BitArmor, a provider of data encryption software, announced earlier this fall that it was named in the 2009 Gartner Group Magic Quadrant for Mobile Data Protection. This is a pretty big deal because the Magic Quadrant is viewed by many IT vendors—and IT buyers—as the Holy Grail in terms of establishing credibility in the information technology world. BitArmor’s CEO Patrick McGregor stated in a company press release:
“We believe that being positioned among industry leaders in the Magic Quadrant is a testament to BitArmor’s unique approach to data protection: actually protecting the data itself, rather than protecting a particular device or network.”
Gartner Group uses the Magic Quadrant tool to give IT buyers the ability to evaluate vendors in a particular technology market. Using completeness of vision and ability to execute as criteria, Gartner places vendors in one of four quadrants: Challengers, Niche Players, Visionaries and Leaders.
The Magic Quadrant report is a heavily referenced source of research for IT buyers. In fact, one of the criticisms of this report is that buyers often base purchasing decisions solely on which vendors are listed in the “Leaders” quadrant. However, Gartner Group goes out of its way to warn its subscribers that the report is not meant to be a specific guide to action, but rather simply a research tool to be used as part of a comprehensive evaluation process.
Making the grade as a serious player in Gartner Group’s eyes is not only great for BitArmor, but for Pittsburgh startups in general, as it brings positive visibility on a worldwide scale to the region’s entrepreneurial environment.
The Marines have a famous motto that states “no man left behind.” ClearCount Medical Solutions, a five year old Pittsburgh startup that recently secured $3.4 million in funding, is trying to help hospitals adopt a similar mantra: no sponge left behind.
“Retained foreign objects” is the term for items such as surgical sponges and instruments accidentally left inside a patient following a surgical procedure. This is clearly a problem, as a study published in 2003 by The New England Journal of Medicine found that approximately 4,000 sponges are accidentally left inside patients every year. In the majority of cases, the cause is a counting error by medical staff.
To help make this problem go away, ClearCount has created the SmartSponge System, which uses a RFID (radio frequency identification) chip embedded in the sponges so that they can be tracked in two ways: counted before they are used and then accounted for at the surgery’s close. The company is garnering a lot of positive buzz, including an article in Time magazine in June.
At first glance, you would think hospitals would balk at the need to pay for such a system, figuring they could just try to implement a more failsafe manual counting system. But, there’s a lot at stake here. For starters, malpractice litigation never seems to do anything but increase, so implementing technology like this seems like a reliable way to reduce lawsuits related to sponges left behind. Then there’s the recent announcement by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid that it will no longer cover the costs of 27 “Never events.” “Never events” are preventable injuries and infections that occur during hospital stays and, you guessed it, accidentally leaving a sponge behind after surgery is one of them. The average Medicare payment for admissions in which an object is left behind after surgery is over $63,000, so in addition to the obvious quality-of-care issue, it would seem financially prudent for hospitals to take a close look at ClearCount, one of only two companies currently providing RF-detectable surgical sponge technology.
With the recent funding and a solid product that appears to address a real market need, the future looks bright for ClearCount and, of course, for surgical patients.
With a name like The Resumator there is no need for a catchy title. An AlphaLab graduate, The Resumator is a company and product. The Resumator aims to make the hiring process simple, efficient and cheap. Currently aimed squarely at small and medium sized companies, The Resumator has gained traction with startups in Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley.
The premise is simple, just like the product. Resumator works to gather, categorize and gather statistics on any number of different areas for recruiters and “HR” folk. Unlike other products in the market, The Resumator does not offer a turn-key solution, rather, they create a product that is usable for someone expecting a decent number of applicants. It’s great for a growing and popular start up.
Locally it is used by MobileFusion (also an AlphaLab grad) as well as the better known Silicon Valley start up, Dropbox (the terrific online back-up and storage app). After being launched in January 2009, The Resumator was profiled by all of the big technology blogs including Mashable, ReadWriteWeb and CNet.
The Resumator delivers the power of a much larger HR management system for a comparatively infinitesimal price – ReadWriteWeb
This Pittsburgh start-up is another that isn’t about robotics or biotech. It’s solid business-to-business app that nicely meets it’s customers needs. The online “cloud” or SaaS (Software as a Service) apps are nothing new – small business get great advantages from using them. Popularized by 37Signals’ collaboration tool Basecamp, small business now have a suite of products from many innovative companies to meet their needs. Less Accounting, MailChimp, FreshBooks and others round out a number of apps that aim to support the small businesses by offering the traditional business needs in the cloud. The Resumator holds it’s own and so long as they keep innovating and producing a great product they will be another Pittsburgh success story.
Hyperactive Bob is the name of the “predictive kitchen management solution” from HyperActive Technologies, based in Pittsburgh, PA. Talk about having a Big Brother around, HyperActive Bob is for quick service restaurants to sort of, well, spy on their employees through a collection of cameras that then report back on several factors. According to their website, here’s what Bob does:
- Predicts what you’ll need to cook and when you’ll need to cook it more quickly and accurately
- Provides customers with the hottest, freshest food possible, while minimizing both food costs and training costs
- Frees your managers to spend more time on their other work, and at the same time, let your cooks perform like seasoned professionals
If you’ve seen the movie, Fight Club, you will understand why Tyler Durden would view the cameras in restaurants as an invasion of privacy. You also probably hope that every restaurant has an equivalent apparatus for ensuring “food quality”. If you’re like me, you just hope that most people do the right thing most of the time, and don’t feel a need for infringing on employee freedom.
I discovered HyperActive Bob while reading last week’s tech section in the Economist. Read the whole article on ‘machines that can see’.
Green Printer
Ever go to a business conference and receive brochure after brochure, sheets upon sheets of marketing collateral, and fancy color prints that are oh, so pretty, but get stuffed in the recycle bin as soon as you return to your office?
Well, now you, as an individual, can feel a little less guilty, and businesses can promote their “eco-friendliness”, as well, by using a green printer. No, they don’t print out your marketing materials IN green, they only use recycled paper and soy- and vegetable-based inks to print. And the quality is often just as good as if you went to a regular printer.
Print Net Inc. is “the ultimate source for eco-printing and packaging”, and is at the forefront of Green Technology in Pittsburgh. In 2008, Print Net won the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Tech 50 Awards for Green Technology, a prestigious award that recognizes southwestern Pennsylvanian companies for leadership in technology.
Having used Print Net myself for business cards and promotional pieces, I am very happy with both the quality and the service. From books to brochures to binding to packaging and more, Print Net handles a mix of printing needs.
And they make you feel good about not destroying planet earth. Yay!
