Nashville Technology Council

PureSafety Welcomes New Director of Content Development

PureSafety, a leading provider of results-driven software and information solutions for workforce safety and health, has hired Kevin Eggers as director of content development.

Within this role, Eggers is responsible for all aspects of content development, quality assurance and support including the company’s growing course library of more than 600 Environmental, Health and Safety courses, as well as support for custom projects for clients. He oversees a growing team of 20 project managers, instructional designers, web developers and graphic artists.  

“Training remains the foundation of, and a key theme, for our industry leading suite of workforce safety and health solutions,” said PureSafety President and CEO Bill Grana. “Kevin’s extensive background in process improvement and operations management will help us continue to deliver superior quality, consistency and effectiveness in our off-the-shelf and custom courses.”

Eggers has more than 25 years of experience in business process reengineering and operations management and has specialized exclusively in Software as a Service (SaaS) organizations for the past 13 years. He is former director of operations at Dealerskins, a custom web solution provider to the automotive industry, and served in the United States Navy for 20 years, retiring in 2000 as chief petty officer. During his various tours of duty he held roles in engineering training, electrical safety and process improvement.

About PureSafety
Born out of a workplace tragedy in 1999, PureSafety empowers its customers to protect their organization’s most valuable assets: their people and profits. PureSafety provides comprehensive, web-based software and information solutions that support compliance requirements, overall risk management needs, and the enhancement of governance and company culture through improved programs, processes, awareness, understanding, visibility, and accountability within workforce safety and health. The company’s growing team of 160 employees serves more than 2,000 companies operating in more than 20 major industries including manufacturing, construction, distribution, energy, and healthcare, and encompasses 34 percent of the Fortune 500. Headquartered in the Nashville-area, PureSafety has an additional location in Colorado Springs, Col. To learn more, visit www.puresafety.com or call 888.202.3016.

Nashville Tech Story (11/18/09)

Last week we had a stimulating discussion about Intellectual Property, seriously.  I have been to many discussions about IP and this one topped the charts.  The panelist were Edward Ramage, Baker Donelson; Suzanne Kessler, Partner, Hughes – Kessler Consulting; Dave Gilbert, Director Business Development, Griffin; and Eric Reuthe, VP Product Engineering at edo Interactive.  The panelist was led by Kiwi (KAD) Camara, Partner, Camara Sibley.

Kiwi began the conversation with a quick update of the case before the Supreme Court – Bilski.  It was great timing because the courts listened to oral arguments the day before.  Both Kiwi and Edward pointed out the most interesting points of the conversation related to the questions by the judges as insight to where the court might head with regards to a decision.

The essence of the Bilski case is whether or not the business methods process will hold up against patent protection.  In re Bilski, 545 F.3d 943, 88 U.S.P.Q.2d 1385 (Fed. Cir. 2008), is an en banc decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on the patenting of method claims, particularly business methods. The Federal Circuit court affirmed the rejection of the patent claims involving a method of hedging risks in commodities trading. The court also reiterated the machine-or-transformation test as the applicable test for patent-eligible subject matter, and stated that the test in State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group should no longer be relied upon.  The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari on June 1, 2009 and oral argument on the patent applicants’ appeal was heard on November 9, 2009.

Eric from edo discussed his issues with pursuing a patent for their “financial offsets” for credit cards.  edo Interactive is the creator of the Facecard,  a program where incentive dollars are loaded directly onto selected consumers’ payments cards that can then be redeemed in a single swipe at checkout, driving targeted consumers to purchase products.

Ed Ramage pointed out that the most important thing he can teach business people is that there is a one year time bomb for patents after you publish a Pending Application.

There was extensive discussion about worldwide protections.  The most advanced office is the European Patent Office which will provide some protection, but can take up to 30-31 months to receive the protection.  All of the panelist agree that worldwide protection is a very expensive proposition to both apply for and litigate.

In China, several of panelist equate the patent protection process as “whack-a-mole.”  There are so many manufacturers that they can set up shop quickly, close it down, and then open another shop a few weeks later.  

The average cost of filing a patent in the United States ranges from $1,500 to $3,000 for a provisional patent and $5,000 to $10,000 for a full utility patent.  It usually takes 2-3 years to receive the final patent.  

However, the most expensive process is patent litigation.  In the simplest of cases, it could cost $750,000 to $1 million.  If you are claiming losses of $25M to $50M, it would cost you $2.5M to $3.5M to litigate and if it is a full company damage, then the cost could run $4-6M.  Kiwi pointed out that there are some firms who will work on contingency fee rates, depending on the strength of the case.

The panel also discussed willful infringement and that a lot of times, they recommend not to do too much research before filing a patent.  If you believe you have a new idea, then go ahead and file a provisional patent and then you can add on to the patent as the product evolves.  As pointed out by Mr. Ramage, your liability would be limited to retroactive reasonable fees in the form of licensable revenue as a result of knowingly infringing on a patent.

All of the panelist recommend Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) when working with people that could potentially add to a patentable development process.  When working in a co-inventor situation, be careful warned the panelist.  Make sure you have a declaration document and an employment contract agreement for employees.

Click Here for More Information

Nashville Tech Story (11/17/09)

A Cray supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has regained the title of the world’s most powerful supercomputer, overtaking the installation that was ranked at the top in June, while China entered the Top 10 with a hybrid Intel-AMD system.

The upgraded Jaguar supercomputer at Oak Ridge, in Tennessee, now boasts a speed of 1.759 petaflops per second from its 224,162 cores, while the IBM Roadrunner system at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico slowed slightly to 1.042 petaflops per second after it was repartitioned. A petaflop is one thousand trillion calculations per second.

The list of the Top 500 supercomputers, set to be released on Monday during the SC09 supercomputing conference in Portland, Oregon, is compiled twice a year and is now in its 34th installment. The total capacity of the systems on the new list is 27.6 petaflops, up from 22.6 petaflops on the previous list in June.
Jaguar has been upgraded since June with new processors and surged ahead to take the lead. It is based on the Cray XT5 Linux supercomputer platform, which uses Advanced Micro Devices Opteron (AMD) processors. Its total peak capability is 2.3 petaflops per second.

The No. 3 system is Kraken, at the National Institute for Computational Sciences at the University of Tennessee, which performs at 832 teraflops per second. This Cray XT5 supercomputer was ranked No. 6 in June, when it was rated at just 463 teraflops per second.

Intel processors power 402 of the systems on the list, or 80.4 percent, up slightly from 399 in June. The IBM Power architecture is the second most commonly used, with 52 systems, down from 55. AMD’s Opteron family appears in 42 of the systems.

Most of the Top 500 supercomputers — 426 systems — now use quad-core processors. Only 59 use dual-core chips, and just four systems are based on single-core architectures. There were six systems on the latest list using IBM’s nine-core Cell Broadband Engine processor, also used in the PlayStation 3. Gigabit Ethernet is the internal interconnect technology in 259 installations, compared with 181 using InfiniBand.

Hewlett-Packard led in the number of systems on the list, with 210 supercomputers or 42 percent, compared with 185 for IBM. However, the IBM systems accounted for the most computing power, with 34.8 percent of total performance, down from 39.8 percent. HP held 22.8 percent.

The Top 500 list is compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim in Germany, Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Click here to Read More

Editor’s note: this is the first of five daily features during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Guest blogger Mark Montgomery is a serial entrepreneur and strategic consultant. He was the co-founder and former CEO of echo, a digital music innovator which was acquired by IAC in 2007. Along with his other pursuits, Mark chairs the Advisory Board of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.

Mark Montgomery from Nashville Entrepreneur Center on Vimeo.

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) runs from today, November 16, through November 22. Global Entrepreneurship Week is a worldwide event intended to inspire, connect, mentor and engage young people with the desire to change the world. Partners include universities, high schools, non-profit organizations, successful entrepreneurs and government agencies. Tennessee has more events going on during GEW than any other state—and is a great reflection on the capabilities and opportunities for Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

While measuring the exact impact of entrepreneurs in a market can be a difficult task, it is clear that where entrepreneurship flourishes, wealth and value are created in that city. Our fair city has always been home to risk-takers and great thinkers (offer to buy Chamber CEO Ralph Schultz a beer and he’ll fill you in from the 1850’s forward…), and today they make up 21.6% of our economic ecosystem. Because of the high concentration of the creative class here in Nashville, we not only have a more traditional group of small businesses and sole proprietorships, we also have Keith Urban and the Kings of Leon, among many other great artists. Along with our rich musical history, we also have a more than few small healthcare companies…a strong foundation to build upon.

The short version of my story is that I moved to Nashville in 1990 with $800.00 and a guitar in hopes of becoming a big fish in a big pond. I managed to become a decent-sized fish, but not as the next George Lynch. My grandfather had one of the first personal computers, and I had always been a bit of a curious computer nerd. I became interested in the web in the early nineties, and began building websites in 1994. On April 20th, 1996, I helped launch an ecommerce platform selling music directly to consumers.  That moment defined the next 10+ years of my life.  In 1999, I co-founded echomusic with Neil Einstman, and off to the races we went. Grown organically out of cash, we moved the company through many phases; and in 2007, we sold the company to the Interactive Corporation (IAC). The sale gave me something I had not had in a long time: a boss.  After a couple of years, I recognized that while I was certainly capable of running an operational business unit of a major multinational corporation, at my core I am a builder. So back into the sea of entrepreneurship I threw myself.

I signed up to help launch our Entrepreneur Center for two simple reasons. First, a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem requires connection and community. The EC gathers all of that energy and focuses it in one place. Focus and execution are the key to success; and while I am glad that to date we have succeeded without this level of focus, I am extraordinarily excited to watch as the EC’s impact begins to be felt in Nashville and Middle Tennessee. This focus will bring mentorship, tools, business plan advice, educational and networking opportunities, directories and pathways to capital to our community of entrepreneurs, providing real value and support at a key time in the life of a business.

Second, Nashville has become my permanent home, and I believe that we all have a responsibility to give back.  It gives me great pride to know that as new people arrive here with their dreams in tow, they will have a place that will provide focused resources for those dreams.  And by committing to my community, I will have the opportunity to watch many of those dreams come true.

echo was a pioneer in the digital music space, and I will always say with pride, “yes, sir, we built our technology business in NASHVILLE.”  Our city and state has many other pioneers, companies that have the ability to be truly transformational in music, healthcare, publishing, logistics, payments, and more.  As my next big dream unfolds, as exciting as that is for me, I am even more excited to watch Nashville’s community move to the next level in its support of ALL its entrepreneurs.

If you are an entrepreneur, this is your week!  Take a moment and be grateful for what you are doing.  If you work for one of us, how about a pat on the back (or better yet a hug…) and if you enjoy one of the products as a consumer, take a moment to say thanks…it means so much…

Be well!

Nashville Tech Story (11/11/09)

‘Tis the Season. From now until January 15th, free wireless access will be available in over 45 airports Nationwide, including Nashville International Airport (BNA).  In addition, free wireless access will be available on board Virgin American flights, powered by Gogo® Inflight internet. Are you curious how in-flight wireless access works at 35,000 feet? It is very similar to how a cell phone works with cellular towers.  Click here for a full description.   

Google is also all about giving back to the community, and now you can contribute.  If you make a donation to one of 3 charities, Climate Savers Computing, One Economy Corporation or Engineers Without Borders USA, Google will match your donation 100%.  In addition, the Airport with the most donations, will receive $15,000 to give to the charity of their choice.   

That’s not all.  If you are in a participating airport, take a picture of yourself using the WiFi network and submit to win a number of awesome prizes.  Thanks Google for spreading the Holiday Cheer, and making traveling a little more pleasant through the busy season.  

Click Here for more information

PureSafety Continues Aggressive Growth Strategy
Taps Avondale Partners to identify acquisition opportunities

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Nov. 10, 2009 — PureSafety, a leading provider of results-driven software and information solutions for workforce safety and health, is ramping up its acquisition strategy and has engaged Avondale Partners, a full-service investment banking firm, to assist in identifying potential opportunities.

PureSafety’s scale, market leadership and momentum make it well positioned for additional growth and a prime candidate to further consolidate the industry.  The company is seeking highly capable and committed teams as well as complementary software solutions and service partners within the workforce safety, health, environmental and risk management sectors.

This heightened focus on acquisition growth is in support of PureSafety’s vision to create the industry’s most comprehensive suite of web-based software and information solutions to address compliance, risk management, governance and culture needs.

“Our ability to help our customers protect their most important assets and drive meaningful business results has never been stronger,” said PureSafety President and CEO Bill Grana. “We are looking for like-minded people and companies that share this vision.”

The company’s successful acquisitions to date include the December 2008 acquisition of Unique Software Solutions, Inc. (USSI) and its Occupational Health Manager® (OHM) software suite and PerDatum’s Prognos® software application in November 2006.  

“We are excited to partner with PureSafety on this engagement, and already have multiple indications of interest outstanding to acquire complementary firms,” said Chris Calton, director, Investment Banking at Avondale Partners.

About PureSafety
Born out of a workplace tragedy in 1999, PureSafety empowers its customers to protect their organization’s most valuable assets: their people and profits. PureSafety provides comprehensive, web-based software and information solutions that support compliance requirements, overall risk management needs, and the enhancement of governance and company culture through improved programs, processes, awareness, understanding, visibility, and accountability within workforce safety and health.  The company’s growing team of 160 employees serves more than 2,000 companies operating in more than 20 major industries including manufacturing, construction, distribution, energy, and healthcare, and encompasses 34 percent of the Fortune 500. Headquartered in the Nashville-area, PureSafety has an additional location in Colorado Springs, Col. To learn more, visit www.puresafety.com or call 888.202.3016.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Amy Gray, APR                        
Gray Public Relations                        
615.497.1799                                    
agray@graypr.com     

Nashville Tech Story (11/10/09)

Now you can spam your LinkedIn profile with a cryptic 140 character messages.  Thanks to a new partnership between Twitter and LinkedIn, you can now sync your updates on both platforms.  For the business users of LinkedIn, get ready for more updates about the kids, day-dreaming, and other stream of conscience thoughts.  It should be interesting.  Before you go ranting and raving too much, you might want to think about everyone who has linked to you in your professional persona!

Click Here to read more.

Nashville Tech Story (11/9/09)

With over 1,000 attendees, this five day conference is the largest educational conference for data center management professionals worldwide.  Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Data Center World hits the Nashville community, March 7th – 11th, at Gaylord Opryland Resort, bringing together a wide spectrum of attendees including CIOs, MIS Directors, Network and Communications managers, Systems Software managers, Facility managers, Disaster Recovery specialists, Security managers, and Operations managers.  

Not only is there the opportunity to network with peers and potential clients from businesses across the nation, there are a number of chances to educate from these individuals as well.  Conference case studies will take you through a real-life data center crisis and teach you the ins and outs of working through the problem.  Choose from 7 different roundtable discussions, which will give you the chance to ask questions to a panel if industry experts.  In addition, you can sign up for a data center tour at Nashville’s very own Dolphini Networks or Vanderbilt University’s ITS Facility.  This event also has optional tutorials, facilities/greening tracks, product information sessions, and industry leading keynote addresses.  

To find out more information on this event, visit http://www.datacenterworld.com/index.html.

Dolphini Networks chosen by AFCOM as Live Data Center Tour Partner for Data Center World’s Spring 2010 convention‐ Nashville, TN

WHO: Attendees of AFCOM’s Data Center World convention

When: March 7‐11, 2010 go to datacenterworld.com for full event calendar.

Where: Convention will be held at Gaylord’s Opryland Hotel and Resort.

Dolphini is thankful to be recognized by its colleagues worldwide for its Data Center’s Design and Efficiency record.

About Dolphini:

Dolphini is most proud of its 100% uptime history at the Data Center. For more information contact Dolphini Networks @ 615‐256‐5505Dolphini Networks Data Center connects the World to Nashville and Nashville to the World. Dolphini is a Lucent Designed‐ Central Office Grade Structure built to meet and exceed the Power and Cooling Demands of today’s IT enterprise class Client. Dolphini is designed with Dual Power Grid Connectivity and is a Green Power Partner with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Dolphini Utilizes APC’s InfraStruXure product line of Cabinets, Power Management, Power Distribution & Symmetra Power Array along with a Cisco Core. Dolphini has connectivity to Multiple Fiber Carriers as well as Dark Fiber partners. Dolphini has also constructed a line of sight tower for future wireless transmission of services. Dolphini provides colocation, hosting and managed services to businesses of all sizes and classes. From Small start up clients to ISP’s, Universities, Enterprise Clients and Government alike, Dolphini works with each client to create the solution best suited for their application . Dolphini’s centralized Nashville location allows them to serve 80% of the United States businesses within a 12 hour drive. This enables them to be a preferred host to many southeastern counties E911 services as well as the country of Costa Rica.

Nashville Tech Story (11/6/09)

Communications Technology, Voice & Telephony, Data Services, Cabling, Infrastructure Options and Security Solutions were just a few of the industries represented at yesterday’s Technology Showcase, presented by Hiscall, at the Radisson Hotel Opryland.    This showcase exemplified everything that Hiscall sells and represents.  With over 25 breakout sessions to choose from and over 50 vendors represented, participants stayed very busy throughout the day.

Participating Nashville Technology Members included:

• Avaya, Inc.
• Juniper Networks, Inc.
• Nashville Electric Company
• NUVOX
• PAETEC
• ShoreTel, Inc.
• TANDBERG
• TippingPoint

Thanks, Hiscall, for letting us be a part of this event, and continuing to grow Nashville’s technology community.