“North Carolina entered 2008 better than the US and exited worse,” said Martin, “due in large part to impacts on the state’s still-large manufacturing sector and a late, but sharp, pull back in construction activity.”

House Prices Year To Year

Wilmington is coming down from 6% GDP growth, the highest in the state, said Martin.  Martin presented data from the Federal Finance Housing Agency, that showed Wilmington’s year to year change in home prices peaked in 2006, at approximately 24%, and have basically fell to zero in Q4 2008.

This compares to a national peak of 11% change in 2006 and national average rate change of -4% in the same period.  Wilmington is not the same as Phoenix or Las Vegas or other markets, said Martin, but there is “still room for house prices to decline in this region in 2009.”  Martin also presented data from Bureau of Labor Statistics that show that Wilmington’s total nonfarm employment grew faster than the national rate since 2002 and has fell at a lower rate than the national average in 2008.  Martin’s data has year to year change in nonfarm employment in Wilmington around -1%  and -2% nationally in 2008.  Martin stated, the Fed is using it’s balance sheet to provide liquidity to various financial markets  with an aim of stabilizing financial markets and promoting growth and that with core inflation at 1%, “the Fed has some room for expansionary monetary policy”.  Martin stated that there is nothing to indicate that the long-term growth prospects of the US economy have been permanently damaged. Additionally he said there is already significant monetary stimulus in place, with significant fiscal stimulus likely in the coming months. As the year progresses, these will begin to have their effect.

“The event exceeded everyone’s expectations and was very well attended, we are looking forward to our next event March 25th where the CEO of GE Hitachi Nuclear Enrichment will be our guest speaker at the The Balcony on Dock,” said Corey Heim, President, Cape Fear Chapter North Carolina World Trade Association.

North Carolina World Trade Association

Cape Fear Chapter
Keynote Speaker-

Tammy Orr
President & CEO of GE- Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment

What:
The North Carolina World Trade Association is pleased to host keynote speaker Tammy Orr, President & CEO, Global Laser Enrichment for GE Hitachi. Tammy will discuss current events and recent progress of GE global nuclear programs.

Who:
Tammy earned a B.A. degree in Chemistry with honors from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  She began her GE career as an intern with GE Nuclear in 1986.

After graduation, Tammy joined GE as a senior control systems engineer.  In this role, she provided technical support of the fuel manufacturing facility and was a key member of the team that designed, installed and operated a new $80M Dry Conversion Process.  Following roles in manufacturing, Tammy progressed through several commercial leadership roles including account management and sales.  In 2005, she became the General Manager, Quality for GE Nuclear Energy, with responsibility for all aspects of manufacturing, product and service quality for the global $1B nuclear business, which serves customers in North America, Europe and Asia.  In June 2007, Tammy was named President & CEO, Global Laser Enrichment with responsibilities for licensing, commercialization and project execution.

Tammy is an active member of the GE Volunteers.  She lives in Wilmington, NC with her husband Rodney and two children, Watson and Kyna.

When:
Wednesday, March 25th, 12:00 PM -2:00 PM

Where:
The Balcony on Dock
Overlooking Historic Downtown Wilmington
33 S. Front Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 342-0273
Driving Directions Click Here

Lunch:
Choose from the finest selections from a gourmet buffet provided by The Balcony on Dock. Guests will pay for only their own meal costs which is $12 plus tax and gratuity. Tea, coffee and soft drinks will be included.

RSVP:
Reply to CoreyHeim@gmail.com by Monday, March 23rd, 2009, Please RSVP with the full name of those who are attending so a printed name badge can be made up prior to the event.

In the wild, black sea bass are normally caught in traps, which leads to inconsistent yields and size,  said Ted Davis, company founder.  In comparison, Aqua Plantation’s fish are raised in 8,000 gallon tanks and fed a diet of pellets when young and then twenty-gram tilapia after they grow past a weight of one pound.  This system allows for uniform growth, and the fish are kept alive until the filets are ordered and processed.    According to Davis, the two biggest challenges are keeping water quality and feeding protocol balanced and designing a recirculating system that can be used inland.  Unlike inland freshwater systems, saltwater systems like Aqua Plantation’s cannot discharge fish waste on land.  For example, tilapia is produced in fresh water tanks, and the waste can be spread on agricultural land as a fertilizer; however, the salinity of the black sea bass’ water prevents this use and requires more advanced systems to deal with the waste.

The company is also exploring more environmentally-friendly methods to deal with the material left over after filleting.  “The best green option would be to turn it into feed for another animal because our byproduct is heavy in omega-3 fatty acids,” said Davis.  The company intends to combine equity and debt financing to develop the site and build a series of tanks and systems to raise the fish and perfect the water recirculating technology.  Davis said they are “looking for $3M for the next expansion.”

The company produced over 500 different power cord styles last year because the U.S., Canada, European Union and China have a variety of standards for plug type, material and other specifications.  “There are five standards in Europe alone,” said Kysely, “and once you hit 125 volts, everything is regulated.”

According to Kysely, Feller products have no Asian components and use only U.S. or European sources.  Feller is privately held, and this is a company policy, said Kysely.  Also, according to Kysely, proximity to U.S customers also allows Feller’s manufacturing to have shorter lead times and a competitive advantage over Chinese competitors.  “It is tempting to close shop and move [production] to China,” said Kysely  “but that would make us just another one of the over 400 Chinese companies that make power cords.”

The company’s NC operation currently employes seven employees in the office, six full time manufacturing staff and up to fifteen temporary manufacturing employees depending on demand. Globally, the firm employees over 300 people.  Kysely estimates that the new N.C. equipment will expand production and create approximately twenty new jobs, but he admits that the current economic climate makes forecasts more difficult.  Last year, the Leland factory processed about 4000 orders and produced about 1.3 million pieces.

Access Control Consultants (ACC) maybe new to Wilmington, but has just been awarded a contract by the University to install 144 video cameras as part of a project to increase security on campus.   The additional cameras are “part of the continuing safety initiatives that UNCW launched a couple of years ago,” said Cindy Lawson, Assistant to the Chancellor for Marketing and Communications.  “When these enhancements are complete more than half of our residence hall will have cameras.”

Larry Blumenfeld, ACC president, has been in the security business for 27 year and said that instead of traditional video cameras, his company plan to install networked versions at UNCW.  “We feel like we are at the edge of technology, pushing buttons.” Networked camera use TCP/IP connections instead of hardwired connections and can be deployed anywhere there is a wired or wireless network.  According to Blumentfeld, these new cameras allow for advanced features such as centralized monitoring and video analytics, where computers assist with the human monitoring.  With video analytics, software can determine if someone has left a package or  is walking the wrong way down a hall way.  It can also can highlight potential problem and do license plate recogontion.  “The average person can only look at a video screen for twenty minutes and keep their attention,” said Bluementfeld, and video analytics can “help eliminate this burden a security guard.”

ACC is based in Greensboro, but recently opened an office in Wilmington as part of a strategic partner ship with Genesys networks.  Genesys will be providing remote backup service for the digital video footage created by the cameras.  Blumenfeld stated that file sizes and video frame rates are starting to put pressure on data storage.  “We are putting boxes out with 2-3 Terrabytes and they are still not enough,” said Blumenfeld.  Genesys networks will provide the backend remote storage to reduce the need for local storage on their systems.

Thermal Imaging

Wilmington-based Andrew Consulting Engineers has expanded their service offering to include thermal imaging technology and to provide non-invasive inspection of buildings, homes and industrial equipment.    “Part of our main business is forensic engineering and investigating problems with homes and businesses. Mainly, ‘What are the problems? Where is the source of the problem?’” said Neal Andrew, professional structural engineer and founder. He went on to state, “Thermal imaging is a non-destructive method to further our forensic investigations and engineering.”  The firm’s chief thermographer, Tommy Webster, uses equipment from FLIR Thermal Imaging Systems that also provides thermal imaging technology for military and commercial systems.

Andrew stressed that other thermographers who might have similar equipment can identify where a problem might be, but a licensed, professional structural engineer is able to define the problem, allowing you to proceed with proper maintenance. Both Andrew and Webster spent over 32 hours in lab time and training, with additional hours spent just learning the software, to become certified.  They also report that they are the only certified FLIR operator in the region.  Andrew spoke of a recent inspection of the New Hanover court house, where their reading of the thermal images identified hot spots and potential problems in a mechanical system and a possible overloaded transformer.  Andrew explained that the system can also be used to detect heat loss or water leaks in residential or commercial buildings by looking at the heat signature of walls, ceilings or windows .

“There are endless amounts of applications for this technology; in every aspect of structural, residential, commercial as well as industrial venues,” said Webster. “Our professional alliances with Mechanical and Civil Engineers as well as Architects just help to bolster the level of services that we can provide.”

Wilmington Public Transport Employs Green Technology

Anyone who has ridden a WAVE Transit bus or driven by a bus shelter may have noticed that they have outfitted the shelters with solar panels.  As part of a plan to improve security at bus shelters, WAVE Transit made the decision to add solar-powered lighting to every shelter.  “The easiest way is to go to Progress Energy and have them install a meter,” said Albert Eby, WAVE Transit Director, “but each shelter would have to have a meter.”  This would be more expensive than solar panels in the long run, and Eby said the meters would be also be unsightly and a susceptible to vandalism and theft. As a result, Eby picked solar panels instead. The first shelter to be outfitted was on the UNCW campus, and Eby said that they “were just getting the program together, when someone ran over a shelter” with a car.  Installing solar panels and batteries to power the lighting was a more expensive option initially, but according to Eby’s calculations, it would pay for itself over the life of the shelter.

Eby stressed that solar was just one of the environmentally-friendly initiatives in which WAVE transit is involved.  WAVE Transit is also exploring using biodiesel and converting to hybrid buses.    WAVE Transit had also begun to make plans to replace some percentage of their petroleum diesel in a pilot program until the price spiked.  “Biodiesel was running 3 cents [a gallon] more, but is now 20 cents more.  We are hoping to revisit it when the price comes down” said Eby.

Hybrid buses are another technology that WAVE Transit finds attractive, but it is not yet cost effective to implement.  Hybrid buses work like hybrid cars, with a diesel engine used to generate electricity, electric motors replacing the transmission and a battery to recapture energy during braking.  According to Eby, Chapel Hill has a several hybrids in their fleet, and Charlotte has a couple.   The problem for Wilmington is that a basic hybrid bus costs approximately $525,000 compared to a traditional diesel bus, which costs around $325,000.  Eby said that even with the high price of fuel, hybrid busses are not yet cost-effective without Federal or State grants.   While hybrids increase fuel economy by between 50 and 100%, fuel costs are not high enough to justify the higher initial cost.

Wilmington is a “victim of own clean air,” said Eby, because they do not qualify for programs designed to control ozone and other air pollution as Chapel Hill and Charlotte do.  According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, one federal program called Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) provides over $8.6 billion to offset the cost of projects that reduce ozone and other air pollution.  Wilmington does not qualify for this program because it meets the National Ambient Air Quality Standards at present.  “Rapidly growing areas need access to CMAQ so we can implement innovative programs like hybrid busses,” said Eby.   Eby believes that cleaner technology increase the positive environmental aspects and energy savings of public transportation

Wilmington’s National Public Radio station, WHQR is putting the final touches on their digital transmitter as part of the plan to begin offering High Definition radio programming in addition to traditional FM.  HD radio allows WHQR to broadcast with CD quality sound and provide additional programming on the two available “side bands.”   John Milligan, WHQR General Manager said that “public radio has take a proactive role in HD radio” and that the station is looking to offer a total of three stations in HD.  The primary station will be a HD broadcast of the regular signal with a second channel broadcasting classical music around the clock and another station with a mix of programming to be determined later.  The classical music channel will feature local hosting for part of the day.  The third channel will “talk directly to particular segments,” said Bob Workman, Programming and Music Director, such as “the younger generation, spanish speakers.” This new format has “so much more flexibility for the listeners,” said Workman.

Listening to HD radio requires a new compatible radio that start around $50 and are available in home and car stereo models.  Addon tuners are available for major brands of after market car stereos such as Sony, Pioneer and JVC.  The station plans on offering members an opportunity to check out a radio to give the new service a try after it goes live.

Milligan wanted to stress that the addition of HD Radio is not like the upcoming transition to digital television.  “It is not like TV and will not effect existing broadcasting,” said Milligan.  However, The new HD signal does not reach the complete traditional coverage area.  Because a HD signal does not degrade in the same manner as traditional FM, WHQR’s HD signal only reaches 82% of the area of the FM signal.  Milligan said the station has requested permission from the FCC to increase the broadcast power of the digital signal by 10% to increase the coverage area.

Patron Software Releases New Version

Patron Software, a local developer of software for nonprofit organizations, announced that The Foundation of Brunswick Community College (BCC) has chosen to implement their software package to track donors and assist with capital campaigns.  Mike Capaccio, director of development at BCC said they chose the software package because the Foundation is making a signifigant effort to develop relationships with individuals and donors.  “We are committed to using the most current technology to help form donor relationships with the people of Brunswick county,” said Capaccio.  “After looking at many software packages we chose Patron Software because of the quality, cost and flexibility.”
Patron Software was originally founded in 2001 after the founders met while working at the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.  Joanne Riesz, then the Executive Director, said she responded immediately to co-founder Jenny Romanelli’s requests to volunteer.  Riesz said she believed the Romanelli could help the organization organize its information and records because she was a recent retiree and a former computer systems analyst for Corning Clinical Laboratories.  The two developed a database-driven system to replace the sympony’s flat file system.  After determining there was a demand from similar organizations for affordable software, the two formed Patron software.
Now on version 2.0, the software’s features have expanded in response to requests from clients to address specific problems.  According to Romanelli, their sofware is “evolutionary, they listen to what clients tell them and see clients as partners.”  For example, they added a module for volunteer scheduling after Onslow Community Ministries needed to track volunteer contact information and schedules.  Features such as allowing the organization to assign members to specific donors and documenting interactions with donors also came from suggestions from clients.   Riesz credits a button in the software that allows users to make suggestions directly to the number of ideas generated by users.
The most current version of Patron Software includes modules to track organization membership, manage volunteers, organize projects and record information on the people served by an organization. It sells for $2,499.00 including installation and three hours of training.  The company also offers customization, additional training and existing record conversion.

AlphaCM Launches Community Site

AlphaCM, a provider of software for mental health care providers, has launched a free web-based portal for all North Carolina providers in the mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability field.  The website, ncproviders.org,  allows users to post questions and share information on a forum, get up to date information on regulations and review state and local bulletins.  While the site is free to use, AlphaCM require providers to register and be approved before using the system.   According to AlphaCm’s Chi Rodriguez, approval is required to ensure that only actual NC providers use the system and the site stays free of advertising.   “Over 60 providers registered on the first day the site was active,” said Rodriguez, and the number of registered providers continue to grow.

AlphaCM was founded in 2005, by Kevin Ennis and Ez Bala, after Ennis worked for Piedmont Behavioral Health, the largest Local Management Entity (LME) in the state.  Today, Piedmont Behavioral Health remains a client of AlphaCM and uses their software to manage over 400 providers of mental health services.  AlphaCM also offers a web based software package, AlphaFlex, that is used by local providers to help them facilitate records management and electronic billing.  The software handles reimbursement from Medicaid and local LMEs, automated billing and reconciliation, management and operations reports and integrates with LMEs existing systems.  The software is accessed via a web browser and instead of being sold by user or per installation, is paid for by charging a percentage of money collected by the billing system.  Fees start at 3% and decrease based on transaction volume.   Ennis said they chose this business model because “providers do not have the capital to invest in software”.  Ennis was also attracted to the reoccurring revenue and said that his company is “in it for the long haul.”
In the future the company wants to increase the integration of their software with Microsoft Office and with Sun Microsystems’ free open-source office suite, OpenOffice.  Working with both Office suites is critical because “the state still works in paper and we need to be able to export in these programs,” said Ennis and since “providers operate on low budget and Microsoft Office is a very expensive offering,  we think that OpenOffice is a viable alternative.”

For 92% of the five county Wilmington media market, those who watch television via satellite dish or cable, the upcoming September transition to digital broadcast from traditional analog will not even be noticed.    For the approximately 14,000 people who receive a television signal over the air with an antenna a digital converter box will be required to convert the new digital signal.

On September 8th, the Wilmington media market will be the first market in the US to convert to the new digital format as part of a test by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).   According to Constance H. Knox, WILM Station Manager, Wilmington was the only one of eight markets chosen by the FCC where all stations agreed to meet the early deadline.   The station managers have held regular conference calls and worked through the small challenges that came up while installing the required new equipment, said Knox.   All the equipment should be installed and ready to broadcast by August well in advance of the September switch.  Knox said she expected to share the information gathered from the early roll out with other broadcasters around the country.

For the engineers such as Billy Stratton, WWAY chief engineer, who are responsible for making the new equipment work, the transition has required installing a great deal of new equipment such a transmitters, cameras, and switching hardware.  Stratton said that after the launch of the digital signal, the stations will continue to broadcast information on how to view the digital signal over the analog frequencies until the national switch over in February.   The new digital signal provides superior sound and picture quality, but is less tolerant to low signal strength.  According to Stratton, it takes a stronger signal to produce a picture, so “if a person lives on the outskirts and uses ‘rabbit ear’s,’ they may need set with an amplifier or a roof mounted antenna.”  One myth that Stratton would like to put to rest is that the new digital signal is susceptible to weather.  “People worry about the signal but it will not “rain fade” like a satellite, it is still RF (radio frequency) like analog.”

ILM and Genisys Networks

Local information technology firm Genisys Networks has recently taken over the management of the computer systems of Wilmington International Airport and will host the airport’s mission critical business applications and data in their data center.  Airport staff will access applications over a secure internet remote access connection, using Citrix technology.  ILM Deputy Director Julie A. Wilsey said, “we have a small staff, and we do not have a dedicated IT/IS person. Over the years we accumulated 4 on-site servers, and it was time to replace two of them.”  Genisys eliminated the need for servers physically based onsite and provides real- time back and email hosting.    To make the choice, “a panel met with six local companies and determined which was the most qualified and affordable for our needs,” said Wilsey.

According to David Spears, Genisys Networks CEO, the company’s data center is located in an “undisclosed location, 35 miles northwest of Wilmington.”   The location was chosen because it is located on two power grids and is one network ‘hop’ away from the AT&T fiber network.  The recently completed data center features steel reinforcement, redundant diesel and propane backup power generators and can hold over 3000 servers.  The center currently holds servers for approximately 50 clients.   Spears and co-founder Johnny Diggs met while they were working at a previous networking company and organically provided onsite information technology services.  The company began offering offsite application hosting because it allowed customers to reduce costs by sharing expensive resources such as backup power and network connectivity.  For Diggs it meant that he could access all customer hardware from one location instead of driving around to customer sites.  The next revolution is virtualization, where multiple virtual servers are hosted on one single multi-processor server, said Spears.  Virtualization allows for quicker recovery of a downed server, since the image of the server can be backup directly.

SEAHEC

Physicians in Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover and Pender counties can now fill their Continuing Medical Education (CME) requirements on their computers, with technology provided by South East Area Health Education Center, (SEAHAC) a nonprofit organization that works to improve the quality of healthcare in our region by providing training, education and resources to healthcare professionals.

SEAHEC is using Mediasite technology, an advanced rich media application, which combines video of a presenter with his or her computer output into a format that anyone could view in an Internet browser. This content can be streamed live or archived for later viewing for healthcare professionals interested in pediatrics. Physicians now have access to the weekly lectures anytime, anywhere and can fulfill CME requirements more conveniently.

“Expanding opportunities beyond the hospital setting to reach more healthcare professionals in our region is critical to our mission,” said Elizabeth Dalton, CME Director. SEAHEC is currently the process of building its own educational center slated to open in 2009. At present, SEAHEC is physically located on the campus of New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

PPD

PPD, Inc.  announced that CSS Informatics, the clinical and safety data management consulting services within PPD, has released an improved version of its specialized software product, eLoader. The software allows pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies to load data from external sources into Oracle Clinical and Oracle Thesaurus Management Systems.

In contrast to a traditional website, information posted to weblogs or “blogs” is written in a  less formal tone, organized into categories and sorted by publication date.  A weblog can serve as an effective way for potential clients to learn more about a company or vendor and to become familiar with a business or services provided.  “Social media is an exciting new frontier for the marketing industry,” said Debbie Elliott, President of Talk PR, a local public relations and marketing firm.  “We are constantly exploring new ways to expand our clients’ exposure online, and what better way to sharpen our expertise than to experiment with our own brand?  Since launching the Talk blog, we have recommended the use of blogs to many of our clients as an effective way to communicate with their various audiences.”  Talk PR’s weblog was created in 2005 with Google’s Blogger platform and can be found at talkincblog.com.  In May, Talk PR transitioned the site to WordPress to add more customizable, interactive features such as polls, a roll of staff members’ favorite blogs and websites and social networking bookmarks.

Eddie Yates, a certified life coach and fitness trainer in Wilmington, said that a potential client from Rhode Island came across his weblog at usinmotion.com and informed him that she “all ready felt like she knew him” from reading the postings.  Yates reports that he  “posts to his weblog when something really strikes [him], but may go a week or so without something worth mentioning.”  Yates believes that the weblog is an important part of his site because it allows readers to understand his business and philosophy, and because it changes regularly, it keeps people coming back to his website.

In the Wilmington, weblogs written by Realtors account for a high percentage of the business weblogs.   A Google search for “Wilmington, NC Blog” returns a majority real estate-related weblogs.  Most of the topics discussed on Wilmington real estate blogs include the current market conditions, new developments and sales techniques.  “I have gotten a few leads from my blog and I am currently working with a customer that read my blog [post] about Short Sales” said  Exit Realty’s Michelle Roberts.  Roberts also can be contacted via SMS message from her website and uses the microblogging platform Twitter.   Twitter allows users to post 140-character messages, called “Tweets,” from a website, mobile device or via instant messaging to a central website.  These updates then can be then included in weblogs or subscribed to by other users called “followers.”  Twitter’s popularity is expanding rapidly and the site is currently used by a number of Wilmington graphic designers, realtors and local churches, in addition to a wide range of  personal users.  While Roberts has not seen any leads from Twitter yet, she admits that she is just starting to use it.

Talk PR also uses Twitter to put out updates on projects and connect with customers.  Twitter allows Talk PR to quickly update its “followers” on events or news happenings within the company, providing a window into a day in the life of Talk PR.  Interested visitors to Talk PR’s blog can click on the Twitter feed in the side bar to view the updates.

In addition to weblogs and other text-based social networking site like Twitter, video sharing  sites such as YouTube are becoming a popular way to connect with customers.  Wilmington, New Bern and Smithfield’s KOA  campground each have a YouTube channel with videos produced by the campground staff.  Local marketing firm Signal envisioned the YouTube project at KOA.  “We created YouTube channels for each of the three campgrounds and provided instructions on how to optimize the content and keywords to help with their search engine optimization efforts. The campground managers shoot a new video every month. We then update the web site and include the video in a monthly e-newsletter that we produce,” said Bryan Kristof, Signal’s Director of Marketing.  While these videos have a smaller reach than the majority of viral marketing sensations,  some of KOA’s videos have had over a thousand views as of the time of this article.

Publishing weblogs and other social media is not without its risks.  According to Nathan Snell, a recent UNCW graduate who blogs about social media at www.thesnell.com, authenticity is critical to the successful implementation of a business weblog.  “Inauthenticity is the probably one of the greatest things for a company to avoid when using social media properties (blogs, youtube, social networks, etc) or even when planning to engage with others on said properties. For example, a company who uses a blog strictly to promote products, events, and so forth is missing the purpose of social media,” said Snell.  Just like using “reply all” in an email, quick postings to Twitter or weblogs can lead to embarrassment if they are not thought out completely.  “On Twitter people accidentally send what was supposed to be a direct message as a tweet to everyone all the time,” said Snell.

In related news, Verizon Wireless recently completed a study comparing the monthly use of text messaging by their clients between 2006 and 2008.  The study found that this April, Wilmington-based Verizon customers sent or received  6,334,002 text messages compared to 112,405 in the same period in 2006.  Charlotte earned the number one spot across the state as the ‘textiest city’ with customers accounting for over 103 million text messages in April of 2008 compared to just fifteen million texts sent and received in April of 2006.   “The Big City Wireless Use study offers North Carolinians an interesting snapshot of how they have come to rely on their cell phones every day to do much more than make phone calls,” said Jerry Fountain, Verizon Wireless President for the Carolinas/Tennessee region.  “This study proves text messaging is a phenomenal way to communicate information quickly and efficiently to stay connected with family and friends, wherever they may be.”

TranS1 Inc., a publicly-traded Wilmington-based medical device company focuses on minimally invasive surgical approaches to treating degenerative disc disease in the lower lumbar region of the spine.  The company has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its AxiaLIF 2L, a two level lumbar fusion system, in the United States. The AxiaLIF 2L is designed to treat degenerative disc disease at both the L5-S1 and L4-L5 lumbar discs through a single, one and a half inch incision.

“The AxiaLIF 2L(tm) enables spine surgeons to perform, for the first time ever, a multi-level lumbar fusion with no disruption of functional, supportive soft tissue structures,” stated Rick Randall, President and CEO of TranS1. “From a business perspective, the AxiaLIF 2L(tm) significantly expands the patient population eligible for TranS1′s novel, least invasive treatments for low back pain and increases the potential product revenue TranS1 can realize from each surgical procedure.”

Randall added, “Our early clinical experience with the AxiaLIF 2L outside of the U.S. reveals the same positive patient outcomes experienced with our AxiaLIF single level product: early release from the hospital, rapid return to normal lifestyle activities and dramatic long-term reduction of disabling leg and back pain.”

The approval came three days before Trans1 released its operating results for the first quarter of 2008, in which the company announced that first quarter revenues increased 92 percent to a company record of  $6.0 million compared to the first quarter of 2007 and surgeons performed 673 TranS1 procedures performed in the quarter.

AT&T Prepares for Hurricane Season

With a “more active than average” Atlantic hurricane season predicted for 2008, AT&T Inc.  has announced that they are making special preparations for the season.
“We have continued to improve the reliability of our wireless services in hurricane-prone areas by installing more backup generators at critical sites, moving facilities to less vulnerable areas and improving our recovery efforts. We are committed to keeping our customers connected, and we have taken steps to ensure our wireless networks are ready,” said Alison Hall, vice president and general manager of AT&T’s wireless operations in the Carolinas.
AT&T’s preparations include the creation of mobile command centers and cell sites as well as plans to use natural gas in some of the permanent generators so to eliminate the need to refuel.  AT&T also has created a self-sufficient base camp, complete with sleeping tents, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry facilities, on-site nurse and more than 10,000 meals ready-to-eat (MREs) for technicians in the case of an emergency.
In the event of  a hurricane, AT&T recommends that consumers have, in addition to their wireless phone,  at least one corded phone that is not dependent on electricity in case of a power outage because cordless telephones usually have receivers that are electrically charged and won’t work if  a home losses power.   Additionally, if you are forced to evacuate your home, AT&T recommend you forward your home number to your wireless number.  Because all forwarding is done at the telephone central office,  you will get incoming calls from your landline phone even if your local telephone service is disrupted at your home.

GE-Hitachi Selects Wilmington for Laser Enrichment SIte

Global Laser Enrichment (GLE), a subsidiary of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), has announced it has selected GEH’s Wilmington headquarters site for a potential commercial uranium enrichment facility. The planned GEH plant would result in the creation of hundreds of new technical, operational and support jobs at the site between now and 2012.
“This is a key milestone in GLE’s development process,” said Tammy Orr, President and CEO of Global Laser Enrichment. “With the selection of the Wilmington site for a potential commercial facility, we can now move forward with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) licensing process.”
GEH has exclusive rights to develop, commercialize and launch this third-generation uranium enrichment technology on a global basis, under a 2006 agreement with the original developer, the Australian company Silex Systems Ltd.
Before moving ahead with full-scale production plans however, GLE will first evaluate the results of a demonstration test loop, which is currently under construction, and obtain an NRC license to build and operate the commercial plant. Commercial licensing activities are currently underway to support a projected start-up date of 2012.
The cutting-edge laser enrichment isotope separation technology allows GEH to become further integrated in the nuclear fuel cycle; already, Wilmington–based Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas (GNF-A), a joint venture of GE, Hitachi and Toshiba, is involved in the fuel cycle. GNF’s site currently receives low enriched uranium, which is then used to fabricate fuel bundles for commercial nuclear power plants.  The commercial GLE enrichment facility could potentially become a supplier of low enriched uranium to the Wilmington GNF fabrication facility.
No new types of hazardous materials will be added to the GEH plant site. Should GEH choose to build the commercial facility, the GLE plant will take up approximately 200 acres of the approximately 1,600-acre site.

Wilmington Golfers Use New Technology to Keep Score

Golfers at the Wilmington Industrial Development 2008 Annual Golf Tournament at the River Landing Golf Course in Wallace were given an opportunity to use an innovative mobile digital golf scoring technology from eGolf Score.  The service, combines hosted software with mobile phones and allows either individuals or teams to track their score, monitor other teams/individual’s scores, give real-time results,  and track handicaps and other pertinent information on the course and in the game.  The company can load course information, including yardage, images and par,  into the system prior to an event,  provides on-course displays and publishes scores in real time on event websites.   The mobile device, video leaderboard and website provide a venue to display sponsor messages and information about the event, said Joe Kaplan, company CEO and Founder.  eGolf Score also provides a personal version of the software that users can install on  Blackberry or Windows mobile devices to track individual progress and statistics.    Kaplan said that in the future the company is looking to expand the feature set to possibly include GPS functions and additional social networking and collaboration features.

North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s President and Chief Executive Officer Norris Tolson and Southeastern Office Director Randall Johnson, spoke on how biotechnology drives North Carolina’s economic development at  the Brunswick County Entrepreneurship Conference held on April 10th and 11th in Sunset Beach, N.C.  Some of the topics discussed were expanding the production of natural products, growing algae to produce biodiesel, marine fish farming and practical applications of marine biotechnology.   According to Johnson, entrepreneurship, expanding existing business and recruitment are three equally important components to economic development.

“The key is to start the business here and it will grow. The big question is how to move the ideas from the mind to the marketplace‚” said Johnson.

One of the most promising biotechnologies is using algae to produce fuel. Corn produces less than one hundred gallons of biodiesel per acre, but algae has the potential to produce between five and fifteen thousands gallons of fuel per acre, said Johnson. Currently the supply of biodiesel can not keep up with demand because of the cost of the corn-based feed stock used in its production, so alternative sources are particularly attractive.   Biodiesel can be used as a replacement for petroleum-based diesel fuel with minimal changes to a diesel engine.  In addition to trucking and residential vehicles, biodiesel can now be used in Yachts, as some marine engine manufactures have begun to approve biodiesel as a replacement to traditional diesel fuel.

Another area of interest to Johnson is dealing with the waste produced by hog production.  He listed a range of options from changing the way the waste is collected to using enzymes similar to those used in cleaners and detergents to convert the waste to ethanol. “Small bio-refineries, using enzymes to make fuel, sounds futuristic, but it is not that far fetched,” said Johnson.

Two Wilmington IT Events

The first week in April brought two Information Technology events to the Wilmington area.    The Business Technology Expo occurred on April 1st in downtown Wilmington at the Riverfront Park  and the 2008 InterACT and Wilmington Area Information Technology Professionals Mixer on April 2nd in the Computer Information Systems building on the UNCW campus.

The Business Technology Expo was co-sponsored by Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, VCi and blue dog Network and featured Information Technology vendors and displays.  One presenting company of particular interest was Rogo, a Wilmington based start-up that provides low-cost video surveillance software using common web cameras connected to a personal computer.  Rogo demonstrated their technology, showing how a person could check their home remotely from a video camera via a cell phone.  Their software is also currently in business settings such as Cape Fear Land Rover and the Wilmington Wine Shop and they just did a large installation Culligan water bottling in Goldboro, said James Trimble, company president.  “Water bottlers are actually required by Homeland Security to have security cameras. We are working with big companies to license our technology, as it is simple and bandwidth efficient, and even in larger installation is cheaper than conventional systems,” said Trimble.

The 2008 InterACT and Wilmington Area Information Technology Professionals Mixer included Information Technology vendors and graduate student projects on display. This was the fifth year that UNCW hosted this event  and over 350 people registered to attend.
For many of the student displaying projects, the event was a requirement of their grant funding. One project that attracted considerable crowd attention was research by a UNCW student, two staff and a faculty member into the effects of off-the-shelf video games on learning by developmentally challenged children.  Sheri Anderson, a graduate student in the Master’s of Instructional Design program, Beth Allred and Jeff Ertzberge, Technology Liaisons at the Watson School of Education and faculty member Monica Campbell are using Nintendo wii game consoles with commercially available software to see if there is a positive effect on the academic performance of students involved in Special Education.   The team is looking at  End-of-Course testing and Individual Education Plans and comparing the results between students who are have used video consoles in class and those who have not.  Additionally, the study is evaluating whether allowing students time to use Nintendo DS handheld video consoles as a reward for academic performance works to motivate students to improve.  The study will wrap up this May and so far the progress reports look promising. The full report will not be completed until the fall.

Hosted Solutions, a Raleigh-based provider of data center and managed hosting services, was recently acquired by Boston-based Private Equity Firm ABRY Partners for $140 million.   Hosted Solutions has data centers in Charlotte, Raleigh, Cary and Boston where customers can colocate servers to host business application or websites and provides Microsoft, Sun and Red Hat Linux dedicated servers.  The company will keep its name, the same management team and retain and add employees in its two Charlotte data centers. Hosted Solutions provides services for companies such as the Carolina Panthers, Harris Teeter, Lowe’s Motor Speedway as well as local Wilmington companies including CF Webmasters, Emerson Software, First Research, Signal Design and Sage Island.

Category Five Networks

Wilmington-based Category Five Networks, a provider of networking and IT services recently announced they have earned two additional certifications,  Microsoft Small Business Specialists and Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist.

Verizon Wireless’ Wilmington call center is expanding and will hire 150 new full-time customer service professionals as part of its plan to expand its operation and support increased demand for its wireless products and services.  The company plans to hire approximately twenty-five new employees per month through November 2008.  Verizon Wireless currently employees more than 1200 people in the Wilmington area in their customer service, information technology, training and financial services departments; it also has two full-time employees and two interns in the fitness center.

“Our customer service team helps us deliver on our commitment to provide an exceptional experience for our existing customers and the new ones we plan to add this year nationwide,” said Human Resources Manager Rob Clayton. “We have been very pleased with the talent pool in Wilmington.”

Clayton also commented that he started eleven years ago as a customer service representative and has since advanced to his current position in management.

The Wilmington call center is one of twenty-six national call centers and shares calls with its partner call center in Charleston, SC.  Verizon Wireless customer service representatives answer billing and technical questions, troubleshoot issues, conduct price plan changes and provide general customer support.  Job requirements include one year of customer service experience and strong computer, communication, and problem-solving skills.  A college degree is also highly desirable.

Verizon Wireless consistently ranks as one of the best places to work in the United States.  For seven consecutive years, the company has been named to Working Mother Magazine’s “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” list.

Flow Sciences
Flow Sciences, a Wilmington-based manufacturer and designer of safety containment solutions for research and development laboratories, pilot facilities, automation equipment, robotics, manufacturing and production plants, has released new products to protect technicians and scientists from toxic compounds.  Through a partnership of with ILC Dover and EHS Solutions, Flow Sciences has developed the HEPA-filtered Chemical Transfer Station.  The workstation features an ILC Dover gloved flexible enclosure, EHS Solutions drum lift technologies, and an FSI enclosure for improved powder containment.  The integrated workstation was verified by third party testing and found to contain compounds during handling to less than 1.0 µg/m3.  This maximized containment minimizes loss of product and ensures operator safety.

Additionally, Flow Sciences has released new information regarding the containment of potentially toxic nanomaterials.  According to Flow Science, engineered nanomaterials are diverse in their physical, chemical, and biological nature and have vastly very different toxicologies. Flow Sciences products satisfy The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommendations for containing nanomaterials.

Business Alliance for a Sound Economy
Business Alliance for a Sound Economy (BASE) recently launched its new website, ncbase.org. The new site will provide up-to-date information on proposed regulatory and public policy changes and local, state and federal legislation.  The purpose of this web site is to keep area industry members informed, allowing them to act preemptively on changes and legislation that may adversely affect the industry.  The site includes news, event calendars, and polls, and it is based on the Joomla opensource web application framework.

According to Donna Griardot, CEO of BASE, the site was designed to better communicate with both their members and the public and to help build strength through their large number of members.  Girardot also named water as the biggest issue for her organization.  “We can’t build, can’t grow and can’t develop without water.  Look at Raleigh, we are at the end of the straw here”

BASE is a coalition of associations with the mission to promote public policies encouraging regional economic growth, job creation, healthy real estate, homebuilding, land use and development.  It has been active since 2003 and currently employs three registered lobbyists.  BASE represents numerous independent commercial and residential real estate, building, development, banking, engineering, architectural and environmental businesses.  It also represents members of the Brunswick County Home Builders Association, the Brunswick County Landowners Association, the Topsail Island Association of REALTORS® and the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association.