Custom Software Development Florida

AEP's new software system should get your electricity restored more quickly

 Three years ago, after a windstorm caused by Hurricane Ike left about 1 million Columbus households and businesses without electricity, American Electric Power raced to call in repair crews to restore power.

 In the future, those calls are expected to go out faster and more efficiently.

 AEP this week flipped the switch on a new technology that will help the energy provider bring repair crews to the scene of power outages automatically.

Had AEP been using the new technology a few years back, "it would have allowed us to rally many, many more people" much more quickly, said Tom Kirkpatrick, vice president of operations for AEP Ohio. "You could have called 700 people simultaneously."

The software, made by Columbus-based ARCOS Inc., automates the process of calling out utility crews during power outages.

"It's not changing the old way we do it, but making that process more efficient," said Jim Nowak, emergency-restoration planning manager for AEP.

 "That process was structured well. However, it did require manual intervention to go down the list, look up who was next on the list and then go ahead and make the calls," Nowak said.

"During that process, you might have to call an employee's cellphone, then you might have to call his home phone, then maybe his pager. All those manual steps take time, of course."

Add into the mix work rules about who is called first, the complication of vacations and limitations of overtime, and it becomes easy to see how getting someone for a simple repair on a holiday weekend under the old system could take up to an hour.

"For a two-man crew, it could be two, three hours, because it's so labor-intensive to reach these people," said Mitch McLeod, CEO of ARCOS. "But with the software, we can do a lot of things simultaneously."

While AEP officials conservatively estimate they will be able to cut the time to contact work crews by five or 10 minutes, ARCOS points to "some impressive callout reports" from other utilities for whom it supplies the software.

"We have reports that show a four-man crew may take five minutes to call in, where it used to take up to four hours," McLeod said.

 Founded in 1993 as a consulting and custom computer-application development company, ARCOS - the name is an acronym for Automated Roster Call Out System - was quietly rolling along until 1997.

That's when a Midwestern utility company, Alliant Energy Corp., asked McLeod if his firm had a way to streamline the company's call-out system.

J.R. Jewelers Announces the Launch of their Newly Redesigned ...

Fort Lauderdale, FL (Vocus/PRWEB) December 06, 2010

Just in time for the holiday season, J.R. Jewelers has launched a sophisticated, yet easy to use, redesigned website that features many new jewelry items, as well as a unique, loose diamond search.

Utilizing the loose diamond search feature, customers can choose from over 14,000 diamonds based on shape, size, price, certification, color, clarity and cut. Holiday shoppers can also find the perfect gift that fits within their budget, using the shop by price option for affordable, fine jewelry. Also featured on the site are many new, high quality silver jewelry designers. J.R. Jewelers offers the lowest prices online in accordance with manufacturer’s policies and will match any competitor’s advertised price.

J.R. Jewelers is a second generation, family owned and operated business that offers personalized attention to its customers both online and in the store. “It is very important to us that we provide our customers with the finest shopping experience available,” stated Robert Mushro, owner. “The appearance and functionality of our website is an integral part of our reputation. We are very proud of our new site,” continued Mushro.

The site, http://www.jrjewelers.com is powered by ke™ and ke™ Solutions. “We believe that perfection is in the smallest detail,” explained Lorin Morar, ke™Solutions president and founder. “J.R. Jewelers is an e-commerce website that has undergone an intensive reconstruction making it not only more attractive and user-friendly, but also state of the art in terms of security and functionality,” continued Morar.

For over thirty-five years, the J.R. Jewelers name has been synonymous quality and personalized service. Co-owners and spouses, Josephine and Robert J. Mushro, have merged their collective talents and experience to create a beautiful store with a friendly and knowledgeable staff. What originally started out as a business for buying and selling pre-owned, estate jewelry, with the help of their parents, has evolved into a multi-faceted operation with a large selection of new merchandise, original custom designs, repairs and appraisals. Each purchase is beautifully displayed in elegant gift packaging and free shipping is provided on every purchase.

The store is located in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, but serves a global clientele via their website, http://www.jrjewelers.com. Their reputation for having the highest level of integrity, and offering unusual, exquisitely crafted fine jewelry, has won them a loyal, international following.

The Florida Jobbank

Lean software development, an agile toolkit

Computerworld

InfoWorld

COTS based software systems, proceedings. Orlando, FL, February 4 - 6, 2002