Corrections or additions?
These articles by Barbara Fox was prepared for the January 11, 2006
issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
Next month Comcast will begin moving its regional office from
Eatontown to 36,000 square feet at Windsor Corporate Park, and it will
be joined by some other Comcast departments from north Jersey,
according to spokesperson Patrick MacElroy.
Windsor Corporate Park, the former Lockheed Martin property on
Princeton-Hightstown Road, has four buildings totaling nearly 300,000
square feet, and it is 85 percent leased.
Joe Fischer is the regional senior vice president of Comcast in
Eatontown, and the company’s lease is expiring there. In the lease for
its new space, formerly occupied by Maximus, it was represented by Tom
Romano of GVA Williams Buschman.
Another recently announced tenant is ClinPhone, which will expand from
Roszel Road, doubling its size and taking just over 42,000 square
feet. Romano and Steve Tolcash, also of GVA Williams Buschman,
represented the landlord, Windsor Ltd. Partnership of NJ.
No details are available on which Comcast departments will move to the
East Windsor location; the company is still in the process of
notifying its employees.
Comcast, 50 Millstone Road, Building 300, Windsor Corporate Park,
Suite 200, Cranbury 08512. Joe Fischer, regional senior vice
president.
Top Of PageMoney for Start-Ups
A $400,000 investment in a Pennsylvania-based venture capital fund is
the latest effort by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to
encourage early-stage technology companies.
NextStage Capital LP, based in Audubon, Pennsylvania, is putting
together a $30 million equity fund for seed and early-stage investing
in the Mid-Atlantic region. NextStage aims to invest in early-stage
software and hardware technology and/or service companies, and it is
looking for entrepreneurs with solid track records in such industries
as financial services, health care, manufacturing, and communications.
The EDA’s $400,000 will leverage an additional $800,000 in equity
dollars, because the minimum requirement is a two-for-one match.
“Providing new sources of capital for technology companies through
direct state investment is an important element in New Jersey’s
overall economic development strategy,” said EDA Chief Executive
Officer Caren S. Franzini in a press release issued January 4.
General partners Rob Adams, Dan McKinney and Terry Williams plan to
open a satellite office in south Jersey. As part of the deal, the
partners are developing a mentoring program for the graduates of the
EDA’s Entrepreneurial Training Institute for technology businesses.
In a previous commitment to emerging technology businesses in New
Jersey, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority allocated $2
million to the Edison VI Venture Fund. Late last summer the EDA
committed $10 million for a $40 million Garden State Life Sciences
Venture Fund, managed by Quaker Bioventures. The EDA has also invested
in the New Jersey Technology Council Venture Capital Fund.
New Jersey Economic Development Authority, 36 West State Street, Box
990, Trenton 08625-0990; 609-292-1800; fax, 609-292-5722. Caren S.
Franzini, CEO. www.njeda.com
Empower Technology Solutions Inc., 196 Princeton-Hightstown Road,
Building 2, Suite 14, West Windsor 08550; 609-275-6700; fax,
609-275-6311. Venkat Maram, president. www.empowertsi.com
Empower Technology Solutions Inc. opened an office at 196
Princeton-Hightstown Road earlier this year. It has another office in
Milford, Massachusetts. Its consultants help IT companies with
high-risk, technology dependent business projects – application
development and maintenance, enterprise resource planning
implementation, business intelligence, and E-solutions.
Huntington Learning Center, 4120 Quakerbridge Road, Lawrenceville
08648; 609-750-9200; fax, 609-750-9201. Colin Schreiber. Home page:
Huntington Learning Center has moved to 2,500 square feet at 4120
Quakerbridge Road. Along with similar centers located in Pennington
and East Brunswick, it offers children, ages 5-17, supplemental
instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills, phonics,
and related areas, with the goal of helping them to succeed in school.
“With the new space at Quakerbridge Village Commons, we have also
staffed up to meet the increased demand for exam prep services, which
we have found is growing rapidly within the highly competitive
Princeton-area schools,” says Colin Schreiber, director. “We continue
to provide both SAT, ACT, and SSAT training on a one-to-one basis for
competitive students with aspirations to get into better schools and
colleges.”
CMP Princeton Inc., 212 Carnegie Center, Suite 203, Princeton 08540;
609-452-2800; fax, 609-452-2875. Michael Kazakoff, vice president.
Home page: www.cmpprinceton.com
CMP Princeton moved from 125 Village Boulevard at Forrestal Village to
subleased space from Hannover Fairs, where it occupies 6,000 of the
10,000 square feet there. The firm has 25 employees. This office, in
its earliest form, was Seatrade, focusing on cruise and shipping
shows. It was also known as Miller Freeman and had been a division of
United News and Media.
Like Hannover Fairs, CMP produces international trade fairs and
conferences.
New Jersey Analytical Laboratories, 1580 Reed Road, Suite A1,
Pennington 08534; 609-737-3477; fax, 609-737-3052. Allen Thomas,
president/partner. Home page: www.NJAL.com
New Jersey Analytical Laboratories has made its third move in the five
years since it was founded in 1999 from 1590 to 1580 Reed. The company
does environmental testing of air, water, and soil that supports New
Jersey Environmental regulations.
The growth from the two original partners to 13 employees has been fed
largely by the 2002 Private Well Testing Act and the Clean Water Act.
The new space has 10,000 square feet of laboratory and office space
and the company has another 2,000 feet of laboratory space at a
different location.
GeoSyntec Consultants, 3131 Princeton Pike, Suite 205, Lawrenceville
08648; 609-895-1400; fax, 609-895-1401. Mary F. DeFlaun PhD,
principal. Home page: geosyntec.com
A branch of GeoSyntec consultants, an environmental engineering
consulting firm, has moved to 3131 Princeton Pike from 1 Airport Place
in Research Park, Suite 3. Having opened its local operation in 2002,
the firm has moved to larger quarters of 3,000 square feet and expects
to expand beyond its current five employees.
Scott Drew, branch manager, says that initial problem investigations
are expected to move to design and implementation of full-scale
systems.
GeoSyntec has done research projects for remediation and cleanup of
ground water locally. Headquarters are in Boca Raton, but the largest
office is in Atlanta, Georgia. It offers environmental, geotechnical,
and remedial engineering consulting and design services.
LFL Veritas LLC, 3967 Princeton Pike, Lawrenceville 08648;
609-882-4171; fax, 609-883-4090. Hal Levenson, president. Home page:
LFL Veritas LLC moved from 1230 Parkway Avenue to 3967 Princeton Pike.
The company has another office in Teaneck. The company offers
management advisory, tax, accounting and auditing, and litigation
support services as well as wealth management.
Foam Technology Inc., 1 Rossmoor Drive, Suite 200, Jamesburg 08831;
609-655-7777; fax, 609-655-5122. Chris Galamb, general manager.
Foam Technology, which sells firefighting foam and equipment, moved
within the building to the second floor.
Alan E. Ottenstein, formerly a neurologist at 2997 Princeton Pike and
Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road, has been charged with successfully
carrying out a more than $1 million insurance fraud scheme that
victimized 50 insurance companies. A state grand jury in Trenton
indicted Ottenstein and his former office administrator, Jean Woolman,
on multiple counts of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering,
attempted theft by deception, and health care claims fraud.
Ottenstein was arrested in July, 2003, and is free on $50,000 bail.
His license to practice medicine has been suspended. A state grand
jury indictment was handed up to Mercer County Superior Court Judge
Linda Feinberg on December 16, and the case will be tried in Mercer
County Superior Court.
According to Greta Gooden Brown, the prosecutor, and Vaughn McKoy,
director of the criminal justice division, the claims sought
reimbursement for procedures such as epidural pain management
injections that were not performed, or improperly performed, or that
did not use the medical supplies that were billed for.
Other charges: “That the businesses changed Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(MRI) reports so that patients (primarily patients injured in
automobile accidents) would appear to have auto-related injuries when,
in fact, no such injury existed; and fraudulently billing mechanical
disk recovery system treatment(s) as surgical procedures when such
procedures were not surgical-related.”
Prosecutors also say that Ottenstein billed for disc recovery system
surgery when no surgery was done, and that Hamilton MRI (not a
licensed MRI facility) billed for MRI procedures after MRI reports
were allegedly altered by Ottenstein and Woolman to reflect abnormal
diagnoses for otherwise normal scans.
Additional charges include separate billing for sterile supplies that
were provided by another company owned by Ottenstein.
New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company and the Prudential
Insurance Company, two of the insurance carriers allegedly victimized,
have filed civil suits against Ottenstein and his medical companies.
Other companies that allegedly received fraudulent bills include
Aetna, Allstate, AmeriHealth, Guardian, HealthNet, Horizon Blue
Cross/Blue Shield, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, New Jersey Cure, The
Oxford Plan, State Farm, and Zurich.
Leaving Town
JLT Re Solutions Inc. (JLT), 1009 Lenox Drive, Building Four West,
Suite 110, Box 6400, Lawrenceville 08648-6400; 609-896-0555; fax,
609-896-2666. John Januszewski, COO.
JLT Re Solutions Inc. is closing its office at 1009 Lenox Drive in
Lawrenceville. It provides reinsurance services to many leading
insurance groups in the United States. It is part of Houston-based
Jardine Lloyd Thompson.
Mercer Asset Management, 40 Wall Street, the Trump Building, 31st
Floor, New York 10005; 212-269-8484; fax, 609-269-8545. Anthony
Salino. Home page: www.merceram.com
Mercer Asset Management, a full-service investment firm, has closed
its branch at 116 Village Boulevard in Forrestal Village and moved to
the Trump building on Wall Street.
Object Data Inc., 151 Highway 33 East, Suite 105, Manalapan 07726;
609-936-8420; fax, 609-936-8224. Mostaq Hossain, owner.
Object Data Inc. moved from 502 Carnegie Center, Suite 105, to more
convenient quarters in Manalapan. The company provides turnkey and
on-site IT solutions in application development, networking, network
security, and systems administration.
Blue Star Infotech America Inc., 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 1010,
Plainsboro 08536; 609-799-5454; fax, 609-799-5486. Sanjeev Sethi,
director. Home page: www.bsil.com
Blue Star Infotech, a software consulting firm, has closed its office
at Princeton Meadows Office Center, Suite 1010. Founded 20 years ago,
it is headquartered in Mumbai, India, according to a company
representative who spoke with a reporter last year. The U.S.
headquarters is in Santa Clara.
The company offers design and development services on all platforms
and focuses on four industries – technology, retail, travel, and
manufacturing.
Stock News
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG), 211 Carnegie Center, Princeton 08540-6213;
609-524-4500; fax, 609-524-4501. David Crane, president and CEO. Home
page: www.nrgenergy.com
NRG announced that it would pay for its purchase of Texas Genco LLC by
making public offerings worth about $5 billion in common stock,
mandatory convertible preferred stock, and unsecured notes. The stock
is expected to price during the week of January 23.
Last October NRG Energy said it would buy Texas Genco for $4 billion
in cash plus $1.8 billion in stock and assume more than $2.5 billion
of Texas Genco debt. This price attracted some analyst attention,
since Texas Genco’s selling price the previous year was $3.7 billion,
including only $900 million in cash.
In the intervening year, Hurricane Katrina helped lift natural gas
prices through the ceiling. “The purchase price for Texas Genco was
based on their near term substantially hedged portfolio and a
conservative view on longer term gas prices,” said an NRG press
release. NRG estimates that the combined company will drive
“substantially greater earnings and cash flow.”
The Texas Genco deal will give NRG an entrance into the wholesale
electricity market in Texas. NRG is a merchant power company that
generates electricity to sell to wholesale markets, such as local
electric power and gas companies. Having emerged from Chapter 11
bankruptcy in 2003, it moved from Minneapolis to the Carnegie Center
last year.
Robert W. Ashbock Jr., 54, on January 5. He was a traffic manager at
Firmenich.
Gavin Y “Pete” Hildick-Smith, 86, on January 8. He was a director at
Johnson & Johnson. A memorial service is Friday, January 13, at 11:30
a.m., at Trinity Church, Mercer Street.
out
stock news
SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES NAMES VOXWARE A PREMIER INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE
VENDOR
Symbol Validates Voxware’s VoiceXML Client Software to Redefine the
Role of Voice for Symbol’s Mobile Computing Devices in Logistics
HOLTSVILLE, NY and LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – January 6, 2006 – Symbol
Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: SBL), The Enterprise Mobility Company(tm),
and Voxware, Inc. (OTC: VXWR), a leading supplier of voice-driven
logistics solutions, today announced that Symbol has named Voxware a
PartnerSelect Premier Independent Software Vendor (ISV), bringing
Voxware the opportunity to expand their business through joint
marketing, demand generation and close collaboration with Symbol and
the PartnerSelect community. The companies also announced that
Voxware’s VoiceXML Browser, VoxBrowser(tm), was validated as a
voice-enabling technology for select Symbol MC9000 series mobile
computers used in logistics applications. Validation on the MC9060
Mobile Computer was completed through the Symbol Validation Program in
October 2005 at the Symbol Solution Center located in Holtsville, NY.
“Increasingly, Symbol customers and solution partners are choosing to
implement voice-based solutions on our mobile computing devices,”
stated Pat McCullough, vice president and general manager of Symbol’s
Solutions Division. “Voxware’s open system and standards-based
software solution offers them a superior development platform for
voice applications that can run on select Symbol mobile computing
devices, and can be integrated with any Warehouse Management System
(WMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) type application.”
“We are very pleased that Symbol validated our software and that
together we can help grow the market for multi-modal, voice-driven
logistics applications,” said Tom Drury, Voxware CEO. “The value of
voice interfaces to enhance logistics operations is now recognized in
the industry. And Symbol’s validation of VoxBrowser furthers drives
our strategy to broaden how and where voice can add value, and help
increase ROI in a warehouse environment.”
Symbol’s Solutions Validation Program enables partners to test and
validate their mobility solution on Symbol products to help ensure
interoperability and reduce both the risk level and the time to
deployment for the customer. Voxware’s VoxBrowser is comprised of a
full VoiceXML-compliant, browser-based client platform, Voxware’s
industry-leading continuous speech recognition engine, and a superior
text-to-speech capability. Symbol and Voxware will continue to
co-validate VoxBrowser on other Symbol mobile computers for logistics
applications. The terms of the validation, including disclaimers, are
set forth in the Test Agreement between Symbol and Voxware and the
Symbol Mobility Validated Solution Validation Report, and available
from Voxware.
Corrections or additions?
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