VANCOUVER — Victoria-based Terapeak and sister company Advanced Economic Research Systems Inc. began in 2002 to provide sellers on eBay with the tools to research products and markets.

So it makes sense, now that eBay is retiring its own service, eBay Marketplace Research, that Terapeak will be there to fill the void.

Terapeak, which earns its revenues through monthly and annual subscription rates paid by eBay sellers, will be offered to all existing eBay Marketplace Research subscribers when eBay retires its own service on Sept. 15.

The Victoria company, started by brothers Andrew and Anthony Sukow in 2002, has two sides.

AERS provides bulk data to large companies that need business-to-business data.

Terapeak, a subsidiary of AERS, is a business-to-consumer enterprise designed for eBay users, mostly sellers but also buyers who want to research products and prices.

"If somebody is selling on eBay, whether they're a first-timer or a big company, they use Terapeak to do their research," said Denise Hogue, Terapeak product manager.

"Instead of doing trial sales or putting stuff on the market not knowing what it's worth, they can use our software and find out what things are worth on eBay, what the sell-through rate is, how many are selling."

The software shows all the closed transactions on eBay for the last 90 days, as well as "trending data" that go back over a two-year period.

"For the person sitting at home building their business out of their spare room, this allows them to look at the marketplace on eBay before they invest in their business," says Hogue.

Buyers can also use it to evaluate items.

Jim and Barbara Nelson, whose Grandpa's Trading Company sells items on eBay, say Terapeak is invaluable to them.

"Terapeak provides you with data on the best time to begin your listing, best day of the week and time of day," Jim Nelson said in an email.

"It shows you market trends and analysis that you can customize to your specific niche. You also have the the capability to search for the merchandise your competition sells by doing specific seller searches and looking at their sold items and listings."

The subscription fee is $24.95 US per month, with a special annual fee of $120 for North American data.

The fees are slightly higher for international data.

AERS also relicenses its data to other companies that want to produce a market research tool.

Laura Della Torre, market data manager for eBay, said eBay's decision to retire eBay Marketplace Research gives Terapeak a good opportunity.

"We want to support our partner companies like Terapeak, and since research is Terapeak's specialty, they have the ability to focus on their core competency and give eBay users an outstanding product," said Della Torre in an e-mail exchange.

In addition to Terapeak, eBay sellers and buyers can also go to Vendio and HammerTap for their research needs.  

The Canadian Association of University Research Parks / Association Canadienne des Parcs de Recherches d’Universite (AURP Canada) is pleased to announce that Avocet 3D Images Inc. has become an associate member of the Canadian Association. Specializing in visualization, Avocet 3D Images creates computer-generated photo-realistic images of exterior and interior spaces for research parks expansion projects.

Avocet 3D’s images can be used to attract new investors and tenants, provide visualization images for master plans,  zoning  and funding applications, determine design issues before construction, and generally act as an important communications tool. Their services range from quick conceptual renderings for very early planning discussions to highly detailed photo-realistic images showing new spaces as they will appear at completion of construction. Avocet 3D specializes in creating renderings for existing as well as new buildings, surrounding lands and infrastructure, landscaping and individual components.

“The benefit of visually portraying master plans allows institutions to address inefficiencies and irregularities that may exist in design prior to construction,” says Dale Gann, president of AURP Canada. “Visualization is a critical step towards creating technology parks of tomorrow. We are delighted to have Avocet 3D join AURP Canada as an associate member.” 

Bradford County School District has recently adopted Student Performance SnapShot as its data analysis provider. Carol Clyatt, Director of School Improvement & Accountability for Bradford County Schools, says, "Snapshot provides data in a format that teachers can easily understand and immediately apply.  It is user friendly with charts and graphs that give explicit details. The trainer made it seem like child's play, and those who attended the initial training walked away confident and excited."
 
"Etraffic welcomes Bradford County to the growing ranks of SnapShot users in Florida," says John Juricic, partner with Etraffic Solutions. "SnapShot is now actively used by over one in four of school districts in the state of Florida, with active trials being conducted in many more. We are finding an increased interest in SnapShot as the state focuses on the effective use of data to improve the quality for education for Florida students and we are happy to support this very positive trend."
 
SnapShot takes key data that schools collect on their students, such as test scores and demographics, analyses it, and presents it in an easy to comprehend format. By simplifying data analysis, teachers and administrators are able to make the best use of their time and maximize their impact on student performance and school improvement.
 
"Snapshot gets valuable information to teachers quickly so that they can concentrate on what they do best: teaching. A teacher's work with their students is what really counts. By making it easier for teachers and administrators to comprehend student achievement data, we hope to make their job easier and to positively impact student performance at their school." says Juricic.
 
About Etraffic Solutions
 
One of North America's leading e-learning solutions providers, Etraffic provides products and services to the education industry and a variety of corporate clients. Delivering education and training materials on virtually any platform and in any format, Etraffic Solutions has proven expertise at delivering online and print learning in a variety of languages localized to specific cultures. 

The Canadian Association of University Research Parks / Association Canadienne des Parcs de Recherches d’Universite (AURP Canada) is pleased to announce that Avocet 3D Images Inc. has become an associate member of the Canadian Association. Specializing in visualization, Avocet 3D Images creates computer-generated photo-realistic images of exterior and interior spaces for research parks expansion projects.

Avocet 3D’s images can be used to attract new investors and tenants, provide visualization images for master plans,  zoning  and funding applications, determine design issues before construction, and generally act as an important communications tool. Their services range from quick conceptual renderings for very early planning discussions to highly detailed photo-realistic images showing new spaces as they will appear at completion of construction. Avocet 3D specializes in creating renderings for existing as well as new buildings, surrounding lands and infrastructure, landscaping and individual components.

“The benefit of visually portraying master plans allows institutions to address inefficiencies and irregularities that may exist in design prior to construction,” says Dale Gann, president of AURP Canada. “Visualization is a critical step towards creating technology parks of tomorrow. We are delighted to have Avocet 3D join AURP Canada as an associate member.”  

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) August 19, 2008 — Enquisite, Inc., a developer and provider of the next generation of search analytics solutions, today announced that the Enquisite Search Analytics Platform was named the 'Technology Platform Search Marketers Can't Live Without' at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, California. The announcement was made during the 4:30 p.m. keynote session on August 18, 2008.

"To be selected as the technology that search marketers 'can't live without' is a huge compliment," says Enquisite Founder, Richard Zwicky. "Search analytics is at the forefront of what marketers need today, which is a way to more scientifically approach getting a higher ranking in the search engine results pages or SERPs. We've focused our offerings in part on the longtail of search because it has the potential to help marketers maximize the opportunities inherent in this qualified traffic. By doing so, we're giving marketers a big-picture view of how they can improve their search result rankings and run the most effective campaigns," Zwicky concludes.

The SES Awards were developed by SES editorial staff to recognize exemplary work in the search engine marketing field. SES staff reviewed all awards applications and determined finalists; then, a panel of more than 30 industry experts and practitioners selected the winners. The judges scored applications based on four criteria: the company or product's innovation in methodology and execution, its ability to achieve success goals, a sense of excellence in tactical execution and the company or product's overall approach and category relevance.

The Enquisite Search Analytics Platform helps digital agencies and search marketers better understand how visitors search for and find their clients' web sites and web pages, allowing them to visually determine areas for optimization. The platform provides marketers with superior geotargeting data, search engine results pages (SERPs) rankings for specific locales and seamless integration with current web analytics offerings.

Enquisite was also named a finalist in the 'Best SEM Technology for SMBs' award. The winner of that award will be announced on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 9 a.m.

About the SES Awards 2008:
Since 1999 Search Engine Strategies (SES) has been the leading international conference series for webmasters, digital agencies, online marketers and corporate decision makers. Over the years, SES has guided search marketers of all skill levels through the fast changing and complex world of search — the single fastest growing marketing sector. In celebration of the event's 10-year anniversary, SES San Jose 2008 incorporated the first annual SES Awards.

The mission of the SES Awards is to inspire innovation and encourage new ideas. The SES Awards honored 15 outstanding search marketers and was judged by a panel of industry experts and the SES Awards editorial staff.

About Enquisite Inc.:
Enquisite, Inc. is a developer and provider of the next generation of search analytics solutions. Founded in 2006, Enquisite offers search marketers unparalleled insights into search page rankings and visitor behavior from both organic and pay-per-click (PPC) search listings.

Enquisite is a search engine referral analysis suite that provides in-depth information about web site visitors referred by search engines. Used by organic and paid search marketers, Enquisite delivers a wide array of search referral data with metrics ranging from a 'big picture' overview to extremely granular information about local search markets.

The company has offices in San Francisco, CA, Victoria, British Columbia and Seattle, WA.

EXCITING FUTURE UNFOLDS FOR BC MARINE SPACE INDUSTRY

By Ray Dykes

Those of us in it probably didn’t know, but the ocean and marine space industry in British Columbia is an $11.5 billion a year business these days and puts food on the table for 84,000 people through steady jobs.

“No one realized it was that huge and the prospects for growth are quite significant,” says Patrick Marshall, the CEO of Ocean Industries BC, a relatively new association forged between old offshore oil and gas interests and other marine reliant communities and businesses.

But, the big multi-billion dollar figure was being bandied about in July when Ottawa and Victoria came together to announce financial support to kick off a new Ocean Technology Park and Ocean Engineering Centre to be co-located at the University of Victoria’s Marine Technology Centre in North Saanich.

The money from the two governments – each put in $135,000 – will be the much-needed catalyst in a $330,000 feasibility study to prepare a business case or more loosely the planning and development for what is expected to be a $100 million, world-class ocean technology centre and a regional wave tank testing facility, the Pacific Centre for Ocean Energy and Engineering.

The new ocean sciences complex will be built on land in North Saanich dedicated to research and development right opposite the federal Institute of Ocean Sciences run by Fisheries & Oceans. It will come under the umbrella of University of Victoria Properties Inc. which already has a 42,000 sq. ft. Marine Technology Centre on the site.

And the man behind the new push for an ocean technology park – it was his vision and he wrote the paper that convinced the powers that be to back the proposal – Dale Gann is one happy camper about the prospects.

These days Gann has a dual title, he is the Vice President of Technology Parks for the University of Victoria and the Acting President of UVic Properties.

“We created the vision to bring together the interests of academia, government and private industry,” says Gann.

The idea crystallized at the existing Vancouver Island Technology Park – a high-tech University of Victoria enterprise – a 191,000 square foot facility in Central Saanich which brings together 31 different companies in fuel cell, new media, wireless, life science/biotech, ocean technology and ICT sectors.

“We recognized the need to create a focal point for the ocean technology and marine space sector,” recalls Gann.

Now that both the provincial and federal governments are on board, work has begun on creating a business plan for the wave tank testing facility and a master plan for the ocean technology park.

Gann hopes to go before North Saanich Council for a zoning amendment when the planning is completed in the spring of 2009 so that the ocean technology park can apply a higher density of development and create more jobs.

The initial plan for the new Ocean Technology Park includes a 300,000 square foot, multi-user building for marine technology companies and research organizations that would see both facilities providing workspace for industry, government agencies and academic researchers involved in ocean technology.

It is expected to be open “after 2010” and Gann says it will ultimately create 1,500 jobs in the ocean sciences and marine space sector. Currently, he believes there is little to put the sector at the top of young minds when they consider post-secondary education in the province and he feels the ocean technology park will make it a “sector of choice” once more.

The wave tank research and testing facility is a critical element in the new ocean technology park, according to Gann. The new facility will likely be bigger than anything in Canada, more modern with better equipment and will be an ideal replacement for the wave tank facility closing down at UBC.

And Brad Buckham, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UVic,  says the wave tanks (there could be up to three in the facility) will give researchers information in minutes that otherwise would take far longer. He believes the tanks could be used by businesses to “make ocean energy solutions a reality.”

Gann expects the wave tank testing facility will meet the needs of academia and industry as a stand-alone operation, available on a fee for service basis.

He also has one eye trained across the street at the federal Institute of Ocean Sciences and plans to increase collaboration between the two ocean industry research and development facilities. Run by Fisheries & Oceans, the institute is one of a network of nine major scientific facilities across Canada.

The institute is the home to scientists, technicians, support staff, and ship’s crews whose common interests are the coastal waters of BC, the northeast Pacific Ocean, the Western Arctic and all navigable waters east as far as the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.

It has a marine dock, large cargo bays and vital testing equipment which could be shared on a fee for service basis, according to Gann.

Just 90 minutes further north in Nanaimo, Fisheries & Oceans also has its Pacific Biological Station, which it bills as the main facility for the Science Branch of F&O in the Pacific Region.

The Institute of Ocean Sciences in Victoria and biological station in Nanaimo lead the way in ocean science research such as assessing the effect of changes in ocean conditions on marine ecosystems and understanding the role of the ocean in the global climate system.

“Look at the potential here,” says Gann. “We need to bring these folks together, there has not been enough communication between them and they need each other.”

For his part, Ocean Industries BC’s Marshall is also excited about the prospects through the increasing concentration of marine-related research the new Ocean Technology Park will bring to this mix and is almost salivating over the expected commercialization of ocean technology and services and products.

Marshall predicts the new Ocean Technology Park will be a catalyst for ship building, repair and design, and other marine transportation developments.

“The development and testing of designs and innovations will help British Columbia recapture its place in the world for designer vessels and marine structures,” he adds.

The new ocean technology park could also become the new home for an ocean engineering centre, which was lost at UBC when a building was demolished to make way for much-needed residential development (the endowment lands site had been earmarked for such a move from the beginning).

And Marshall says Ocean Industries BC sees the expected concentration over 80 acres of ocean and marine space facilities, brains and innovation in Victoria as an opportunity to ensure the industry grows “in a way that meets and exceeds our expectations for a clean, safe and secure ocean and marine space economy.”

GenoLogics, the leading developer of translational research informatics software, today announced that the Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) has selected GenoLogics to collaborate on developing an integrated biomedical software solution.  

The Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine (SCMM) is an interdisciplinary research center at UTMB and is part of the newly formed Institute for Translational Sciences (ITS). The mission of the SCMM is to serve as a focal interface between clinical and basic scientists, addressing UTMB’s strategic plan for personalized medicine.

“The GenoLogics vision to help clients conduct translational research by developing informatics solutions designed for this purpose was completely aligned with the center’s strategic plan to connect our clinical and basic research areas,” said Dr. Allan Brasier, Director, Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine at UTMB. “In order to enable our goal for personalized medicine, we decided to collaborate with GenoLogics to deploy a biomedical solution that will begin with user-friendly software to efficiently and effectively manage our biospecimens. Investing in a biomedical informatics solution that can also connect to our research data is going to assist the Center with attracting future funding such as the Clinical and Translational Science Awards.”

The Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine is focused on understanding cell stress response pathways using high-throughput systems-based approaches. The biomarkers program is developing new tools to study and classify human diseases at a molecular level, allowing the prediction of individual susceptibility to disease. This research program in personalized medicine will allow the center to make better diagnostics for common medical diseases such as asthma, cancer, diabetes and degenerative diseases.

“In order to validate our biomarkers for common diseases, we needed to exchange information from clinical to research domains, “ said Dr. Kevin Rosenblatt, Director for Biomarker Discovery, Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine. “This can only be done with a biomedical informatics solution that not only tracks our biospecimens, but also the clinical annotations and then connects to the data being generated in our research labs. The GenoLogics Biomedical Informatics solution will have this unique capability to bring it all together in a single platform.”

GenoLogics launched its Biomedical Informatics software solution to address the needs of translational research initiatives. The solution allows clients to track prospective studies, collect patient data at remote sites, provide biospecimen and clinical annotations management and facilitate researchers querying on clinical information and requesting samples. The solution is comprised of five integrated products: BioVault for biospecimen management; BioChronicle for clinical annotations management; BioQuest to enable Web access; BioSphere for study management; and BioSource for electronic patient questionnaires.

“As we develop our new biomedical informatics product suite, it’s important to gain the real-world experience of leading organizations such as the Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine,” says James DeGreef, VP Market Strategy for GenoLogics. “Their input into the design and development of the biospecimen and clinical annotations products will be invaluable, as well as to the deployment of our web query portal as they look to centralize the management of a number of physically separate biobanks across their research enterprise.”

Vigil Health Solutions Inc. (“Vigil”) announces the results of operations for the quarter ending June 30, 2008.

“We are very encouraged to see positive cash flow in this quarter as well as the continued growth in sales bookings” stated Troy Griffiths, President and CEO.

Business highlights

·         Positive cash flow of $50 thousand was achieved, primarily driven by increased receipts from progress billings and customer deposits for new orders.

·         Sales bookings for the quarter were up 28% to $1.16 million compared to $0.9 million in Q1FY08.

·         The Company held an order backlog of approximately $3.97 million at Q1FY09 compared to $1.92 million in Q1FY08.

·         Deferred revenue increased 120% to $1.66 million reflecting the 46 projects in various stages of installation and progress billing, compared to $0.8 million and 23 projects in Q1FY08.

·         Secured a new corporate in the quarter bringing the total to 18 corporate clients and received recurring sales bookings from 4 existing corporates.

Financial Results

Revenue for Q1FY09 was $701 thousand compared to $904 thousand in Q1FY08, a decrease of 23%. The decrease in project revenue reflects construction delays which resulted in a lower number of projects being commissioned in the period compared to Q1FY08. Revenue received from sales and maintenance contracts and replacement products grew by 105% to $155 thousand. 

Bookings for the quarter were up 28% to $1.16 million compared to $902 thousand in Q1FY08.

Vigil had a backlog of approximately $3.97 million (including $1.66 million in deposits and progress billings, recorded as deferred revenue on balance sheet) in Q1FY09 compared to $1.92 million (including $756 thousand in deposits and progress billings, recorded as deferred revenue on balance sheet) in Q1FY08.

The gross margin percentage for Q1FY09 was 47% compared to 52% for Q1FY08. In the first quarter of fiscal 2008 gross margins were above management’s expectations due to a favourable product mix for the projects commissioned in this quarter. While lower than the previous year the gross margin received in the current fiscal are in line with management’s expectations of annual margins of between 42% and 47%.

Operating expenses for Q1FY09 were $614 thousand, up 17% from $524 thousand in Q1FY08.  The growth in expenses was due to an increase in insurance costs (prior to the Company switching to a new lower cost insurance provider), advertising, sales travel expenses and research and development staffing.

Losses for Q1FY09 were $288 thousand, or $0.003 per share an increase of 235% compared to $86 thousand, or $0.001 per share for the same quarter in the previous year. The increase in losses can be attributed to the decrease in revenues relating to the lower number of projects commissioned. However, the high number of projects underway in the quarter and related deferred revenue resulted in a positive cash flow.

The following is a summary of our financial performance for the three months ended June 30, 2008. Detailed financial statements along with Management Discussion and Analysis have been filed with SEDAR and may be viewed at (www.sedar.com) or on the Company web site (http://www.vigil.com/investors/financial-statements/).

GenoLogics, the leading developer of software for translational research informatics, today announced that the Windber Research Institute has selected GenoLogics to collaborate on developing an integrated biomedical informatics software solution.  

Windber Research Institute’s primary focus is improving patient care and quality of life by rapidly translating molecular and clinical research into action. The Institute conducts translational research to identify clinical issues that confront physicians and moves these issues to the laboratory for application of advanced molecular and informatics approaches. The Institute is unique in their approach of recognizing the need to work both from the bedside to the bench, as well as from the bench to the bedside to optimize the use of existing knowledge, new technologies and biomedical systems.

“Pursuing our approach to translational research requires a robust informatics platform, such as the solution provided by GenoLogics, which manages samples and integrates data from many sciences and sources” said Dr. Richard Mural, Chief Scientific Officer at the Windber Research Institute. “We decided to work with GenoLogics to deploy a biomedical informatics solution that will allow us to integrate both discovery and clinical data into a single system for a holistic view, which is necessary to pursue the type of research we are doing.”

GenoLogics launched its new product suite for Biomedical Informatics based on feedback from leading customers such as the Windber Research Institute. “We are building on a positive partnership we’ve had with the Windber Research Institute over the past year from deploying our Research Informatics solution” said GenoLogics technical accounts representative Jason Attanucci. “Our collaborative approach and open communication style with our clients provides us with insights to develop new solutions that advance the breakthrough work being done by groups such as Windber.”

The Institute has developed particular strengths in the areas of tissue banking and patient sample annotation, a patient-centric data model in support of integration of clinical, molecular and imaging data, and a work-flow based system for data analytics that focuses on its unique model for translational medicine. “The Biomedical Informatics product suite from GenoLogics supports these strengths, while allowing us to improve efficiencies and rapidly translate research results into improved patient care,” said Dr. Hai Hu, Senior Director of Bioinformatics at the Windber Research Institute. 

GenoLogics’ Biomedical Informatics software solution helps organizations track observational studies, collect patient data at remote sites, provide biospecimen and clinical annotations management and facilitate researchers querying on clinical information and requesting samples. The suite is comprised of five integrated products: BioVault for biospecimen management; BioChronicle for clinical annotations management; BioQuest to enable Web access; BioSphere for study management; and BioSource to enable electronic patient questionnaires.

“We are very excited to be working with the Windber Research Institute as one of the lead customers contributing to the development of our Biomedical Informatics product suite,” says James DeGreef, VP Market Strategy for GenoLogics. “Our new Biomedical Informatics solution is being designed to complement our market-leading Research Informatics product line, which together will enable institutes such as Windber to pursue their translational research vision.”

GenoLogics, the leading developer of translational research informatics solutions, today announced it is working with the University of Nevada’s Proteomics Center to deploy its lab and scientific data management system.

The Nevada Proteomics Center provides high quality, high-throughput, cost-efficient proteomic and metabolomic services to researchers in Nevada, including mass spectral analyses for small molecules and Edman protein sequencing. The Nevada Proteomics Core receives financial support from Nevada INBRE, a program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

According to Dr. Karen Schlauch, Director of the Center of Bioinformatics at the University of Nevada, “one of our long-term goals as a Bioinformatics Core is to develop robust bioinformatics tools and resources to support integrative studies across our university’s core facilities, enabling a type of systems biology approach. To facilitate our approach, we selected GenoLogics to install their informatics solution called Proteus, which aggregates data from several proteomic technological platforms in our lab and can ultimately be integrated with LIMS across our other cores.”

Proteus combines the strength of a robust multi-science platform while maintaining its unique application features for proteomics research. It improves lab efficiency by automating data capture from instrument and software integrations and by seamlessly tracking projects, samples and results. As a ready-to-use solution, Proteus can be deployed within weeks, while also being easily configured for each lab’s new technologies, workflows and user-level preferences.

The National Institutes of Health require all facilities receiving INBRE support to deliver an annual progress report that includes a list of publications and presentations that reference data generated from INBRE supported cores. In addition to providing a centralized data management system, Proteus enables collaboration with its secure online communication interface called LabLink. As a recipient of an INBRE grant, the institution can easily facilitate collaboration with client groups, as well as publish timely reports for the NIH.

Proteus operates on a highly configurable and adaptable platform that can support many sciences across multiple facilities. The platform includes features such as the Adaptive Reporting Framework, which allows customers to integrate data from different sources and enhance their scientific data analysis. And with an open database architecture, Proteus is a flexible informatics solution that can cost-effectively adapt to the evolving needs of research laboratories and new technologies.

“By using Proteus, we believe the University of Nevada has the ability to efficiently manage their data, which saves them time and allows them to focus on advancing their research,” says Mike Sanders, Proteus Product Manager at GenoLogics. “Proteus also helps INBRE recipients such as the University of Nevada with their requirement to securely publish and share results with external partners by using our online collaboration interface.”