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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Effective tech outsourcing takes well-managed plan

More companies than ever are outsourcing their critical business functions, including sales, marketing, accounting and human resources. But the most rapid switch is taking place in technology, due to the accelerated pace of changes in security threats, certifications, government policies and customer-driven mandates. While companies have high expectations of their internal IT departments, many simply don’t have enough time to manage workloads and stay on top of current trends and innovations. Because most technology requires specialization, some companies are finding…

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Stutz’s future includes condos: Developer envisions high-rise, nightclub as part of biz center

Stutz Business Center owner and visionary Turner Woodard last month rolled out a 10-year master plan for the Stutz that could bring condominiums, retail and a high-rise tower to the former auto-manufacturing plant at 10th Street and Capitol Avenue. Right now, Woodard concedes many of his plans are dreams. But with a blossoming life sciences corridor just to the west along the Central Canal, Woodard said he wants the 80-year-old Stutz to continue to be a hub of activity as…

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Demand stokes Coke: After slump, Citizens Gas unit adds workers, expects profit

The bituminous-belching behemoth is as close as this city gets to 19th century industry. It is an anathema to economic strategists who would leave smokestacks behind and recast Indianapolis as a haven for the clean rooms of high- and biotechnology. And neighbors fear it’s the source of elevated levels of benzene and other chemicals blamed for cancer. Yet the politically and environmentally incorrect Indianapolis Coke appears to be on a comeback-at least financially. The subsidiary of Citizens Gas & Coke…

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Music converts lift Get Digital: CD-ripping firm catching on, could hit mainstream with Canadian retail deal

Imagine walking into a retailer and dropping off a stack of compact discs to have them converted to mp3 files, just as consumers have done for years when having their film processed into photographs. The scenario may take a while to play out in the United States, but it’s on the cusp of becoming reality in Canada. And two local entrepreneurs who are putting their spin on digital music technology are largely responsible. Doug Strachota and Brian Moore launched Get…

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Broadband gets power boost in Indiana: Utilities begin offering Internet access through electrical lines in rural areas

Electric utilities serving the state’s rural areas are warming to the prospect of delivering high-speed Internet over household power lines, as several are in various stages of exploring the technology. Offering broadband over power lines to rural areas is becoming a new front in the competition between cable, telephone and, now, electric companies. Power providers in Boone and Monroe counties, and Cincinnati-based Cinergy Corp., are testing the equipment, although Cinergy is not offering the service to Indiana customers yet. More…

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Shepard for the U.S. Supreme Court GERALD BEPKO Commentary:

Acrimony and the politics of personal destruction in our nation’s capital seem to be at a seasonally adjusted high point, owing in significant part to the divisive issue of federal judicial appointments. Much of this is based on the belief that courts have arrogantly ventured beyond the interpretation of law, envisioned by the founders of our government as the role for the judicial branch. These perceptions make the Senate’s advise-and-consent role in judicial appointments much more fractious. The prospect that…

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INVESTING Keenan Hauke: Changing times mean faster, more efficient markets

I grew up 12 miles from Manhattan. By walking a quartermile up the hill from my house and looking east, I could clearly see the entire skyline. At night, when the World Trade Center was all lit up, it felt close enough to reach with a small jump. Lost in all the gleaming skyscrapers is an institution that is almost as old as our nation. And there are changes going on right now that spell the endgame for that institution…

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Rose-Hulman aims for education, not incubation: Michigan-based EDF Ventures takes lead of Indiana Future Fund-backed partnership REI Ventures

The name is unchanged, but under Jack Midgley education comes first at Rose-Hulman Ventures. Business incubation is a distant second. And speculation on high-tech startups is outside the university’s core mission. “The function of Ventures is education, because the function of Rose-Hulman is the education of engineers,” said Midgley, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s embattled president. “Ventures is not a separate entity. It’s part of the undergraduate program at Rose-Hulman, like the math department or the mechanical engineering department.” Named president…

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Local company launches technical think tank: Wolf Technical Services seeks broader customer base

A low-profile Indianapolis research firm is emerging from the shadows to raise its profile and grab more business. Wolf Technical Services Inc., which until earlier this year had focused on forensic studies and accident re-creation, enlisted former University of Indianapolis President Ben Lantz last year to launch a new division that is winning contracts that focus on the future rather than re-creating the past. Already, Wolf’s new division to develop problem-solving technology has done work for IndyGo, Riley Hospital for…

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Forums seek out diamonds in rough: Future Fund events link VCs with entrepreneurs

With $15 million to plow into early-stage companies, Indianapolis-based Pearl Street Venture Funds is one of several venture capital firms searching for promising technologies to fortify with a cash infusion. In return, the investors hope to stumble upon the next Eli Lilly and Co., or at the very least, an enterprise that eventually becomes profitable and attractive enough for acquisition. The process of locating such diamonds in the rough, however, can be arduous and time-consuming. To that end, the Indiana…

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Sales, new spec space in the cards at Intech: Intech One and Two likely to fetch top dollar, draw national interest, investment broker says

Two years ago, Lauth Property Group Inc.’s Intech Park was arguably the most prominent sign of central Indiana’s soft office market. The northwest-side park’s largest buildings, Intech One and Two, had entire floors vacant and awaiting completion. Acterna LLC was pulling out of its 140,000-square-foot building, a retreat symbolic of the technology bust’s effect on the larger suburban office market. Today, helped by a robust investment market and Intech’s recent state designation as a certified technology park, Lauth hopes the…

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Accepting a Grand Challenge: Jones’ robotic startup aims at military market

Within the next 10 years, the U.S. Department of Defense hopes to fully automate a third of its ground vehicles. Indianapolis-based high-tech entrepreneur Scott Jones has plans to one day sell the robot pilots the military needs to accomplish that mission. But before he can build a business capable of attracting serious venture capital, he has to build a robot that can drive a Jeep Rubicon across 175 miles of the Mojave Desert in less than 10 hours. And he…

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More than money: Inception puts emphasis on nurturing fledgling firms

If money can’t buy love, as the Beatles sang 40 years ago, neither can it make a startup company prosperous. While David Becker and David Doyle are no John Lennon or Paul McCartney, their wisdom certainly makes sense for locally based Inception LLC. That’s the consultancy, incubator and venture capital firm they founded in November 2000. “Entrepreneurs always think that, if they had money, they would be successful [right away],” Doyle said. “That’s not always the case. There are very…

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State should target schools, not tourism EYE ON THE PIE Morton Marcus ______:

Our dear friends in the Indiana General Assembly continue to support the idea that tourism should be a state-subsidized industry. It is bad enough that we subsidize biotechnology and the Indianapolis Colts, even though we would object if any of the Colts used some of that good biotech to enhance performance. The first problem with tourism is that it creates very few well-paid jobs. Most jobs in tourism make our workers servants to other people who leave their towels on…

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GIZMOS: Flat-panel monitors: not all they’re cracked up to be

I’ve discovered something really unexpected on my desk lately: a surface. After years of having monitors the size of packing crates looming over my desk, I now have two flatpanel monitors that actually take up less surface space together than one of the old CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors. The new LCD (liquid crystal display) flat panels are sleek, black, digital and much brighter than the old putty-colored CRTs that now seem so dreadfully old-fashioned. A flat-panel 19-inch monitor can…

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IU planning logistics center: University seeks funds for facility to provide services to TDL industry

Indiana University officials say they’re shopping for a site near the airport or in Plainfield for a laboratory to help grow the state’s transportation-distribution-logistics industry-known as TDL. The IU Supply Chain Control Center would evaluate for companies the feasibility and cost benefits of new technologies that could be used to improve sourcing, production and product distribution. The service would be provided at no or little cost. But the center faces a logistics challenge of its own-a delivery of cash. IU…

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INVESTING: Citigroup plods along while financial stocks are mired

Citigroup reported another great quarter last week and, once again, not much is happening with the stock. It is starting to get a little routine. The story inside the company seems to get a little brighter every few months, but the stock has been trading sideways for two years. It is getting a little more popular these days to turn away from financial stocks because of rising interest rates. (Although the only rates that are moving higher are those controlled…

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Health builders thinking small: Local hospital development in for change

Just north of Indianapolis, Clarian Health Partners plans to open a 170-bed hospital this December, a suburban complement to the 76-bed hospital it opened last December in Avon. To the south, St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers unveiled a heart center in March, counterbalancing the two stand-alone heart hospitals that sprang up on the north side a few years ago. These projects offer a snapshot of how health care development has progressed over the past few years in central Indiana….

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State awaits Crane’s fate: Indiana tech promoters hope feds will expand naval base

In just a few weeks, Hoosiers will learn whether the Navy plans to multiply southwest Indiana’s economic development prospects, or mothball its Crane base, the region’s primary high-tech asset. The latter scenario would not only devastate the region; it would seriously set back statewide efforts to modernize Indiana’s economy. “If Indiana were in a position where we were a recognized technology leader, the loss of that one asset might not loom as large,” said Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Vice President…

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Two Indiana startups chosen to compete nationally:

Two of the eight finalists that will participate in a national competition of bioscience startup companies at Purdue University are from Indiana. Omni Spray and QuadraSpec will compete in the third annual Purdue University Life Sciences Business Plan Competition against companies affiliated with several renowned universities, including Columbia University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University. The companies will present business plans for bringing their products to market and be judged by a panel of venture capitalists,…

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