AICC member Top Eye View featured on CBS News

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Israeli Water Technology Companies present at AICC’s Business Exchange

Despite recent rains, water leaders from Israel and the Southeastern US met on Thursday at the offices of Atlanta law firm Arnall Golden Gregory to explore how Israeli technologies can help assure that there will be adequate resources for the region’s growing population.  The matchmaker event was coordinated by the AICC’s Cleantech Committee.

Pictures from the Southeast – Israel Water Technology Business Exchange

Participating Israeli companies: AGM, Amiad, CheckLight, Lesico, Mapal, Mekorot, ODIS, Puritec-GES, and Vortex presented followed by one-on-one meetings with municipal operators, industries, integrators, engineering firms, and technology companies from throughout the region.

“We’re pleased to have brought these companies together, and trust that the event will produce business for the Israeli companies and solutions for the Southeast operators and companies,” said Gene Rubel (Center for Water Technologies), chairman of AICC’s Cleantech Committee.

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GSMA’s Andy McGuire on Israel as a Tech and Entrepreneurial Powerhouse.

A Note From Andy McGuire, VP Mobile Innovation… Dear Friends, In mid-September, Mobile Innovation played a significant role in Ernst & Young’s Journey’09 conference in Tel Aviv, Israel. From a large applicant pool, ten companies advanced to compete in the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix regional competition, and we were fortunate to have respected industry figures such as Rina Shainski of Carmel Ventures, Bob Borchers of Opus Capital, Anat Amir – Head of Product Marketing for Africa – Google, and Guy Bauman – VP and GM of VAS Division of Pelephone offer their perspectives in a fascinating thought leadership session. Two companies, Siklu and fring, won the Israel leg of our year-long Mobile Innovation Grand Prix and will move on to the Global Finals at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February of 2010. You can read more about the competition later in the newsletter, and congratulations to these two fine companies. Acquaintances not involved in technology frequently ask me why Mobile Innovation travels to Israel, and they are often surprised to hear that the small country of 7.5 million inhabitants is a tech and entrepreneurial powerhouse. Sure, there are logical explanations- an excellent university system, experience and training during mandatory military service, and close ties to Silicon Valley. These all are influential contributing factors to Israel’s success in the technology sector and, in many cases, unique to the country. There was another critical element to Israel’s technology success, however, that was pointed out to me by several Israelis. This variable certainly was not unique to Israel but rather rested squarely in the control of the individual. Simply put, it was a lack of fear of failure. Apparently, it is readily and openly accepted in Israel’s tech scene that the journey to professional success will most likely include a few instances of failure. There is no stain or stigma associated with failure, and this “liberated” perspective allows entrepreneurs to manage toward success and not simply away from its alternative. With failure out of the way, an innovator’s vision has a much greater likelihood of becoming reality. As always, we thank you for your support and participation, and, in the coming weeks, please look for a special announcement regarding Mobile Innovation Exchange. All the best, Andy McGuire

Journey 09 Conference in Tel Aviv (pictures: Guy Tessler)

SASCO Chemical Group joins AICC

SASCO Chemical Group, Albany, GA based technical leader in the manufacturing of environmentally safe specialty chemicals and hazardous chemical control products joins AICC. Well-known in the manufacturing industry as the “Problem Solvers”, SASCO Chemical Group has developed the reputation as a highly diversified, yet, very specialized chemical researcher, developer and producer. Marc Skalla, the company’s Director will join AICC CleanTech and Medical committees.

SASCO Chemical Group works as a cooperative partner with its customers by solving their chemical needs. No matter how varied these needs are, the process of reducing employee exposure and environmental impact through creative chemistry has always been a goal. Therefore, a safer more productive workplace is created with fewer government regulations and less government paperwork.

Communitake joins AICC

CommuniTake, a Yokneam based company that developed a remote service platform for advanced mobile devices that allows customers to virtually hand over their devices to service agents without compromising customer privacy joins AICC. The company presented at a recent Telecommunications Committee meeting and a team of members (Murray Bookman, Steve Walden, Ray Creely, Jim Gaffey, and David Gallagher) volunteered to better understand the company and recommend a plan of action for the committee to help advance the company’s goals.

“CommuniTake delivers revolutionary service capabilities that expand the customer experience, strengthen the daily practices of service agents and dramatically lower operational costs” says Ronen Sasson, CommuniTake CEO. ”Service Providers are showing great interest in our innovative platform. They are very much aware of its value proposition which is aligned with current challenges existing in their business environment. We are receiving enthusiastic responses both in Israel and worldwide and are currently involved in several pilots” he added.

The CommuniTake platform enables service agents to diagnose problems, operate applications, guide users through graphical objects and efficiently and rapidly resolve problems through automated operations scripts.  Service fulfillment is executed leveraging the end-to-end interaction cycle:
Understand the experience -> Diagnose the device -> Provide resolution -> Guide the user -> Sell more value
A service representative can gain complete control over the customer device. This control provides the representative with a complete replica of the device. Using this replica, and with applicative supervision, the representative can show the customer how to better use his device, help set up new services, amend malfunctioning applications, install new applications, conduct data backups and deploy digital personas according to the customer wishes. The CommuniTake platform fully supports the technologies and practices that service providers need to implement today in order to survive tomorrow.

Christopher Yukins updates AICC Professional Committee on “Buy American”

Christopher Yukins of Counsel at Arnold & Porter’s Washington office gave an update on the “Buy American” issue that AICC Professional Committee has been tracking for the past six months. His firm has been retained by Israel’s Ministry of Industry Trade & Labor to determine legal aspects of Israeli company participation in Economic Recovery Act funded projects that are intended to put Americans to work. He led a seminar in Tel Aviv last week sponsored by the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce that was attended by some 70 manufacturers in Israel who are very concerned about this issue.

Yukins pointed out that while Israel enjoys special status through the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement of 1985, and 37 US states agreed to join the Federal Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), the Israeli companies must be able to prove that “substantial transformation” has been done to their product in the US to qualify and defend against the threat of the civil fraud statute for false claims. The EPA has produced a checklist that can provide guidance on compliance, and while there is no safe harbor for the Israeli companies, they could claim that they are Economic Recovery Act compliant by following these procedures. For view of this document, click here.

AICC member MB Technologies releases InfiView

AICC member MB Technologies, a Georgia based software company that is establishing a development center in Israel ust released a new version of a unique technology, called InfiView. They are known for their flagship product Bindows.

InfiView is a toolkit that enables software programmers connect real time data (of ANY size, even infinite – hence the name), and present anything from social and geo-location to diagrams and maps, in a web browser.

The features page list the unique features of InfiView, such as layers (for example, integrating a layer of a map application, a layer of network topology, a layer of a live dashboard), display of live motion and flow, automatic grouping (so you can display infinite amount of information, in a clear, simple display, being able to infinitely zoom-in on structured data).

The site includes examples on how InfiView could provide new and unique capabilities to airlines/transportation, smart networks and smart grids and (of course), social networking.

Watch a short movie (2 min) about this very interesting technology. Ran Meriaz,  President of MB Technologies, will gladly answer any question about this new product (contact).

SeaGen Systems presents at AICC September CleanTech

AICC’s September CleanTech meeting was hosted by Cathy Nunnally at IBI South, an Atlanta- based full-service incubator for international companies.  The committee recieved updates on Israel companies AquaPure, HCL Cleantech, and CES and heard presentation from member Pumping Machinery, and First Century Energy, a local integrator who participated in AICC’s Mission to Israel and as a result developed agreements with Israeli alternative energy companies Chromagen and TechnoSpin. Twenty eight members and staff attended the meeting chaired by Gene Rubel of Interlink Technologies.

Ofir Sarid, CEO of SeaGen Systems Ltd., introduced Migdal Ha’Emek-based developer of  subsea storage terminals for the liquid petroleum gas (LPG) industry. The solution is based on the use of underwater hydrostatic pressure that maintains the gas in its liquefied form in a unique and smart container system.  The SeaGen marine terminal is based on a “clean technology” that eliminates the risks involved in storage farms in addition to its considerable economical benefits; releasing real-estate and reduce costs by up to 40%.  The company has received support from the Chief Scientist and private investors, and is seeking introduction to LPG storage terminal owners and sub-sea Oil & Gas solution providers for a beta site and investments.

The London Symphony Orchestra Teams with AICC Member Kaltura to Provide Online Video Features

The London Symphony Orchestra, one of the world’s leading orchestras, has partnered with Kaltura, developer of the first open source online video platform, to use online video for a wide range of the orchestra’s activities and programs.

“In today’s day and age, online video is really a must for any serious player in the music and entertainment world,” said Joanne Johnson, Online Marketing Manager at the London Symphony Orchestra.  “Kaltura’s platform was really the only option for us due to its flexibility and wide breadth of functionality that enables us to launch both “basic” video publishing features as well as advanced interactive features for online-education and training purposes”.

The Orchesta’s global audience can now watch interviews with players and conductors as well as enjoy behind the scenes footage on lso.co.uk, powered by Kaltura.  The Orchestra plans to soon use Kaltura’s online video platform to broadcast select concerts and to conduct video classes online.   Kaltura’s interactive features will also be included in ‘Remix the Orchestra’, part of the LSO’s community and education program LSO Discovery, in which students would be able to remix the Orchestra’s CDs and videos.

“It’s an honor to be working with a leading musical powerhouse such as the London Symphony Orchestra,” said Ron Yekutiel, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura.  “We were delighted to find a team of true innovators and influencers with out-of-the-box ideas and plans to not only publish video, but also to contribute to society and get people involved with forward-thinking programs.  This is a great example of the real power of interactive online video.”

AICC – Silver Sponsor at 2009 Journey Conference – Tel Aviv, September 15

AICC is proud to be a sponsor of the 13th annual Journey Conference, September 15, 2009, at the Hilton Hotel in Tel-Aviv. This outstanding conference serves as a meeting place for business and technology leaders in Israel, provides the most updated professional data, and serves as a platform for knowledge sharing and networking.  This year, approximately 2,000 participants are expected including venture capitalists, investors, entrepreneurs, investment banks, consultants & service providers, members of the academia and others. It will include plenary sessions, panels and workshops as well as a dedicated Healthcare track.

More Information To Register