Innovative Design and Building Services Off-Site Construction Methods Capitalize on Speed and Cost Efficiencies for Sturgis Charter School project In Hyannis, Mass.


(PRWEB) October 01, 2012

Interior and exterior finishing work is being completed on Sturgis Charter Schools new West Campus building. The 45,000 square foot building was constructed off-site at Innovative Design and Building Services (IDBS) Liverpool, Pa., facility and transported to the building site in Hyannis, Mass. A hybrid of on-site and off-site construction methods were employed allowing for tall ceiling heights and capitalizing on off-site efficiencies. Utilizing off-site techniques for the majority of the project, along with IDBS proprietary systems and processes, also aided in controlling the overall project costs.

The completion of the two-story structure, which includes numerous classrooms, a faculty lounge, labs, a library, office spaces, and an amphitheater-like seating space, doubles the schools capacity of 400 to over 800 students. Opening in the fall of 2012, the school will continue to offer an International Baccalaureate diploma which focuses on teaching students to be caring, reflective and open-minded.

Planning for the west campus began in November of 2009, but progress stalled. The momentum picked up when IDBS modular construction method was introduced as a solution. Off-site construction means less time, less overhead and less waste, which gave Sturgis Charter Schools reduced and fixed construction costs needed to complete the project.

The initial design was reviewed and adjusted to maximize the efficiencies of off-site construction. Innovative solutions were utilized to achieve larger, open rooms with high ceilings. All 96 building sections, constructed to meet the wind loads and hurricane requirements needed for the seaside school, were delivered and erected by IDBS crew in just 3 weeks. Onsite crews followed behind with HVAC, sprinklers, and completing the interior and exterior finishes.

Minimize site disruption with off-site construction

Off-site construction is well suited for classrooms and educational buildings. Schools can be designed and constructed to meet most architectural and customer specifications. By utilizing off-site methods, the disruption at the building site is limited, resulting in cleaner, safer environments for teachers and students. In most case, on-site work can be performed during summer sessions, further reducing the impact on the existing campus.

The IDBS construction process utilizes a myriad of off-site construction techniques. This unique system provides the advantages of quality-based, climate-controlled construction methods that can be customized to suit a wide variety of regional styles. The proprietary process is ideal for projects such as apartments, hotels, senior living residences, student dorms, town homes, multi-family and educational structures.

IDBS ability to provide accurate quotes and guaranteed pricing is supported by their 1,000+ strategic supply chain partners. Without problems like weather delays, and with very predictable material and labor costs, lenders and investors can have high confidence in minimal or zero cost overruns. Our customers value the fact that our pricing, which can represent up to 80-90 percent of an erected structures cost, is fixed and guaranteed, giving them the confidence that their construction budgets will be held intact, stated Steven Saffell Executive Director-Northeast.

IDBS was formed by bringing together the most experienced team of off-site building specialists from Excel Homes Group, All American Building Systems and Mod-U-Kraf Homes. These specialists have more than 300 combined years of off-site construction experience in all aspects of design, cost estimating and project management. With five facilities located in Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, IDBS has developed a national reach making it the market leader in off-site commercial and multi-family building solutions in North America.

For more information about IDBS, visit http://www.buildidbs.com. You can also view case studies of this and other IDBS projects by http:// clicking here.







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VisiPak Adds High Speed Labeling Capabilities


St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) June 19, 2012

The VisiPak division of Sinclair & Rush expands its package decorating capabilities with a major investment in new high-speed labeling equipment. Designed to apply labels to its line of clear plastic containers and tubes, the new process will allow VisiPak to significantly expand its ability to deliver complete packages to its customer base.

Our line of clear plastic packaging has always enjoyed a nice place in the market with companies looking for clear packages that allow products to show through the packaging on store shelves, said Jeff Barket, Director of Sales & Marketing for VisiPak and the Sinclair & Rush Companies. Of course, packages still need labels for branding elements, descriptive content, UPC codes and other information and we want to be able to offer this to our customers.

The new equipment features patented designs that ensure wrinkle free labeling and throughput rates that can outperform many other printing and decorating options. Plus, the labels offer excellent graphic detail, 360 degree coverage, and can be designed with up to 6 colors. These characteristics make the labels ideal for integrating UPC codes.

Plastic tubes and containers with diameters from 1 to 4 can run on the new equipment and labels as large as 8.5 high x 10 long can be applied.

By expanding our decorating capabilities, we make our customers job easier, reduce costs, and decrease the time it takes to design and manufacture a new package, added Barkett.

VisiPak also offers contract packaging services to those customers that want VisiPak to handle all aspects of the packaging process.

About VisiPak:

VisiPak specializes in the design and production of clear plastic packaging utilizing extrusion, thermoforming, injection molding and other fabricating and decorating technologies. The St. Louis based company provides clamshell packaging, clear plastic tubes, transparent boxes, blister packs, plastic trays and plastic containers, jars, and vials. The company offers many stock packaging solutions that are ready for immediate shipment. For more information visit http://www.visipak.com.







Factory Connect Integrates Fusion ioMemory to Increase Speed of Cloud-Based Software Suite

SALT LAKE CITY (PRWEB) June 30, 2012

Factory Studios Inc. broke through barriers of big data production and transfer in the visual effects, animation and architectural design industries with the launch of Factory Connect, a cloud-based, on-demand six-piece animation software suite. Now, newly powered at the core by Fusion ioMemory memory and storage solutions, Factory Connect is even faster.

Adding Fusion ioMemory solutions to the core of Factory Connects groundbreaking platform further expedites every stepfrom conceptual inception to project completionof producing and transferring creative digital content. This increased speed further broadens work time between deadlines, and allows digital artists more time to elaborate on the creative possibilities of their projects.

Backing Factory Connects technologies with Fusion ioMemory unlocks the door to unparalleled production capabilities, said CTO of Factory Studios Inc., Tom Mikota. It develops an on-demand, turnkey solution for streaming cloud-based software to digital content creators across the globefrom large studios to individual artists.

Fusion ioMemory boosts Factory Studios Inc.s platform-as-a-service model of streaming software with unmatched power for data-intensive activities. The combination delivers unparalleled capabilities for rapid production and delivery, and looks to concrete itself as the standardized solution to big-data inefficiencies in the visual effects, gaming and animation industries.

With data delivery becoming an increasing challenge for productivity and creativity in digital content creation, Fusion-io is excited to be a part of Factory Studios unique and innovative cloud-based solution, said Vincent Brisebois, director of performance computing at Fusion-io. Incorporating flash-based ioMemory solutions, like the ioDrive2 and ioFX, with Factory Connect will provide users with the throughput and performance needed to unlock their creative potential and meet tight deadlines.

Pricing and Availability

Factory Connect is currently available with increased power at the core by Fusion ioMemory. Platform pricing is based on usage levels, making it cost effective for companies and/or projects of any size. To learn more about Factory Connect, go to http://www.factoryconnect.com/products

About Factory Studios Inc.

Factory Studios Inc. is a Salt Lake City-based technology company that provides a variety of services for the visual effects, gaming, animation, architecture, and engineering fields with its Factory Connect software. The software includes tools to stream big data, a meta-based file system, tools for digital workflow and enterprise management, a dynamic review system, and digital storefront. For more information about Factory Studios Inc., please visit http://www.factoryconnect.com/about.

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Drupal Hosting Review 2012 From Speed, Reliability, Support and Price


San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) June 09, 2012

Top-Cheap-Web-Hosting.com (TCWH) releases the Drupal Hosting Review for 2012 based on the Drupal hosting reputation, compatibility, features, performance, reliability, technical support and price, rated by the TCWH editors and the 1043 real customers.

Nowadays, there may have been 100,000 shared web hosting companies over the world, and most of them declaim that their shared web hosting is 100% compatible with Drupal, but just like flowers need the appropriate environment to grow, Drupal runs faster and more reliable when it’s hosted with a right shared web host.

As introduced by Top-Cheap-Web-Hosting.com, Drupal consumes more server resources than the light-weight WordPress as its more flexible, customizable and extendable. This is the reason why there were many Drupal users complained with the loading speed of the Drupal sites.

After reviewed 50+ reputed Drupal hosting, TCWH had come out of a list of top five Drupal hosting including BlueHost, InMotion hosting, WebHostingHub, HostMonster and GreenGeeks, even BlueHost, InMotion hosting and GreenGeeks are recommended as the best Drupal shared web hosting by Drupal.org at http://drupal.org/hosting. Based on the TCWH Drupal hosting review, these top 5 Drupal hosting providers far exceed their competitors by offering the following compelling Drupal hosting features and warranties:

1) Drupal page loading times that average less than 2 seconds.

2) 100% compatible with Drupal, with 128MB memory for PHP “memory_limit”.

3) Run PHP as suPHP for improved Drupal hosting security.

4) 99.9% Drupal hosting uptime guarantee.

5) cPanel, 1-Click Drupal installation and upgrade, with 500+ Drupal themes & widgets for free.

6) Rock-solid Drupal technical support, with holding times that average less than one minute.

Now, Top-Cheap-Web-Hosting.com is offering up to 50% discount for the top five Drupal hosting starting at $ 3.95/mo only. To claim the Drupal hosting discount and to learn more about the Drupal hosting review and rating, visit http://www.top-cheap-web-hosting.com/linux-web-hosting/best-drupal-hosting/

About Top-Cheap-Web-Hosting.com

Top-Cheap-Web-Hosting.com (http://www.top-cheap-web-hosting.com) is a leading web hosting review website, rating web hosts independently based on their real hosting experience and the real customer reviews, designed to help people find the best web hosting deal at an affordable rate.







Colortrac, the Leading Innovator in the Field of Wide Format Scanning Technology, Announce the Launch of Their New High Speed SmartLF SC 42 Large Format Production Scanner


(PRWEB) June 17, 2012

The SmartLF SC 42 wide format scanner has been designed with many new and productive innovations to meet the needs of high volume scanning users in AEC, CAD, GIS and Copyshop or Service Bureaus.

Commenting on the new scanning technology, Peter Brown Colortrac Executive Director said The new SingleSensor digital imaging technology for the SmartLF SC 42 wide format scanners is an important new Colortrac invention. The SingleSensor is a single full width 42 inch array of Contact Imaging Sensors (CIS) that are housed in a robust structure and pre-aligned, giving higher optical quality and improved match between sensors. The full width SingleSensor has 50,400 pixels giving it an optical resolution of 1200dpi and a maximum scanning resolution of 9600dpi. It also uses a bi-directional white LED lighting system that optimises the illumination of the scan object whilst giving an Instant-on response. This lowers power consumption as the lights are only on whilst scanning and eliminates the effects of shaded areas caused by creases or folds in the original documents.

The SmartLF SC 42 is capable of scanning monochrome documents at 13 inches/sec and color at 6 inches/sec. To improve the document feeding capabilities at these increased scanning speeds, it incorporates a new single roller document feed mechanism that holds the document firmly up against the SingleSensor lens. This allows it to handle a variety of document types including creased, fragile or even thin media such as newspaper.

The SmartLF SC 42 is also the first large format scanner to utilise the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 serial PC interface that provides for data transfer at up to 5Gb/sec this is approximately 10 times the data transfer speed of the current USB2 interface. This reduces the time taken to transfer the image data from the scanner to the host PC – this has always been a restriction on productivity. Tests have indicated a realistic throughput of 273 Arch-E (36 x 48) sized color pages per hour at 200dpi resolution or 171 documents at 400dpi. By using the new SmartWorks EZ Touch software provided with the scanner, easy quality adjustment of the scanned image can be made, making the SmartLF SC 42 large format scanner ideal for those large archival jobs.

Summarizing the capabilities of the new wide format scanner, Peter Brown commented The color space of SingleSensor can be set to sRGB or RAW RGB depending on application. The excellent color accuracy of this scanner and the higher scanning and data transfer speeds using the SuperSpeed USB3 interface contribute to making the SmartLF SC 42 the most productive large format scanner available. It also reinforces Colortracs position as the leading innovator in the field of wide format scanning technology.

See: http://www.colortrac.com

For further information contact:

Rob van Brakel,

Marketing Manager,

Colortrac Limited.

Tel: +44 (0)1480 464618

Email: press(at)colortrac(dot)com

Web: http://www.colortrac.com

About Colortrac

Founded in 1989 and based in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, UK, a region of British excellence in science and technology, Colortrac Ltd is the leading innovator in professional wide format scanners and image acquisition software solutions with many new technically innovative patents created by their Research and Development departments, including the NEW SingleSensor scanning technology.

Colortrac was the first wide format scanner manufacturer to recognize the individual merits of both Charge Coupled Display (CCD), Contact Image Sensor (CIS) and will incorporate the newly introduced SingleSensor technology into some of their new SmartLF scanners. Coupled with a full range of supporting SmartWorks software, they are creating unique customer solutions to simplify scanning problems across the full spectrum of applications. These range from the demanding Graphics Arts market to practical, productive CAD, GIS, EDM and FM technical document scanning.

Colortrac Ltd has offices in Beijing and Suzhou, P.R. China, in Chantilly, Virginia, USA and in Yokohama, Japan and now in Mexico.

Further information about Colortracs products can be found at: http://www.colortrac.com







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K1 Speed San Francisco Brings Racing to the Bay


Irvine, CA (PRWEB) June 07, 2012

With the opening of its newest center scheduled for August 2012 in San Francisco, K1 Speed the largest indoor karting company in the United States is introducing the adrenaline-pumping thrills of karting to a whole new audience. Founded in Southern California in 2003, the company is finally set to take over Northern California, with no less than four locations planned for the area, including Santa Clara now open, San Francisco, Pleasanton and Sacramento. Its San Francisco location is built with the community in mind from zero-emission electric karts to energy efficient lighting, the center is built to have a small environmental impact and should provide a unique and exciting new place for residents to unwind and have fun.

The K1 Speed Difference All-electric Karting

K1 Speed redefined what karting is when it was founded almost 10 years ago. With poorly maintained outdoor tracks littering the country, often at amusement parks right alongside miniature golf courses, the sport of go-kart racing had lost its luster in the United States. K1 Speed sought to change that and it took a page out of Europes approach to karting to do so. K1 Speeds tracks are professionally designed and are built indoors, allowing for racing every day of the year in any weather. The tracks are also designed with safety in mind; as opposed to spare tires jutting out of the ground, K1 Speed utilizes TecPro safety barriers. Perhaps the biggest distinguishing feature, however, are K1 Speeds karts.

Unlike outdoor kart tracks, which have anemic, poorly maintained, gas-powered karts that are loud, noxious, and heavy, K1 Speed utilizes zero-emission, all-electric European karts. Built in the same style of the world championship kart chassis that Formula One drivers learn their trade in, K1 Speeds karts provide genuine thrills and an authentic racing experience. In fact, they can reach speeds approaching 45mph on the companys