Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
Mar 11, 2010, post by awatrobski
Telkonet, a Clean Technology company that develops, produces and sells proprietary energy management and SmartGrid networking technology, is helping its recently appointed value-added reseller (“VAR”), Allied Communications, provides a comprehensive voice and data solution for the hospitality and multi-dwelling unit (“MDU”) markets with its proven powerline communications (PLC) system. Allied Communications, a nationwide data and telecommunications solutions provider, needed a wired, high-speed Internet access (HSIA) system to service its MDU consumer base, as well as a low-cost solution that avoided having to install expensive traditional CAT-5 wiring. The Telkonet iWire System™ provides an exact match to these needs, delivering reliable broadband Internet access over a building’s existing internal electrical wiring. Telkonet’s system is being installed in the luxury 21-story Balmoral Bal Harbour condos as the first of a series of MDU installations.
“The relationship between Telkonet and Allied Communications gives us the ability to provide an entirely complete solution for both hospitality and large building services as a bulk offering,” informed Jon Rees, President of Allied Communications. “Powerline communications technology is the optimum way of providing shared bandwidth in a building. End of story. Wireless was a great fit for yesterday, but not today, as the typical Internet user draws so much bandwidth that wireless cannot keep up. Demand for bandwidth is only going to increase with the evolution of the Internet, especially with IPTV. PLC can support these bandwidth-intensive needs for each individual user. The Telkonet iWire system represents the link that makes the end user’s overall Internet experience a positive one, and gives us a truly cost-effective solution. After the first installation of Telkonet’s system at the Balmoral Bal Harbour condos, we look forward to bundling Telkonet’s iWire System with our bulk services offering for similar projects.”
The Telkonet iWire System overcomes many of the challenges in providing cost-effective, secure, reliable, and instant high-speed Internet access for the MDU sector, avoiding the need to rewire a building with cost-prohibitive CAT-5 or fiber. With Telkonet’s PLC technology, costs are significantly lowered and installation timeframes reduced. An additional benefit is that there are no issues with who owns the wires, as is often the case with cable companies, and no need to enter tenant units to install the system. PLC also offers the users total flexibility, as the Internet is accessible at any electrical outlet, rather than being limited to where the cable outlet is located. With PLC providing wired HSIA, connectivity is both secure and reliable, with high throughput and bandwidth.
About Allied Communications
Allied Communications, based in Connecticut, is an established, customer-driven, results-oriented data / telecommunications company, offering a rare combination — the power and resources of a large national company and the personal service of a local business. The company’s award-winning staff assists in all phases of planning, design, installation and maintenance of voice and data solutions, and offers comprehensive Customer Service with its one-call technical support. www.alliedphone.com.
About Telkonet
Telkonet is one of the market-leading Clean Technology companies providing integrated, centrally-managed energy management and SmartGrid networking solutions to the emerging $50 billion SmartGrid and Energy Efficiency markets. Its products improve energy consumption and reduce the demand for new energy generation. Telkonet is one of the top three occupancy-based energy management control delivers in each of the hospitality, commercial, military, healthcare and education markets. The Company’s in-room energy management systems are lowering heating and cooling costs in over 180,000 rooms and are an integral part of various utilities’ green energy efficiency and rebate programs.
Mar 11, 2010, post by awatrobski
The Air Force’s highest ranking uniformed officer spoke on the value of space and the emerging medium of cyberspace during the Air Warfare Symposium and Technology Exposition Feb. 18 in Orlando.
“Virtually all aspects of military operations are affected in some way by the capabilities provided from (space and cyberspace), and it’s difficult to overstate their importance to the success of our Armed Forces,” informed Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff.
“From precision navigation and timing, to global satellite communications, to space-based surveillance and missile warning, our space assets provide us with an unparalleled degree of accuracy, connectivity and situation awareness,” the general informed. “Our exploitation of cyberspace and advanced information technologies enable us and the Joint team to properly command and control our forces – binding virtually all of our advanced capabilities together into precise, increasingly networked, and better synchronized operations.”
Speaking to an audience of more than 500 attendees at the Air Force Association-hosted event, General Schwartz addressed the increased dependence on space and cyber, and the risk of that reliance.
“Because our nation’s diverse interests – diplomatically, financially, economically and militarily – exist around the globe, we have an enduring need for robust space and cyber systems and the inherently globally-oriented capabilities that they afford,” he informed. “From an Air Force perspective, space and cyber power enable our ability to provide global mobility, global strike, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications, and many other critical capabilities on which the Joint team relies on us for operational effectiveness.
“Our substantial dependence on space and cyberspace creates vulnerabilities that are potentially exploitable by our adversaries; an outcome with profound strategic implications,” General Schwartz informed. “Therefore, our efforts to protect these interests in space and cyberspace must be as ambitious as our reliance on these domains. We must be able to deter and defend against attacks on our space and cyber capabilities, and fight through any degradation, disruption or even denial of these vital capabilities.”
Threats to space and cyber capabilities pose some of the most significant challenges to the nation’s national security, said the 1973 U.S. Air Force Academy graduate. Those who pose these threats must be deterred or, if necessary, compelled to stop.
“Attacks on our space and cyber capabilities are potentially more consequential than what would occur from a purely military perspective,” he informed. “Because of this, we need to expand our definition of what constitutes a threat to our space and cyber capabilities.
“We must also consider a broader scope of adversaries,” informed the general with more than 4,300 flying hours in Air Force aircraft. “The list includes not only rival nation-states, but also potentially any number of non-state, sub-national and even individual actors that can threaten the advantage we currently enjoy from space- and cyber-borne capabilities.”
Access to space is widening, involving more actors who benefit from, and increasingly rely on space, the general said. “The proliferation of missile and rocket technology, miniaturization techniques for smaller payloads, and other technological advancements are enabling more governments, as well as commercial space providers, to provide launch and satellite services more affordably. This has the ultimate effect of lowering barriers to entry, and suggests that we must always be vigilant in discovering further challenges, to be sure, but also opportunities for deterrence options.”
Space and cyberspace also offer opportunities for economic and industrial growth, political leverage and other enablers of national power and influence, General Schwartz informed. “Correspondingly, our efforts to stave off potential interference of our space assets gain other possible avenues of deterrence. To address these challenges, we must continue to focus attention on enhanced space situational awareness.
The general said that the Air Force’s ability to conduct this vital mission not only helps us to characterize threats as either an intentional act or some other hazard in space. The result is our ability to recognize anomalies and evaluate options for taking action.
“This enhanced situational awareness not only will provide our nation with the ability to evaluate our adversaries’ space orders of battle and clarify our understanding of their intent, but also to detect, mitigate and otherwise respond to threats to our space assets. Increased space situational awareness capabilities will also bolster our space cooperation with key international partners and allies.”
Current realities continue to suggest the inevitability of contested space, General Schwartz said, noting that in December Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley ordered a top-down evaluation of the Service’s management of military space responsibilities. The review is needed, the general said, given that the last significant restructuring took place in 2001. Since that time there are many new legal and regulatory requirements, as well as new agencies and authorities, impacting national security space. The goal is to ensure that “from the Pentagon to our space wings and centers … appropriate structures and relationships are present to address various challenges.”
“Our overall approach for the future must be capabilities-based. Instead of an emphasis solely on protecting satellites, we should also focus on preserving — through appropriate redundancies — the force-enhancing capabilities that our space systems provide,” he said.
“While we continue to pursue our efforts on operationally responsive space — to build reliable and responsive operational enablers, and focus them ‘on timely satisfaction of joint force commanders’ needs,’ — true agile responsiveness should emphasize effectiveness in meeting operational demands irrespective of whether the solution is space-based or otherwise,” the general said.
The general concluded his speech by calling attention to the people behind the highly-technical mission — some 46,000 total force Airmen and contract employees “from acquisition to operations to logistics” — who are dedicated to supporting the space mission.
“While space and cyberspace certainly showcase our innovation and advanced technology, let us not forget that it is our Airmen, through their daily professional efforts, who make it all happen.”
Mar 11, 2010, post by awatrobski
A Georgetown company that expanded beyond its printer business three years ago is finding success making light-emitting diodes and planning for hundreds of new jobs.
Ringdale Inc., a 34-year-old communication technology company with just 60 employees, is gaining a bit of attention from government and military consumers with its LED fixtures designed for commercial applications. Company officials are expecting sales of $1 million per month and a need to hire workers to fill those orders.
Ringdale produced its first LED fixture two years ago. The demand for LED fixtures is expected to increase because of the energy savings they deliverd combined with an economic rebound as the nation pulls out of a recession.
Although LEDs cost about three times as much as conventional lighting, they use 10 percent of the energy. As a result, customers that need lighting for long periods can generate a fairly fast return on their investments. Such customers also save on maintenance costs because replacing bulbs in a parking lot or one hanging from a church ceiling can be an expensive process, CEO Klaus Bollmann informed.
“Our products just make sense,” he informed.
Ringdale develops its products solely for commercial customers, not residential applications. It also doesn’t sell bulbs separately from its fixtures because the quality of fixtures plays an important role in their effectiveness, Bollmann informed.
One consumer, the Texas Facilities Commission, uses Ringdale fixtures for parking lots, building exteriors, sidewalks and entries.
Rob Aster, a Pennsylvania-based economist who studies the LED market, said prices for LED arrays have been declining for 30 years because of improved production techniques combined with more efficient LEDs and reflectors.
He’s expecting a sharp increase in commercial adoption this year followed by residential adoption in another two years. “It’s really the technology that’s driving this,” Aster informed.
The LED lighting market is projected to grow 22 to 28 percent annually during the next couple of years, according to industry analysts. Research firm Strategies Unlimited expects sales of illumination applications of LEDs to reach $5 billion during 2012.
At Ringdale, Bollmann is expecting the built-up demand for such upgrades to quickly push the company’s employee headcount over 300 when the national economy rebounds from its recession. It’s not the first time he’s made such predictions.
Three years ago, Bollmann projected fast growth after Ringdale signed a deal for Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) to be a reseller of Ringdale printer products. At the time, he expected Ringdale to double its staff in the following year and the company to break ground on a 56,000-square-foot building across from its Halmar Cove office.
That building never materialized, but Bollmann is expecting the LED business to make the additional building necessary to meet projected orders because sales are anticipated to reach $1 million per month in March.
BetaLED, which is a division of Wisconsin-based Ruud Lighting Inc., is Ringdale’s chief competition, Bollmann said.
LEDs generate light by moving atoms between two silicon-based semiconductors. Because the semiconductors are solid-state, the devices last longer than conventional lights and use electricity more efficiently.
Local companies that develop LED products include Illumitex Inc., which has been in stealth mode since launching in 2007, FireFly LED Lighting and Element Labs Inc., all based in Austin.
Ringdale, founded in 1985, is a division of England-based Network Technology PLC (Lon: NTY). During fiscal 2009, Network Technology reported a $25,000 profit on $3.5 million in revenue.
Last month, Ringdale was one of 183 clean energy, job-creating companies to take a piece of $2.3 billion earmarked for a federal initiative.
President Obama awarded businesses in 43 states the “Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits” that will recreate 58,000 lost manufacturing jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The projects focus on companies developing advanced clean energy technology, including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management. Altogether the projects will mean a $7.7 billion investment in green energy when private investments are added, officials informed.
Ringdale will receive about $450,000 in funding to expand production capacity of commercial LED lighting and related control technology. Grant recipients receive a 30 percent tax credit for accepting the funds.
