TPI Composites Creates 30 New Jobs in Fall River

Although the unemployment rate in Massachusetts may still be higher than desirable, new jobs are continuing to be created in the state. Moreover, new positions are not only springing up in the Boston area, but also in places such as Fall River, which is reported to have one of the highest unemployment rates in the state at 14%. This week, TPI Composites, an Arizona-based manufacturer of wind turbine blades, announced plans to bring jobs into the city by opening a facility along Fall River’s waterfront.

“It’s a good sign for Fall River,” the city’s mayor, William A. Flanagan, said. “It’s a great sign for Massachusetts.” (Image courtesy: http://www.tpicomposites.com/)

TPI's new, 69,000-square-foot factory will serve as the “development hub” for the company’s Rhode Island, Iowa, Mexico, and China locations. If everything proceeds as planned, the factory will be operational as early as January of next year, creating approximately 30 new positions. Contingent on meeting these hiring estimates, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has agreed to award TPI a $250,000 grant to help fund its expansion.

“The main reason we decided to locate here was the proximity to our existing work force,” explained TPI CEO Steve Lockard about why Fall River was selected.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke enthusiastic about TPI opening a facility in the state, expressing that supporting Green Tech makes sense because it is the industry of the future. “We believe if we get this right, the whole world will be our customer,” Governor Patrick said.

With Governor Patrick’s unwavering support of Green Tech, perhaps more companies from the industry will follow TPI’s example and open locations in the region. While Massachusetts’ jobless rate continues to hold at well under the national average, it is important to remember the individual towns, like Fall River, that still have unemployment rates reaching into the mid-teens. New facilities creating new positions in these areas will be beneficial to everyone.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/9xQn0e, http://bit.ly/aKa6Fm, http://bit.ly/c1REaV]

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Waltham's Lycos Sells for $36 Million

In the United States, if you ask someone to tell you the name of the first search engine that comes to mind, odds are you will get one of three answers: Google, Yahoo, or Bing. If you think back to just the mid-nineties, though, predicting the answer to that question would have been far harder, considering the varied number of search engines that were scrambling for their share of the market. This week, Lycos, a search engine based out of Waltham, Massachusetts that you may not have heard about in years, sold for $36 million to India’s Ybrant Digital. (Image courtesy: lycos.com)

“Lycos needs no introduction, we are excited to bring in the Lycos properties into our fold,” said Suresh Reddy, chairman and CEO of Ybrant Digital. “The quality of content and tools offered by Lycos has always attracted the best of the consumers across the world. Our goal is to combine the benefits of Ybrant’s global network with what Lycos has to offer in creating a compelling global destination for our advertising clients worldwide. Coupled with our offerings for advertisers, we do present new products to our local users worldwide.”

While not generally viewed as one of the big players in the search engine arena in the U.S., Lycos still reports receiving 12 to 15 million unique visitors per month in the nation. Beyond its search engine capabilities, Lycos also offers video sharing, social networking, blogging, web hosting, online games, and email. Worldwise, Lycos is a top 25 internet destination, with a global reach of 60 million unique visitors per month. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/bISFkP)

“Our goal is to combine the benefits of Ybrant's global network with what Lycos has to offer in creating a compelling global destination for our advertising clients worldwide,” explained CEO Reddy.

Although Lycos may have passed its prime in the United States, it would be hard for anyone to argue that Waltham’s Lycos is not a success, considering its substantial world-wide reach. Even if the search engine does not focus on recapturing the U.S. market while under its new leadership, it appears as if the company will have no trouble remaining profitable in the international market.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/9vkYFs, http://bit.ly/bPVHvs, http://bit.ly/c26wdJ]

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PAETEC Opens Massive Data Center in Andover

When big-name companies, such as Adobe or Microsoft, open branches in the Boston-area, people take notice. Startups opening their doors for the first time often garner attention as well. But when a Fortune 1000, business-to-business company moves into the area, it can be easier to miss the news. Today, PAETEC Holding Corp. announced that it will be opening its two-story, 92,7000 square foot data center in Andover, Massachusetts. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/aczWYo)

The center will serve as a secure storage facility for data from companies in the New England region and across the world. The center’s primary goals include ensuring “regulatory compliance, disaster preparedness, and business continuity.” PAETEC will use the center to further its efforts towards supporting cloud computing, or computing in which services and storage are provided over the internet, rather than locally.

“Moving business applications from the desktop to the cloud will bring efficiency not possible before,” said Arunas Chesonis, chairman and CEO of PAETEC. “With our expertise in telecommunications and data convergence, we’re in a leading position to support the shift towards cloud computing and can provide our customers with a comprehensive set of managed service solutions to meet their business goals.”

The Andover center opened today after an 8-month renovation, costing nearly $6 million, during which PAETEC “replaced every electrical component in the building.” Now, redundant grid power, and massive generators capable of running the facility for over a week, ensure that the center will always remain operational. Presently, a staff of eleven manage the day-to-day workload of the center, which includes running a 24-hour Technical Assistance Center, or TAC.

“We’re utilizing our more than ten years of data center experience along with our advanced portfolio of communication solutions,” explained CEO Chesonis. “As a result, we’ve built an infrastructure that will responsibly serve our customers’ needs now and in the future as we continue our data center expansion efforts, implement virtualization, and provide server consolidation, content acceleration, and software as a service offerings.” (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/cgWS5o)

Andover is only one of a handful of locations in which PAETEC plans to open data centers over the next 18 months. PAETEC will open new centers in Houston, Milwaukee, and Phoenix before the end of the year.

It is admittedly slightly disappointing that such a large center provides so few new, full-time positions, but any company that brings new, quality jobs into the area is of course welcome. Perhaps the center will require more workers as additional clients move their data to the location. It is also nice to hear that the company has found a new use for what was previously a massive, outdated facility in Andover.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/dsjrfC, http://bit.ly/bXvt95, http://bit.ly/aczWYo]

Cambridge to Add Entrepreneurial "Walk of Fame"

The rivalry between the Boston-area and California’s Silicon Valley has existed for years now. It often makes news when a company chooses to leave one innovation hotspot for the other. Recently, though, a story came out about Boston borrowing from a different part of California: Hollywood. Bill Aulet, Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, has proposed creating a “Walk of Fame” in Cambridge’s Kendall Square to commemorate great entrepreneurs and inventors from the area.

Aulet’s idea already has the support of Lelant Cheung, Cambridge City Councilor. According to Cheung, the proposal is presently in committee and he hopes the full Council will vote on the matter this fall. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/d4CWV4)

Aulet says that the idea for the Entrepreneurial Walk of Fame comes from the belief that “successful entrepreneurship is about spirit as much as it is about skills.” “Our model is Educate-Nurture-Network-Celebrate,” Aulet said. “The stars on the sidewalk falls right in line with the ‘Celebrate,’ which we should do more of. If you want to keep a culture of risk-taking and entrepreneurship, then we should treat our entrepreneurs as stars, and what better way than this?”

If the project is adopted, Councilman Cheung says the courtyard around the Marriott and the Kendall Square T Station would be the ideal location to place the first stars. The stars would include the name of an entrepreneur or inventor from the Cambridge area, his or her key contribution, and perhaps the date of the contribution. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/b6QiP6)

Adding a Walk of Fame for entrepreneurs and inventors is a novel implementation of a tried concept. It does make sense that celebrating the contributions of these people would help to inspire further innovation. If this idea becomes a reality, with all the great entrepreneurs and inventors that came out of the Cambridge area, it will be interesting to see who is recognized first and how the decision is made.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/9oGKh1, http://bit.ly/d4CWV4]

Massachusetts has More Female Founders than the National Average

While equality is the cornerstone of business in America, so many articles detail young males launching new ventures that it definitely appears as if the startup arena is dominated by men. According to a recent survey by CB Insights, statistically, that is true; however, Massachusetts, at 27%, has a far larger percentage of female founders than the national average of just 8%.

The survey went on to reveal that California and New York actually had a lower percentage of female founders than the national average, at 6% and 7%, respectively. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/d5abgn)

“It doesn’t feel that way,” said Jules Pieri, founder and CEO of Lexington e-commerce startup the Daily Grommet, in regards to the 27% figure. “The environment has a lot to do with it. There has been a huge increase in visibility and connections between female founders…I think having role models is the most central explanation.” Pieri went on to say that academics around Boston may be more “egalitarian” than in other regions, prompting more women who plan to start companies to stay in the area.

Brettina Hein, founder of the Cambridge video startup Pixability, agreed that Massachusetts’ education system might have something to do with the survey’s findings. “Massachusetts has a high educational cluster. Across the last 30 years, women have been catching up with education,” Hein said. “In a center with a cluster of highly educated women…once there’s a certain number of women in critical mass, other women see it as socially acceptable to be doing this activity,” Hein reasoned.

In addition to her work at Pixability, Hein runs the weekly meetings of “She-E-Os,” a group for female CEOs in the Boston area. Presently, the group has 80 members, with membership growing. The She-E-Os is a way of “creating an ‘old girls club,’ facilitating connections, and learning from each other,” according to Hein. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/d5abgn)

CB Insights warns that the sample size for its recent survey was just 165 Internet startups nationally that received “early-stage venture capital during the first half of 2010.” Essentially, while the results are surprising, they still need to be verified before they are given too much weight. Moreover, CB Insights survey only presented the statistical findings of its survey, without offering any of its own explanations of the results.

Even though the results of CB Insight’s demographics survey may be only preliminary, it is still interesting that Massachusetts showed such a high level of female founders as compared to benchmark states and the national average. We will have to see if further studies continue to support these results going forward.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/buRjhP, http://bit.ly/d5abgn]

Burlington's Viridity Software Takes in $8 Million in Series B

Taking a great idea to even the prototype stage can require significant financing, but once you have a working model, enticing additional investors becomes infinitely easier. This week, Burlington, Massachusetts-based Viridity Software brought in $8 million in its Series B financing round. Viridity Software works to increase power efficiency of IT setups in businesses. (Image courtesy: http://www.viridity.com/)

“Series A was all about building product, and the majority of the Series B is about going to market,” said Mike Rowan, Founder and CTO at Viridity. To reach this new goal, the company plans to expand its sales, marketing, and support staff. Already, the company has added ten new employees in the past six months to bring its total headcount to thirty.

A typical business only tracks the amount of power used by a rack of servers, according to Viridity. By using Viridity’s services, businesses can more easily examine the costs and benefits of each component of their IT systems, such as a single application.

“Most customers are using 30 to 50 percent more power than they need to,” explained Rowan. It is easy to see how Viridity’s services could pay for themselves in such a situation.

Presently, Viridity supplies services to primarily small and medium companies in fields from financial services to hospitals. One of the company’s largest clients is New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Viridity’s services sound simple, yet highly valuable. It is encouraging to see the company expanding. Considering the large market for its services, it will not be surprising if Viridity sees further growth and investments in its future.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/dimzS3, http://bit.ly/cWfvQ6, http://bit.ly/cMqR8B]

Massachusetts Economy Growing Faster than the Nation

As the weather gets hotter, people begin leaving for vacations and the pace of life tends to slow a bit. Businesses often realize a similar decrease in activity during this period. A study recently released by the University of Massachusetts showed that the Massachusetts’ economy grew by a solid 6.4% last quarter, but also predicted that quarter three, which ends in September, may not be as promising. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/bnKgdG)

The state’s second quarter growth rate was 3.1% higher than the first quarter. The report cited such reasons as “early spring jobs growth, income gains, and sales increases within the technology sector” as the primary reasons for the state’s strong second quarter growth. Nationally, the economy grew only 2.4% last quarter, or less than half of Massachusetts’ growth rate.

Two technology sector companies within the state that performed particularly well last quarter were Teradyne Inc. and EMC Corp. Based in North Reading, Teradyne reported a revenue increase of 170%, as compared to quarter two in 2009. Hoplinkton’s EMC Corp, reported a revenue increase of 24% and a 200% increase in profits, as compared to last year.

Professor of economics at Northeastern Univerisity, Alan Clayton-Matthews, explained that this recent expansion was the “fastest quarterly growth since the third quarter of 1984, at the height of the ‘Massachusetts Miracle’ expansion.”

However, Robert Nakosteen, professor of economics at UMass Isenberg School of Management, cautioned that, “Up until now, government spending has played a much greater role in stimulating growth and encouraging consumer spending than in past cycles.” Nakosteen went on to warn that “the government stimulus is waning, and it is far from certain that private sector spending will take up the slack.” (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/cJY0Fo)

Moving forward, most economists expect the state’s growth rate to decrease along with that of the nation overall. The financial crisis in Europe, high unemployment rates, and expiring federal stimulus packages are all expected to drag down growth rates. For the remaining two quarters, Massachusetts is expected to show around 4% growth, while the national growth rate may drop as low as 1% going forward.

Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, N.C., said it is unlikely that congress will approve further stimulus packages. “We’re going to see how capable the economy is of standing on its own in the second half of the year,’’ Vitner commented.

Although a decrease in growth seems to be inevitable, still Massachusetts continues to substantially out-perform the nation. This is generally accepted as good news, however, long term, the state cannot hope to continue to see such great success unless the nation begins to keep pace. When the country as a whole is showing 6.4% growth, everyone will have reason to be happy.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/dx7nj1, http://bit.ly/c1eJDd, http://bit.ly/bDEqcH]