Roland DGA:  New SBUs Target Inkjet Business
Roland DGA Corporation, where Bob Curtis is CEO, has established additional strategic business units -- focused on its inkjet business: Color Products; Supplies & Accessories; and Technical & Customer Services -- to better serve the company’s growing customer base in the sign, vehicle graphics and broader graphic arts markets. >>

Cornerstone:  Supports Blended Learning Program
Cornerstone OnDemand, where Adam Miller is CEO, has been chosen by ESAB, the world’s largest supplier of welding consumables and equipment, to provide a robust, learning management system. In addition, ESAB will implement Cornerstone’s system to track and manage compliance with HR-related topics. >>

EADS:  Receives Follow-On Orders from U.S. Navy
The U.S. Navy has ordered three additional Shaft Engine Test Instrumentation (SETI) systems from EADS North America Defense Test and Services, where Gordon Taylor is CEO, for support of Navy and Marine Corps helicopter turboshaft engines. The new contract is valued at $3.4 million. SETI replaces older-generation manual test systems. >>

IOGear:  Triples Data Transfer Speeds
IOGear, where Sampson Yang is CEO, recently launched Bluetooth 2.0 USB Adapters, Class 1 and 2, enabling consumers to interconnect up to seven Bluetooth devices to any PC or Mac and wirelessly share documents, music and video at up to three times the speed of the current Bluetooth standard. >>

NDC Infrared:  Offers Reduced-Cost System
NDC Infrared Engineering, where Bromley Beadle is President, has released a lower cost version of Pro.Net, its powerful PC-based gauging system. This version of Pro.Net can manage up to two product scanners and measurement sensors, making it ideal for many extrusion, nonwovens, calendering and simple coating applications. >>

NetworkD:  Updates Self-Service Password Reset Tool
NetworkD, where Ashley Leonard is CEO, recently released iControl for Windows v2.0.1, an application that enables a company's remote employees to reset passwords without outside assistance, by correctly answering a series of private questions.  >>

Tanner Research:  Expands & Moves
Tanner Research, where John Tanner is CEO, has moved to larger headquarters -- from Pasadena to more than 21,000 square feet in Monrovia -- to accommodate its growth in sales and staff. The firm will retain its R&D facility in Pasadena for manufacturing micromachines. >>

Wonderware:  Reduces Complexity of B2M Integration
Wonderware, where Mike Bradley is CEO, has released an enhanced version of Wonderware Enterprise Integration Application 2.0, which enables manufacturers to improve operational performance by integrating diverse sets of manufacturing systems and business applications to achieve greater levels of business productivity. >>

ZyXEL:  New High-Speed Home Networking Solutions
ZyXEL Communications Inc., where Howie Chu is President, has added two new high-speed home networking solutions to its product line. The PL-100 HomePlug, with speeds up to 85Mbps, allows users to network devices over power lines in their home. The PEC-200 Home PNA3.0, with speeds up to 125Mbps, networks devices over telephone lines. >>

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

2006 Looks Bright for Online SMBs
The U.S. economy was strong in 2005, said 74% of respondents in a survey of 12,000 small and mid-sized business owners/operators active in e-commerce, conducted by Avalara, and 72% think it will be even better in 2006. Regarding their own businesses, 84% said that it was better in 2005 than in 2004, and 84% foresee it improving again in 2006. (eMarketer Daily, 1/18/06)

New Technology Industry Alliances are Formed
Toshiba, Sony and IBM have formed a new five-year alliance where they will cooperate on fundamental research on advanced semiconductor-processing technologies at 32 or less nanometers for consumer and other applications. The alliance will help the companies investigate, identify and commercialize new technologies faster. (Japan Economic Newswire, 1/12/06)  Also, a consortium of hardware manufacturers has formed the Ethernet Alliance, focused on promoting the Ethernet technology standard. Members include Sun Microsystems, Intel, 3COM, AMCC, Broadcom, Force10, Foundry Networks and Samsung. The group will focus on IEEE 802 standard group projects, helping to speed adoption of new Ethernet technologies, cultivate efforts to define and develop new standards, and educate users on Ethernet choices. (socalTECH.com TechNews, 1/11/06)

Is SPAM Waning or Morphing?
Spam is making up a smaller percentage of e-mail now than it did last year, based on a comparison between August 2005 and December 2005. Ipswitch found that almost 75% of all e-mail sent around August 2005 was spam, but that had dropped to 57% by December. Spam may not be disappearing, though, just migrating. Instant messaging and blogs are becoming popular mediums for spammers. A 2005 study by Pew Internet and American Life found that 39% of U.S. Internet users under age 30 had received spam via IM (or "Spim"), along with 27% of 30 to 49-year-olds. According to Technorati, an additional 5.8% of blog posts each day are spam (translating to 50,000 posts per day), though this percentage has reached as high as 18%. (eMarketer Daily, 1/12/06)

"Green is Good"
Venture capitalist John Doerr recently made a prediction, borrowing words from Tom Friedman, that "Green is the New Red, White, and Blue." Regarding energy, wind farms currently can provide enough energy for 1.6 million homes. By 2020, it will be ten times that number. Solar power is a permanent solution for as long as we have the sun, and when we don't, it won't matter anyway. With biomass, we can literally grow our energy needs with corn and sugar cane. Hydro power, mainly from dams, could be increased by retrofitting the 95% of dams that aren't used for electricity. (Think Thoughts, 1/16/06)

TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNMENT

Patent Office Partners with Open Source Community
The Department of Commerce's U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has created a partnership with the open source community to ensure that patent examiners have access to all available prior art relating to software code during the patent examination process. OS representatives have agreed to improve prior art resources available to the USPTO; to develop a system to alert the public when USPTO publishes certain software-related applications so that interested parties can submit related prior art in accordance with relevant rules and law; and, to explore developing additional criteria for measuring the quality of software patents. (US Fed News, 1/10/06)

Senators Call for $106 Million to Assist Small Manufacturers
Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Co-Chairs of the Senate Task Force on Manufacturing, have urged the Bush Administration to include $106 million in the upcoming Federal budget proposal to fund the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, a nationwide network of not-for-profit centers in over 400 locations across the country, whose sole purpose is to help small and medium-sized manufacturers implement the most advanced manufacturing technologies in order to compete with low-wage countries such as China. These manufacturers employ more than 11 million Americans and account for approximately 55% of the value of all manufactured goods in the American economy. (US Fed News, 1/17/06)

MEMBER RESOURCES

MooersBOOKSHELF:  Popular ABL Conference speakers from the Mooers Group are publishing MooersBOOKSHELF as "the place where you can find out what we think is worth reading." >>