Idaho Office of Science & Technology November 2007

In this issue:

# Micron Introduces New Automotive Image Sensor

# Idaho Falls Firm Sells Online Lending Solution to Merrick Bank

# TechHelp Hires New Director

# Wine Testing Lab Opens in Idaho

# MobileDataforce Teams Up For Mobile Software Education Campaign

# MPC Corp Acquires Gateway’s Professional Business

# AMIS Undertakes Solution to Protect Chips from Electrostatic Discharge

# ISU Working on Artificial Hands for Vets

# WGI Provides Services for Taiwan Power Plant

# Comtech AHA Launches New Networking, Data Storage Chip

# Hot Web Announces Hot Sales

# DocuTech Brings On New Sales VP

# Nematode Named After UI Scientist

# DocuTech Partners With Dynatek For Mortgage Product

# Micron Named Sun Best-in-Class Supplier

# Idaho Business Leader Receives National Entrepreneurial Award

# Micron Names New Director

# Ideas Innovations Idaho License Plates For Sale

Micron Introduces New Automotive Image Sensor

(Boise) Micron Technology, Inc. has introduced a new automotive image sensor that enables a more perceptive driving experience by providing an intuitive look at the drive ahead or the view behind.
The new sensor joins Micron’s scene understanding class of imaging devices, which capture information about a scene and then send it to the vehicle’s data systems to provide real-time input for potential driver action.
"As the industry propels forward with its ‘smart car’ innovations, they look to imaging technology to operate as the eyes of the vehicle. To ensure success of our products, it is important that we consider the unyielding, yet dynamic environment in which they are operating," said Curtis Stith, director of marketing for Micron’s imaging new markets.
One capability of scene understanding devices is traffic sign recognition, where the sensor captures traffic speed limit numbers on a sign to keep drivers informed of the current speed limit and whether they are exceeding the limit.
More information about Micron’s automotive imaging portfolio is at http://www.micron.com/applications/automotive/. Micron also has an automotive blog at automotive.micronblogs.com.

Idaho Falls Firm Sells Online Lending Solution to Merrick Bank

(Idaho Falls) Merrick Bank, a national top 25 issuer of Visa credit cards and nationwide lender to the RV, marine and motorcycle industry, has committed to using Solex’s online lending solution for streamlining loan processes.
Solex, based in Idaho Falls, has created an online solution designed specifically for the RV and marine marketplace and connects lenders and dealers through the Web, providing dealers with instant financing options and loan documents.
The system reduces the time banks spend processing loans and gathering required information.
More information on Solex is an http://www.solex.com.

TechHelp Hires New Director

(Statewide) TechHelp has named Michael Wojcicki as its new executive director after conducting a nationwide search.
Wojcicki, based at Boise State University, has held leadership positions in manufacturing extension, technology-based economic development and university partnerships for the past 14 years. He has served previously as president of the national association of Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers.
Just prior to joining TechHelp, Wojcicki was director of investor and partner relations at the Wisconsin MEP center, where he was responsible for government relations, grant development and partnerships with the state’s universities, technical colleges and local economic development organizations. He also has been president of the Modernization Forum, the national association of MEP centers, providing advocacy, research and training services to the system’s 59 centers.
Wojcicki has a B.A. from the University of Missouri and an M.P.A. from the University of Arizona.

Wine Testing Lab Opens in Idaho

(Caldwell) The first wine lab in Idaho has opened in Caldwell at the University of Idaho’s Food Technology Center.
The lab enables Idaho’s 30 wineries to do their quality testing in state. The lab will test juices from grapes before and after harvest and will evaluate wines themselves before they’re bottled.
"When you’re competing with California and Washington wines, you have to have the right balance of acids and sugars, the right content of alcohol and the right volatile acidity–and your wines must be free of defective flavors and aromas," said Drew Dalgetty, manager of the Food Technology Center.
Since April, 22 of Idaho’s wineries have enjoyed the right to use the "appellation" of Snake River Valley wines on their labels. They’re located within a newly approved American Viticultural Area that spans the western Snake River plain from eastern Oregon to Buhl and are now banding together in their marketing efforts.
The project joins dozens of others at the university’s Food Technology Center pilot plant, a 3,500-square foot facility in which Idaho food-related businesses design new products, processes and packaging and modify older ones.

MobileDataforce Teams Up For Mobile Software Education Campaign

(Boise) MobileDataforce, a Boise mobile software firm, has launched a campaign to educate companies on how to design, develop, deploy and support mobile field services applications. The company will focus on applications that can be used on popular PDA phones like the Palm Treo 750 using Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS.
"Many field services companies involved in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, equipment repair, utilities and other services recognize the need to replace the traditional paper-based work order system with a mobile solution that can synchronize with the enterprise’s accounting system," said Kevin Benedict, CEO of MobileDataforce.
Benedict said the campaign will allow companies to trial a variety of mobile products and services free for 30 days in order to better understand the process
One of the solutions available for a free 30 day trial is the PointSync Mobility Platform including several sample mobile applications that are designed to run on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS. PointSync is an enterprise class solution used to rapidly design, develop and deploy mobile software applications. It is architected to provide database centric mobile applications with bi-directional synchronization, GPS, barcode scanning, RFID, connectivity, security and enterprise database integration all within one solution.
The Palm Treo 750 is also available on a free 30-day trial basis to qualified field services companies.
To register for a free trial go to: mobiledataforce.com/palmmicrosoftpromo07/

MPC Corp Acquires Gateway’s Professional Business

(Nampa) MPC Corporation has completed the acquisition of Gateway’s professional business.
"This acquisition helps transform MPC into one of the top PC companies serving the professional market, including small-and-medium businesses, education and government," said John P. Yeros, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MPC.
Through the acquisition, MPC now has access to the entire catalog of products and services from Gateway’s Professional business and will make them available to both MPC and Gateway Pro customers. Under the terms of the transaction, MPC will migrate these products to the MPC brand within one year.
MPC also acquired Gateway’s leased final assembly facility in Nashville, TN and the portion of Gateway’s Consumer Direct business that targets business with fewer than 100 employees. MPC has assumed responsibility for all operations and warranty support associated with Gateway’s Pro business.
Under the terms of the transaction, Gateway acquires MPC common stock and MPC Series B Preferred stock constituting an approximate 19.9 percent equity interest in the company. MPC assumes warranty and other specified obligations of the Gateway Professional business, and will issue to Gateway a promissory note in the approximate amount of $6 million, subject to adjustments described in the asset purchase agreement.
The combined revenues of the two businesses in 2006 were $1.2 billion. With the completion of the acquisition, MPC has operations in Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee and Colorado.
MPC has set up a special information center on its website with more details. The website address is pro.mpccorp.com.

AMIS Undertakes Solution to Protect Chips from Electrostatic Discharge

(Pocatello) AMI Semiconductor has implemented an on-chip electrostatic discharge protection solution on its DSP-based systems for hearing and audio technologies.
The company is using Sarnoff Europe’s TakeCharge solution to protect the integrated circuits from electrostatic discharge, which can destroy devices during testing, packaging, assembly or handling.
The TakeCharge technology is widely used by leading IC producers worldwide, including Toshiba, Sony, Ricoh and Fuitsu.
AMI Semiconductor designs and manufactures state-of-the-art mixed-signal and digital products for the automotive, medical, industrial, military/aerospace, and communication markets.
More information is at amis.com.

ISU Working on Artificial Hands for Vets

(Pocatello) Idaho State University researchers have received an $842,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a prosthetic "smart" hand.
The "smart" hand will use nerve signals to fully simulate natural grasping, lifting and twisting hand motions, according to the university.
The project, called "Smart Prosthetic Hand Technology," will involve three phases in a research project titled "Combat Casualty Research Program, Telemedicine, and Advanced Technology Program – Biotechnology."
The funding for the first phase came through DoD’s U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command unit with the goal of rehabilitating military personnel who have lost hands in combat.
"The existing commercial technology for arm and hand amputees hasn’t changed significantly in the [last] six decades," said Subbaram Naidu, ISU professor of electrical engineering. ‘The Department of Defense is embarking on a research program to fund prosthetic research to revolutionize upper-body prosthetics and to develop artificial arms that will feel, look, and perform like a real human arm guided by the central nervous system."
Other researchers come from various departments in the College of Engineering and the College of Pharmacy, with input from the university’s Kasiska College of Health Professions.
The project will involve the use of skin sensors to record activity in skeletal muscle and correlate those signals with intended hand motions to allow these signals to control the prosthetic hand. The group also said it hopes to get the hand to respond to "sensory and visual feedback."
The project is not just a military one; the group indicated that the work will also be used to benefit civilians who have lost limbs and to open up avenues of further prosthetics research.
"We will examine how to bypass the tissue rejection problem that has occurred when trying to attach a prosthetic device," said James Lai of the College of Pharmacy. "We’ll use this study as a potential springboard to other possible research in tissue engineering and the creation of artificial organs."

WGI Provides Services for Taiwan Power Plant

(Boise) Washington Group International has been selected by independent power producer Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation to provide project-management consulting services in support of construction of a 490-megawatt power plant in western Taiwan.
The gas-fired, combined-cycle Star Buck power plant is being built within the Chang-Bin Coastal Industrial Park in Chang-Hua County and is scheduled to begin commercial operation in June 2009.
Washington Group’s expertise in the power market ranges from engineering, constructing, and maintaining power plants and transmission and distribution systems to installing clean-air systems and partnering in advanced power technologies.
For more information, go to wgint.com.

Comtech AHA Launches New Networking, Data Storage Chip

(Moscow) Comtech AHA Corporation has introduced the first-ever GZIP compression and decompression integrated circuit.
The circuit offers up to 2.5 Gbits/sec throughput via hardware while achieving compression ratios comparable to high effort GZIP software. The chip increases data transfer rates by up to four times and reduces storage requirements by that same amount in applications such as storage area networks, Web servers, Web accelerators and Web traffic appliances, including load balancers, firewall VPN servers and integrated routers/switches.
These compression and decompression capabilities provide companies with significant speed and capacity enhancements, allowing them to optimize network performance and dramatically lower costs.
"Data compression technology is a new facet to the semiconductor industry, but one that should continue to grow over time as companies like Comtech AHA bring capable ICs to market," said Susie Inouye president and research director at Databeans. "The fact that AHA’s compression IC is an open-standard algorithm, requiring no software license, makes it compatible with competing solutions, while offering the best compression ratio to processor utilization efficiency available."
More information is at aha.com.

Hot Web Announces Hot Sales

(Boise) Hot Web, an Internet transaction firm that deals in high-ticket transportation items, announced growing sales over the last month.
The company reported gross merchandise sales of $365,250 for the period of Sept. 15-Oct. 15, with average values of more than $30,000 per transaction.
Among the vehicles sold, notables included several early Fords from a recently announced New Jersey collection. The complete sales list is as follows: 1959 Ford Ranchero, 1961 Ford Sunliner, 1993 Jaguar, 1959 Chevrolet Impala, 1957 Ford Thunderbird, 1967 Pontiac GTO, 1937 Ford Coupe, 1959 Ford Galaxie Sunliner, 1953 Buick Special, 1934 Plymouth Sedan, 1958 Edsel Citation and 1939 Ford Cabriolet.
Hot Web consigns "big ticket" transportation related items, both online and offline. The company’s current portfolio of niche-focused online businesses consists of hotautoweb.com, hotboatweb.com, hotcycleweb.com, hotrvweb.com and hotplaneweb.com.

DocuTech Brings On New Sales VP

(Idaho Falls) DocuTech Corp, which provides compliance services and documentation technology for the mortgage industry, has appointed Scott Stucky as executive vice president of sales.
As executive vice president of Sales, Stucky will oversee all sales initiatives and transactions for DocuTech’s solutions, such as ConformX and Fulfillment Center. In addition to day-to-day activities, Stucky will manage a national sales team that provides document and compliance services to the mortgage industry.
Prior to joining the DocuTech team, Stucky worked for Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv. At Fiserv, Stucky served as sales vice president for the DataTrac® loan production software suite, where he was responsible for managing and directing all sales activity for DataTrac products. During his career, Stucky developed products and configured solutions for direct and indirect consumer lending, retail and wholesale mortgage lending as well as collections, recovery and loss mitigation.
Stucky is a graduate of the University of Florida.
More information is at docutechcorp.com.

Nematode Named After UI Scientist

(Parma) University of Idaho nematologist Saad Hafez has been the first to detect the presence of 31 species of nematodes in Idaho. Some of these microscopic roundworms had been found elsewhere in the United States, while others – like the potato cyst nematode – had been previously detected only in other countries.
Now, CABI – a British-based intergovernmental scientific organization – has named a new nematode after Hafez. Longidorella saadi was named after a nematode Hafez sent to them for identification in 2006. The organization noted that it hadn’t been reported anywhere else in the world.
Pinworms, hookworms and heartworms are nematodes, as are the agents that spread elephantiasis and trichinosis. Some nematodes attack crop tissue or transmit crop diseases while still others are beneficial, destroying grasshoppers and mosquito larvae and recycling organic matter.
The newly discovered nematode isn’t biologically equipped to feed on plants or digest their cell contents. Hafez expects its role to be a relatively harmless or even helpful one, because it shares characteristics of nematodes that attack fungi or other nematodes or that break down organic matter.
Hafez spotted Longidorella saadi in a routine soil sample from eastern Idaho and knew only that he had never seen it before. He didn’t know that nobody else had ever seen it before either. "I was really very honored that they thought to name it after me," he said.

DocuTech Partners With Dynatek For Mortgage Product

(Idaho Falls) DocuTech, an Idaho Falls software firm, has partnered with Dynatek with an integrated product.
The partnership integrates DocuTech’s Web-based document solution, ConformX, with Dynatek’s MORvision. This means MORvision users will have instant access to the entire suite of ConformX documents including initial disclosures, processing and closing documents.
This alliance will reduce loan processing time, manual input errors and compliance issues by automatically generating and populating state and federal compliant mortgage documents.
DocuTech’s document compliance staff ensures that all mortgage document packages are accurate and complete, so lenders will not need a large staff to research new product requirements and assure compliance.
More information is at docutechcorp.com.

Micron Named Sun Best-in-Class Supplier

(Boise) Micron Technology was named Best-in-Class Supplier for Memory in Sun Microsystems’ 2007 Supplier Awards program.
The Supplier Awards recognize companies that make outstanding contributions to Sun’s record of delivering superior technology, quality service and excellent value to its customers.
The Best-in-Class Award evaluates the performance of all suppliers that delivered a similar product or service and recognizes the highest performer in that area. This award also considers suppliers that demonstrated significant improvement over the course of Sun’s fiscal year.

Idaho Business Leader Receives National Entrepreneurial Award

(Idaho Falls) Sylvia Medina, president of North Wind in Idaho Falls, has received the 2007 Women Impacting Public Policy’s President’s Award. The organization is the nation’s largest bipartisan women’s business group.
The award honors individuals, associations and companies who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the growth and goals of women-owned businesses.
In addition to Medina, awards were presented to four other women business owners whose companies have demonstrated rapid growth during the past five years. Award recipients included Kristina Bouweiri, president and CEO of Reston Limousine in Dulles, VA., Lisa Dolan, president of Securit in Flushing, NY, La Vern Jackson, president of Joint Logistics Managers, Inc., in Prince George, VA., and Cecelia McCloy, president and CEO of Integrated Science Solutions in Walnut Creek, Calif.
North Wind Inc. does environmental remediation, waste management, construction, decontamination and demolition, and a variety of other services.

Micron Names New Director

(Boise) Micron Technology has appointed Robert L. Bailey to the company’s board of directors. Bailey is chairman and CEO of PMC-Sierra, a provider of broadband communications and storage semiconductor technologies.
Bailey has served as PMC’s President and Chief Executive Officer since July 1997. He has been Chairman of the Board since May 2005 and was also Chairman from February 2000 until February 2003.
Bailey has also served as President, Chief Executive Officer and director of PMC-Sierra, Ltd., PMC’s Canadian operating subsidiary since December 1993. Bailey was employed by AT&T-Microelectronics from August 1989 to November 1993, where he served as VP and general manager, and by Texas Instruments in management from June 1979 to August 1989.

Ideas Innovations Idaho License Plates For Sale
(Statewide) Specialty license plates that support Idaho’s science and technology industry are for sale through the Idaho Transportation Department.
A portion of the proceeds from each plate sold goes to a fund that is used to develop programs and market the state’s technology sector.
A picture of the license plate, and information on how to purchase one, can be viewed at technology.idaho.gov/license.

Have an Idea/Submission for this Newsletter?
Contact Julie Howard at the Idaho Department of Commerce’s Office of Science & Technology at (208) 334-2650, ext. 2147, or at [email protected]

Read More Idaho Technology News
Miss last month’s Science & Technology newsletter? Find the complete newsletter archives at technology.idaho.gov and click on "news."

2007 Events Calendar

November 8
Excellence in Leadership Series
Boise
Series consists of three seminars: Nov. 8 – Excellence in People; Dec. 6 – Excellence in Planning; Dec. 13 – Excellence in Performance. Series is presented by Price Associates for business leaders at any stage in their careers.
Cost is $99 per workshop, 8-11 a.m.; or $249 for all three sessions.
Register at http://www.price-associates.com or call (208) 442-0556.

November 8-9
ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training
Boise
Highly interactive workshop improves auditors skills. Cost is $595 and session runs 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., meals included. To register, call Paula Peterman at (208) 364-6188 or email [email protected].

November 14
Annual Taxpayers Conference
Boise
61st Annual Conference presented by the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho will be 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Boise Centre on the Grove. Theme is "Changes in Thinking and Idaho Tax Policy," focusing on changes Idahoans are experiencing with the economy, state/local infrastructure, services and funding. A preview of the ’08 Idaho Legislative Session and its challenges will be presented. Attendance is expected from more than 300 business and government leaders, policy makers and taxpayers.
To register, call (208) 344-5581 or go online to http://www.ati-taxinfo.com.

December 4-5
Food Safety Short Course
Caldwell, Twin Falls
One-day overview courses designed for startup food processing businesses, small-scale processor, health specialists and others. Participants will learn about food safety prerequisite programs and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, a system utilized to prevent health threatening food hazards.
Dec. 4 will be at the University of Idaho Extension Food Processing & Technology Center in Caldwell.
Dec. 5 will be at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.
Registration is $150 and scholarships are available. Contact Nickie Bell at (208) 364-6163 or [email protected].

For more calendar information, visit Conferences and Events at cl.idaho.gov

"We Create Jobs, Strengthen Communities and Market Idaho."

IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
PO Box 83720, Boise, Idaho 83720-0093
Tel: 208-334-2470; Fax: 208-334-2631
Web: technology.idaho.gov
08-62000-250

C.L. "BUTCH" OTTER, GOVERNOR
JIM ELLICK, DIRECTOR

Idaho Department of Commerce is an equal opportunity employer.
This document is available upon request in alternative formats for individuals with disabilities.
[email protected] • Idaho Department of Commerce

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