USA Technologies, Inc. (USAT) Brings Wireless Payment to Austin/SLC Vending Machines

USA Technologies announced that the company will be bringing wireless, mobile payments to vending machines in the Austin and Salt Lake City areas. These payment acceptance portals are to be powered by USAT’s ePort and ePort Connect technologies, using the Isis Mobile Wallet smartphone app.

USA Technologies is focused on developing wireless payment options and M2M telemetry for the self-service, small-ticket retail industry, with the company’s ePort Connect as its flagship platform. ePort Connect, a PCI-compliant, end-to-end suite of cashless payment and telemetry services, has been specifically developed to facilitate the self-service retail industry. USA Tech has partnerships with Verizon, Visa, Elavon, and major customers such as Compass, Crane, AMI Entertainment, and others.

Vending operators can take advantage of the Isis Mobile Wallet by installing USAT’s NFC unit and displaying signage that indicates specific vending machines accept that form of payment. As of September 30, 2012, approximately 50 percent of USAT’s ePort Connect service base of 174,000 connections utilized NFC-enabled ePort technology.

“Our work with Isis is a great example of how we are executing our comprehensive mobile payments strategy, including leveraging USAT’s growing footprint of NFC enabled touch points to bring more value to our customers,” said Stephen P. Herbert, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of USA Technologies. “We also believe that our work with Isis sends a clear message to vending companies in these two cities—and to the broader market we serve—that there is tremendous opportunity in cashless adoption. Through the Isis Mobile Wallet, we believe these merchants will have unparalleled new opportunity to attract consumers as well as participate in marketing programs with global brand names.”

“By working with USAT, we look forward to expanding the growing list of places where consumers can use the Isis Mobile Wallet,” said Jim Stapleton, Chief Sales Officer, Isis. “Consumers can look forward to the added convenience of tapping to pay at vending machines throughout Austin and Salt Lake City.”

For more information on USA Technologies, visit www.usatech.com

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Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (ASTI) Releases Multipurpose Battery Pack as Part of Enerplex Line

Photovoltaic modules manufacturer Ascent Solar Technologies announced yesterday that it has released Jumpr, the company’s new battery pack. The battery pack is part of the company’s EnerPlex line of consumer products.

A multipurpose battery back, the EnerPlex Jumpr allows users to store solar power generated from EnerPlex KickrTM IV solar chargers or from conventional plug in power sources. Then, users can use the charged battery pack to power electronic devices in virtually any setting.

The Jumpr product line includes the Model 4400, rated for 4400 milliamp-hours, which can provide about 3 recharges to your smartphone. It also includes the larger Model 7800, rated for 7800 milliamp-hours, which can charge larger devices such as tablet computers. The EnerPlex Jumpr is available for sale standalone or bundled with Kickr IV through Ascent’s official website at www.enerplex.biz.

Ascent’s President and CEO, Victor Lee, remarked, “The EnerPlex Jumpr, with its power storage capability and compact design, is a great addition to our recently announced Kickr IV portable solar charging units. With these two innovative products everyone from backpackers to road warriors can virtually live life untethered and power their smartphones or other electronic devices off-grid.”

Ascent has committed to pledging 10% of the revenues from Jumpr through the end of the year to support the American Red Cross in its continued recovery effort of Hurricane Sandy.

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Crossroads Systems, Inc. (CRDS) SPHiNX Automated Disaster Recovery Solution Selected by Top Illinois Financial Institution Foresight

Crossroads Systems, one of the world’s top providers of robust data security and archiving solutions, reported today that Illinois-based financial holding powerhouse, Foresight Financial Group, Inc. ($891M in assets), is one of the largest ever to employ the company’s SPHiNX™, a data protection appliance designed to shield corporate, remote office, and data center’s from the threat posed to their vital information by disasters and similar loss scenarios.

CRDS has built up a track record of providing mid-range server/open system environment solutions like the one announced today, which screams competency to potential clients. Little wonder that a big dog like Foresight, which has 12 offices just in Winnebago and Stephenson counties (largest market share of deposits of any financial institution in the latter), has engaged the company for supporting their data centralization scheme, which serves a network of five of their community banks. Foresight’s centralized hub approach allows for a very cost effective means of assembling the infrastructure required by these banks to both maintain sensitive data and comply with FFIEC regulations.

This is a huge leap forward for Foresight’s antiquated backup methodology, which previously employed an IBM LTO-4 library and deployed replication handler, doing away with the fuss of time consuming physical library data retrieval. What used to take an entire day, and even then was not 100% accurate, is now resolved speedily via a virtualized environment that has round-the-clock uptime and allows for real-time access to backup data.

Senior Product Manager for CRDS, Glenn Haley, proudly boasted of the capacity of the SPHiNX virtual tape appliance to meet and even vastly exceed the kind of stringent compliance requirements needed for the mission-critical data of today’s top financial institutions. Seamless integration with the IBMi environment, as well as fully automated encryption/logging gives financial firms a powerful tool for ensuring they stay online, remain within compliance guidelines, and can perform backup/recovery tasks with both minimal time and cost.

CIO at Foresight, Aaron Patterson, noted how CRDS’s winning product was kicked up as a potential solution through word of mouth from their business partner NASI and how the seamless IBMi environment integration allowed the real-time internet banking operations at Foresight to continue unabated. Patterson, clearly pleased with the exceptionally smooth transition, spoke of how they had SPHiNX up and running in 30 minutes and reminded sector operators of the crucial importance of such a solution, even if they are already using some kind of system to system replication solution (a replicated database that has been corrupted is no good after all).

SPHiNX can easily automate remote backup and the virtual tape at the disaster recovery site provides immediate recovery options. This is the kind of robust solution you want when you are running several banks and dealing with security/compliance issues to boot.

For more information on Crossroads Systems, visit www.Crossroads.com

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Internap Network Services Corp. (INAP) Secures Additional Green Data Center Certifications

Internap, the intelligent IT infrastructure services firm which has built up a solid reputation for revolutionizing customer’s IT architectures, allowing them to focus on the core of their businesses, reported securing additional green design/energy efficiency certifications today for two of its California-based data centers.

You see, INAP takes great pride not only in putting together the most capable data centers possible from a baseline operational standpoint, with optimum power density and cutting-edge hardware that includes a concurrently maintainable N+1 architecture, but also in ensuring that reductions are met on quantifiable energy efficiency targets. INAP takes green building very seriously and enmeshes this concept within the incipient design effort on all of their company-owned data centers, something which has led again and again to such accolade-driving certifications as those announced today (not to mention the bottom-line savings which translate into shareholder returns).

VP of Data Center Design and Engineering for at INAP, Randy Ortiz, spoke warmly of the company’s full-spectrum approach to green building, noting how it went way beyond a mere checklist for INAP and was considered a fundamental part of a larger, holistic approach to IT infrastructure development. Ortiz pointed to the certifications announced today as a clear and continued endorsement of the company’s green building prowess, reminding shareholders that such circumspect attention to efficiency places the company in a leadership role industry-wide for building/operating “state-of-the-art green data centers.”

The company’s premium, newly-opened, carrier-neutral data center in Redondo Beach (55k net-sellable feet after full deployment), just six miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport in the heart of a media and entertainment company nexus, has taken home the Green Globes® certification after an extensive, rigorous review process by the Green Building Initiative (GBI). As a leading sustainability assessment and certification services firm, GBI (exclusive U.S. licensee of Green Globes) was instrumental for INAP in simplifying the complex qualification process for this breakthrough green building guidance/assessment program. Green Globes was created from the ground up to achieve dramatic environmental performance and sustainability results on commercial infrastructure targets, while providing the most practical and affordable means of doing so.

Chief among the Green Globes certification data were the facility’s 100% renewable energy for the office portion, nearly halving of average use for a comparable building (efficient lighting, HVAC, and intelligent control), 40% potable water reduction from high-efficient toilets, and a whopping 99% of exterior structural components being reused with newer material coming also from recycled sources (as well as pre- and post-consumer). Add on the low volatile organic compound cleaning products initiative and green transport options, like being highly accessible to public transportation and the addition of carpool stalls to promote ridesharing, and it is no wonder INAP is so good at landing these certifications.

Similarly, INAP’s power-rich data center up north in Santa Clara has received the EPA’s coveted ENERGY STAR® certification, a clear benchmarking of the company’s dedication to advancing the state of green building science (as ENERGY STAR represents the most robust government standard for implemented, measurable, and documentable energy efficiency). The 24k net-sellable square foot Santa Clara data center has already achieved both Green Globes and LEED certifications, running the ENERGY STAR gauntlet with ease as a data center achieving twice the national average for energy efficiency. The Santa Clara data center scored a 100 efficiency performance rating, with overall energy intensity well below average at 36% and an equivalent amount below the national average for emissions (based on the entire energy food chain including utility/plant).

The center also took home the Energy Innovator Award at this year’s Silicon Valley Power 12th Annual Energy Summit (organized by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group), even placing into the prestigious InformationWeek 500 this year, coming in all the way up at 65 on account of the overall energy efficiency and sustainability practices implemented at this state-of-the-art data center.

These certifications are a glowing endorsement of INAP’s comprehensive green methodology, which includes doing software-based energy simulation modeling to get the design just right, the reuse of existing building materials, incorporation of renewable sources for required energy, green transportation initiatives, and even environmentally sustainable cleaning products.

For more information on Internap Network Services, visit www.Internap.com

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VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (VSTA) Joins Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Consortium

VistaGen Therapeutics, a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue, predictive toxicology and drug metabolism screening, today announced its membership in the Toronto-based Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine’s (CCRM) Industry Consortium.

“VistaGen’s membership reflects our strong association with CCRM and its core programs and objectives, both directly and through our strategic relationships with Dr. Gordon Keller and the University Health Network (UHN). Our long-term sponsored research agreement with Dr. Keller, UHN and UHN’s McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine offers both a solid foundation and unique opportunities for expanding the commercial applications of our Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™ platform by building multi-party collaborations with CCRM and members of its Industry Consortium,” stated Shawn Singh, VistaGen CEO. “These collaborations have the potential to transform medicine and accelerate significant advances in human health and wellness that stem cell technologies and regenerative medicine promise.”

“Even before VistaGen joined CCRM’s Industry Consortium it was active in the Toronto regenerative medicine community and advising us as we prepared to launch in 2011,” commented Dr. Michael May, CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine. “I’m confident that our relationship will grow stronger with VistaGen as a formal partner and I look forward to us working closely together on projects that will accelerate drug discovery and benefit patients.”

CCRM is funded by the Government of Canada, six Ontario-based institutional partners, and more than 20 companies representing the key sectors of the regenerative medicine industry. CCRM supports the development of foundational technologies that hasten the commercialization of stem cell-based and biomaterials-based products and therapies. Notable members of CCRM’s Industry Consortium include Pfizer, GE Healthcare, and Lonza.

The industry leaders that comprise the CCRM consortium benefit from proprietary access to certain licensing opportunities, academic rates on fee-for-service contracts at CCRM and opportunities to participate in large collaborative projects, among other advantages. VistaGen is especially well positioned through its existing relationships with key members.

Gordon Keller, Ph.D. is Director of the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine at UHN. A CCRM partner, the McEwen Centre is a world-renowned centre for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and a world-class stem cell research facility. He is also a Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Senior Scientist of the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto. Dr. Keller’s lab is one of the world leaders in successfully applying principles from the study of developmental biology of many animal systems to the differentiation of pluripotent stem cell systems, resulting in reproducible, high-yield production of human heart, liver, blood and vascular cells. The results and procedures developed in Dr. Keller’s lab are often quoted and used by academic scientists worldwide.

UHN, a major landmark in Canada’s healthcare system, is one of the world’s largest research hospitals, with major research in transplantation, cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases and genomic medicine. Providing care to the community for more than two centuries, UHN brings together the talent and resources needed to achieve global impact and provide exemplary patient care, research and education.

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DragonWave, Inc. (DRWI) Successfully Meets Regulatory Requirements and Closes Acquisition of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Microwave Transport Business in China

DragonWave, a leading global supplier of packet microwave radio systems for mobile and access networks, recently announced that the company has met all regulatory requirements necessary to complete its transaction to acquire certain Chinese operations of Nokia Siemens Networks’ microwave transport business.

As a result of the completed transaction, approximately 100 employees of the Shanghai-based Nokia Siemens Networks have transferred to DragonWave. “We want to welcome our new colleagues in China to the DragonWave team,” stated Peter Allen, DragonWave President and CEO. The official closing of the discussed transaction took place on June 1, 2012.

DragonWave is a leading provider of high-capacity packet microwave solutions that drive next-generation IP networks. DragonWave develops and manufactures carrier-grade point-to-point packet microwave systems that transmit broadband voice, video, and data, allowing service providers, government agencies, enterprises, and other organizations to meet increasing bandwidth requirements both rapidly and affordably.

For more information on DragonWave, please visit www.dragonwaveinc.com

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GlobalWise Investments, Inc. (GWIV) Brings Cloud Computing Innovations to Businesses of All Sizes

The idea of cloud computing dates back to at least the 1950s when Herb Grosch, an early computer scientist, predicted that computing power would ultimately be centralized in approximately 15 large data centers, with users accessing the information and processing power via individual terminals. It set the stage for what became known as computer timesharing, where “dumb” terminals were simply remote windows to the computer. Early configurations had a mainframe computer that did all the work, accessed by terminals in nearby rooms. The timeshare concept essentially extended this by providing the communication technology that allowed terminals to be housed in remote locations.

The later advent of the minicomputer, from Digital Equipment Corporation, and eventually microcomputer and PC technology, seemed to shelve for good the idea of big centralized data centers serving remote locations, since small desktop systems could house the applications and hold the data. But then, once again, communication technology stepped in with the development of the Web and broadband, this time providing the power to link the small systems to bigger servers where masses of data and then massive processing power could reside. The Web made it clear that centralization and linking still had major advantages, allowing, among many other things, ecommerce and the notion of a worldwide library represented by sites like Wikipedia.

The modern definition of cloud computing is defined generally as the providing of computing resources, including both hardware and software, over the Internet. A more detailed definition, by the U.S. National Institute for Standards in Technology, includes the following characteristics for cloud computing:

• On-demand self-service, meaning you can access remote computer power when you want it, with no human intervention

• Broad network access, meaning you can get to it in many available ways, such as a laptop or mobile device

• Resource pooling, meaning that hardware and software resources are dynamically shared

• Rapid elasticity, meaning computer capabilities can be quickly scaled up or down as needed, invisible to the user

• Measured service, meaning the services provided are monitored, for accurate accounting and providing of services

In the case of GlobalWise Investments, and their subsidiary Intellinetics, cloud processing means that their public and private clients can securely store and access critical documents on a 24/7 basis, from virtually anywhere in the world. The company’s advanced Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software is designed to help organizations of any size better handle the often overwhelming amount of information that is an unavoidable part of today’s world.

For additional information on GlobalWise Investments, visit www.GlobalWiseInvestments.com

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