MAY 15, 2012
Printable Version
 

MEMBER NEWS - IN BRIEF
 

Apriso: New Med Device Solution & Awards
A new extension to Apriso's Global Trace and Genealogy software and services solution is now available, tailored to meet the specific industry requirements of medical device manufacturers, providing a centralized repository and framework for collecting and storing all product genealogy and traceability data from internal systems and supply chain partners.  Meanwhile, Inbound Logistics magazine named Apriso to its list of the Top 100 Logistics and Supply Chain Technology Vendors for 2012, and the 2012 Manufacturing Executive Leadership 100 Awards honored Apriso with a President's Award for key technology partners. (Chris Brecher, Orange County)

ATEN Launches Eco-Friendly Products
A new product line of green solutions has been announced by ATEN, consisting of power distribution units, eco sensors, and lightweight LCD consoles. These products address the power consumption and excessive heat dissipation challenges of data centers by increasing energy efficiency and managing environmental factors. (James Hsieh, Orange County)

Cornerstone OnDemand & ADP Renew Partnership
ADP and Cornerstone OnDemand have extended their reseller relationship through 2017, whereby ADP will continue to offer employers best-in-class performance, succession management, learning, compensation, enterprise social networking, along with powerful reporting and analytics for talent management, powered by Cornerstone. (Adam Miller, West Los Angeles)

Line 6 Debuts Latest Digital Microphones
Designed for professional vocalists and active performers, the new XD-V55 digital wireless handheld, lavalier, and headset microphone systems from Line 6 are now shipping, delivering the sound of the world’s most popular wired mics combined with a proven fourth-generation digital wireless platform. (Mike Muench, West Los Angeles)

Microsemi Intro's Several New Products
The first in a series of new generation 1200 volt non-punch through IGBTs is available from Microsemi, leveraging Power MOS 8 technology, and offering a reduction of 20+% in total switching and conduction losses.  Also, Microsemi unveiled a new dimmable LED driver module optimized for worldwide residential, commercial, and industrial light fixtures, and introduced a suite of system and power management design tools for high availability wired and wireless communications infrastructure equipment. (Russ Garcia, Orange County)

Sprint Lands $2 Billion Contract
The Western States Contracting Alliance, a public sector purchasing consortium, has awarded Sprint a four-year, $2 billion contract to serve as one of its wireless products and services providers.  Meanwhile, Sprint and Sierra Wireless announced the May 18 availability of the first-ever device to combine 4G connections over LTE and WiMAX networks, Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot for the Sprint network. (Matt Carter, Orange County)

SYSPRO Gathers Honors
Network Products Guide has chosen SYSPRO as "Innovative Company of the Year" in the Information Technology category, in recognition of its Quantum Architecture, a one-of-a-kind ERP architectural framework.  Also, SYSPRO has been named a Finalist for two TechAmerica Orange County High-Tech Innovation Awards - in the Outstanding Technology Company and Innovative Product/ Technology categories. Winners will be announced June 14. (Brian Stein, Orange County)

WTI Launches New Switched PDU Products
The new NPS Series Basic Power Reboot Switches from WTI simplify the process of rebooting remote network elements and controlling power switching functions at distant equipment racks. Even when normal network communication is not an option, tech support personnel can still access the NPS unit via HTTPS, SNMP, external PSTN, Satellite, or 3G modem and employ a web-based control interface or user-friendly command set to switch power at select outlets On or Off or initiate reboot cycles in order to restore network communication. (Dan Morrison, Orange County)

INSIGHTS FOR ADAPTIVE BUSINESS LEADERS
 

Dave Berkus blogs on:  Building a Great Company
In The Four “P’s” of Building a Great Business, Dave discusses why people, productivity, performance, and process are "like a chain with four links," no one of which can be weak.  And, in Find your core competency, Dave points out that, for most SMBs, there are a lot of wheels spinning around the company's core competency that take up the attention and resources of management, but add little value to that core. (Dave Berkus, San Gabriel Valley & West Los Angeles)

Chris Dyer blogs on:  Adverse Action Procedures
In Proper Adverse Action Procedures, peopleG2's Chris Dyer explains the legally correct procedure that begins with providing an applicant and/or employee with a clear and conspicuous written disclosure that an investigative consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes. (Chris Dyer, West Los Angeles)

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS
 

5/23 - Approaches That Work to Create a More Productive Culture - Newport Beach, Membership-Wide Conference
6/1 - San Gabriel Valley Round Table
6/7 - Orange County Round Table
6/8 - West Los Angeles Round Table

Robert Bosch Healthcare Teams with Waldo Health
Waldo Networks, Inc. (aka Waldo Health) and Robert Bosch Healthcare Systems have entered into a licensing agreement that gives Waldo the right to sell products and services incorporating technologies from Bosch’s extensive telehealth portfolio, which consists of 145+ issued U.S. patents and 60+ U.S. patent applications and foreign equivalents. (Jasper zu Putlitz, San Francisco)

QSI Acquires Matrix Management Solutions
To support the growth of its NextGen Practice Solution offering, Quality Systems, Inc. has acquired Matrix Management Solutions, an Ohio-based value-added reseller. This enables NextGen to expand its footprint among private and hospital-based physicians and groups by leveraging Matrix's revenue cycle management expertise. (Steve Plochocki, Orange County)

PathCentral Chosen by USC Dept. of Pathology
PathCentral will provide its web-based anatomic pathology laboratory information system (APLIS) to the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Connectivity features will enable Keck School to interface electronically with its clients' EMR systems, key instrumentation within its lab, and, ultimately, with other facilities using digital imaging technology.

PerfectServe Deemed a "Cool Vendor"
Gartner, Inc. has named PerfectServe to its "Cool Vendors in Healthcare, 2012" report. Cool Vendors are selected for being innovative, impactful and intriguing, according to Gartner, and are true innovators that have found nuanced ways to apply technology to practical administrative, clinical and social problems of delivering healthcare. (Gene Barduson, San Diego)  

HeartMath Teams with Huffington Post on New App
The Huffington Post and HeartMath LLC have partnered to release a new app in June called GPS for the Soul that will proactively address the persistence of the world’s stress epidemic. The goal is to provide millions of people with tools, techniques, and technology to take charge of stress and find more joy, peace, and quality in life. Meanwhile, registration is open for Bruce Cryer's workshop, "The Regenerative Power of Heart Intelligence: Restoring Balance, Harmony and Resilience with the HeartMath System" in Montefalco, Italy, Sept. 13-18, 2012. (Bruce Cryer, Silicon Valley)

Doximity Achieves New Milestone
In the year since its launch, Doximity has grown to over 50,000 active physicians and is now used by 9% of all doctors in the U.S. In that time, Doximity has facilitated more than one million connections between doctors, affecting the care of tens of millions of patients. In the past year, Doximity has also secured partnerships with leading research, medicolegal, and second opinion firms to build ExpertFinder, which matches Doximity physician CVs with paid consulting and interview opportunities. In total, Doximity's clients paid over $100 million in honoraria to physicians last year. (Jeff Tangney, San Francisco)

AT&T Announces Remote Patient Monitoring Service
Valued Relationships Inc. (VRI) and AT&T will deliver a remote patient monitoring service to more effectively manage chronic diseases and help reduce hospital readmissions. The end-to-end managed solution will allow a VRI nurse-staffed telemonitoring center to monitor patients around the clock for everything ranging from basic vital signs to chronic diseases, following standard of care guidelines established by physicians and healthcare providers. The intelligent service can alert caregivers when intervention is needed. (Judi Manis, Orange County; Marina Younani, San Francisco)

Anthem Blue Cross Intro's Availity Info Network
Availity, a new information network, is now available to Anthem Blue Cross network physicians and hospitals. Providers can use the secure, Web-based exchange to quickly and easily obtain current insurance coverage information on patients (including eligibility and benefits); submit claims online and monitor their status; access patient clinical history and care alert messages; and access CareProfile, Availity's claims-based EMR. (Pam Kehaly, Los Angeles)

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
 

Facebook OK’d to Trade on NASDAQ
Facebook yesterday filed an 8-A form with the SEC, which indicated that it has received approval from the NASDAQ stock exchange to offer its shares to the public. The brief filing reads in part: “The Registrant’s Class A common stock to be registered hereunder has been approved for listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC under the symbol ‘FB.’” The company has not confirmed any official date for its offering, and is unlikely to do so until it’s within 24 hours of when its stock will start trading. (techcrunch.com, 5/14/12)

Assembly: Keep Social Private from Employers
The California state Assembly last week passed a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose) that would make anything workers designate as private on social networks off limits to employers. The bill, which passed the Assembly without a dissenting vote, now goes to the California Senate. Assembly Bill 1844 would not prevent employers from checking social networking websites for information that’s publicly available. Employers frequently use social media to screen job applicants, but to avoid exposing themselves to liability, they stop short of asking to see private information, employment lawyers say. Campos acknowledges that the practice of asking for such passwords is not widespread and that her bill is more of a preventative measure. It’s unclear if it's even legal to ask private-sector employees for access to their social networking accounts in California, where privacy is written into the state Constitution. The bill does not apply to the public sector. Law enforcement and security agencies are the ones that most frequently snoop on employees’ private digital lives. (latimes.com, 5/10/12)

Move to Cloud Fraught with Anxiety: Survey
Cisco's recent survey of 1,300 managers found that 39% said they dread the challenge of cloud computing deployments so much that they “would rather get a root canal, dig a ditch, or do their own taxes.” Further, 31% said they could “train for a marathon or grow a mullet in a shorter period of time than it would take to migrate their company’s applications to the cloud.” Security is also a nagging concern, cited by 72%. In fact, nearly two in five respondents said they would not trust their own personal information - such as medical records and Social Security numbers - with the cloud provider they are currently using. Nevertheless, many companies are moving forward with plans to cloudify a significant amount of applications. While only 5% say they currently have at least half of their applications in the cloud, that number is expected to quadruple to 20% by the end of this year. When asked to estimate the average length of time it would take to complete the cloud migration for their applications, most IT professionals indicated the deployment would take less than six months.
     These findings expand on the Cisco Global Cloud Index, which predicts that more than 50% of computing workloads in data centers will be cloud-based by 2014, and that global cloud traffic will grow over 12 times by 2015, to 1.6 zettabytes per year. Applications that have been or are being moved to the cloud include email and Web services (77%), storage (74%), and collaboration solutions such as Web conferencing and instant messaging (72%). If given the choice of only being able to move one application to the cloud, most respondents would choose storage (25%), followed by enterprise resource planning applications to manage HR, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and project management systems (20%). (forbes.com, 5/8/12)

70% of Mobile App Users Pay Little or Nothing: Study
According to a recent study of U.S. consumers conducted by ABI, some 70% of mobile app users spend “either nothing or very little” on or in applications. The highest-spending 3% of all app users account for nearly 20% of the total spend in the market, ABI said. Yet two-thirds of app users said they have spent money on an app at least once, and of those people, the mean spend is a healthy $14 a month. But the median mobile spend among those users is $7.50 per month. This shows that a small number of “big spenders” play a “disproportionate role” in the overall market’s revenue, ABI says. (techcrunch.com, 5/14/12)