SOURCE: Greenville (NC) Daily Reflector AUDIENCE: 87,680 [provided by Nielsen//NetRatings] DATE: 01−29−2012 HEADLINE: Vidant health care leader visits PCC campus Source Website Vidant health care leader visits PCC campus Sunday, January 29, 2012 WINTERVILLE " Dr. David C. Herman, president and chief operating officer of Vidant Health Care, toured Pitt Community College this month to see firsthand some of programs and services the school has to offer. PCC President G. Dennis Massey and Donna Neal, dean of the college (TM)s Health Sciences Division, showed Herman around campus during his visit. The tour included stops in the Craig F. Goess Student Center and several classroom facilities, including the William E. Fulford and Herman Simon buildings, which are home to PCC (TM)s health sciences curricula. "Dr. Herman is new to Pitt County, as of last summer, and I wanted to make sure he knows as much as possible about Pitt Community College, which is an important Vidant partner, " Massey said. "I stressed to him the importance of PCC (TM)s partnership with Vidant and the ways we are using the resources provided by Vidant and others, such as Cape Fear Valley Health System, for our students. " A native of International Falls, Minn., Herman joined Vidant last summer, previously having served as a physician leader with the Mayo Clinic. On Jan. 13, Herman chaired a health care reform symposium that Massey and Neal attended. "We learned much about how the health care system is evolving to provide better patient access and to reduce costs, " Massey said, adding that "Pitt is a true partner in these changes. " PCC in cloud computing project PCC has been selected to participate in a virtual computing environment (VCE) project developed by North Carolina State University in partnership with the N.C. Community College System. VCE is a remote access service hosted by MCNC, a nonprofit organization located in Research Triangle Park. Through the project, which utilizes cloud computing technology, students and faculty at participating community colleges can request or reserve a computer with a desired set of applications and remotely access it over the Internet. VCE helps students save money by providing them with online access to advanced software applications. It also helps participating colleges reduce the cost of information technology support and hardware for computer labs. PCC is one of 17 North Carolina community colleges taking part in the VCE project. Participating schools receive training, assistance and VCE capacity to support two courses. The N.C. Community College System Office provides the services through a pre−existing contract with N.C. State. Training for faculty and project administrators is provided at no cost to the colleges, which are required to complete VCE administrator, faculty and student evaluations in order to provide qualitative feedback on the project.
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Colleges also must provide either an enterprise license or sufficient licenses for a limited number of concurrent users for each software application used through the VCE, unless the software is open source. The VCE Pilot initially was a research and development initiative started in 2008 to explore efficient and effective virtual computing modalities for online access to applications and services. The initiative focused on developing and piloting solutions to address the growing demand for student access to advanced computing application and software services at a lower cost to the colleges and/or students. SACS officials to visit PCC Barry Goldstein, vice president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (TM) Commission on Colleges (SACS−COC), will be on the PCC campus this week to assist with the college (TM)s re−accreditation bid. Every 10 years, PCC must demonstrate that it continues to meet the Commission (TM)s standards for higher education. Without accreditation, the college could no longer receive state funding (70 percent of its current budget revenue) and students could not apply for federal financial aid. Accreditation also ensures that the courses PCC students complete and the degrees they attain are recognized by other educational institutions. According to Larry Dendy, PCC (TM)s Assistant Vice President of Planning and Research, Goldstein will be on campus Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 to provide employees with an opportunity to explore issues, questions and topics of interest pertaining to the reaffirmation process and any other aspect of the Commission on Colleges. Goldstein, Dendy said, will meet with specific groups on campus important to the re−accreditation process, including student leaders. He also will give a presentation to faculty and staff on the accreditation process and answer questions they may have, he said. After submitting a comprehensive compliance certification report to SACS−COC in March, Pitt will continue preparations for an on−site visit from the organization that is scheduled to take place on Sept. 18−20. A second document " called a Quality Enhancement Plan " is also under development and must be completed and submitted to SACS−COC by July 31. At the conclusion of their visit to PCC, members of the SACS−COC visitation committee will provide written advice to Pitt administrators, develop a consensus of their findings and complete a draft report. They also will present an oral summary during an exit report to PCC President G. Dennis Massey and invited college officials on the final day of their visit. Following the visit, SACS−COC members will review all of the steps Pitt has taken toward re−accreditation and either affirm or deny accreditation status. Copyright 2010 The Daily Reflector. All rights reserved Highlights: NC, NORTH CAROLINA, North Carolina, N.C, MCNC
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February 01, 2012 By: NCTechNews Category: Broadband, Government (Research Triangle Park, N.C.) The North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) is the digital highway allowing many North Carolinians to thrive in today’s globally interconnected society. The current expansion of connectivity and services on NCREN will benefit almost every citizen in every community throughout the entire state. Two federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants totalling $104 million awarded in 2010 represent the largest known single investments in “middle-mile” broadband infrastructure in North Carolina history. The BTOP grants are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress on Feb. 13, 2009 at the urging of President Obama, who signed it into law four days later. A direct response to the economic crisis, the Recovery Act had three immediate goals: create new jobs and save existing ones; spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth; and foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the long-term effects of the act are dire, with results that include a long-term 0.2 percent reduction in the GDP, an increase in budget deficits by about $825 billion through 2019, and “no long-term effects on unemployment.” MCNC officials have stated the design, construction, and operation of the broadband network being built via these federal taxpayer dollars could create more than 1,000 engineering/construction jobs. These awards will help MCNC bridge this digital gap by delivering critical middle-mile infrastructure and direct fiber connections to universities, community colleges, schools, health care facilities, public health organizations, public safety facilities, libraries, and many other community anchor institutions throughout the state. This fiber will significantly add to the capacity of NCREN, and allow NCREN services to be made available to these institutions at fixed costs for the foreseeable future. MCNC’s two BTOP awards were matched by $40 million in privately-raised funds representing a $144 million investment in broadband infrastructure in rural North Carolina spanning 69 counties with approximately 67 of those counties deemed underserved by federal standards. The Golden LEAF Foundation contributed $24 million of the matching funds, thus the effort has been dubbed the Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative (GLRBI). MCNC also contributed $8 million from its own endowment to help fund the project. The first phase of the project is near completion – well ahead of the completion date required by the BTOP
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grant. The Round 1 build encompasses 37 counties located in southeastern and western North Carolina. The mileage breakdown has finalized as the following: 414 miles of new build; 291 miles of acquisition; and 197 miles of upgraded fiber. Before funding MCNC, NCREN delivered speeds of 1gbps or faster to only 12 out of 100 counties in North Carolina. Through the GLRBI, MCNC will expand that number to 83 counties – nearly a 600 percent increase in statewide broadband capabilities. Virtually all the conduit has been placed in the Round 1 project. Mostly couplings of finalized conduit remain to be completed. Approximately 303 miles of fiber has been put into place and fiber placement continues daily. All conduit and fiber should be in place by the end of January. The routes from Rocky Mount to Greenville and Winston Salem to Asheville already have been placed into service, and the increased bandwidth is benefitting the users of NCREN. Other sections are being placed into service each month, and by March, all sections of Round 1 fiber should be operational. The Round 2 project is three-times the size of Round 1 and is complex because of the areas traversed. Construction on the second phase of the GLRBI began in July 2011, and has seen a number of re-routes to accommodate the original project plan. The project coverage currently stands at 1,331 miles of new build; 302 miles of acquisition; and 60 miles of upgraded fiber for a total of 1,693 project miles (estimates are subject change during the build). The progress on conduit placement between Charlotte and Wilmington remains swift, with more than 85 percent of the 256 miles now in place. Approximately 36 miles of fiber also has been deployed along that route. Construction between Rocky Mount and Williamston is drawing toward completion, and work has commenced on the first planned telecommunication huts in Polkton at South Piedmont Community College. Next year will be a big year for Round 2. To start the year, crews will begin in earnest on construction of the segment from Hamlet to Sanford as well as further the activities in the northeast while finishing up work in the south-central portion of the network. To track the progress, MCNC is pleased to offer a new interactive map. On this map, you can use the drop down menu to see the status of the NCREN backbone as it existed in 2008 prior to the BTOP projects, and representative views of progress on the project to date. Or, you can watch a time-lapse view of progress on the build, and even get more information about a specific network segment, and in some cases, video of the segment’s construction. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling of the U.S. Department of Commerce said before funding MCNC, NCREN delivered speeds of 1gbps or faster to only 12 out of 100 counties in North Carolina. Through the GLRBI, he noted, MCNC will expand that number to 83 counties – nearly a 600 percent increase in statewide broadband capabilities. “This will not only improve education and other public services, but it can also spur additional private-sector investment,” he added. Approximately 99.3 percent of the $144 million total project value will be spent in the private-sector. MCNC will help create public/private partnerships to enable private-sector broadband providers to reach underserved citizens and businesses. This approach benefits every citizen in the state. To track progress, view the MCNC BTOP interactive map. The main goal is to meet the bandwidth needs of the users of NCREN in a cost-efficient manner. The GLRBI will allow the institutions served by NCREN to increase their use of Intranet and Internet resources and thus the need for bandwidth at the current rate (doubling every two to three years) while keeping costs stable at today’s rates. Another goal is to increase the availability of affordable broadband service for consumers,
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businesses, and community institutions not served by NCREN in rural North Carolina. The GLRBI will give NCREN the capacity to serve commercial needs through for-profit cable and telecommunications companies, telephone cooperatives, electric membership cooperatives, independent telecommunications, and cable companies. MCNC will not provide this service directly, but is required by the terms of the BTOP grant, to make fiber available at market-disrupting prices to the private, for-profit providers. In 2012, MCNC will begin using this high-capacity/high-speed network that will result of the GLRBI to benefit communities and maximize private-sector opportunity to deliver emerging shared/cloud services to NCREN customers. When a network has huge pipes, it’s easier to aggregate demand for applications, tools, and services for network customers and deliver them in a cloud-based model. MCNC also is working to forge key partnerships in rural North Carolina that will utilize the GLRBI fiber to offer more affordable broadband service to citizens, businesses, and community institutions with an eye toward creating opportunities for the for-profit telecommunications and cable operators in the state. ECC Technologies of Wake Forest, N.C., and Penfield, N.Y., will oversee commercial broadband opportunities as the project’s fiber marketing partner. ECC is working with MCNC on extensive outreach to groups of leaders in areas of the GLRBI build. Groups of advocates, such as Northeast Rural Broadband Partnership, have already begun to formulate their strategies for leveraging the GLRBI fiber to expand “last-mile” broadband options for businesses and consumers in their respective regions. All construction on the GLRBI must be completed in accordance to federal guidelines and finished by Jan. 31, 2013 to allow MCNC time to equip and place fiber into service on or before July 31, 2013. This expansion will be a great enhancement to the capabilities of NCREN, and has the potential to reduce the costs of delivering broadband services to consumers and small businesses in regions of the state where affordable broadband currently isn’t available. It’s been a great year for the NCREN community, and 2012 already is shaping up to be even better. Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, MCNC, Stimulus Comments are closed. ← Furiex Announces Positive Opinion of Priligy™ ISR Expands Biosimilar Library with Two New Reports →
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U.S. troop level decreases and shrinking armed forces budgets will lead to increased competition and a change in business operations for military contractors in North Carolina and throughout the nation, according to defense industry contracting expert Lea Strickland, requiring a more strategic and tactical approach to developing professional, properly-designed bid proposals.
Innovative concept-to-marketplace product design and development firm Montie Design is holding a Winter 2012 Student Design Contest for aspiring product designers in community colleges, four-year colleges, or high schools from North Carolina and Virginia, starting February 1.
The leader in analytical instrumentation for the pharma manufacturing industry has named a new COO responsible for manufacturing, engineering, software development, and project management for hardware and software products such as the VTT-1000 multi-variant testing device, breaking down barriers to speeding-up the drug manufacturing pipeline and cutting-down on drug shortages.
International strategic business consultant and noted author on how to start and manage a profitable business, Lea Strickland, MBA/CMA/CFM/CBM/GMC, has just released the first in a series of “how-to” digital books on finding business success, “10-Minute Success: Goals” for Amazon Kindle.
The challenges of marketing within pharmaceutical and life sciences-related industries and affiliated market sector tradeshows are addressed in an educational podcast from RTP-based agency The Marketing Machine, which has published the first in a series of podcasts on best practices for advertising, marketing, branding and public relations.
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NCTechNews - North Carolina's Technology News Source ISR Expands Biosimilar Library with Two New Reports 2/1/2012 (Cary, N.C.) Industry Standard Research (ISR) today announced the release of two new reports focused on the biosimilar industry.… MCNC Using $104 Million in Federal Stimulus Money on Broadband for Universities, Libraries 2/1/2012 (Research Triangle Park, N.C.) The North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) is the digital highway allowing many North… Furiex Announces Positive Opinion of Priligy™ 2/1/2012 (Morrisville, N.C.) Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: FURX) today announced that the European Commission endorsed the positive opinion adopted by…
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Good news for Furiex: http://t.co/HiWrA0Td about an hour ago follow me on Twitter
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archiving historic weather data and the ongoing download of information from weather satellites. NCDC hopes to expand its broadband pipeline in coming years toward Knoxville, Tenn., to better access the supercomputer and improve its data sets, Hauswman said.
A new supercomputer just over the state line could help tidy up the archives of data streamed down from satellites circling the globe and stored in Asheville. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is installing a new climate research supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to help reseachers model and understand changes to the Earth’s climate. With the potential to perform 1,100 trillion calculations per second, the Cray XE6 supercomputer will draw on data stored at Asheville’s National Climactic Data Center. “It’s exciting that NOAA has just set up this system that’s going to help us understand the long-term predictions of how the climate is changing, not only on a global scale, but trying to get down to the regional scale,” said Scott Hausman, the director of support services at NCDC. “We need to get down to the level where we know what happening in North Carolina and the Southeast.”
Satellite data often come with systematic errors from the sensors, which need to be cleaned up for greater accuracy. “But the satellite data sets are very, very large, and you need a lot of computing power to reprocess that data,” Hausman said. The broadband access between Asheville and Knoxville should see improvements starting this year as federal stimulus money goes to extend fiberoptic network in the western part of the state, said Hunter Goosmann, director of ERC Broadband, which provides high-speed Internet service to NCDC and the federal building. ERC is partnering with MCNC, the nonprofit that operates the state’s educational Advertisement
While NOAA researchers can use the Oak Ridge supercomputers for long-range modeling, the scientists at NCDC focus on
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Internet network, to extend service in more rural areas. MCNC has won $144 million in two rounds to extend the state’s broadband infrastructure, serving public schools, government, libraries, hospitals and others. “NCDC will be able to connect faster to Oak Ridge at less cost and support the exchange of that data,” Goosmann said. The new Cray supercomputer, nicknamed “Gaea” or “Mother Earth,” is the third supercomputer housed at Oak Ridge. The others are “Jaguar,” currently the world’s third-fastest machine, and “Kraken,” which belongs to the National Science Foundation and University of Tennessee. AdChoices
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