CT Industry
:: PEOPLE
Polycom Powell
POWELL TO POLYCOM. Unified
collaborative communications vendor
Polycom has
appointed Marci Powell
as global director of
higher education. Currently,
Powell is also
serving as president
elect of the United States
Distance Learning Association.
NEW ACUTA OFFICERS. Walt
Magnussen, telecommunications
director at Texas A&M University, is the
new 2007-2008 president of the Association
for Communications Technology
Professionals in Higher Education. Magnussen is joined by
four other newly elected officers:
Corinne Hoch of Columbia University (NY), president-elect; Riny Ledgerwood
of San Diego State University, elected to
a second term as secretary/treasurer;
Randal Hayes of the University of Northern
Iowa, re-elected as director at large;
and Sandy Roberts of Wellesley College (MA), newly elected as director at large.
Speer New CEO
NOW PRES & CEO.
Datatel, a provider of technology
solutions and
services for higher ed,
has announced that
company President John
Speer III has taken on
the added role of CEO. A 23-year Datatel
veteran, Speer has also served as
the company's COO.
E&I VP. E&I Cooperative Purchasing has promoted Gary
Wilson from director, Knowledge
Resource Department, to VP of educational
markets. In his new role, Wilson
will spearhead E&I's face-to-face
engagement with senior administrative
staff at colleges and universities.
:: NEWS
NOW FEATURING ChaCha internet search
guides: IU's Herman B Wells Library.
NEXT-GEN SEARCH. Indiana
University and search engine company
ChaCha have
entered into a strategic alliance
for research, development, and
services for the next generation of
internet search tools and practices.
The partnership will incorporate
the collective knowledge and
experience of the university's
library and information technology
staff into ChaCha's new search
engine architecture, which combines
machine-based search with
human guides who help bring
focus and precision to the search
product. To launch the alliance, IU
and ChaCha are collaborating on
several projects for implementation
as early as the fall semester; underway
immediately is the addition of
ChaCha as the power behind IU's
search portal. When
IU students and faculty use the service,
IU guides will be vetting and
voting upon the instant search results,
and will be available for information
seekers' interaction via live chat.
Read more here.
RESEARCHING 4G. Communications
giant Nortel is teaming up with a number of
universities around the globe, in a
research effort aimed at driving 4G
mobile broadband technologies. In
its investigations with the partner
universities, Nortel hopes to improve
spectral efficiency and decrease
time to market for the company's
4G mobile broadband solutions which
include Mobile WiMAX (IEEE
802.16e) and the Long Term Evolution
and Ultra Mobile Broadband
cellular standards.
:: M & A, Etc.
SAAS FOR NONPROFITS.
Blackbaud, a
provider of software and services for
nonprofit organizations, has acquired
eTapestry, a
provider of on-demand solutions built
for nonprofits (eTapestry's flagship
product is an on-demand fundraising
solution). The strategic move positions
Blackbaud to capitalize on the
expected growth of software as a service
(SaaS) in the nonprofit sector.
COMMUNICATIONS MERGER.
Bluesocket, a
provider of open enterprise mobility
solutions, has acquired open source
VoIP solution provider Pingtel. The companies will unite
their product development efforts,
channel partners, and end-user base.
Pingtel's session initiative protocol- or
SIP-based unified communications
technology will form the basis of Bluesocket's
fixed mobile convergence
solution to manage call hand-off
between cellular and enterprise WiFi
networks. Bluesocket will accelerate
the open source development championed
by Pingtel, including full support
for the sipXecs open source project
and the SIPfoundry open source community.
For daily industry news, go to campus-technology.com/mcv/news/