Category Archives: Planning & Design

RW Armstrong Merges with CHA Consulting, Inc.

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Indianapolis, IN (PRWEB) June 20, 2012

RW Armstrong and CHA Consulting, Inc. (CHA), both large, multi-discipline engineering consulting firms, have merged to create a 1,200 person global firm operating out of 46 offices in the U.S., Canada, the Middle East, North Africa, and Azerbaijan. The merger is expected to create a workforce of 2,000 by 2016. Both firms will continue to operate under their own names.

RW Armstrong and CHA are two of the largest design firms in the U.S., both consistently ranking in the top 200 of Engineering News-Records annual top 500 design firms. Combined revenues position the firm to advance into the top 60. The merger creates a firm that offers full-spectrum architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) capabilities from planning and urban design to power and energy; aviation and rail to water services; and roads, bridges and highways to stadiums and higher education.

This merger unites two firms with a common strategic vision, passion and a powerhouse of talent, said Jim Wade, RW Armstrongs President. Our clients, whether theyre in Austin or Abu Dhabi, may have very different needs but share one common objective: theyre increasingly reliant on their AEC partners to deliver more than just on-time, on-budget results. Their success depends on our ability to be innovative and agile, to help them deliver exceptional value to their clients. The talent weve assembled has upped our game exponentially and will help us set the bar in our national and global markets.

On both sides, our employees are as dedicated to helping each other as they are to helping our clients, said Ray Rudolph, CEO of CHA. This drive to succeed, paired with a more-comprehensive mix of services and greater depth and breadth of talent, positions us to meet our clients complex business challenges, regardless of market. Not only does this merger benefit our clients, but it opens up exciting new personal and professional development opportunities for our employees around the world.

RW Armstrong’s advisory team was led by Infrastructure Services banker Stephen Clarke, a Managing Director at Morgan Joseph TriArtisan LLC, and Brian Fennerty, a Partner at Faegre Baker Daniels. Anthony Norris and Sachin Shah of Ropes & Gray were the legal advisors for CHA.

About RW Armstrong

RW Armstrong is a global engineering consulting, design management, and architecture firm that brings dynamic thinking and strategic vision to clients around the world. Founded in 1961 in Indianapolis, Ind., the firm has grown to 500 employees and 16 offices in the U.S., Middle East, North Africa, and Azerbaijan. RW Armstrong is a single-source provider, delivering planning, design, architecture, project/construction management, building services, planning and urban design, and environmental planning services. The firm serves aviation, water services, municipal, transportation, Department of Defense, government, and developer markets. For more information, visit http://www.rwArmstrong.com.

About CHA

CHA Consulting, Inc., headquartered in Albany, NY, is a highly diversified, full service engineering firm providing a wide range of planning and design services to public and private clients throughout the U.S. and Canada. CHA was selected by Engineering News-Record / New York as their 2012 Design Firm of the Year. Founded in 1952 the firm has more than 730 employees in 30 offices from Maine to Florida to Texas. CHA serves a diverse range of end markets including transportation, utilities, rail, energy, aviation, environmental, education, industrial, health care, and municipal. For more information, visit http://www.CHACompanies.com.







Lincoln Trust Acquires Benefit Solutions Corp.

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Denver, CO (PRWEB) July 18, 2012

Lincoln Trust Company, a leading provider of open architecture 401(k) and profit sharing solutions, today announced that it has acquired Benefit Solutions Corp., a leading 401(k) recordkeeper and third party administrator headquartered in Greenfield, WI.

The Benefit Solutions purchase is the third by Lincoln Trust in nine months and reflects the firms desire to continue rapid market growth through acquisitions. The acquisition strategy has allowed Lincoln to leapfrog competitors and establish a presence in key markets through the purchase of high quality firms.

We are pleased to have Benefit Solutions join the Lincoln Trust family, said Lincoln Trust Chairman and CEO Bob Beriault. They have created a unique managed solution serving the independent investment advisor representative and broker dealer community and one we intend to invest in to expand further.

New Markets, New Opportunities

Benefit Solutions provides an array of retirement plan services, including recordkeeping, third-party administration, compliance testing, and plan design. With a focus on 401(k) solutions built around third party money managers designed for investment advisor representatives and broker dealers, the firm brings a new market opportunity to Lincoln Trust.

By combining independent money management with distribution through the broker dealer market we bring a substantial new opportunity for Lincoln Trust, says Deyan Stojanovich, founder of Benefit Solutions. New fee disclosure rules, which require disclosure of direct and indirect compensation that service-providers receive, are pushing brokers away from the traditional fee-laden plans offered by insurance companies and other platforms and as a result have the reps looking for an open architecture solution.

The environment is rapidly changing for retirement plan advisors at broker dealers, said Stojanovich, who will lead institutional sales at Lincoln Trust. Lincoln Trust is perfectly positioned for this sea change in the industry, and I am confident we can capture a significant portion of this market.

Now that the Benefit Solutions acquisition is completed, Lincoln Trust services more than 2,700 qualified plans and well over $ 3.7 billion in assets under administration.

Lincoln Trust purchased Fringe Benefit Administrators, LTD, a retirement plan administrator in Metairie, LA., in late 2011 and added Independent Pension Consultants, Ltd. of Eden Prairie, MN in May, 2012. Earlier this year, the firm sold its self-directed IRA division to PENSCO Trust Company to prepare itself for future expansion in the defined contribution marketplace.

A strong industry advocate for full fee disclosure, Lincoln Trust introduced the Personalized Expense Ratio (PER), one of the retirement industrys first all-in 401(k) plan cost calculations. Lincoln Trusts PER goes beyond Department of Labor revisions that are going into effect this summer and fall.

About Lincoln Trust Company

Located in Denver, CO, and a member of the Council of Independent 401(k) Plan Recordkeepers, Lincoln Trust provides trust, custodial, recordkeeping and administration services to defined contribution plans. By providing access to 24,000 mutual funds and 900+ETFs without any proprietary product requirements and by using revenue sharing payments to offset plan expenses, Lincoln Trust offers low cost 401k plan solutions. For more information, visit http://www.LincolnTrustCo.com or call 1-855-719-5796







With New Name, Beyond OCD Gets a Website Facelift to Improve Functionality and Footprint

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Chicago, IL (PRWEB) July 18, 2012

Beyond OCD, the worlds leading repository of consumer-friendly resources to help sufferers and families cope with and conquer Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), has rebranded its website at http://www.beyondocd.org, deploying its new and improved web architecture to provide visitors with faster page loads, increasingly significant content, easier navigation, and a more vibrant visual experience.

The vastly improved website comes on the heels of the early May announcement that the 501(c)(3) organization, founded in 1994, changed its name from OCD Chicago to Beyond OCD in response to the groups increasing global reach. Beyond OCD also maintains a second website, http://www.ocdeducation.org, which is an OCD educational resource for school personnel.

Beyond OCD is dedicated to being the leading platform for individuals, families, mental health professionals, educators, clergy and the media across the country seeking information and aid to improving the lives of people who suffer with OCD. The website, originally launched in 2005, has grown exponentially over the years as more information and resources have become available to the OCD interest community. Rebuilding and re-launching the web portal was deemed to be the best way to stay on the cutting edge of Internet protocols amid the OCD knowledge expansion.

BeyondOCD.com is a highly dynamic website that provides a wealth of OCD data, reading recommendations and other resources, as well as personal stories from OCD sufferers, OCD facts and myths, resources from professionals and experts in the field, treatments and therapies, news, resource links, and even valuable information on a host other and often related mental health disorders.

When originally launched on the web over seven years ago, Beyond OCDs website employed an earlier version of ExpressionEngine, the webs Number 1 content management system softwarethe best of its kind at the time. The Beyond OCD web design and development firm, Unleaded Group of Denver, recently completely rebuilt and restructured the website in the very latest ExpressionEngine version, and also improved the site architecture to the most modern incarnations of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and HTML (HyperText Markup Language), both critical backbones defining the styles and code language that drive the highest-performing sites on the Internet.

While repeat visitors to beyondocd.org will not immediately detect changes to the site other than the organizations name change, the improved user experience is sure to please. Moreover, the new website architecture makes it much easier and quicker for Beyond OCD staff to post fresh content, expanding the organizations mission to be the most comprehensive resource on the topic anywhere on earth.

Beyond OCD reaches visitors from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

OCD: The Facts

There is no cure for OCD, but armed with information, as well as appropriate treatments and therapies, most OCD sufferers can attain significant relief from their symptoms to help them get Beyond OCD.

OCD is a neurobiological anxiety disorder that causes people to endure unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) that they are driven to perform over and over. As the average age of diagnosis goes down, OCD is increasing viewed as a disorder that first strikes in childhood. While most people who have this disorder know their obsessions and compulsions are irrational and excessive, they cannot control them.

OCD is characterized by obsessions and compulsions that take up an excessive amount of time and cause significant distress. Consider that:

Photocrati Media Acquires NextGEN Gallery

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Boulder, CO (PRWEB) June 19, 2012

Photocrati Media is about to get even better. As part of Photocratis ongoing effort to seamlessly provide the best integrated WordPress solutions for photographers all under one roof, we are excited to announce Photocratis recent acquisition of the highly popular NextGEN Gallery WordPress plugin.

Developed by Alex Rabe in 2007, the NextGEN gallery plugin is now the dominant image gallery plugin for WordPress. With more than 5 million downloads, NextGEN Gallery is also one of the most popular WordPress plugins of all time.

We are very excited about bringing NextGEN to Photocrati, says Erick Danzer, founder and CEO of Photocrati Media. It means that we can really create the advanced functionality that photographers are looking for with our WordPress themes.

Blending Photocrati and NextGEN also means that Photocratis team of experts is available to improve and advance NextGENs core functionality and interface. We are very committed to continuing the development of NextGEN Gallery as a free GPL plugin, and were dedicated to maintaining NextGEN as the most popular gallery plugin for WordPress, says Danzer.

The Photocrati Team is also looking forward to interacting with the NextGEN community. There are many talented developers who have contributed to and launched extension plugins for NextGEN. We hope to build an even stronger sense of community and interaction around the plugin, both with users and with the developer community, says Danzer. In fact, Photocrati is currently seeking beta testers and contributors.

NextGEN Updates by Photocrati

NextGEN users can expect some exciting updates throughout the year. The Photocrati team plans to: improve and streamline the existing back-end interface; add an interface to create and manage galleries directly from posts and pages; work with Automattic to make NextGENs architecture compatible with the WordPress VIP environment; and to make a range of smaller fixes and security patches.

Coming soon, a Pro version!

Later this year, Photocrati will also launch a premium upgrade for NextGEN, called NextGEN Pro. NextGEN Pro will offer a range of beautiful new gallery display styles as well as fully-featured ecommerce functionality. Some of the plans for NextGEN Pro include: alternative slideshow displays; alternative filmstrip displays; alternative thumbnail displays; caption and filmstrip skins to adjust styling; fully-featured ecommerce for all gallery types and including print and price options; digital downloads; and shopping cart and PayPal integration.

NextGEN + Photocrati WordPress Theme = One amazing package

The Photocrati Team is already hard at work merging NextGEN and NextGEN Pro into the popular Photocrati WordPress theme. Soon, Photocrati users will have all the functionality of these plugins seamlessly available in the Photocrati theme, without losing any of the options or gallery displays currently available.

Photocrati will have more big news soon. Follow Photocrati on Twitter or sign up for NextGEN updates via email.

About Photocrati.com

Photocrati Media is a digital media company that specializes in WordPress themes for photographers, SEO for photographers, and other resources for photographers. Photocrati Media also runs Best of Wedding Photography an elite, invitation-only association of the best wedding photographers in the world. Photocrati Media proudly sponsors the Photocrati Fund a $ 5,000 grant for photographers working on important environmental and humanitarian projects.







AtHomeNet Announces Plans to Integrate with Village Management Software (VMS) from Team Soft Solutions

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Suwanee, GA (PRWEB) June 19, 2012

AtHomeNet, Inc., a provider of web-based services for community associations, announces their planned integration with Las Vegas based property management software provider, Team Soft Solutions, creators of Village Management Software (VMS). The integration will allow residents of communities to view their account information by logging into their AtHomeNet community website.

The idea behind partnering was based on requests from both companies clients. Team Soft Solutions Owner, Michael Renaldo explains, We have clients who have been asking for integration with AtHomeNet, and we are very pleased that we will soon be able to provide it.

Initial integration will provide clients residents access to their Account Balances, Last Payment Information, and Charges & Payment Account History – all through their communitys AtHomeNet website. Future additions as a result of the partnership include providing access to violations, architectural requests, and more.

Serving more than 650 association management companies in the US and 7 other countries, AtHomeNet is focused on helping them provide better services to their community clients. One of our goals is to make it easier for our management company clients to do their job, says Susan Sanders, AtHomeNet CEO and Co-Founder. This new collaboration will do just that by helping our VMS clients reduce phone calls and emails to the association manager while putting important information in the hands of their residents.

VMS provides interactive, real-time property management tools to thousands of homeowners associations, condominium associations, and apartment/rental management companies. For more information visit http://www.villagemanagementsoftware.com.

AtHomeNet

13 Below Launches National IT Staffing and IT Staff Augmentation Solutions

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Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) July 17, 2012

The Minneapolis, Minnesota based 13 Below Consulting adds information technology staffing to its growing list of IT services. Primarily focused on.NET and DotNetNuke development, 13 Below offers IT solutions such as website design and hosting, search engine optimization, and other internet-related solutions to businesses across the United States with satellite locations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois.

In addition to these core services, 13 Below handles both permanent IT staffing placement and temporary IT staff augmentation for its clients. They can place consultants on permanent hire, contracting, or contract-to-hire basis and offer W2 and 1099 options to its consultants.

For clients that need a more permanent IT staffing solution, 13 Below Consulting prides itself on finding the right candidates for its clients’ needs staffing needs. 13 Below has an internal national database of IT candidates who are personally screened by 13 Below’s own recruiters. Their recruiters are all former IT consultants who can accurately screen and interview candidates prior to sending them onto potential and existing clients. 13 Below has the candidates to fill any IT position such as:

Asahi Technologies Announces Custom Programmed Android Applications For Ny Businesses At Affordable Cost

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(PRWEB) July 15, 2012

The market for Android is booming ever since Google bought them, with the powerful backing of the search engine giant Android is expected to dominate the Smartphone and tablet market in a few years. Being an open source platform, Android is a flexible environment for developing innovative and dynamic applications at affordable cost. As a result the demand for custom android applications is at an all time high, especially for business applications. To enable businesses access cutting edge android applications, Asahi Technologies a New York based custom software firm announced android development services focused on business enterprises.

Asahi Technologies is committed to leverage the powerful underlying Android architecture and further accelerate mobile application development by rendering technologies such as PHP and HTML5 stated Vinod Subbiah, CEO of Asahi Technologies. Some advantages of android application development are its easy to use APIs, comprehensive libraries and development tools which enable quicker and efficient development. Additionally applications can be integrated with many Google apps such as Gmail and calendar. And since android is an open source platform the overall development costs and investment are significantly lesser.

The major advantage with Android platform is that it is based on Linux kernel which makes it extremely stable and secure for web based application development said Vinod on its stability without crashing. Asahi Technologies is equipped with a excellent Android application development team with experience in rendering applications using Java and Android SDK for Business, Finance, Entertainment and Interactive Education applications.

About Asahi Technologies

Asahi Technologies is a New York based web design and development firm that provides software consulting and development solutions to small and medium level businesses all across North America. Asahi Technologies specializes in responsive design, cloud computing, online marketing,mobile application development and open source technologies. Under the leadership of Mr. Vinod Subbaiah, who himself started his career as a software programmer, Asahi Technologies team comprises of experienced software professionals have extensive knowledge of technology covering B2C and B2B operations. The firms headquarters is located in New York City, NY.







Nexus Achieves Advanced Data Center Architecture Specialization from Cisco in USA

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Valencia, Calif. (PRWEB) July 13, 2012

Nexus IS, Inc. (Nexus) announced today that it has achieved the Advanced Data Center Architecture Specialization from Cisco. This specialization recognizes Nexus as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, design and deploy comprehensive Cisco

Norix Group Now Listed on Trade Only Design Library

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West Chicago, IL (PRWEB) July 13, 2012

Norix Group, a leading provider of specialized contract furnishings, has partnered with Trade Only Design Library, Inc. (TODL), the design industrys largest product research and specification library exclusively for trade professionals. Qualified TODL trade members include interior designers, architects, facility managers, healthcare providers and government purchasers.

TODL is the only product-level specification database that provides search results with detailed trade information for trade professionals who need to make timely and appropriate product decisions. TODL provides trade professionals with instant access to hundreds of thousands of products including furniture for specific applications like healthcare.

Norix is diversifying into new markets, driven by innovative new products with advanced materials and construction, states Peter Graves, Norix Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. TODL allows Norix to reach designers and architects at the point of specification, and increase our brand and product exposure in a cost effective way.

Trade Only Design Library, Inc. now includes Norixs wide array of healthcare furniture, medical clinic, emergency room furniture, student & dormitory furniture, as well as a new line of contract furnishings with attributes so unique, TODL created a new product category: Behavioral Healthcare Furniture. This new line allows TODLs healthcare specifiers access to furnishings created specifically for challenging environments.

Erik Cocks, TODL VP Marketing says, Were very excited to now include Norix in our trade-only design library. The healthcare segment is such an important part of TODL with projects constantly being specified, that bringing quality products in both design and application are exactly what we want for our designers, architects and facility managers.

Norix was recently introduced to TODL members via an e-mail announcement.

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About Norix

For more than 25 years Norix has specialized in providing secure furnishings and fixtures for corrections, behavioral healthcare, transportation, educational institutions, fire/police stations, commercial facilities, shelters, and military installations. The privately held company is headquartered in West Chicago, IL with sales representatives and dealers throughout the U.S. In 2012, Norix launched Safe Environments a news and information blog serving architects, designers, administrators, and facility managers involved in the design, construction, and operation of challenging environments. For more information, call 630.957.4433 or visit: http://www.norix.com

About TODL

Since its inception in 1997, TODL remains the industrys only online password-protected, trade-only, searchable product-level design library exclusively for professional designers, architects, and product specifiers. All members have been prescreened and qualified as trade professionals, and membership also extends to design and architectural students and faculty from over 600 schools worldwide. Manufacturers and service providers have in-depth insight and tracking on both activity and leads, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. From email requests to increased brand recognition, TODL connects design professionals to media members, trade shows, and industry representatives in a convenient and efficient online manner. For media requests or more information on TODL, please visit http://www.TODL.com, or contact Erik Cocks at 800.631.3111 or erik(at)todl.com. Follow TODL on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TODLFanPage, and Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/todltweets.







Related Architecture Design Press Releases

San Francisco, CA Modern Architecture Firm Hart Wright Architects Opens New Office in the Mission District to Expand Opportunities For Collaboration

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San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 13, 2012

San Francisco modern architecture firm Hart Wright Architects has moved their office to a new location. The firm is a growing success and they decided it was time to move to an office that reflected their growth. Their new place of business is now in San Franciscos Mission District, a neighborhood well known for its restaurants, cultural venues and artist studios. There is ample public transit nearby and the location is central to the San Francisco downtown and other well-known neighborhoods.

This is what architect and urban designer Eliza Hart had to say about the move:

We are excited to be in a space shared with creative professionals and we can’t wait to collaborate and share ideas.

Principal Eliza Hart has separate masters degrees in both Architecture and Urban Planning from UCLA. Before forming HWA, Eliza was employed at S.F. Bay Area firms Studio Bergtraun Architects and Sagan Piechota Architecture. She has worked on a variety of residential and commercial projects, including remodels as well as new construction; with extensive experience spanning the full range from schematic design to construction documents to construction administration. Eliza also has a background in urban design and worked in Los Angeles with urban designer, architect and author, John Kaliski on a variety of projects. Her B.A. is from the University of Pennsylvania.

Principal and architect, Stuart Wright, has worked on a broad range of architectural projects and he bridges the gap between design and building. Prior to forming HWA, Stuart worked at Studio Bergtraun Architects, and before that at Sagan Piechota Architecture, specializing in modern residential projects. He is attentive to detail and knows that details are his best architectural expression. Stuart received his Master of Architecture at UCLA and studied at the Technical University in Vienna, Austria and at Studio Daniel Libeskind in Berlin, Germany. He holds a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Michigan.

Hart Wright Architects’ new office is in The New Black or NWBLK, (http://www.thenwblk.com/) an American design and build headquarters with a 6000 square-foot retail gallery featuring an edit of relevant contemporary furniture, applied arts, and the objects of utility defining the 21st Century. The NWBLK brings to San Francisco a roster of yet to be seen designers, and products international in scope. With an in-house fabrication workshop, the NWBLK prototypes furniture and products for clients, and builds custom environments for events and exhibitions.

The NWBLK design offices provide a collaborative work environment for Hart Wright Architects, Lindsay Chambers, Hazel.wood Design Group, Steven Miller Design Studio, and more. Eliza Hart and Stuart Wright are looking forward to all the collaborative opportunities the NWBLK will have to offer.

About Hart Wright Architects

Hart Wright Architects is a green architecture, urban and landscape design firm based in San Francisco serving clients in Palto Alto, Atherton, Napa, Mill Valley and most of the Bay area. Through all phases of design and construction, HWA is committed to excellence in architectural design solutions, active problem solving, and the highest standards of client service. They recently became certified DBE for being a woman owned architecture business.

Hart Wright Architects

1999 Bryant Street

San Francisco, CA

(415) 503-7071

http://www.hartwrightarchitects.com

http://www.hartwrightarchitects.com/blog

This press release was prepared by Bobrow Consulting Group (BCG) for Hart Wright Architects. BCG works with building design professionals to build their business by optimizing their online strategy, teaching marketing for architecture firms as well as offering web design and SEO consulting services.