Briefcase – July 11, 2014

CONTRACTS

The Bakersfield (Calif.), School District is leveraging the AssuredSAN Pro 5000 storage arrays from Longmont-based Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq:HILL) to support its districtwide video surveillance system, providing faster video access with near real-time video conversion, resulting in reduced storage costs and more efficient archiving.

Factories in Brighton, Windsor and Pueblo owned by Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX: VWS) will help fill an order from Broomfield-based Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. for 83 wind turbines – towers, blades and nacelles – for the Pleasant Valley Wind Project in Minnesota. Vestas plans to deliver the turbines by the fourth quarter of 2015. RES Americas will then sell the wind farm to Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL). Vestas also received orders for wind projects in Kansas, New Mexico, North Dakota and France.

Boulder SEO Marketing teamed up with Denver-based Carbon8, a digital marketing agency, to focus on providing search engine optimization website audits.

KUDOS

Josh Heuerman, on the welding-technology faculty at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, was selected as one of 22 welding instructors nationwide to attend the American Welding Society Instructors Institute in Miami.

Gary Horton, former president of Western Disposal Services Inc. in Boulder, received a lifetime achievement award for his commitment and leadership in waste reduction from the Colorado Association for Recycling. Horton worked at Western Disposal for 33 years and was at its helm from 2000 to 2013. He continues as a special adviser to the company.

Firestone Mayor Paul Sorensen and Firestone Trustee Bobbi Sindelar were honored by the Colorado Municipal League for reaching milestone levels with its MUNIversity program, a leadership program for Colorado’s municipal elected officials.

Eric Wallace, president and co-founder of Longmont-based Left Hand Brewing Co., was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the consumer products and services category for the Mountain Desert Region. Wallace and the other seven regional winners will be finalists at the national awards ceremony in November in Palm Springs, Calif. Louisville-based Fresca Foods’ Todd Dutkin was a Mountain Desert Region finalist in the distribution and manufacturing category.

The Youth Clinic in Fort Collins is celebrating its 50th year of service in July. With three locations and a staff of 85 that includes 30 nurses, 10 pediatricians and seven pediatric physician assistants, the clinic serves approximately 18,500 patients.

The WavePoint products from Boulder-based FreeWave, maker of industrial-grade, secure M2M wireless networking solutions, received an editor›s choice award from Military Embedded Systems magazine. WavePoint was recognized for its secure command and control of unmanned systems, its dismounted soldier and vehicle tracking capabilities, and its remote military infrastructure monitoring, among other mission-critical government and defense applications.

Bismarck, N.D.-based Investment Centers of America was ranked the third-fastest-growing independent broker-dealer by InvestmentNews, based on its more than 29 percent revenue gain from year-end 2013 ($113,097,240) to year-end 2012 ($87,463,000). In Northern Colorado, ICA has representatives with offices located at Home State Bank branches, including Kevin Dunnigan, Lisa Evans, Paul Hummel, Denise Martz, Andrew Moore, Tyler Rusch and Mike Tarantino.

North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley and University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, part of the University of Colorado Health network, were named in Truven Health Analytics’ list of the top 100 teaching hospitals in the nation. The hospitals are not ranked within the list. Rose Medical Center in Denver and Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs were the only other Colorado hospitals recognized on the list. the data for the list comes from public information, including Medicare cost reports. Hospitals are evaluated on 10 criteria, including mortality rates, patient safety, patient satisfaction and medical complications. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Truven  formerly was the health-care business of Thomson Reuters.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Fargo, N.D.-based accounting firm Eide Bailly LLP acquired Fort Collins-based Sample & Bailey CPAs, effective Aug. 4. Eide Bailly will now have 1,414 employees and 23 offices in 11 states, including one in Fort Collins and another in Boulder.

Doc Popcorn International Inc., a company at 3200 Carbon Place in Boulder that sells gourmet popcorn through franchised shops, has been acquired by Paducah, Ky.-based Dippin’ Dots Franchising LLC, purveyors of flash-frozen pellet-textured ice creams. Details of the transaction between the two privately held companies, including the purchase price, were not disclosed. Although Doc Popcorn’s business will be operated from Kentucky, a media statement indicated that it will maintain a presence in Boulder. Founders Rob and Renee Israel will remain active in the business, and all 20 employees in Boulder will stay on.

MOVES

Sandler Training, which conducts classes and coaching in sales and management through franchised locations around the world, has moved an office from 357 S. McCaslin Blvd. in Louisville to 1990 W. 10th Ave. in Broomfield. Sandler Systems Inc., based in Owings Mills, Md., has more than 220 training centers. In Colorado, its services also are offered through Top Line Growth Inc. in Loveland as well as locations in Denver and Lone Tree.

Texas-based SolarWinds Worldwide LLC (NYSE: SWI), a provider of information technology-management software, moved its operations in Boulder from the headquarters of Confio Software, which was acquired by SolarWinds in 2013, to 5665 Flatiron Parkway, Suite 100. The new office will become home to more than 60 employees and will continue to focus on the database management market as it expands.

OPENINGS

Boulder-based Alfalfa’s opened its second “next generation” market, occupying the anchor position in the newly developed Center Court Village shopping center at South Boulder Road and Centennial in Louisville.

Rise! A Breakfast Place opened at 2601 S. Lemay Ave. in the Scotch Pines shopping center in Fort Collins, in a space formerly occupied by a Runza restaurant.

The city of Lafayette will celebrate the Waneka Lake Disc Golf Course grand opening on July 11 at 705 Caria Drive with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and skills clinic. All attendees will receive a commemorative Frisbee. The clinic, taught by Jax Outdoor Gear and the Mile High Disc Golf Club, will introduce players to throwing skills, course etiquette and other features of the game. The golf course is free for all players, with nine holes on the east side of the lake now open for play with an additional nine holes planned for the west side in 2015.

Speedpro Imaging, a large-format imaging studio that specializes in high-definition graphics, opened its fifth Colorado location at 1304 Duff Drive, Suite 1, in Fort Collins. An open house will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 15.

Front Range Orthopedics & Spine opened a location at Interstate 25 and Colorado Highway 52 in Frederick. Front Range also has locations in Longmont, Lafayette and Estes Park.

Owner Harlan Snyder launched Just Floor Fun, a Fort Collins-based mobile business that lets consumers shop at home for customizable area rugs. More information is at justfloorfun.com or 970-541-0741.

900 Degrees, a restaurant specializing in wood-fired pizza, opened at 111 W. Prospect Road in Fort Collins.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Broomfield-based Noodles & Company (Nasdaq:NDLS) introduced a catering program across Colorado, serving groups anywhere from 20 to 200. The program includes the company’s NoodlesBar offering, serving buffet style meals comprised of main entrees, sides and a dessert for groups at any social, family or corporate event. Each catering order is priced at $12 per person. Noodles will introduce the offering at all of its restaurants nationwide in coming months.

Fort Collins-based OtterBox introduced a five-component Agility tablet system and a Resurgence Power Case for Apple iPhone 5/5s, combining high-speed charging technology with a protective case.

Boulder Beer Co. introduced newly designed 12-ounce cans for its Buffalo Gold Golden Ale and Mojo IPA to make the graphics consistent with the Boulder-based brewery’s core lineup of beers and to mark the brands’ launch nationally. As one of the brewery’s heritage beers dating back to 1989, Buffalo Gold historically has had a different look reminiscent of the brewery’s early days and had predominantly been sold only in Colorado.

Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing partnered with Munster, Ind.-based 3 Floyds brewery to create Grätzer, a bold-flavored ale that brings back to life a long-buried style from Poland that primarily uses oak-smoked wheat. This collaboration beer also incorporates Midnight Wheat malt, which provides a mild sweetness. It pours pure black but has a light body and a subtle, spicy note from Polish Lublin hops.

Niwot-based Bootstrap Brewing is distributing its flagship beer, Insane Rush IPA, in 12-ounce cans, and will release Stick’s Pale Ale in cans later this year.

Boulder-based Windward Studios Inc. released version 13 of its product suite, touting high-performance reporting and document generation, document locking, new data sources, shapes and SmartArt, support for linked text boxes and footnotes, PivotTable support in Excel, import tag with parent formatting, improved HTML output, advanced image properties and more.

Longmont-based DigitalGlobe Inc. (NYSE: DGI), a provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and geospatial solutions, announced the availability of the first in a series of new commercial offerings for the energy market from recently acquired Spatial Energy in Boulder. The new DigitalGlobe Energy Suite includes online, subscription-based offerings available to enterprise oil and gas customers through Spatial on Demand, its cloud-based enterprise data management platform.

Boulder-based Bhakti Chai announced two new ready-to-drink flavors, Almond Blend and Toasted Coconut Almond Blend, both brewed with unsweetened almond milk from Califia Farms in Bakersfield, Calif.

Boulder-based NeoMedia Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: NEOM), announced new features for its mobile barcode reader application, NeoReader, and its NeoReader SDK offer. The new feature enables users to export their scan history in CSV format and email it to the address of their choosing which opens countless possibilities of archiving, post-processing and sharing the data. The exported data can be machine processed for stock-keeping databases, shared for collaboration purposes, and used for creating things such as event attendants’ lists. NeoReader SDK release 1.13.0 includes new symbologies and decoding parameters, revised license server connectivity to transmit a hashed value of the device instead of a UUID, and more.

Boulder-based Tech-X Corp. released VSim, an electromagnetic, time-domain, three-dimensional solver with particle and plasma simulation capabilities.

SERVICES

The University of Colorado-Boulder added three new graduate degree options focused on energy and water that will begin in the fall. Students will be able to earn either a Master of Engineering degree or a professional certificate in Renewable and Sustainable Energy. The school will also offer a professional certificate in Water Engineering and Management. All can be earned online or on campus.

Fort Collins-based Miramont Lifestyle introduced p.r.e.p., a physician-referred exercise program, networking with local health providers who can prescribe exercise as medicine to their patients. The 60-day, $60 program introduces patients to exercise and is designed to address their fitness and wellness needs in conjunction with a physician’s recommendations.

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