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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Have businesses given in to security anxiety?

According to the mainstream media, no sooner is your precious data placed on a hard drive than it’s promptly vacuumed off through a hacker’s hole and inserted into some miscreant’s illicit schemes for world domination. I admit I’ve advocated for computer security for years, but that was because most companies’ idea of security is to hide the backup CDs in the coffee creamer box. I never meant to contribute to the panic that seems to have gripped the American population…

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Radio tests HD waters: Indianapolis on leading edge of ‘revolutionary’ technology

And more are coming. Indianapolis is leading the charge toward high-definition radio, thanks to the strong presence of national players such as Emmis Communications Corp. and Clear Channel Communications, which operate a total of seven stations here. But the technological revolution reaches far beyond our airwaves. Industry experts call HD the most radical change in the radio landscape in 50 years, despite the fact that few listeners have the special radio receiver necessary to tune in the new channels. “We’re…

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VIEWPOINT: Parlez-vous work-force realignment?

When French young people took to the streets in March to protest a new hiring law that made firing youth workers easier, many companies in the United States watched the drama with indifference, failing to see the connection between the French problem and the U.S. employment dynamic. Here in the United States, our youth are eager to contribute to society and establish their place in the work force, right? The problem is, many Indiana companies haven’t learned how to take…

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Vontoo finding its voice: Phone message marketer modeled on ExactTarget blends local, Indian talent

During his January trip to Bangalore, India, angel investor Robert Compton dreamed up dozens of ideas for high-tech business. To keep costs low, he planned to base each in Indiana, but outsource some work to the fastdeveloping nation’s famously inexpensive software talent. Now, only five months later, Compton is concentrating on just one: a startup IT company called Vontoo Inc. Based in Indianapolis, Vontoo will allow marketers to send audio messages to thousands of phones in a particular demographic, then…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Motor-vehicle jobs: a path to the future?

Would landing a new Honda plant be a plus for the Indiana economy? You bet it would. In fact, it’s hard to think of any similar-size investment that holds the same immediate potential for supporting additional jobs beyond those inside the plant walls. The project scores well on just about every objective measure you can come up with to assess its attractiveness. It draws on skills and occupations Indiana already has. Its activities hold great promise for new business for…

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Regional partnerships called key to making it: Purdue urges state manufacturers to join supply chain

Growing global competition is bringing local manufacturers together. And the definition of local is changing from around the corner to within 500 miles. Officials from Purdue University have conducted a series of manufacturing summits encouraging Indiana plants to tear down their separatist walls and become an integrated part of regional supply chains. “Supplier-based manufacturing is based on long-term relationships in a 500-mile radius, so we need to think about Indiana manufacturing regionally,” said John Sullivan, director of Purdue’s Center for…

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eImagine Technology Group: Technology firm aims to deliver service with its software Owner: Hiring good employees key to small company’s success

Communication-and simplicity-can be a challenge when it comes to tech talk. “It’s like the old adage, if you ask a tech guy what time it is, he’ll tell you how to build a watch,” said Joel Russell, president of Indianapolis-based software developer eImagine Technology Group. But Russell works around potential “lingo” problems when he’s meeting with customers. No matter the industry, he looks for ways to automate inefficient processes using computer software. His goal is to save his clients time…

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Firing blamed on bug: Wrongful-termination lawsuit by St. Francis employee says software installed porn links

Respiratory therapist David Farr claims he lost his job with St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers last year over an infection that never harmed a patient. Hundreds of pornography links found in a computer Farr shared with six other therapists prompted the hospital to fire him. However, Farr said he never knew the links existed, according to a lawsuit he filed in federal court over his dismissal. The therapist blames poor computer security for allowing malicious porn-promoting software from Russia…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Increased export scrutiny requires corporate-wide plan

While federal laws restricting exports of goods and technology have been in existence since the 1940s, companies and individuals have increasingly faced civil and criminal penalties that include millions of dollars in fines, prohibition from future exporting and even prison terms. flagged and identified on the denied party list? Simply put, is the end user of the product or technology identified by the U.S. government as one banned from receiving such technologies? Customer service representatives need to know whether the…

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Golf club member tees off investors: Lawsuit over $7.4M in losses casts light on little-regulated world of penny-stock promotion

By the time he graduated in 1985, Tony Altavilla ranked third in career touchdown receptions at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, an all-male institution that likens itself to the best conservative liberal arts colleges of New England. His star rose again recently, when the member of Carmel’s Crooked Stick Country Club led a committee that helped the Pete Dye-designed course score the 2009 U.S. Senior Open Championship. But the Wabash man and golfing buddy of the affluent now finds himself in…

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Health network leaders pursue big dreams: Advocates: Statewide system for transmitting patient records would improve care

Technology experts, doctors and politicians this week will discuss the possibility of interconnecting the handful of computer networks in Indiana that allow doctors to exchange patient information. They say a network reaching every corner of the state could save money, boost care and reduce medical errors while keeping Indiana at the front of the national pack for this technology. However, none of the health-information network leaders who will convene for a summit this week in Indianapolis expects the network to…

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Geographic restrictions could backfire for PERF: $105 million fund carries lots of potential, risks

By restricting the new $105 million Indiana Investment Fund I to deals within state lines, Gov. Mitch Daniels hopes to simultaneously spur economic development and earn a spectacular return for Indiana’s retired public employees. But venture-capital experts warn it’s nearly impossible to have it both ways. “You need to be very, very clear what your objectives are when you invest [pension] money. Is it for economic development or to help the pensioners earn better pensions?” said John Taylor, vice president…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: How much freedom is enough? Or too much?

Jams Surowiecki (en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/The_Wisdom_ of_Crowds) would like you to look deeply into your business soul and choose between chaos and high walls. For that matter, so would I. It’s a decision worth thinking about. The right choice could remake your enterprise. The wrong one could, too. Surowiecki is just one of several thinkers pondering whether organizations do better with top-down plans, processes and hierarchies, or with loose controls and chaotic creativity. His book, “The Wisdom of Crowds,” maintains that large…

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Proposed resource center targets science, tech, math: BioCrossroads wants to help build strong foundation Pulling things together

Only 64 percent of Indiana’s fifthgraders passed the latest ISTEP+ test in science. A little better-76 percent-passed the math component. Unfortunately, as children advance in grades, their ISTEP+ math scores worsen. By eighth grade, only 64 percent passed the math portion of the test. Yet, economic development officials in Indiana-and much of the country-want young students to choose to study in college areas of advanced manufacturing, life sciences, informatics, agribusiness and an array of disciplines that require a strong foundation…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Beware of battles brewing among health care giants

Coming up with simple metaphors and images that faithfully represent the issues involved in the way we pay for health care in our country is a challenge. But one keeps coming to my mind: the kitsch Japanese sci-fi classic “Godzilla vs. Rodan,” where two giant monsters duke it out breathing fire and smashing buildings as the residents of Tokyo quake in fear, waiting to see who will win. Some similarly big battles are brewing in the health care business these…

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DANIELS’ DEAL CLOSERS: IEDC generating jobs, but economy shares part of credit

It would have been big. Just last month, a team of officials from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and The Indy Partnership, its local equivalent, were furiously negotiating with South Carolinabased fire-engine maker American LaFrance. Intrigued by a mix of economic incentives and Indiana’s central location, American LaFrance considered moving its operations to Marion County. In formal negotiations, the company dangled promises of 653 jobs and a capital investment of $18.5 million. State records don’t reveal what incentives Indiana offered…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s tax phone, Internet, TV usage

Felicity Futenmouth and I went to graduate school together. Her career in economics focused on consumer services provided by such first-class firms as MegaMedia, MegaMarkets and MegaMercenaries. We became reacquainted lately at our class’s 35th reunion. Over a nightcap of hot chocolate and biscuits, she enticed me with a coy question: “How do you feel about local taxes?” “I am all for them,” I responded. “If you don’t have local taxes, you don’t have a strong claim on the responsibility…

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Plug in professionals when tasks seem overwhelming:

Running a small business is daunting, to say the least. Small-business owners wear many hats and are expected to be a master of everything: from hiring workers to coordinating group health coverage, from developing marketing materials to hitting sales goals, from assessing technology needs to making tax and insurance payments, from issuing invoices to paying vendors-all while keeping an eye on cash flow. Whew. Larger businesses may rely on individuals or entire departments responsible for each task. For small-business owners,…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: RFID security not as secure as you think it is

I work in a building that makes me use a cardkey to get into the building’s back stairway. I can’t even use a physical key. I must use the card I was issued. I fumble for the thing every morning. One morning, to my astonishment, I noticed that if I pushed hard enough on the door as I opened it, it would hit the end of its travel and thereafter stand open by itself. The first person through in the…

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Entrepreneurs keep day jobs: Moonlighting helps owners mitigate startup risks

Inventions at various stages of development are scattered around Qamar Shafeek’s ranch-style home on Indianapolis’ east side. An unnamed doohickey attached to a curtain rod pulls drapes open and shut along with the sliding glass door. A voice box gadget tells the single father when the garage or side doors open, alerting him to his children’s comings and goings. And a plastic pinwheel with tennis balls attached to the ends is making its way from a napkin-sketch idea to a…

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