Navsys hires firm to help develop GPS business

Monument-based Navsys Corp. has hired Core Capital Group’s electronics and semiconductor unit to help it develop a business around global-positioning system (GPS) technology it developed for military uses.
The technology, called “Tidget,” is a small device with low power requirements that captures GPS data for use later in a variety of ways and has been incorporated in missile defense systems, said Loren Lancaster, managing director of Colorado Springs-based Core Capital.
“They have patents, developed prototypes and found there is tremendous demand for these applications in the consumer and commercial markets,” Lancaster said. Among the potential commercial uses for the Tidget technology is tracking livestock, he said.
Core is completing market research, developing marketing materials, identifying strategic partners and a management team, putting together a funding strategy to raise “tens of millions of dollar" and launching the operation within three to six months, Lancaster said.

Qwest, Verizon sign 5-year deal

Qwest Communications signed a five-year agreement with Verizon Wireless on Monday to provide wireless service to its customers beginning this summer. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The Verizon agreement replaces Qwest’s current wireless deal with Sprint, although that agreement doesn’t end until February, 2009.

Qwest customers will be able to get Verizon services bundled with their home phone or DSL package and buy Verizon phones and services at Qwest stores and call centers. Qwest customers who have current Sprint wireless plans will be transitioned to Verizon service, Qwest spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said.

Springs firm wins Wyoming contract

Colorado Springs-based Managed Business Solutions LLC won a $2.28 million contract last month from the Wyoming Department of Revenue to upgrade 11-year-old software that tracks collections of sales, use, lodging, cigarette and estate taxes.
The company doesn’t plan to hire additional employees to complete the 18-month contract, which requires development of new screens for users to input data and get information from the software as well as a way for those paying tax to file reports on the Web.
Dan Noble, administrator of the department’s Excise Tax Division, said Managed Business Solutions was selected among seven bidders because of its experience in developing such software, its financial stability and the expertise of its software development team.
Managed Business Solutions is a subsidiary of Sealaska Corp., one of 13 corporations formed under federal law to benefit native Alaskans.

Two local companies recognized for promoting corporate wellness

Colorado Springs Utilities, which provides all four utility services for local residents, and TRANE, which supplies commercial and residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and services, have been awarded the American Heart Association’s top wellness honor. Both local companies made the list of the nation’s 2008 Fit-Friendly Companies.
Employers on the annual list promote a fit-friendly workplace that encourages wellness by providing walking routes and promoting walking programs, supplying online newsletters and tracking tools to motivate employees, offering healthy food options in cafeterias or vending machines, and creating a work environment conducive to physical activity.
Employers that sign on to the Start! Fit-Friendly Companies Program will be recognized at the Start! Colorado Springs Heart Walk June 7 and on the program’s national Web site. Interested employers can call the local office at 635-7688.

Q1 Tourism economic impact report

Just got the first-quarter numbers from Experience Colorado Springs at Pikes Peak (the convention and visitors bureau). I don't have the year-to-year comparison handy, so I'll just throw these numbers out there for now:

Total economic impact - $82,874,401

Lodging and rental tax - $423,630

Sports-related room nights - 16,136
Sports-related revenue - $7,213,660

Convention marketing room nights - 28,250
Convention marketing revenue - $13,889,260

Anthem employees participate in first national Community Service Day

More than 125 Colorado employees of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and their families and friends, volunteered for the parent company's first national Community Service Day, held April 26 to coincide with National Volunteeer Week.

Local employees volunteered at the Colorado Springs March of Dimes and Child Nursery Centers, said spokeswoman Sally Vogler. They helped staff the March of Dimes' "March for Babies," assisting with registration and the kids fun zone. At The Child Nursery Centers, the volunteers cleaned and beautified the grounds. Employees from Denver also worked on projects there.

Last year, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield associates in Colorado pledged more than $673,000 to help nonprofits throughout the state.

Air Force Academy film on hold

The Air Force Academy may be ready for a close-up, but Hollywood is holding off.
“Bring Me Men,” an independent film that was planned to begin shooting in May at the academy, will now be put off for a year, said Charles Morrison, the film’s producer.
“It’s very disappointing,” he said. “We were anxiously looking forward to working with the Air Force this summer.”
Morrison said the financing he had in place when he announced the $6 million project in November 2007, was no longer available. He tried to secure new financial backers, but couldn’t in time to meet the scheduled filming window that would capture graduation at the end of May and the start of basic training for new cadets in June. Instead, he asked the Air Force for an extension so the project could film next year.
Morrison said he’s still searching for funding.
“It’s just a difficult time this year to raise money,” he said.
“Bring Me Men” is a fictional retelling of the arrival of the first women cadets at the academy in 1976. The title refers to the famous motto at the academy’s Terrazzo entrance, which was removed in 2003 and replaced by the academy’s core values.
Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said the one-year delay was by mutual agreement.
Tom Como, the film’s co-producer, said the project would have meant 60 to 70 jobs for local crewmembers.
“To be honest with you, it’s one of the few feature films that was actually going to come here,” he said.
Como said he’s confident that “Bring Me Men” will be a go next year.
Colorado Springs film commissioner Kim Griffis said it will be better for the Springs that the producers wait until everything is in place to begin filming.
“Even though it’s a kink in the wheels, it’s still going to move forward,” she said.

Springs Business Expo coming May 22

The annual Colorado Springs Business Expo, sponsored by the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, will take place10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 22 at the Phil Long Expo Center, 1515 Auto Mall Loop on the city's north side. The event, which allows businesses to gain leads and network with new and existing clients, is billed by the chamber as one of the largest area business expos. More information or to participate : 635-1551 or awhittaker@cscc.org

Centura's chief medical officer takes new job

Dr. Terry O'Rourke, chief medical officer for Centura Health and formerly a general surgeon in Colorado Springs for 28 years, has accepted a new job.

He will leave Denver-based Centura and on June 2 become executive vice president and chief medical officer at Trinity Health, based in Novi, Mich. Trinity Health is the fourth largest Catholic health care system in the nation with 44,000 employees.

O'Rourke practiced as a general surgeon primarily at Penrose Hospital, which is managed by Centura, a joint Catholic/Adventist venture. As the system-wide CMO for the past three years, O'Rourke improved quality measures and safety at hospitals in the system, founded the Physician Leadership Academy and the Clinical Leadership Council and served as the clinical leader for the organization's new electronic medical and financial records system.

An interim CMO will be named, and a search for a new CMO will begin soon, Centura officials said.

20 Mbps Internet now available in the Springs

Starting Thursday, some Qwest Communications customers in Colorado Springs now have access to the fastest Internet service available in the state.

The new plans offer a top speed of 20 megabits per second (Mbps) for $104.99 a month (with a phone plan bundle) or 12 Mbps speeds for $51.99 a month. Qwest said it is delivering the ultra-fast services to its 23 top markets, including Colorado Springs.

Travis Leo, Qwest’s director of high speed Internet services, said if customers can get Qwest’s 7 Mbps service now, they should also be able to get the new, faster speeds.

“Colorado Springs has one of the highest availabilities in any market,” Leo said. “Upgrading the network down there has proven to be very, very efficient.”

Qwest’s basic DSL service offers 1.5 Mbps for $34.99 a month and 7 Mbps for $41.99 (all of Qwest’s plans are $5 a month cheaper when combined with phone service.

Earlier this month, Comcast announced its own super-fast connections for heavy Internet users, offering 50 megabits per second for $149.99 a month, but that service is so far available only in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.

Comcast’s current high-speed Internet plans deliver between 4 and 8 Mbps in Colorado Springs, for $52.95 to $62.95 (less when bundled with voice and video services) and Comcast offers a speed boost to 12 Mbps during especially heavy usage. Comcast spokeswoman Cindy Parsons said the 50 Mbps service would be available in 20 percent of its markets by the end of the year, but couldn’t say if Colorado Springs would be one of them.

Comcast has announced that it’s working toward delivering speeds as high as 100 or 150 Mbps, although those aren’t yet available. Likewise, Leo said that Qwest’s 20 Mbps service is just a stepping stone en route to faster speeds.

“There certainly is lots of headroom from a future technology standpoint,” he said. “We’re not going to stand around and think that 20 is sufficient.”

Faster speeds are gaining popularity hand in hand with the growth of video streaming and online gaming, Leo said. Also, many homes now have several computers hooked up to a single Internet connection, placing greater demands on the amount of bandwidth available, he said

.“We’re seeing customers sign up for higher speeds at faster rates than we thought,” Leo said.

The faster speeds are made possible by installing fiber optic cable into more neighborhoods, meaning that only the last few hundred or thousand feet of connection is on slower copper cables. Qwest is spending $300 million to upgrade its network nationwide.

On a 20 Mbps connection, Qwest says a 2-hour movie can be downloaded in six minutes, or 20 songs could be downloaded in one minute.

Learn how to do business with government

A one-day, free workshop, "Doing Business with the Government," will take place from 8:30 a.m.to 2:45 p.m. Friday, April 25, at the University Center Theatre Room 302 at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The event, open to students, faculty members and business people, will explore government sponsored research at universities, intellectual property matters, forming a team to seek government funded proposals, contracts, and other issues related to contracting with government. The workshop is being held in conjunction with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) and hosted by EPIIC (El Pomar Institute for Innovation and Commercialization, formerly known as CITTI). More information: http://www.invention2venture.org/coloradosprings08, 262-3631 or bwasinge@uccs.edu.

Administrative professionals' group gives awards

Three local women were honored April 23 during the annual Administrative Professionals' Day luncheon hosted by the Pikes Peak Chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals.

Linda Iverson of Farm Credit of Southern Colorado was named 2008 Administrative Professional of the Year. Iverson has worked at the company 21 years and has held various administrative positions in human resources, information technology and daily operations.

B.J. Scott, president and chief executive officer of Peak Vista Community Health Centers, received the Executive of the Year award. In nominating Scott, Dayna Dorobiala wrote that Scott's major strength is "her ability to motivate others to perform at their best, whether solving problems, addressing community concerns, securing relationships or expanding and building health care centers. B.J. sets the bar in ethics, respect for others and trust in leadership."

The Member of the Year is Rhonda Lavoie, who chairs the local chapter's community service program and is credited with a "can-do attitude, a wonderful sense of humor and personal drive to achieve perfection."

The chapter also awarded a $750 scholarship to Crystal Moreno, a receptionist for Honeywell and part-time student at Pikes Peak Community College. The scholarship was funded by corporate sponsors of the annual luncheon.

There are 4.2 million administrative professionals in the nation, according to the International Association of Administrative Professionals. April 20-26 is recognized as Administrative Professionals Week, and April 23 as Administrative Professionals Day.

Peak Vista expands with new Family Health Center

Peak Vista Community Health Centers recently hosted an open house for its newest Family Health Center at 225 S. Union Blvd.

The 34,000-square-foot building has been renovated from a former school into a medical facility with 48 exam rooms, a pharmacy, lab, well-child waiting area, registration center and a health education area.

Peak Vista also expanded hours at its Harrison School District 2 Entrada Health Center a few months ago and last summer opened a Family Health Center at the Myron Stratton Home.

The nonprofit organization established in 1971 operates 12 health centers in El Paso and Teller counties, offering primary medical, dental and behavioral health services to 53,000 low-income residents a year. The organization has immediate openings for employment at several of its locations.

Seminar focuses on learning and its impact on the bottom line

Strategically focused and well-executed learning can impact workplace productivity and profitability, believes David Vance, who will present a day-long seminar in Colorado Springs on "Manage Learning Like a Business."

Hosted by the American Society for Training and Development, the seminar will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., May 13 at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post, 324 Beckers Lane, in Manitou Springs.

Vance, founder and former president of Caterpillar University and 2006 Chief Learning Officer of the Year, holds a doctorate in economics, a master's degree in business and a bachelor's degree in political science.

The seminar will teach participants how to strategically align learning to business goals, create a business plan for learning with measurable goals, executive the plan, predict and measure results and establish a governance structure.

The registration fee is $99 for members and $139 for non-members before April 25, $109 for members and $149 for non-members after April 25. To register, go to astdppc@ctcm-acr.com, or call 380-1088.

Fountain Valley School students concoct biodiesel

For the past six weeks, students from Fountain Valley School, a boarding and day high school with an enrollment of 240, have been collecting kitchen grease from the school’s dining hall and concocting biodiesel with equipment they designed and built in science class.
This week, Venetucci Farm began using the homemade alternative fuel in tractor engines.
Susan Gordon, director of the Venetucci Farm, which offers educational agricultural programs, said the cost savings are noticeable. The biodiesel fuel costs about 70 cents a gallon, she said, compared with regular diesel, which is retailing for about $4 a gallon.
The homemade system is capable of producing 30 gallons of biodiesel per month, and the project to fuel the farm’s tractors will be ongoing, said Jeanne Olive, Fountain Valley’s spokeswoman.

Wildwood casino license approved

The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission voted today to approve the license for American Gaming Group's Wildwood Casino in Cripple Creek.

When it opens - possibly as soon as May - Wildwood will be Cripple Creek's biggest casino, and also the first one visitors encounter as they enter the business district. The casino will feature as many as 1,300 slot machines and card tables, 65,000 square feet of floor space and a five-floor underground parking garage.

The casino was originally scheduled to open in December, 2007, but construction delays have pushed the date back several times.

Experience Pikes Peak annual meeting

Experience Colorado Springs at Pikes Peak, the local convention and visitors bureau, held its annual membership meeting and presented its report today at a luncheon at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post.

Some highlights:

- Bureau president Terry Sullivan said Experience Colorado Springs is hoping to jump on the Olympic bandwagon with both feet, putting the Olympic rings and labeling Colorado Springs "Home of the U.s. Olympic Committee" in advertisements, mailings, business cards, a welcome sign at the city's south edge and anything else that they can get approved.

- Jim Cassidy, the bureau's CFO, said this February was the first month since January, 2007 that hotel tax revenue declined year-over-year.

- The other big item was a first look at the new Experience web site from Denver's Verbena design, which is still a work in progress.

- Not much talk on tourism prospects for the rest of this year, although visitors services director CJ Seals said the number of requests for information has remained steady.

"My research shows the price of fuel may effect the distance people are traveling, but they are still traveling," Seals said.

Anthem launches Colorado initiative to prevent serious medical errors

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Colorado will stop paying for preventable problems that occur at hospitals to protect its 854,000 members from paying extra for errors such as surgery performed on the wrong part of a body, surgery performed on the wrong patient and the wrong surgery performed on a patient.

Such "never events," as they are called in the health care industry, should never happen to patients, Anthem officials said, adding that they will work with hospitals and physicians to find ways to improve patient safety and clinical care.

In addition, Anthem said it will pay only an appropriate amount and no additional charges for events such as objects left in a body during surgery, certain infections following surgery, hospital-acquired injuries, blood incompatibility and others.

The changes in reimbursement will take effect later this year, Anthem officials said, and are aimed at eliminating preventable adverse events.

CarMax hiring: No automotive experience necessary

CarMax Inc., known for hiring outside the auto industry, is looking for 85 part- and full-time people to work at its store in Colorado Springs, which will open June 5 at 4011 Tutt Blvd.

The nation's largest retailer of used cars, CarMax typically hires people who have worked for other national retailers, such as Target, Lowe's, Home Dept, Wal-Mart, Macy's and The Gap. Employees also have come from the food and beverage industry, insurance sales and education, according to CarMax officials.

For its local super store, the first CarMax in Colorado, the company will hire sales, buyers, business office workers, customer service reps, service technicans and inventory workers, with no automotive experience necessary.

Job seekers can apply online at www.carmax.com, or call 597-0098 to schedule an appointment.

CarMax is headquartered in Richmond, Va and operates 91 used car super stores in 41 markets. It is known for its hassle-free sales approach, low prices and a wide selection of vehicles.

SRC Computers forms partnership

SRC Computers Inc. has formed a partnership with Atrato Inc. to market computer software and hardware to offer faster access to large databases.
Colorado Springs-based SRC, which was started by supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray and employs nearly 50, sought out Westminster-based Atrato to improve data access for a government customer the company did not identify and recently installed the first system.
“To address all levels of our customer base, we search nearly three years for the right solution before we found Atrato,” SRC President Jon Huppenthal said. “This is pretty exciting for a group of customers that represent a potentially large market.”
SRC spent 10 years and $60 million trying to bring the power of a supercomputer to a much broader market, but instead developed a technology that combines microprocessors with a type of semiconductor that can be reprogrammed on the fly to do a specific task.