novo-G is believed to be the most powerful reconfigurable machine on the planet and, for some applications, it is the most powerful computer of any kind on the planet,” George said.
“It is very difficult to accurately rank supercomputers because it depends upon what you want them to do,” George said, adding that the TOP500 list ranks supercomputers by their performance on a few basic routines in linear algebra using 64-bit, floating-point arithmetic.
However, a significant number of the most important applications in the world do not adhere to that standard, including a growing list of vital applications in health and life sciences, signal and image processing, financial science, and more under study with Novo-G at Florida.
New, innovative form of computing
Most of the world’s computers, from smart-phones to laptops to Tianhe-1A, feature microprocessors with fixed-logic hardware structures. All software applications for these systems must conform to these fixed structures, which can lead to a significant loss in speed and increase in energy consumption.
By contrast, with reconfigurable machines, a relatively new and highly innovative form of computing, the architecture can adapt to match the unique needs of each application, which can lead to much faster speed and less wasted energy due to adaptive hardware customization.
Novo-G uses 192 reconfigurable processors and “can rival the speed of the world’s largest supercomputers at a tiny fraction of their cost, size, power, and cooling,” the researchers noted in a new article on Novo-G published in the January-February edition of the IEEE Computing in Science and Engineering magazine.
Conventional supercomputers, some the size of a large building, can consume up to millions of watts of electrical power, generating massive amounts of heat, whereas Novo-G is about the size of two home refrigerators and consumes less than 8,000 watts.
Later this year, researchers will double the reconfigurable capacity of Novo-G, an upgrade only requiring a modest increase in size, power, and cooling, unlike upgrades with conventional supercomputers.
Tags: Alan George, FL, Gainesville, Novo-G, reconfigurable computer, University of Florida
Posted in IT, University Tech | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
 OLDSMAR, FL – Vology Data Systems, leading value added-reseller of new and pre-owned networking and telecommunications equipment, has raised $32.5 million in an equity and debt financing.
The growth equity investment was led by LLM Capital Partners, a Boston-based private investment firm. Banyan Mezzanine Fund, and Harbert Mezzanine Partners II, provided funding in the form of subordinated debt. Bank of America renewed the Company’s existing senior revolver facility.
Hyde Park Capital served as the investment banker and exclusive financial advisor to Vology for these transactions and sourced the new capital for the Company.
The company says the transaction substantially improves its liquidity, credit ratios, and financial position and provides additional working capital to fund growth initiatives including potential acquisition opportunities.
Tags: financing, FL, network & telecom equipment reseller, Oldsmar, Vology
Posted in Florida, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Monday, February 28th, 2011
 WEST PALM BEACH, FL – ScriptRX Inc., a company selling software for touchscreen devices used in medical facilities, has raised $1 million of a $2 million offering, according to a regulatory filing.
Founded in 1999, the company sells ScriptRx Discharge, a system to expedite the patient discharge process, and ScriptRx Writer, which is designed to eliminate prescription pads and issues associated with handwritten prescriptions, and ScriptRx EMR, for rapid nursing and physician documentation of clinical encounters in Urgent Care Centers, Walk-In Clinics, and smaller EDs.
We’ve all seen those doctor scrawls on prescriptions that have been the butt of jokes for generations. But misreading those prescriptions can also cause real problems and the company’s software is designed to eliminate them.
The company disclosed the financing in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tags: fianancing, FL, IT, ScriptRX, touchscreen software, West Palm Beach
Posted in Florida, IT | Comments Off
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Panda Security , The Cloud Security company, is providing guidance to small-to-medium sized businesses on ways to safely and securely integrate social media strategies into their businesses.
After conducting its 1st Annual Social Media Risk Index for SMBs last September, Panda Security discovered that 78 percent use social networking sites to support research and competitive intelligence, improve customer service, drive public relations and marketing initiatives and directly generate revenue.
However, corporate social media strategies and security policies usually overlook crisis management plans to face the challenges posed by social media, and authenticity, security and privacy continue to be of utmost concern.
Authenticity
Protecting brand or digital identity should be a priority for all businesses, but in reality, neither the top social media platforms nor companies themselves seem to pay much attention to it.
The fact that anybody can create a fake online profile in the name of a real business means that people can speak on behalf of a company without having anything to do with it. This could lead to the creation of communities of users tricked into believing that a corporate account is authentic. It could also lead to publication of information that could damage the brand and result in public relations disasters.
Only a few social media sites like Twitter allow users to show their account is authentic through a Verified Badge, but most of them do not include that option. It is therefore recommended to proactively register all company trade names on the main social media sites, clearly identifying a business official communication channel if there is no other verification mechanism available.
Security
Companies are affected by the same problems as individual users are who connect to social media sites. The main security concerns businesses should monitor for include:
- Identity theft: Administrators could become infected and have their profile login data and passwords compromised. This could result in anybody taking control of the corporate account to perform actions including scheduling events (on Facebook, for example) with malware links. Similarly, a malicious user that takes over an account could post information from a company’s official profile with disastrous effects.
- Infection risks: Attackers could take advantage of instant messaging applications or the timeline feature in microblogging platforms to send users information with hidden links to malware sites. In the case of large corporations, this could result in targeted attacks designed to infect users’ computers in order to penetrate networks and access confidential information. Similarly, malicious links can be posted on profile walls contributing to the spread of computer malware. Any of these actions could clearly compromise brand integrity.
- Platform vulnerabilities: 2010 saw a number of security exploits in popular social networks like Facebook or Twitter, putting millions of users at risk. As more users join these sites, there will be more researchers looking for security flaws, so users must be aware that the platforms will become more vulnerable as time wears on.
Following good password management practices like changing them regularly and strengthening them through the combination of alphanumeric characters can help protect corporate integrity. Security awareness and education as well as keeping oneself up to date on the latest security threats will help corporate profile administrators to stay alert and detect any irregular activities.
Privacy
The study showed that 77 percent of SMB employees use social networking during working hours and could share confidential information there. This information can potentially be used by malicious users to post information about corporate finances, practices or internal work processes, which becomes a major risk.
Adequate training programs and social media policies will greatly minimize the risk of confidential information leaks. According to Luis Corrons, Technical Director at PandaLabs, “In the past, most social media sites were for personal use, but now we are witnessing a boom of social media strategies in the corporate sector. Web 2.0. has proven to be an extremely efficient way to implement marketing, communication and customer service activities, but companies must understand the risks involved in these channels.”
“Corporate security plans, whether for large or small businesses, must include contingency action plans in the event of public crises caused by any of these online platforms and resulting in reputation damage and financial losses. It is clear that cybercriminals will start shifting their attention to companies using social media as corporations return much more benefits than individual users.”
To access the Social Media Risk for SMBs in its entirety, please click the following link: prensa.pandasecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/1st-Annual-Social-Media-Risk-Index-Slidedeck.pdf.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: FL, guide to social media security for SMBs, identity theft, Orlando, Panda Security, platform vulnerbilities, privacy, social media risk index
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, IT, Security, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
 TAMPA, FL – Pilgrim Software Inc., a provider of enterprise software focused on compliance, quality, and risk management has received an investment in an undisclosed amount from Boston’s Riverside Partners. Pilgrim’s software helps companies in regulated industries – particularly within the life sciences and healthcare industries – manage an increasingly complex regulatory and compliance environment. Riverside’s investment was completed in partnership with the Pilgrim management team and founders of the business.
Pilgrim offers a fully integrated suite of enterprise software to hundreds of blue-chip customers in the life science, food and beverage, and manufacturing industries. Pilgrim boasts industry-leading customer satisfaction and retention rates and has received numerous awards for its offering, including Frost & Sullivan’s Enterprise Compliance & Quality Mgmt Company of the Year for three years in a row.
The company offers its customers both a perpetual license and a subscription-based (hosted) model.
“Pilgrim has built a software platform that helps customers improve overall governance, compliance, and quality; increase productivity; lower costs; and reduce risk. Pilgrim’s products suite is particularly relevant in this era of increased scrutiny by the FDA and other regulatory bodies,” said Philip Borden, a General Partner at Riverside Partners.
“Pilgrim Software removes the need for paper-intensive compliance and quality processes, and enables companies to streamline their operations. Pilgrim addresses a critical need in today’s highly regulated environment and we look forward to partnering with the Company to help it continue on its strong growth trajectory.”
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Boston, financing, FL, M&A, Pilgrim Software, risk management, Riverside Partners, software for regulated industires, Tampa
Posted in Florida, IT, Money | Comments Off
Friday, February 18th, 2011
By Allan Maurer
 ORLANDO, FL – Getting airline profits off the ground is tougher than one might expect, considering how essential air travel is to our business and personal lives in the modern world. But airlines large and small have gone belly up because they couldn’t land enough paying passengers. Radixx, a software firm in Orlando, puts some jet fuel in airline profits.
Ron Peri, founder and CEO of Radixx, tells us that building an advanced airline passenger service system is a complex endeavor that defeated several major players who spent hundreds of millions and years trying. “There have been a lot of attempts to build this type of software that failed,” says Peri.
Radixx itself only succeeded by doing it incrementally over many years, he says at a cost of about $50 million.
A myriad of problems have to be solved: chief among them, getting the airlines specifications and working with legacy software systems, but the whole thing is complex, Peri says. The air industry business model is in a rapid state of change. You must find a way to compete profitably in an environment where low cost structures and non-traditional business models are now the rule not the exception.
Presenting at SEVC
Radixx, spun out of a previous airline focused company in 1998, is among the 50 innovative firms presenting at the fifth annual Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta March 2-3. And what a story Radixx has to tell.
“We have a variety of airline clients who will state emphatically that implementing Radixx Air made them profitable, more profitable, or kept them in business,” says Peri. Great Lakes Aviation, for instance, stated in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that Radixx was the reason for the company’s first profitable quarter.
Air Iceland made its first profit in 40 years of operations after installing Radixx software.
Another airline saw a 250 percent increase in bookings using the software. Go Air, which had never had more than 100,000 passengers in a month leaped to 147,000 the month it first used the product and moved to 250,000 a month.
“It’s had a tremendous impact,” Peri says. “It’s just a more effective and better way of selling.”
The Internet changed everything
The Internet changed everything for airline ticket sales just like it disrupted publishing and music sales and many other aspects of modern business. In the old days, Peri says, a travel agent would book you with the airline that gave them the best commission and you took what you got. Now, on the Internet, “Airline fares are obvious to everyone,” Peri notes.
To deal with that new transparency, which lets people find the cheapest fares quickly, airlines sell everything they can sell as services, from baggage fees to meals or better placement in line. That requires a software system that can handle constant adaptations.
Radixx has about 30 airline clients now and no two do things the same way, Peri says. “But we are at a point now where we have a product,” which he notes was far from easy to create. Now the company is looking for venture backing to help it build out its brand and sales channels.
Radixx Air charges on a transaction basis. It allows selling through any distribution channel, e-ticket or ticketless, legacy or modern.
“There have been many attempts to build this type of software that failed,” says Peri. “We’re kind of the little engine that shouldn’t have been able to but did, little by little.”
He says that if the company lands funding, the lessons it has learned creating its product give it some insight into what’s coming out of the clouds. “We could do some things along the lines of breakthroughs,” he says.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Air Iceland, airline passenger service systems, FL, Go Air, Great Lakes Aviation, Orlando, Radixx, Ron Peri, SEC, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference
Posted in Company Profile, Events, Florida, IT | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
BOCA RATON, FL – Medimetrix Solutions EXchange, which provides health system management tools that health systems can buy online, has raised $1 million of a targeted $5 million mixed securities offering, according to a regulatory filing. The company raised $1.28 million in 2010.
The company’s website says The EXchange enables hospital and health system executives to quickly find proven solutions fitting their institutional needs, speed their implementation, reduce the learning curve and adoption while lowering costs, improving performance and increasing efficiency.
Leading health systems spendmillions of dollars developing Solutions to improve theirmanagement performance. The EXchange recognizes that these proven solutions have a large potentialmarket. Until now, only a few solutions have been successfully transformed into commercial products by third-parties andmost are not suitable for commercialization as stand-alone products. Through The EXchange, health systems have a platform to effectively commercialize their proven management solutions, the company says.
The EXchange also provides an access point for social networking via forums and blogs to promote discussions about healthcare innovation as well as review market acceptance of the solutions available for licensing.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Boca Raton, financing, FL, healthcare solutions platform, Medimetrix Solutions EXchange, online exchange
Posted in Florida, IT, Money | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 BOCA RATON, FL - Managed Maintenance Inc., which sells a suite of complete contract management process optimization solutions, has promoted Tina Lux-Boim CEO.
Lux-Boim served as president of the company since its founding in 2007. Lux-Boim brings nearly 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with in-depth expertise in hardware service and maintenance and software licensing.
She was recently named one of CRN’s “2010 Women of the Channel”, which celebrates the accomplishments of those female executives making their mark in the IT channel. Lux-Boim is a noted featured speaker at both maintenance and support conferences and SaaS provider events.
MMI says its solutions enable technology manufacturers (OEMs), their channel partners, distributors and service providers to maximize service contract and equipment replacement revenues, and help end user organizations ensure uninterrupted maintenance and support coverage.
Tags: Boca Raton, FL, IT, Managed Maintenance, Tina Lux-Boim named CEO
Posted in Florida, IT | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 FERNANDINA BEACH, FL -More and more educational opportunities now have online options. Now, doctors can train in 3D imaging via MDTraining@Home, which just landed new funding.
MD Training@Home, a provider of interactive home and web-based medical training programs, received an investment in an undisclosed amount by BroadReach Capital Funds of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
“Realizing the success of our MD Training@Home/CTC module and the response to the requests for a CTA program, we strategically decided it was in the company’s best interest to secure working capital and a line of credit to have the ability to speed up the introduction of several more training modules in the first half of 2011,” said Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer of MD Training@Home.
“With the constant budget cuts hitting continuing education at most facilities, the timing is perfect to launch additional training modules including the CTA/CME board review and CTA/CME lecture series next month.”
Medical education, more specifically 3-D imaging, is in the early stages of what many believe to be one of the fastest growing medical areas. Having the opportunity to position ourselves with the pioneers in Virtual Colonography education and certification has been an easy decision for BroadReach Capital.
“MDT’s systems, platforms, and technology have put us in a unique leadership position in 3-D image training and certification. The future modalities MDT has on their agenda positions this company for incredible growth,” states J. Scott Wolter, president of BroadReach Capital.
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Tags: BroadReach Capital Funds, Fernandina Beach, financing, FL, MDTtrainingatHome
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, IT | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – eDiets.com Inc. (NASDAQ:DIET), a provider of personalized nutrition, fitness and weight-loss programs, has raised $1.57 million through a private placement that closes Feb. 11, with outside investors led by BBS Capital Fund and some members of its board.
eDiets currently features its award-winning, fresh-prepared diet meal delivery service as one of the more than 20 popular diet plans sold directly to members on its flagship site,www.eDiets.com. The company also provides a broad range of customized wellness and weight management solutions for Fortune 500 clients.
Tags: eDiets, financing, FL, Ft. Lauderdale, personalized fitness programs
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, Money | Comments Off
Monday, February 7th, 2011
 FORT LAUERDALE, FL – -Bullish sentiment continues to rise among online investors with most expressing little concern that a significant market correction is imminent, according to a late January 2011 survey of more than 230 retail investors conducted by online broker TradeKing.
Key highlights from the survey:
- Fifty-one percent of investors surveyed described themselves as either “bullish” or “very bullish,” up from 45 percent in October 2010 and 35 percent just six months ago.
- Only six percent described themselves as “bearish” or “very bearish,” down from 13 percent last quarter and setting a new all-time low for bearishness since this survey’s inception in October of 2007.
- When asked “Do you expect a market correction of greater than 10 percent before the end of Q1 2011?,” 48 percent of respondents answered “no,” compared with 28 percent who answered “yes,” and 24 percent who said “not sure.”
- Investor optimism appears to extend beyond the next few quarters as nearly 70 percent of investors polled said they expect the S&P to be trading up 5-10 percent by year-end.
“We are certainly seeing the confidence investors have indicated in this quarter’s survey reflected in an increase in trading volume among our clients,” said Don Montanaro, Chairman and CEO of TradeKing.
“They appear ready to get back into the market after what could be characterized as a very wary summer and early fall. With that said, it’s clear investors will be closely watching certain segments prone to sudden swings, such as oil, given the recent unrest in the Middle East and the extreme winter weather much of the country has been experiencing.”
Oil Prices Unseat Unemployment as Top Potential Trade Trigger; Stalwarts Energy and Technology Remain Investors’ Favorite Sectors
Among those investors surveyed, 43 percent ranked the cost of oil as their top trade trigger to watch for the next three months, replacing U.S. unemployment claims for the first time since April of 2009. Unemployment ranked second with 36 percent, pushing quarterly earnings to third with 35 percent of responses.
When asked to pick the favored sectors for the next three months from a “long” position, respondents gave energy and technology strong endorsement as the top picks with energy jumping a full 15 percentage points since October to 61 percent, and technology moving up only two percentage points to 45 percent of responses.
Gold and precious metals took the top spot for having the most potential from a “short” position, with 13 percent of responses, followed by finance and retail, both sharing 12 percent.
The in-house survey was conducted January 26-31, 2011 via email to 3,000+ TradeKing clients, with an estimated 95 percent confidence level.
Tags: cost of oil, FL, Fort Lauderdale, market correction, online investors bullish, TradeKing
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, January 31st, 2011
 ORLANDO, FL – Our vigilant friends at Panda Security have discovered two new security exploits taking advantage of popular social media sites Facebook and Twitter. In the last several days, two new malware strains have been wreaking havoc on Facebook users.
The first, Asprox.N, is a Trojan delivered via email informing users their Facebook account is being used to distribute spam and that, for security reasons, the login credentials have been changed. The email includes a fake Word document attachment, supposedly containing the new password, with an unusual icon and the filename Facebook_details.exe.
Deceiving victims by opening a .doc file upon opening the attachment, this file is really a Trojan that downloads another file designed to open all available ports, connecting to mail service providers in an attempt to spam as many users as possible.
The second new malware strain, Lolbot.Q, is distributed across instant messaging applications such as AIM or Yahoo!, with a message displaying a malicious link. Clicking the link downloads a worm designed to hijack Facebook accounts, blocking users’ access while informing that the account has been suspended.
To “reactivate” their account, users are asked to complete a questionnaire, promising prizes such as laptops and iPads. After several questions, users are asked to subscribe and enter their cell phone number, which is in turn charged a fee of $11.60 per week. Victims can restore access to their Facebook account only once they subscribe to the service and receive a new password.
“Once again cybercriminals are using social engineering to trick victims and infect them with malware,” said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs. “Given the increasing popularity of social media, it is no surprise that it is being exploited to lure victims.”
To avoid security threats such as these, PandaLabs recommends users be wary of any unexpected messages with unusually eye-catching subjects and avoid clicking on external links, running executable files or entering personal data into unknown applications or web forms.
Tags: Asprox.N, facebook, FL, Lolbot.Q, Orlando, Panda Labs, Panda Security, security exploits, twitter
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
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