August 30, 2007

 -- Click on Titles to Go to Each News Item --

MIMI'S MINUTE

An Ode to ABL's Immigrant Entrepreneurs

MEMBER RESOURCES:  TALENT AVAILABLE & WANTED

Strategic Marketing Professional seeks position with emphasis on developing and marketing new products >>

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Educated Immigrants Creating Brain Drain
Acer to Buy Gateway for $710 Million
"YouTube for Scientists" Launched
End of the Runway for Paper Plane Tickets
Bacn: New Internet Term

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS

9/6 - Thursday Orange County Round Table
9/7 - 210 Corridor Round Table
9/12 - Wednesday Orange County Round Table
9/14 - West Los Angeles Round Table

ZyXEL & Sprint Sign Deal for WIMAX Equipment
ZyXEL Communications, where Howie Chu is President, announced that Sprint Nextel has selected ZyXEL WiMAX Customer Premise Equipment for use with Sprint's upcoming WiMAX mobile broadband network, which will incorporate mobile WiMAX technology in a range of computing, portable multimedia, interactive and other business and consumer devices. Meanwhile, ZyXEL unveiled its new Unified Security Gateway product line with the ZyWALL USG300, the first in a series of enhanced security solutions.

Vision Solutions Honored for Outstanding Performance
IBM’s Asia Pacific System i Brand Team recently selected Vision Solutions, where Alan Arnold is EVP & Chief Technology Officer, to receive the IBM General Manager’s Award for Outstanding Performance in 2006, in recognition of Vision Solutions' leadership in the field of high availability and disaster recovery software.

Roland Debuts New Photo Printer
The Advanced Solutions Division of Roland DGA Corporation, where Bob Curtis is CEO, has introduced its MPX-80 Photo Impact Printer, which can personalize both flat and curved giftware like pens, cuff links and money clips.

Microsemi Announces Latest Products
Microsemi Corporation, where Jim Peterson is CEO, has introduced the industry's highest power transistor for TCAS avionics transmitters, as well as a new super rugged VHF Power RF MOSFET for MRI, CO2 Lasers, RF Plasma generators and broadband linear amplifier applications. 

IOGEAR's Device Transfers Writing from Paper to PC
Handwritten notes and drawings can be transferred from plain paper, converted into digital text, and edited on a computer with the new Digital Scribe from IOGEAR, where Sampson Yang is CEO. The product uses standard ink refills and and a USB connection.  Also, IOGEAR's new MiniView Micro DVI PS/2 KVM Switch enables two computers to share one monitor, mouse, keyboard, speaker set and microphone.

Delphi Selected by McDonald's as International Supplier
Delphi Display Systems, here Ken Neeld is CEO, has been selected by McDonald's Corporation as its exclusive supplier of Customer Order Displays to its Asia Pacific Mideast Africa region, and an approved supplier to its European Region constituting 41 countries. Delphi has been an approved supplier of such equipment to McDonald’s in the U.S since April 2000.

Decision Toolbox Mentors Handicapped Employees
Decision Toolbox, where Kim Shepherd is CEO, was applauded recently in an Orange County Register business column for the company's efforts to employ the handicapped. At Decision Toolbox, recruiters are grouped into pods for feedback and problem solving. Kim has asked each pod to identify a person with a disability but with good people skills. Then the skilled and experienced recruiters will mentor and train that person to be a job recruiter.

Cornerstone Declared a Pioneering Leader
Cornerstone OnDemand, where Adam Miller is CEO, has been recognized by independent research firm Bersin and Associates as a pioneer and one of the most mature and well-developed integrated solutions for performance and learning management on the market.

MIMI'S MINUTE

An Ode to ABL's Immigrant Entrepreneurs
According to a report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 25% of all technology and engineering companies founded between 1995 and 2005 were co-founded by an immigrant. Furthermore, these firms currently employ 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in revenue in 2005. In our ABL Round Tables, we've long seen first hand the significant contributions that our Members who hail from Canada, China, England, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Taiwan and Viet Nam are making to the U.S. economy.  Several of these Members have shared their often-heroic stories of how they came here - frequently with virtually nothing - and then through dint of hard work became the American dream. As someone who has lived most of her life within 50 miles of my birthplace, I've always admired those with the courage to cut their ties to all that they've known: leaving behind the security of family, friends and the familiar. And now, of course, we see the pay-back to those of us who were fortunate enough to have lived our entire lives here - in the contribution to the economy and the lives of employees enriched by working for these particularly Adaptive Business Leaders.

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Educated Immigrants Creating "Brain Drain"
An entrepreneur "brain-drain" is forming in the U.S., as skilled workers are returning to their home countries, according to a new report from Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The study said that more than one million skilled immigrant workers, including scientists, engineers, doctors and researchers, are competing for only 120,000 permanent U.S. resident visas each year. Approximately one in five new legal immigrants in the U.S. and about one in three employment-based new legal immigrants either planned to leave the U.S. or were uncertain about remaining. (Socaltech.com TechNews, 8/22/07)

Acer to Buy Gateway for $710 Million
Taiwanese computer maker Acer Inc. is set to pay $710 million for Irvine-based Gateway Inc.'s business selling computers through stores and online. Acer said Monday [8/27] it is offering $1.90 per share for Gateway, 57% more than what Gateway shares were trading at on Friday [8/24]. Gateway's stock soared more than 50% early Monday with a market value of about $675 million. The deal was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Gateway and Acer and is expected to close in December. Gateway is likely to help Acer pass its biggest rival, China's Lenovo Group Ltd., and land the No. 3 spot worldwide. Separately, Gateway said it is in talks with another buyer looking to acquire the company’s business selling computers to the government and businesses. (Orange County Business Journal, 8/27/07)

"YouTube for Scientists" Launched
The National Science Foundation, Public Library of Science and the San Diego Supercomputing Center have launched SciVee, which allows scientists to upload their research papers, accompanied by a video where they describe the work in the form of a short lecture. (KenRadio's Daily Tech News Clicks, 8/20/07)

End of the Runway for Paper Plane Tickets
Global airlines body the International Air Transport Association said it has placed its last order for paper tickets, clearing the way for air travel to be based entirely on electronic ticketing from June 1, 2008. The changeover from paper will cut airlines' costs by $9 for every traveler and save 50,000 mature trees per year, said IATA, which represents more than 240 airlines that operate 94% of scheduled international flights. (KenRadio's Daily Tech News Clicks, 8/28/07)

Bacn: New Internet Term
Pronounced bacon, it’s any email you receive that isn’t spam, but isn’t exactly a personal message either. Your electronic phone bill is bacn. Your Google alerts are bacn. (grasshopperfactory.com, 8/19/07)  A web-term that was influenced by the proliferation of web 2.0 social networks used to describe "notifications you want, just not right now." Twitter requests, facebook notifications, bill-payment receipts, etc. Even though you're expecting the e-mail, and you want to read it, now is just not a good time to click the "read" button. (metafilter.com, 8/20/07)