VAR500: Accenture's Airport Security Deal; Agilex Aims For Quality

VAR500 Solution Providers In the News

Seems as though a week doesn't go by without some news appearing about airport security. Accenture is jumping into the fray, providing security solutions to a European airport. Other VAR500 solution providers are expanding, creating positions and even buying the naming rights to stadiums.

Accenture Leads Airport Security Tech Team

Accenture, in conjunction with IT vendor Vision Box and solution provider CApGemini, design and deliver Automated Border Control Systems (ABCS) at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. The new systems will reduce the waiting time of travelers passing through one of the world’s busiest airports during peak immigration periods by more efficiently validating passenger identities and documentation. Accenture will initially deliver 36 electronic border-crossing gates to be used at Schiphol airport during 2011. The ABCS will use the latest in biometric technologies, including facial recognition, to validate passenger identities and passports.

SIS Opens New HQ

SIS this week opened a new corporate headquarters in Lexington, Ken. The new facility includes a data center, called the SIS Managed Solution Center, which will focus on providing high availability and recovery solutions. The solution provider invested $5.5 million in the expansion, which will help the VAR offer cloud computing, storage management, disaster recovery, application support and IT outsourcing as part of its IT solutions portfolio.

Agilex Creates Quality Chief Position

IT solution provider Agilex, which specializes in healthcare, national security and public sector solutions, has named Mark Scheffel to the newly created position of Chief Quality Officer. Scheffel joins Agilex from Northrop Grumman, where he was responsible for the development and delivery of business process management and human capital management solutions within the federal civilian sector. He will spearhead ongoing efforts internally to implement process improvement and quality control measures for more consistent, higher quality product and service delivery.

A New Hire For GreenPages

Michael Halperin has joined integrator GreenPages Technology Solutions as vice president of managed services. In this role, Halperin will be responsible for leading the managed services division’s engineering and operations teams, strengthening its services portfolio, and driving growth objectives. Halperin has more than 20 years of industry experience, and has led the build-out and transformation of multiple IT Services businesses.

Rutgers' BMOC: High Point

It's a sign of the times: Not even universities can resist selling off the naming rights to their stadiums during this tough economy. And it looks like High Point Solutions got a relative bargain, signing a 10-year, $6.5 million deal with Rutgers University, which gives High Point naming rights to the 52,454-seat football stadium. The agreement is far less than the $1.5 million to $2 million annual payout over 15 to 30 years that Rutgers was initially seeking.