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Premier Alliance Group, Inc., Selected to Provide Auto Demand Response Services to the City of West Covina
The Company has announced that its recent acquisition, GreenHouse Holdings, "has been engaged to implement Southern California Edison's (SCE) Automated Demand Response (Auto-DR) program for the City of West Covina. GreenHouse has identified over $30,000 of incentives from SCE, for which the city is eligible to apply towards enabling Auto-DR. Once installed and operational, SCE will be able to call upon city officials to voluntarily load shed up to 100 kW of electricity during peak usage periods."
GreenHouse is a qualified service provider of SCE's Auto-DR program, providing site assessment, feasibility studies, project development, engineering, and installation of enabling technologies including complete processing of all utility documents. Under the contract with the City of West Covina, GreenHouse will perform "the investigation and development of a complete engineering scope; an analysis of the L.A. County Energy Management System interface requirements to determine how to effectively integrate current Automated Demand Response technology; engineering services; and a verification test of the automatic load shed provided by the installation."
Rob Davis, Vice President of Energy Services for Premier Alliance, commented,
"Municipalities are ideal candidates for Auto-DR initiatives. The city of West Covina will realize significant cost savings, as well as, inroads to meeting their own power consumption and emissions reduction goals for 2012 and beyond."
CDC Report: Sepsis Hospitalizations Rates Double Across Last Decade, Driven by Elderly. CTSO a critical-care focused therapeutic device company using blood purification to treat life-threatening illnesses. These are common, major conditions seen in the intensive care unit (ICU), such as sepsis and infection, severe trauma, burns, lung injury, and pancreatitis, that afflicts millions of people each year yet lacks effective therapies, leading to a mortality rate that often exceeds 30%. Failure of multiple organs, such as the lungs, heart, kidneys and liver, is the leading causes of death from these conditions, for which very little can be done today. Hospital acquired infections are another leading cause of death in the ICU. CytoSorbents is developing novel and advanced blood purification therapies designed to actively prevent, mitigate, or reverse the development of organ failure and infection, thereby potentially reducing illness severity and helping patients to heal and recover faster. Ultimately the goal is to improve patient outcome and save healthcare costs. Nearly 1% of the US gross domestic product (GDP), or approximately $90 billion, is spent on critical care annually in the US, and billions of dollars are lost by hospitals each year due to a lack of effective therapies.
Recently, the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report on the epidemiology of sepsis in the US after examining hospital admission data from 2000 to 2008 from the National Hospital Discharge Survey. According to the researchers, “the number of hospitalizations for sepsis more than doubled between 2000 and 2008, resulting in much longer, costlier hospital stays and more fatal outcomes”. The jump in sepsis rates were attributable to several factors, including the aging population, a rise in invasive procedures, and the increased use of catheters. Read more report highlights here.
But in particular, the elderly were driving the statistics. Patients 65 and older:
1. Have other conditions that put them at high risk of infection such as diabetes, cancer, and implanted medical devices like artificial hips and knees.
2. Are driving the incidence of sepsis hospitalizations, recently accounting for two-thirds of all patients hospitalized with sepsis in the U.S.
3. Have a 13-fold relative risk of death compared to patients younger than age 65.
4. Are the ones dying of sepsis, predominantly from multi-organ failure and hospital acquired infections, rather than the original infection itself.
CEO of CytoSorbents Dr. Phillip Chan stated,
"Unfortunately, most of us know someone who has died from sepsis and other complications of serious infections like pneumonia, urinary tract infections, abdominal infections, and influenza. Although sepsis kills thousands of babies, children, teens, and young adults each year, it is unquestionable that older patients, particularly those 65 and older, have the highest risk of both developing a serious infection and dying from it. Despite antibiotics, approximately one-third of patients in the U.S. and Europe still die each year from severe sepsis each year, making it a top ten leading cause of death in the U.S. and elsewhere. And to make things worse, there are no available therapies in the U.S. or the European Union that are approved to specifically treat sepsis."
Dr. Chan continued,
"CytoSorbents has developed a blood purification therapy called CytoSorb™ that works with antibiotics, and targets the underlying fundamental reasons why people die of sepsis, which are multi-organ failure and additional infections. An inadvertent overproduction of cytokines, or ‘cytokine storm’, by the immune system is a key driver of the severe inflammation that then leads to cell death and organ failure, and a paralysis of the immune system. By reducing ‘cytokine storm’, CytoSorb™ aims to reduce or mitigate organ failure and additional infecitons, thereby helping patients to get better, faster. Based on data from our European Sepsis Trial, CytoSorb™ appears to have a unique protective effect on patients 65 and older, preventing death to 14 days. If we can extend this treatment benefit in future studies, CytoSorb™ has the potential to revolutionize not only sepsis treatment in this patient population, but other life-threatening illnesses where cytokine storm plays a deadly role."
Applied DNA Sciences Inc. sells patented DNA security solutions to protect products, brands and intellectual property from counterfeiting and diversion. SigNature DNA is a botanical mark used to authenticate products in a unique manner that essentially cannot be copied, and provide a forensic chain of evidence that can be used to prosecute perpetrators. Applied DNA Sciences' smartDNA is a unique and patented security system based on botanical DNA that can be used for the protection of valuables, in highly covert sting operations, as well as incorporated within existing security, anti-theft systems typically found in stores, warehouses, banks, pharmacies, and ATMs.
The Company has announced "that its botanical, smartDNA™ anti-theft system, successfully deployed by Stockholm county police in 2011, is now officially approved by the Swedish National Police Board to be used by law enforcement in all counties in Sweden beginning June 2012."
Detective Superintendent of the Stockholm County Police Anders Buren stated,
"We are very pleased with smartDNA as it has helped us to arrest the criminals for serious crimes committed. This has been proven in our evaluation of the system for the past year, and we expect, with support from SKL, our national forensic laboratory, to prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law."
As of June 2012, "the entire Swedish police force will be working with smartDNA, as a covert method of linking criminals to crimes. The successful adoption of this system by the Swedish police has helped them to positively link criminals to serious crimes, and this has resulted in a number of arrests (cases are pending)."
Read the full release at Yahoo Finance.
Customer Loyalty and Retention @ GP Strategies - $GPX
The seminal management book In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, was published in 1982, and remains one of the one of the biggest selling and widely read business books ever. Peters and Waterman found eight common themes which they argued were responsible for the success of the chosen corporations, which have become pointers for managers ever since. in this video Tom Peters puts a value on customer retention. Peters asks the viewer to forget complex data analysis and concentrate on the customer instead.
Wikipedia defines Customer Retention as:
"The activity that a selling organization undertakes in order to reduce customer defections. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact an organization has with a customer and continues throughout the entire lifetime of a relationship. A company’s ability to attract and retain new customers, is not only related to its product or services, but strongly related to the way it services its existing customers and the reputation it creates within and across the marketplace.
Customer retention is more than giving the customer what they expect, it’s about exceeding their expectations so that they become loyal advocates for your brand. Creating customer loyalty puts ‘customer value rather than maximizing profits and sharholder value at the center of business strategy’. The key differentiator in a competitive environment is more often than not the delivery of a consistently high standard of customer service.
Customer retention has a direct impact on profitability. Research by John Fleming and Jim Asplund indicates that engaged customers generate 1.7 times more revenue than normal customers, while having engaged employees and engaged customers returns a revenue gain of 3.4 times the norm."
GP Strategies (NYSE: GPX) and its Sandy Division develop a variety of custom solutions that help support marketing and education strategies for clients. Combined with quality product and service support, these solutions help engage the customer and reinforce a positive total ownership experience—thus reinforcing customer loyalty and advocacy. GP Strategies' customer loyalty process allows clients to keep their customers interested in repeat purchases by providing timely, relevant support, and information that:
• Engages the customer
• Reinforces brand image
• Creates brand advocacy
Targeted tactics earn loyalty and repeat sales:
By analyzing specific customer loyalty objectives, Sandy can develop a solution specifically for you. Sandy is prepared to supply the expertise needed to exceed client goals. Thier ability to deliver specific skills or seamlessly merge a range of capabilities enables Sandy to provide all-inclusive, turnkey service. From new product launches to customer loyalty initiatives, Sandy's expertise in all project phases can help you build your business, with a focus on unmatched ROI — to exceed the investment you make in Sandy.
Sandy incorporates one or more of the following strategies:
• Custom communications—Build stronger relationships and increase brand advocacy through custom print and digital communications that positively impact your ROI.
• Personalization—Use targeted personalization to deliver smart messaging to specific groups in order to influence behavior.
• Lifestyle accessories and portfolios—Improve customer satisfaction through informative lifestyle accessories and product portfolios.
• Customer events—Want to stay close to existing customers and find new ones? Invite them to your place for a fun event.
• Partnership marketing—Engage customers by offering valuable discounts from well-known brand leaders.
Jefferies on Unilife: Analyst Meeting Update: Pipeline Full; $UNIS Unilife Corp. (NASDAQ: UNIS; Stock Twits: $UNIS) is a U.S. based developer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced drug delivery systems with state-of-the-art facilities inPennsylvania. Established in 2002, Unilife works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative devices for use with their parenteral drugs and vaccines. Unilife has developed a broad, differentiated proprietary portfolio of its own injectable drug delivery products, including the Unifill® and Unitract® product lines of safety syringes with automatic, operator controlled needle retraction. Unifill represents the world's first prefilled syringe technology integrating safety within the primary drug container.
The products are ideally positioned to help pharmaceutical companies maximize the lifecycle of their injectable drugs and enhance patient care. Unifill syringes, together with other devices that are part of the Unilife technology platform, can either be supplied to pharmaceutical customers ready for use, or customized to address the specific requirements of targeted novel drugs.
Jefferies has released a report on Unilife, assigning it a BUY rating, a $4.04 price, and a $7 price target.
For the Key Takeaway, the report states:
"We attended Unilife’s first official analyst day where the company displayed its
entire portfolio of drug delivery technologies and had its deep executive bench
on hand. Importantly, the company reiterated targets for signed commercial
deals sometime between June and the end of August. We are staying at Buy
ahead of commercial supply announcements and the transformative effect they
could have on the company."
yes- adding Pitt was a smart move.
Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ: UNIS; ASX: UNS) announced today that it will host an Analyst and Investor Day on Wednesday, March 28th from 8:00am to 12:00pm ET in New York City.
Alan Shortall, Chief Executive Officer of Unilife, will give a brief introduction, and then Dr. Ramin Mojdeh, Chief Operating Officer at Unilife will moderate a series of presentations from several members of Unilife's management team. Company representatives will discuss converging market trends for injectable drug delivery, as well as provide an update on Unilife's device portfolio, commercial pipeline and business growth drivers. Presentations will be followed by a question and answer session.
The Company will also be giving demonstrations of its proprietary range of drug delivery systems including the Unifill prefilled syringe.
Space is limited, but analysts and investors interested in attending may RSVP by contacting Garth Russell at (212) 896-1250 or Jason Maymudes at (212) 896-1211.
About Unilife Corporation
Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ: UNIS / ASX: UNS) is a U.S. based developer and commercial supplier of advanced drug delivery systems. Unilife collaborates with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative, differentiated devices that can enable or enhance the delivery of injectable drugs and vaccines supplied in either a liquid stable or lyophilized form. The Unifill syringe, the world's first and only prefilled syringe with fully integrated safety features, sits at the leading edge of this diversified portfolio. In addition to prefilled and hypodermic safety syringes with automatic, user-controlled needle retraction, Unilife has other proprietary technology platforms including drug reconstitution delivery systems, auto-injectors, auto-infusion pump systems and specialized devices for targeted organ delivery. Unilife's global headquarters and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities are located in York, PA. For more information on Unilife, please visit www.unilife.com
Harvey Pitt, Former Chairman of the SEC, Joins PIMO the Board of Directors of Premier Alliance Group
Premier Alliance Group, Inc. (OTC.BB: PIMO), a professional services company focused on business and technology advisory and consulting services, announced today the appointment of Harvey Pitt, former Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission ("SEC"), to its Board of Directors.
Mark Elliott, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Premier Alliance Group, stated, "Cleary, Mr. Pitt's experience will be of real benefit to the Premier team. The board welcomes Mr. Pitt's arrival as our management team works to position Premier Alliance Group into a world class organization."
Mr. Pitt served as the 26th Chairman of the SEC from 2001 to 2003. From 1975-1978, he was the Commission's General Counsel. For nearly a quarter of a century before rejoining the Commission, Mr. Pitt was in the private practice of law.
Mr. Pitt received a J.D. degree from St. John's University School of Law (1968), and his B.A. from the City University of New York (Brooklyn College) (1965). He was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by St. John's University School of Law in June 2002.
About Premier Alliance Group, Inc.
Premier Alliance Group, Inc. (OTC.BB: PIMO.OB - News) is a leading provider of business and technology advisory and consulting services. Practice areas of expertise encompass Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Business Performance & Technology, and Finance & Accounting as we assist clients with Risk Management, Compliance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Organizational Effectiveness, Project/Program Management, Information Management, Architecture and Software Development. Premier Alliance Group is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. For more information, please visit www.premieralliance.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain information contained in this press release may be forward-looking. Actual results might differ materially from any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of Premier Alliance Group to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking.
GP Strategies Corporation Highlights On 2/29/12, the Company reported its financial results for 4Q11 and full-year 2011, including the following highlights:
¦Reported record revenue of $93.9 million (M) during 4Q11 increased by 33% from the year-ago period revenue of $70.8M.
¦Reported net income increased 39% during 4Q11 to $5.9M compared to net income in the year-ago period of $4.3M, resulting in earnings per share (diluted EPS) of $0.31 during 4Q11 compared to $0.23 in the year-ago period.
¦As of year-end 2011, reported cash / equivalents of $4.2M vs. $28.9M at year-end 2010. During 2011, $GPX utilized $35.6M in cash for acquisitions and ended 2011 with no debt and $34.5M available under a revolving line of credit with approximately 19M shares of common stock outstanding.
¦Generated cash from operating activities of $5.6M during 4Q11 and $16.2M for full-year 2011 with EBITDA of $10.3M (11% of revenue) during 4Q11 that increased 43% from the year-ago period level of $7.2M (10% of revenue).
¦RWD consulting business (acquired in April 2011 for $25.8M) contributed $17.2M (revenue) and $1.9M (gross profit) during 4Q11 while other acquisitions and organic (previously-owned business units) growth contributed the other $5.9M in revenue growth for the quarter.
The Company highlighted its successful strategic acquisition strategy in the highly fragmented $59.7 billion training industry (with 18 acquisitions completed since 2006) as a key element in expanding its capabilities and achieving the growing, record profit, revenue and cash flow (EBITDA) reported during 4Q11 and for the full year. $GPX also highlighted leadership and skills training as a potential source of growth that will complement the Company’s core strategic focus on sales training and e-Learning.
$GPX has global reach with offices located worldwide and 2,500 employees poised to capitalize on the growing shift toward e-Learning within the training industry as companies from a variety of industries (for example, financial services, information technology and manufacturing) shift from traditional in-person training to more efficient, flexible and convenient e-Learning applications.
On the 4Q11 earnings conference call, the Company also announced a new financial services contract award representing an estimated $5M-plus annual revenue opportunity. In addition, $GPX is poised to benefit from a resurgent U.S. and global auto manufacturing industry, which represented 17% of the Company’s total revenue in 2011.
Been following these guys for a while, the technology is right on the money and now is the time to capitalize. Building their image and reputation a little bit at a time. Now that they are in with the DOD it has to grow from here. For a small company they are all over media relations and getting the message out.
Unilfe On Fox Brings Jobs Back to USA
Pulling manufacturing back into the US for their medical device product is key. Many do not realize the seriousness of manufacturing medical equipment overseas. This is a wise move by the company for many reasons.
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/573348-michael-sweeney/319971-bringing-back-the-jobs-to-the-u-s-a-alan-shortall-of-unilife-corp-on-fox-business-unis
The system design is what makes ALR Technologies so competitive in the industry. "The data is organized for the respective needs of patients, clinicians, test supply vendors and insurers, whether it be encouraging patient compliance or documenting strip count for reimbursement and refill requirements. ALR's platform also allows for mobile alerts reminding diabetes patients that it is time to test their blood glucose levels."
ALRT cost effective diabetes management technology is here
I’ve been following the news lately and seeing several companies that are pursuing the mobile health space. In particular, there seems to be a focus on diabetes management. That’s understandable given the huge amount of people with diabetes worldwide. What caught my eye was Sanofi-Aventis’ announcement that their iPhone glucose meter, the iBGStar, received 510(k) marketing clearance from the FDA. Sanofi says that the meter as "is the first available blood glucose meter that seamlessly connects to the Apple iPhone and iPod touch for the flexibility to manage your diabetes whenever, wherever." That seems like it would be pricey for users.
A few weeks earlier, PositiveID Corp. was granted FDA clearance for its iglucose™ mobile health system for diabetes management. Per the PositiveID press release, “ iglucose uses mobile technology to revolutionize the way individuals with diabetes manage their condition. By seamlessly communicating glucose readings from data-capable glucometers to the iglucose diabetes management portal. Seems that it would also take a particular data package for a wireless phone to make functional.
ALR got their FDA clearance before either of these for remote monitoring of patients in support of diabetes management programs in late October 2011. This technology seems more viable and less expensive to me as it just needs an internet connection and it doesn’t matter what type of glucometer a person uses (to the best of my knowledge)
I've asked this question before as well and understand it this way- The Patent portfolio is extensive, business partnerships and application experience have been years in the making. Crystal Reports examination of the company documents Applied's intellectual property assets on pp 13-15 of this report, for example:
http://www.equities.com/research/crystal-research/pdfs/APDN_EIO_11-04-2010.pdf
yes I think news or an update would be good right now. I would like to see something soon.
This technology remains one of my favorites. I continue to watch this one as well. It will one day be mainstream. Keep your eye on it!
thanks for sharing this update was curious what the plan was moving forward.
I agree should not take much longer to see volume increase. Technology is good and so is company. Strategic play in the small cap space.
It could be.
Former Wells Fargo Exec now CEO of BMPI. Just read that former Wells Fargo Exec Michael McCoy now in charge of Bill My Parents. I'd say this is pretty big for a small company to grab a guy who ran an industry powerhouse. Like this move!
Stratus acquisition of ProElite was pivotal. I watched a youtube Video on the the reasons SMDI went through with acquiring ProElite. This sport has one of the largest followings in the industry. The CEO made great points in explaining how it would of been and injustice to the shareholders not to go after this opportunity.
I've watched a few MMA fights and now have developed that same desire to follow them regularly. This was a great move.
Getting in early with the DOD is huge for a company like this. The DOD starts you off small to make sure you can handle their requests. After that there is no limit. APDN could be a go to for them on many projects in the future. This alone is a good reason to watch these guys.
I have to agree with this. I like the company as well and believe that this was a wise move. I look for a nice gainer in the future.
True, Still like the company and the focus of their technology. We need to protect ourselves against counterfeits across the world.
Really like GRHU technology. PIMO seems to have found a nice niche with this acquisition. Going to continue to watch this as they advance. J-
Agree: $APDN is really stepping up to the plate. Looking forward to more updates in the future.
Like this company for several reasons this being a major one: The company owns or exclusively controls 98 issued patents in 79 countries where at least 75% of the world's smokers reside.
Agreed, Nice device company out of Pennsylvania