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INVESTING: A small state stock that might be worth a look

I don’t often write about individual stocks, and it’s especially rare for me to discuss small companies. There are two reasons for this. First, a majority of my trading focuses on exchange traded funds, which are baskets of stocks that trade like individual issues. And the second is, individual stocks carry more risk, and I am all about cutting risk as much as possible. Occasionally, a small, relatively unknown company will grab my attention, and I’ll feel the need to…

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FAMILY BUSINESS: Are you protecting your business from potential disasters?

The recent news from New Orleans and Mississippi points out the need for family businesses to have disasterrecovery plans. Fortunately, we have little in Indiana to worry about from hurricanes, but other disasters are not uncommon. Consider the possi ble catastrophes that might strike your business. What have you done to protect the business against the consequences? Business-continuation and other insurance can mitigate the consequences of a wholesale destruction of your business facilities after a tornado or other natural disaster….

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EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s close these BMV branches instead

Confused? Trying to figure out what time it is going to be where other Hoosiers live? Trying to know which license branches will be closed and which will be located in the nearest barbershop? Wondering whether you will get unemployment compensation before or after you find a job? Welcome to the New Indiana, setting its course for the 21st century. These are three public relations missteps of the Daniels administration. Let’s look at the license branch situation. Commissioner Joel Silverman…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Logic puzzles not best way to grade techies

All my life, wellmeaning people have tried to get me interested in chess. It’s not like I don’t know the game; I do. It’s just that it bores me. I tell them I’ll take up chess when the rules are changed to allow the queen to conspire with the bishops to have the knights assassinate the king. Most such games bore me. Card games, even poker, seem insipid. There’s nothing at stake but money, after all. Logic puzzles leave me…

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Aquarium lessons carry hope for spinal-cord patients:

Purdue University researcher Richard Borgens developed a fascination with nerve regeneration during childhood, when he watched the newts in his father’s aquarium regrow legs bitten off by fish. Today, he’s developing nerve-regeneration methods that may prove instrumental in treating spinal-cord injuries. Borgens directs Purdue’s Center for Paralysis Research and is the founder of Andara Life Sciences Inc., a startup whose treatments are showing promise in clinical trials. One of Borgens’ therapies involves the patented oscillating field stimulator device, which stimulates…

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Pocket-protector crowd to preach quality: Group plans first conference to promote better practices in information technology

Because of them, people stocked basements with food, guns and ammo. Others fell prostrate on hilltops and sang Kumbaya. There was fear software developers would inadvertently destroy the world with the infamous Y2K computer glitch, in the opening hours of 2000. These days, however, it is the developers who are worried-about things like how a glitch can give hackers access to customer credit card and Social Security numbers. Or get companies in trouble when software doesn’t capture information required by…

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Campaign just part of local United Way: Agency aims to meet community needs

United Way of Central Indiana got its start in 1918 as Indianapolis’ War Chest. Many decades and several name changes later, the organization still is fighting to raise enough money to meet vital community needs. Leaders kicked off the 2005 campaign this month, trying to raise $36.6 million, mostly from workplace campaigns and corporate gifts. Together, the two sources represent about 97 percent of all pledges. UWCI’s campaign is the 22nd-largest in the country. On these two pages, IBJ details…

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Building the ‘cheeseburger’ of file servers:

Afile server that longtime tech guru Kim Brand developed from open-source software offers a more affordable alternative to large competitors such as Microsoft Windows. As managing partner of Server Partners LLC, the 52-year-old Brand is the inventor of FileEngine, a Linux-based file server he markets as a simpler and more “worryfree” platform for sharing files. “Servers are expensive,” Brand said, “and when they break, they cost a lot to fix, and that’s wrong.” Brand founded Server Partners in 2001 but…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Innovators shouldn’t forget the importance of protection

Technology-based companies depend on their intellectual property to protect innovations, but many fail to plan beyond the initial patent filing and leave key intellectual property unprotected. Some companies put off filing a patent application only to discover the delay prevents them from obtaining a patent for their invention. Here are a few tips that every technology-based company should follow to protect its intellectual property. File early Entrepreneurs and start-up companies are eager to present their innovations to investors and the…

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EndGenitor might hold key to repairing blood vessels: Biomedical startup researchers grow cells from umbilical cord fluid

En d G e n i t o r Technologies Inc. is a prime example of the type of company BioCrossroads, central Indiana’s life sciences initiative, covets. Founded on the scientific discoveries of two Indiana University School of Medicine researchers, the venture is on the cusp of producing stem cells that someday could repair the blood vessels of heart attack victims and diabetics. Drs. Mervin Yoder, 52, and David Ingram, 39, company cofounders and professors at the Herman B Wells…

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Libraries book on Plainfield duo’s automation software:

Rob Cullin and Rodd Cutler thought there must be a way to adapt their knowledge of factory-automation technology to libraries, even though the two industries appeared worlds apart. Turns out, automation is automation, Cullin says. By developing the right software, just about anything can be automated and made more efficient. Cullin, who had worked with Cutler for years, was downsized by the company they worked for about five years ago, but wanted to keep his hands in technology. “I had…

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Giving office furniture a lift: Pointman Organizer provides users two desks in one

It looks like an average, yet stylish, office desk. But press a button and a hutch automatically rises from the back, exposing a flat-panel monitor, speakers, a printer and storage areas. Press the button again and the hutch descends, providing wide-open work space. The desk is the first product available from upstart Arise Innovations Inc. Partners Tom Doane, 39, and Jeffrey Hallal, 48, have a patent pending on the design and have sold production rights to Jasper based Inwood Office…

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Economic developer for hire: Miller’s brain trust spreads advice from town to country

It’s about soybeans and high hopes. Clinton County has only 34,148 residents, nearly half of them living in the county seat of Frankfort. Most of the labor force works in either farming or auto-parts manufacturing. Neither is generally considered the field of the future. Enter economic development consultant Thomas P. Miller & Associates. Since Clinton County is the state’s fifth-largest soybean producer, TPMA counseled a strategy based on what it already does well. Starting next year, federal regulators will require…

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Bomar Industries: Metal fabricator builds on expertise Bomar Industries’ owners started without a business plan, but succeeded anyway

Bomar Industries’ owners started without a business plan, but succeeded anyway Brothers Bob and Mark Buchanan have parlayed their passion for drag racing and metal bending into a $3 million enterprise with only growth on the horizon. The brothers started Bomar Industries like a lot of entrepreneurs-with no business plan and their own money and equipment. The Buchanans already had lathes, mills, welders and other supplies for their work on dragsters and other hobby projects. Bob, 50, was an engineer…

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GERALD BEPKO Commentary: FFA is important to our future

What major, national, student-oriented not-for-profit organization with deep roots in Kansas City moved its headquarters to Indianapolis in the last decade and now has made commitments to bring a huge number of visitors to Indianapolis each year into the future? If you think the answer is the NCAA, you would be half right. The complete answer is that there are two such organizations: the NCAA and FFA. Both the NCAA and FFA brought economic benefits along with their headquarters. Through…

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ROUGH ROAD AHEAD?: Chrysler foundry’s closing a warning sign for other plants

Chrysler foundry’s closing a warning sign for other plants The closing of DaimlerChrysler Corp.’s foundry west of downtown at the end of this month signals more than the end of nearly 900 jobs there. “There’s a fundamental change occurring in the automotive industry right now,” said Matthew Will, director of the University of Indianapolis’ graduate business program and associate dean in the School of Business. “Unless local manufacturers in this sector don’t reposition, I would certainly expect to see more job…

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Basic utility vehicle rolling ahead-slowly: Assembly would happen in developing nations

A not-for-profit group developing vehicles for use in the Third World plans to open a “micro-factory” next month near 65th Street and Binford Boulevard. But the Institute for Affordable Transportation site won’t mass-produce its diminutive vehicles, powered by lawn tractor engines. Rather, the donated space will become a lab for working out methods to help those in developing countries assemble the so-called “basic utility vehicles.” The facility “is to basically prepare the way for this technology transfer package so it…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Efficient, tasteful design can help maximize productivity

Productivity. Comfort. Longevity. While the old saying about location applies to most commercial real estate decisions, the issues of promoting productivity, providing a comfortable working environment and choosing materials that last become preeminent after the lease is signed. current space-is not something you do everyday. If you’re part of a mid-sized or small business, then it’s highly likely that you’re juggling real estate decisions at the same time you’re trying to advance your business. As a result of this pressure,…

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Startup Web venture gives sales reps an edge: Internet forum allows anonymous contact exchange

In literature and on stage, Arthur Miller’s tragic salesman Willy Loman has come to symbolize the American dream gone sour. But for the founders of locally based WillyLoman.com, an online forum for anonymous exchange of business contacts, the moniker has a simpler meaning: Willy Loman is instantly recognizable. The title character from “Death of a Salesman” is still the best-known name in marketing. “Have you ever felt like Willy Loman?” asked WillyLoman.com cofounder and CEO Bill Johnson. “The idea is…

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Staffing agency seeks bankruptcy protection: Morley Group begins reorganizing $5.3 million debt

The 13-year-old staffing agency already owes the bank $1.94 million-a $1.17 million loan used to construct its headquarters and about $768,000 for operating expenses. President Michael Morley blamed poor economic conditions for the filing. He said the company hopes to emerge from bankruptcy quickly. “Our business is just now starting to come back and increase,” he said. “We’re going to be able to straighten this out. We’re not taking this lightly.” Other debts listed in the bankruptcy filing include a…

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