Marketers and advertisers line up to exploit fan excitement over college basketball's March Madness. But Visual Networks is taking a different tack -- promising to help companies track down "bandwidth hogs" who watch video of the games on computers at work.
The company sells a software and hardware package that pinpoints which users on a network are using non-work applications, such as streaming video and music file-sharing.
Watching North Carolina's Sean May dunk during March Madness is too much for some employees to resist, turning them into "bandwith hogs" at work.
(David J. Phillip -- AP)
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"I enjoy March Madness just like most people," Lawrence Barker, president and chief executive of the Rockville technology company, said in a statement. But he said companies complain that their computer networks become bogged down by unauthorized uses "on a daily basis, and particularly during March Madness."
For all their eagerness to help nab March Madness fanatics, executives at Visual Networks say their product does not pass judgment on whether watching basketball or shopping online is permissible in the workplace. "It's certainly up to the enterprise to determine what is recreational and what is business," spokesman David Peikinsaid.
MARYLAND
The Greater Baltimore Technology Council has named Steve Kozak its executive director effective June 1. Kozak, who has been the organization's assistant director since 2001, replaces Penny Lewandowski. She is leaving at the end of May to take a position with the Edward Lowe Foundation in Michigan.
Manugistics Group of Rockville, which sells supply chain management software, opened a software development center in Hyderabad, India. The company said it expects to hire as many as 300 workers there.
Iridium Satellite of Bethesda said it is offering a new push-to-talk communications service for its mobile satellite phones. The company said the service is designed for public- and private-sector first responders in crises. The company said it will offer the service to Defense Department customers by the fourth quarter of this year and to homeland security and commercial customers in 2006.
Getintegrated of Baltimore, a human resources outsourcing provider, acquired Intraforce, a unit of Rockville-based Interpro, on terms that were not disclosed.
DISTRICT
Debevoise & Plimpton, a New York law firm, said veteran corporate defense lawyer W. Neil Eggleston has joined its District office. Eggleston, formerly a partner at the District's Howrey Simon Arnold & White, will focus on white-collar criminal defense work and internal investigations. Recently, he represented Enron board members in multiple shareholder lawsuits. Eggleston also served as associate White House counsel to President Bill Clinton and as deputy chief counsel to the House Iran-contra investigation committee.
United Bankshares now has dual headquarters in the District and in Charleston, W.Va. The company said it established the D.C. office to reflect the importance of its local banking operations, which center on a subsidiary, Vienna-based United Bank.
VIRGINIA
Alion Science and Technology of McLean, which provides support to military and civilian customers, said it has agreed to buy John J. McMullen Associates of Alexandria, which provides naval architecture and marine engineering services. Terms were not disclosed. Both companies are employee-owned.
XO Communications of Reston signed a three-year, $8 million agreement to provide local phone service and high-speed Internet access to the Detroit Public Schools, serving 235 schools and administrative locations.
MCI of Ashburn said it is nearly doubling its wireless Internet access points through a partnership with WiFi provider Boingo Wireless.
Interstate Hotels & Resorts of Arlington signed management agreements to operate 22 upscale hotels in a number of states, many of them carrying the Wyndham brand. The properties recently were acquired by a private investment fund managed by Goldman Sachs and Highgate Holdings.
Plateau Systems of Arlington said the Internal Revenue Service is using its learning management software to train employees in its customer call centers for tax filing season.
