Business
Business Digest
01:00 AM EST on Friday, February 2, 2007
KVH Industries Inc., of Middletown, said yesterday that it received a sole-source contract from the U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Command for the purchase of KVH’s vehicle navigation systems for use on Army combat vehicles. The contract is potentially worth $11.5 million over five years. “This new sole-source contract is a reaffirmation of the value TACNAV offers U.S. and allied war-fighters through its ability to consistently support applications in a wide range of demanding military environments, including vehicle navigation, integration with digital battlefield management systems, and precision stabilization and pointing,” said Dan Conway, vice president of business development for KVH. “We look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with TACOM as well as the ongoing opportunity to ensure that U.S. servicemen and women have the critical navigation and guidance capabilities necessary to enable them to carry out their missions quickly and effectively, and then come home safely.” KVH’s military vehicle navigation systems provide unjammable, precision navigation, heading and pointing data for vehicle drivers, crews and commanders. The system also serves as a link between each vehicle and the overall digital battlefield, making each unit a node in a secure military network that consolidates a wide range of tactical data to provide detailed information to individual units and military commanders.
Providence-based EpiVax Inc., a leader in genome-derived vaccines, has announced that it has developed a promising tularemia vaccine candidate, TuliVax, that confers protective immunity. Francisella tularensis is a bacterium considered to be one of the most dangerous potential bioterror agents. The vaccine project was financed by a BioDefense Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health. The animal studies, conducted at Rhode Island Hospital, showed that TuliVax protected mice from lethal bacterial challenge. “Our unique ability to develop safe and effective vaccines by screening whole genomes for candidate vaccine components with computer algorithms is at the core of this research effort,” said Anne De Groot, MD, president and chief executive officer of EpiVax. “These study results highlight the ability of our computer-aided vaccine design approach to create effective and innovative vaccines at an accelerated pace.” Tularemia is rare but does occur naturally and the most lethal pulmonary form is more common on Martha’s Vineyard than in most other places in the world. EpiVax collaborated with Martha’s Vineyard Hospital to obtain blood samples from people with previous tularemia infection and 95 percent of the study participants demonstrated robust responses to the TuliVax components.
Two marketing campaigns, created in-house by The Providence Journal’s Promotion Department, have been recognized as national award-winning entries in the 2007 Advertising, Circulation and Marketing Excellence awards competition sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America. The Journal’s annual scholastic and athletic High School Honor Roll scholarship program was acknowledged as an honorable mention for its creativity, marketing adaptability and association with retail and national advertising partners, Cardi’s Furniture and Wendy’s. Also distinguished as an honorable mention was the newspaper’s fall subscription and sales campaign that incorporated a multilevel sales approach with Web advertising, direct mail pieces and inserts in Cox Communication subscriber bills. In 2006 and 2004, the Journal’s Promotion Department received best of show awards in the same competition for print and online marketing campaigns, and was an International Newspaper Marketing Association award-winner for a campaign promoting the paper’s Web site, projo.com.
Salt Lake City is the most giving city in the country, according to a new list of America’s Most Giving and Stingiest cities from TurboTax, the top-rated tax software from Intuit Inc. The list, based on average charitable contributions, shows that Salt Lake City residents on average contributed just under $2,200 per person. That amount is almost double the national average of $1,230 in charitable contributions. Claiming the top spot on America’s Stingiest City list is San Antonio, where residents donated far less to their favorite charities, doling out on average just over $700 per resident, as reported on Schedule A of the federal 1040 tax form. According to the list, taxpayers in Providence made average charitable contributions of $803 per taxpayer.
Banks estimate that as many as 100,000 accounts were compromised in a computer-hacking scheme at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores. Massachusetts-based TJX Cos. announced last month that a hacker got access to the company’s computer systems and stole transaction histories. The error is expected to cost consumers $1.5 million.
The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition will hold a free workshop Feb. 13 to help emerging entrepreneurs sharpen their business plan writing skills. Jack Derby, one of New England’s leading management consultants and a highly respected mentor to entrepreneurs, will lead the event. The workshop is the second of three offered in this year’s competition in advance of the April 2 application deadline. “How to Write a Business Plan” is open to the public, but preregistration is required at www.ri-bizplan.com. It will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the offices of Brown Rudnick, 121 South Main St., Providence. As president of Boston-based Derby Management, Derby coaches senior executives and their staffs on business planning, sales and marketing strategies and tactics. An accomplished businessman, Derby has been CEO and president of a number of technology, health care, and sports companies, and today is a member of the board of several emerging companies. The final workshop in the 2007 competition — “How to Present Your Business Plan” — will be held March 14. The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition will award $125,000 in prizes to this year’s winners. Winners will be announced May 1.
An engineer at Raytheon Co.’s Integrated Defense Systems, which has a unit in Portsmouth, has been awarded the 2006 Innovator Award at the North American Molecular Beam Epitaxy Conference and Workshop at Duke University in Durham, N.C. William Hoke was honored for his research and development in metamorphic growth of advanced semiconductor devices that have improved capabilities at lower costs than conventional semiconductor technology. Hoke began Raytheon’s molecular beam epitaxy program in 1981 and it now includes three research and two production systems. Furthermore, he initiated the materials effort for Raytheon’s gallium nitride program for high-power devices in 2000. Hoke received bachelor degrees in chemistry and physics from Pennsylvania State University in 1973, and a master’s in 1975 and doctorate in 1978, both from the University of Illinois. He joined Raytheon in 1978 and today is a senior engineering fellow working at the Raytheon Radio Frequency Components Center in Andover, Mass. In 2001, he was presented Raytheon’s Excellence in Technology award, the company’s highest engineering honor.
… Nestor said that Diboll, Texas, has entered into a two-year contract to use Nestor Traffic Systems’ Crossing Guard red light enforcement system.
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