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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Wireless: What exactly is it and why is it unreliable?

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about wireless lately. You know, WiFi, the magical connection between laptop and Internet, the key to actually working at Starbucks? The questions vary from, “Why does my laptop just disconnect sometimes?” to, “How can I get wireless out by the pool?” I tried to scrunch the answers down into a single column, but they kept bulging out of the seams. So I decided to split them into three consecutive columns. I wouldn’t ordinarily…

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Taking the pulse of life sciences: Experts weigh in on whether Indiana is keeping up in the economic development race

IBJ: Is Indiana gaining ground against other states in the race to grow as a life sciences hub? What are some specific benchmarks that underscore your opinion? JOHNSON: Indiana is gaining ground, but Indiana already starts on really very substantial ground. There are a lot of outside validations of that and I think it’s important for this audience to hear a couple of them because there is nothing like having people on the outside pay attention to what we’re doing…

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Clinic predicts Hamilton County will be fertile ground: Doctors relocate reproductive practice to growing area

Surgery centers and a heart hospital are among a host of health care facilities that have risen in burgeoning north-suburban Hamilton County in recent years. Now, a new fertility clinic could contribute to the population surge by helping couples conceive children. The 6,400-square-foot Follas Center for Reproductive Medicine opened late last month on East 146th Street in Noblesville in a collaboration between several Indianapolis reproductive medicine innovators. The center is a partnership between Dr. David McLaughlin, a local pioneer of…

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Schools follow different flight paths: Aviation programs see contrasting demand

Two aircraft maintenance programs in close proximity to each other are far apart when it comes to successfully filling classrooms with budding mechanics. Times are so tough for Vincennes University’s struggling aircraft maintenance program at Indianapolis International Airport’s Aviation Technology Center that it asked for permission to conduct three non-aviation degree programs there. The aviation program, which enrolled about 300 students in the mid-1990s, now has about 75. Vincennes officials blame the United Airlines Maintenance hub closure, which displaced 1,200…

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Rose-Hulman looks ahead: Search for new president could take a year

But trustees currently have a higher priority: Let the dust settle. “It’s only been a couple of days,” said Rose-Hulman Chairman Robert Bright. “Nothing’s been established for sure yet.” It took the Terre Haute engineering school 10 months to find and narrow the field of 60 candidates that produced Midgley-nearly the length of his presidential stint. Most expect the search for his successor to last at least as long. In the meantime, Rose-Hulman has a more pressing task. It must…

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Phone-system expert answers entrepreneurial call: Via savvy marketing, she turned her knowledge of telecommunications into a thriving consulting business

When Barb Grothe said goodbye to her paycheck and job security 19 years ago, she was just a little scared and wondered, “Now what do I do?” She had office space for her new telecommunications consulting company, Telecom Resources, and 15 years of experience, but no clients. So she went about making herself known: she wrote articles for magazines, newspapers and journals (including IBJ) and scheduled speaking engagements. Almost each venture produced new clients, and Grothe was on her way….

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Shrinkage a growing problem: Manufacturers seek ways to stem product losses

The U.S. manufacturing industry has begun rebounding from its economic swoon, but some industry experts think more manufacturers must become more efficient and eliminate waste if they are to compete in the current global climate. While the Manufacturers Alliance, an Arlington, Va.-based business and public policy research group, projected manufacturing growth of 3.4 percent this year and 3 percent in 2006, big challenges remain. One growing problem is the so-called shrinkage factor, defined in manufacturing as the percentage by which…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Indiana must not let TDL opportunities elude its grasp

Unlike some other Hoosier economic initiatives, much of the required infrastructure to rapidly advance TDL into significant growth is already in place. More Interstate highways cross the state An economic development analyst determining the physical advantages of Indiana might initially be challenged. Indiana has no oceans. No mountains. No temperate climate. But the Hoosier state does possess one singular unmatched physical plus: It is the state geographically closest to the bulk of most U.S. major markets. For more than a…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Duke at a crossroads after impressive run

Duke Realty Corp. has quietly made bundles for investors the past five years. But you wouldn’t know it from the tone of recent analyst reports on the Indianapolis-based company, one of the nation’s largest industrial and office developers. “We [compare] Duke’s investment case to that of a large ship, since we believe that it would take the company time to gradually turn its performance around on a course to improved results,” wrote Prudential Equity Group’s James Sullivan. “There is virtually…

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Seed funding falling short: BioCrossroads to offer $6 million less than originally hoped

It’s the Catch-22 of entrepreneurship. Attracting investment money is most difficult during the earliest days, exactly when startups need it most. BioCrossroads hopes to break that tricky cycle with its new $4 million seed-stage venture capital fund, Indiana Seed Fund I. But when fund raising was launched last year, the life sciences initiative aimed for $10 million. At about $250,000 per deal, BioCrossroads can do up to 15 deals-or two dozen fewer than it had intended. “We would certainly have…

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State eyes inland ports to bolster TDL: ‘Dry’ hubs under consideration in 3 parts of the state could be boon to transportation, distribution, logistics

The construction of intermodal hubs in Indiana could add thousands of jobs to the state’s transportation/distribution/logistics industry, an area targeted by officials as an economic pillar to pursue. The General Assembly gave the Indiana Ports Commission the authority two years ago to build the hubs-“dry ports” where cargo is transferred between train and truck. While the projects remain in the planning stages, supporters cite Indiana’s central location as a primary factor to build the facilities. At least three locations are…

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Cable operator to battle Ma Bell for downtown customers: Bright House to roll out telephone biz late this year

Bright House Networks plans a fourthquarter launch of residential phone service via its cable television system, bringing new competition to entrenched SBC Communications and to local exchange resellers in the heart of the city. That area includes the downtown business district, where Bright House already provides cable TV and high-speed Internet. Phone service tailored for commercial use “is probably a year out,” said Doug Murray, general manager of voice services in Indianapolis for the St. Petersburg-based company. Such a product…

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Purdue student plays key role in “RFID for Dummies”: Book helps businesses implement logistics technology

Patrick Sweeney was the book’s author. Most other books on RFID consider only the highly technical aspects of the technology, Sweeney said. “RFID for Dummies” is aimed at businesspeople charged with actually implementing the technology, or for those who determine its ROI. “This is really the first book of its kind that walks people through the logical process to deploy an RIFD system,” Sweeney said. The cost of implementing RFID is based For an up-and-coming new technology like radio frequency…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: If you’ve got the culture, you can share knowledge online

There’s a new buzzword just aching to make its way into your vocabulary. It’s “distributed cognition.” It means two or more heads are better than one. Nobody knows everything, so it’s a good idea to hook everybody together in big webs of knowledge. For many knowledge-management vendors, it’s a recycling of their sales pitches for knowledge bases and the like. The theory is that if you can get everybody busily contributing knowledge to an online location where others can use…

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IU embraces RFID education: Radio frequency identification an essential part of supply management studies

Trucks and trains have been absent from the curriculums of most kindergarten classes for years. But at Indiana University in Bloomington, the toys are proving to be a valuable teaching tool. The Supply Chain Management Academy at IU’s Kelley School of Business employs the playthings to show students how radio frequency identification works. Known as RFID, the technology is expected to replace the familiar bar code. It consists of a tag imbedded with silicon chips that carry up to 96…

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Network Engineering Inc.: Computer firm remains flexible Owner says diversifying keeps company nimble

He started the original version of his business back in 1984, fresh out of college. One Internet, one dot-com boom, one Y2K and one dot-com crash later, he’s still in business. Spilker is president of Network Engineering Inc., which is essentially a spin-off of his original company, Information Engineering Inc. A lifelong Indianapolis resident, he graduated from Purdue University with a degree in computer technology. As soon as he graduated, he started Information Engineering because he wanted to run things…

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Company helps keep students on course: College Network offers college-study assistance

There may be no shortcuts to a college education, but Indianapolis-based The College Network says it can offer some passing lanes for working people who want to add to their professional credentials. The College Network, 3815 River Crossing Parkway, Suite 260, is a nationwide business that publishes educational materials for adult students who want to earn an undergraduate degree, graduate degree or professional certification in their current field. TCN is not a school and does not provide degrees itself, but…

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Long commute for former Lt. Gov.: Kathy Davis to lead South Bend tech firm

Her days as lieutenant governor are finished, but it didn’t take Kathy Davis long to find a new management role. She’s accepted a job leading South Bend-based telecommunications connectivity provider Global Access Point. “After we lost [the election] and I knew I’d be looking for a job, I thought it would be ideal if I could find some entrepreneur who was very technical and needed some help on the management side,” Davis said. “Then I was fortunate that opportunity came…

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NOTIONS: Lessons on life, love and work from a sister CEO

The crowd gathered early for the IPL 500 Festival Parade. Moms and dads, grandparents and kids, neighbors and friends came by the thousands to hear the oompah-pah of the bands, see Hollywood stars and cheer the 33 drivers competing in the next day’s Indianapolis 500. Walking through the throng, I spied the street preachers. Each had staked out a strategic spot, capitalizing on the closed avenues to stand mid-intersection and deliver The Word. One preacher waved a sign warning happy…

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Not-for-profit looks for way to continue its operations: Broad support must replace CILC’s sole funding source

It was supposed to be short-lived, an agency created solely to help Indiana schools tap emerging videoconferencing technology for distance learning. But a funny thing happened on the way to the virtual field trip. “We found it really wasn’t about the technology. It was about what you do with the technology,” said Ruth Blankenbaker, executive director of the Indianapolis-based Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. “If you don’t have a reason to use it, what’s the point?” Teachers had to…

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