GSA Technology Council

Sales/Design Engineer
Integral Solutions Group is hiring a Sales/Design Engineer to be accountable for all technical sales support activities for technical product base and service solutions. Sales/Design Engineer

More Open Positions:
Automation Technician and System Troubleshooter
Michelin is hiring Automation Troubleshooters and System Technicians. Qualified candidates will have a two year degree in Electronic-Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, Technology etc. Learn more

Preview more open positions on the GSATC jobs board. We encourage you to share it with anyone who may be in the hunt. If you are looking for work, feel free to let us know what you need on our LinkedIn group!

Looking to hire? Post your openings to our job board.

The Upstate SC Chapter of the American Society for Training & Development present, “Square Wheels? Let’s Innovate and Implement!: Interactive Gaming by Dr. Scott Simmerman, global trainer and management consultant.”

Team building with interactive board games will be the topic at the next chapter meeting for the Upstate SC Chapter of the American Society of Training and Development (Upstate SC ASTD). As the new year’s kick-off on a different night, this meeting will be held on Thursday, January 26, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the University Center of Greenville Auditorium, 225 S. Pleasantburg, Greenville, SC.

Global trainer and management consultant Dr. Scott Simmerman will present his Square Wheels® – Innovate and Implement performance management program. As the founder and managing partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, Dr. Simmerman develops team-building board games that he publishes and distributes around the world. In addition, he delivers workshops, retreats, and seminars using his Square Wheels® products all over the U.S. and in countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, and Canada. For more information on Dr. Simmerman, go to Performance Management Company.

To register: ASTD

Tuesday January 24
11:30am GSATC Learning Lunch
Join us for the presentation, "Technology in Politics" with Chip Felkel, CEO of the Felkel Group & the RAP Index.
Learn more: GSATC January Learning Lunch

2:00pm InnoVenture Forum Tour: Greensboro, NC
Join the InnoVenture 2012 Forum in Greensboro, NC and discover new business opportunities and connect with potential customers, capital, talent and technology.
Learn more: InnoVenture Forum Tour: Greensboro

Thursday January 26
12:00pm Upstate Women in Technology
The Upstate Women in Technology present, "Business Ethics – Tough Decisions, No Problem!" with Linda Gallicchio, Associate Director of Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University.
Learn more: Upstate Women in Technology

5:30pm Upstate SC ASTD Chapter Meeting
The Upstate SC Chapter of the American Society for Training & Development present, “Square Wheels? Let’s Innovate and Implement!: Interactive Gaming by Dr. Scott Simmerman, global trainer and management consultant.”
Learn more: Upstate SC ASTD Chapter Meeting

See more on the GSATC Tech Calendar

- Multi-year contract provides Federal Agencies in GSA Region 9 (California) with advanced voice, data and Internet Services
- tw telecom to participate in AFCEA West conference

tw telecom, a leading provider of managed services, including Business Ethernet, converged and IP VPN solutions for enterprises throughout the U.S. and globally, today announced it has been awarded a contract from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) for advanced voice, data and Internet services in Region 9 (California).

The contract is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract (IDIQ) for multiple services. Under the terms of the multi-year contract, tw telecom will provide Federal Agencies, within the GSA’s Region 9 (California), digital voice/voice-over-IP services; a fully managed, E-Line Ethernet WAN service; Extended Native LAN (ENLAN) service; and Private Network Transport (PNT) service. The contract extends through March 2014 and also includes provisions for two one-year renewal options. Agencies have the choice of ordering services through the GSA or they can choose the direct order/direct bill method.

“We are pleased that the GSA has selected tw telecom to provide highly reliable, flexible and cost-effective data services,” said Ken Folderauer, president of Public Sector at tw telecom. “tw telecom’s services will ensure that Federal Agencies in California have access to the benefits of an integrated data network that gives employees the most advanced services possible.”

tw telecom is participating in the AFCEA West Conference in San Diego Jan. 24-27th, where Federal Agencies may acquire additional information about the company’s industry-leading services.

tw telecom connects more commercial buildings to its resilient, fiber network than any other competitive communications provider. It has the third highest market share of retail Ethernet ports in service, its own metro fiber networks and one of the ten most interconnected IP backbones in the world. tw telecom has the national capability, robust product portfolio and national/local customer care teams to support mission critical enterprise and government agency applications and to deliver the most sought after customer experience in the industry.

via tw telecom

Automation Technician and System Troubleshooter
Michelin is hiring Automation Troubleshooters and System Technicians. Qualified candidates will have a two year degree in Electronic-Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, Technology etc. Learn more

Preview more open positions on the GSATC jobs board. We encourage you to share it with anyone who may be in the hunt. If you are looking for work, feel free to let us know what you need on our LinkedIn group!

Looking to hire? Post your openings to our job board.

IBM and the World Environment Center announced January 17 the formation of the Innovations in Environmental Sustainability Council, comprised of leading global companies that will explore how innovation in business process and technology can enable strategic solutions to major sustainability challenges involving materials, energy, water, infrastructure and logistics.

Charter members of the council will include Boeing, CH2M HILL, The Coca-Cola Company, The Dow Chemical Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, General Motors, IBM, Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, The Walt Disney Company and WEC.

The launch of this initiative demonstrates the ongoing commitment of global companies to sustainability and improved environmental performance. Council members are committed to incorporating sustainability more deeply into business strategy and corporate practice. The companies will be able to apply what is learned from this collaboration within their own organizations, not only to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness through operations, but also to identify and develop related opportunities for innovation and growth.

The council was created by IBM and WEC, a global non-profit, non-advocacy organization that advances sustainable development through the business practices of global companies. The first meeting of the Council will be held February 7-8, 2012 in Orlando, Florida.

“As part of IBM’s broad based commitment to environmental leadership, we are always interested in how today’s best practices can transform sustainability in business,” said Wayne Balta, IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Environmental Affairs and Product Safety. “Innovation goes a long way to accelerate sustainability, and we look forward to collaborating with other like-minded companies.”

“The establishment of the Innovations for Environmental Sustainability Council represents another significant commitment by IBM and other sustainability leaders from the private sector to integrate their innovation and market leadership capabilities with the need to provide solutions to a growing number of challenges facing modern society,” stated Dr. Terry F. Yosie, WEC’s President and CEO. “The best practices and value achieved provide great opportunities for implementation on a global scale.”

via IBM

Startups are figuring out ways to cut down on the “micro-vibrations” that make hard drives less efficient.

Hard disks are a lot more sensitive than their name implies: They don’t like to be shouted at. Just ask Sun Microsystems engineer Brendan Gregg, who posted a YouTube video in which he yells at a rack of hard drives and then shows the corresponding increase in latency, the time it takes a drive to read and write information. The devices consist of a small arm hovering nanometers above a fast-spinning disk, and just as a record player will skip when bumped, the drives goof up when subjected to so-called micro-vibrations caused by sound waves or nearby movements.

That’s not a huge problem for a single laptop running Excel, but Internet giants such as Google (GOOG) and Facebook are increasingly stocking their data centers with racks of consumer hard drives to keep costs down. By not taking into account the loss of performance caused by micro-vibrations, the technology companies are costing themselves as much as they save, according to Stephen Sicola, chief technology officer of Xiotech. “You’re wasting money because you’re breaking things when you don’t need to,” he says. Google spokeswoman Kate Hurowitz declined to comment. Facebook spokesman Michael Kirkland says vibration is “not a major issue in our facilities.”

Xiotech is among the startups claiming to have a solution. Fixing vibration doesn’t require exotic materials, just well-designed cases and simple mountings that will cushion the drives, says Sicola. Along with other veterans of hard disk maker Seagate Technology (STX), Sicola founded Xiotech to sell stiffened steel racks with rubber grommets that largely eliminate the impact of vibrations, he says. In a demonstration, Xiotech-shielded hard drives didn’t show any performance hiccups until blasted with music played at more than 140 decibels—about the volume of a jet engine.

Green Platform of Mountain View, Calif., offers another way to cushion storage arrays. Its founder, Gus Malek-Madani, began his career designing centrifuges at a biotech company. About 10 years ago he formed a company that used carbon fiber mounts to isolate high-end audio systems from vibration. Green Platform is adapting that idea for the data-center world. Malek-Madani rents out the racks and corresponding software to measure the impact of vibrations for $1,500 to $2,000 per month, and says they save about $5,500 worth of energy and equipment per rack per month.

The hard part is convincing companies that the problem exists. “If you go to a data center and ask them if they have a vibration problem, they’ll ask you, ‘What are you talking about?’?” says Madani. Disk drives have traditionally been so cheap that companies simply toss them when they fail, though prices have risen 20 percent in the wake of flooding north of Bangkok, where many are manufactured. “The first challenge for anyone doing anything about this is you’ve got to make people care,” says Mark Peters, an analyst for IT advisory firm Enterprise Strategy Group. “It’s something that we’ve lived with for so long.”

Not all data center operators are unaware. Microsoft (MSFT) doesn’t use the cheapest drives or cram storage devices into large arrays. And it checks and maintains equipment to mitigate against the impacts of vibration, according to Dileep Bhandarkar, chief architect of Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services. “You have to strike the right balance between going too far to save costs and running into issues,” he says. “We avoid this problem as opposed to having to fix it afterwards.”

The bottom line: Startups are offering new ways to cushion cheap disk drives from noises and movements that make them less efficient.

via Xiotech

IBM announced January 16 that Electrolux, a world leader in appliances, is using IBM social software to connect its workforce in 60 countries and encourage a deeper level of innovation and knowledge sharing.

To support the burgeoning mobile workforce expected to reach more than 1.19 billion people by 2013, IBM’s social software runs on the most popular mobile devices, including tablets, to foster collaboration from anywhere, anytime.

Since the heart of Electrolux’s organization is powered through the innovations of its employees, the ability to access content and collaborate on the fly is critical. Whether in the office or on the go, employees can find experts and gain valuable insight from the data on their company intranet portal, IBM Connections social networking platform and IBM Sametime instant messaging software, helping the business outpace the competition.
For an image of how mobile devices are impacting the way employees collaborate around the globe, visit: Social Business At Work.

Working with business partners Infoware Solutions and Avantime, Electrolux has seen the number of internal online communities, networks and microblogs grow rapidly. The intranet, powered by IBM Connections and Microsoft SharePoint, contains more than 100 information portals managed by more than 450 editors, and contains 15,000 monthly and 9,000 daily readers. With over 1,100 collaboration spaces with 8,500 members, Electrolux employees are engaging in ways never seen before.

For example, employees are using IBM Connections microblogging to quickly spread information across the organization, including new product and customer care ideas, and strategic organizational announcements.

Electrolux employees will also have access to a social collaboration dashboard. Through integrating IBM Lotus Notes email and IBM Sametime instant messaging, employees will be able to drag an email into a Connections Activity and discuss with colleagues in that specific window. This will help to better engage the team, provide a more comprehensive overview of the project, and reduce attachments in the email inbox.

“Our goal is to empower our employees so they have access to content and collaboration tools anytime and from anywhere,” said Ralf Larsson, Director Online Employee Engagement and Development, Electrolux. “Working with IBM, our employees are now becoming better engaged and more connected into specific business processes that help them expand the scope of product innovation.”

“Social business is enabling companies to scale in new ways and drive greater innovation within their organization,” said Alistair Rennie, General Manager, Social Business, IBM. “Organizations can seamlessly connect and share information across a global network of clients, partners and employees through the power of social business.”

via IBM

Sharp unveiled its latest 3D capable high-definition DLP home theater projector. Providing unparalleled 3D visuals, the XV-Z30000 features 50000:1 contrast ratio and 1600 ANSI lumens to deliver superior brightness, astounding clarity, and color accuracy.

“No matter what the content, the XV-Z30000 offers consumers a compelling entertainment projection solution,” said Jim Sanduski, vice president, strategic product marketing, Sharp Electronics Marketing Company of America, a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation. “With a focus on providing consumers with superior entertainment experiences, this front projector is ideal for the dedicated home theater or viewing room and is a welcome addition to any home entertainment experience.”

Part of the XV-Z30000’s superior picture quality is due to the DLP advantage. All Sharp front projectors incorporate mirror-based components that use light more efficiently by bringing more light from lamp to screen. In addition, with Sharp’s proprietary digital image ICs, the XV-Z30000 reproduces high quality 3D picture with low cross talk and flicker.

The projector’s lens functions also make it a good choice for those looking for a high-quality home theater experience. It features flexible installation with center lens and lens shift; the center lens design allows for easy adjustment; and the wide range horizontal and vertical lens shift function allows for flexible installation. In addition, with the motorized lens shift function, customers can select their preferable setting position. The projector also has control function with Creston, Control 4, AMX, and RS 232C port and LAN control via network.

Adding to the XV-Z30000’s appeal is its ease of use. With the wide range 2x optical zoom, users can select the preferable ceiling mount position in the room. Or, for spontaneous projection, the projector is portable and can be positioned on a table. The resize function (V-stretch) allows users to choose a 2.35:1 wide aspect image (Cinema scope). It also includes a One Touch Play function, which automatically turns on the projector when the user pushes the playback button of the playback equipment. Also, the System Standby function places the playback equipment into standby mode when the projector is turned off.

The XV-Z30000 offers extensive connectivity with two HDMI® inputs. To further enhance the viewing experience, two sets of 3-D glasses are included. The XV-Z30000’s other included accessories are an IR emitter, IR emitter cable, remote control, and two R-6 batteries.

Availability and Pricing:
The XV-Z30000 will be available in March 2012 at a Manufacturer’s Suggested List Price (MSLP) of $4,999.99.

via Sharp

At the September 2011 GSATC Learning Lunch, Jimmy Earley, Director of the Division of State Information Technology in South Carolina, joined us to discuss just how much technology is needed to run the state.

Jimmy Earley serves as the Director of the Division of State Information Technology in South Carolina. Prior to his appointment to this position, he served as the Chief of Staff at the SC Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) where he managed the agency’s Information Technology, Policy, Communications, Project Management and Customer Service Divisions.

Thanks to View Digital Media for providing this video from our Learning Lunch.