Long Island Technology Briefs: August 15, 2003

Long Island Business News, Aug 15, 2003 by Ken Schachter

Got a really tough cleaning job? Need to get rid of anthrax endospores along with that dirt and grime? Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have the product for you.

Brookhaven is offering to license technology for what it calls a Thrax-Vac, which takes a conventional vacuum cleaner and turns it into an anthrax eater.

After sucking the anthrax endospores into the device through conventional vacuum cleaner technology, a second stage tricks captured spores into germinating, thus rendering themselves vulnerable, according to the laboratory's office of intellectual property and sponsored research.

The activated spores are then bombarded with alpha particles in the third stage (you won't find this feature in your conventional Hoover). The result, the laboratory says, is that the spores are effectively killed and are rendered harmless.

The laboratory said the patent-pending technology could be incorporated into a portable device comparable in size to a home vacuum for first-responders or a building's heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system.

Huntington Town House gets wireless network

Rhona Silver's Huntington Town House is putting a new item on its menu: wireless Internet access.

Guzinta Networks is setting up Wi-Fi access in the catering hall's ballrooms and event centers to coincide with Sept. 24 Getting Back to Business Trade Show held by The Chamber of Commerce Regional Business Partnership.

The catering hall will be able to access the Internet through a new Wi-Fi network being installed by Guzinta Networks.

Mitchell Levy, president of Deer Park-based Guzinta, said more than half of the building will have access to the wireless 802.11b network.

Why would a catering hall bother with Wi-Fi?

Levy said attracting trade shows and corporate meetings is only part of the equation. He said the Huntington Town House sees potential in multi-player online games, in which guests at a bar mitzvah, for instance, could compete.

The Townhouse will be able to roll out portable, web-enabled devices and have groups access online gaming and offer that service to a party, he said. For catering halls like Leonard's [of Great Neck], they can offer this and be one step ahead of their competition.

Sandata Technologies names new president

Port Washington-based Sandata Technologies Inc. has signed on Stephen Silverstein, a former executive at Bell Sports Corp. and a Wall Street financier, as its new president.

Sandata, a provider of payroll and billing technology services, recently dropped its listing on the Nasdaq and was taken private by a group of executives led by Chairman and Chief Executive Bert Brodsky, a Sands Point neighbor of Silverstein.

Silverstein, 52, most recently a consultant for Sandata, was co- founding partner of Thompson Street Capital Partners, a $143 million private equity investment fund, and served as president and chief executive of Commack-based Bell Sports, the leading brand of bicycle helmets.

Softheon Inc. lands big MONY account

Hauppauge-based Softheon Inc. has landed a contract with the MONY Life Insurance Co., a unit of the MONY Group Inc.

MONY chose Softheon's technology to streamline its insurance underwriting by reducing paper files and connecting back-office and front-office systems.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

MONY's goal is to make it as easy as possible for producers to do business with us, including reducing the time it takes us to process and underwrite new business, said Christopher Owen, vice president of strategic development for MONY's life insurance division.

The right technology platform will certainly help us achieve our ambitious goals, he said.

Analyst swings, misses on Cablevision forecast

Red flags raised by S.G. Cowen analyst Lowell Singer about the impact of DSL price cutting on Cablevision Systems' Optimum Online service appears to be misplaced, or, at least, premature.

In a research note, Singer said we continue to view the RBOCs [regional Bell operating companies] recent DSL price cuts as a significant [near-term] threat to the cable operators.

In a second-quarter earnings preview, Singer projected that Cablevision would add 63,000 net data subscribers.

But Cablevision defied the skeptics by adding 68,300 high-speed data customers. Cablevision also outstripped Cowens' estimate (168,600) on additional subscribers to its iO digital cable service by adding 196,200.