Access Information Management has purchased Washington Archives Management. Prior to the acquisition, Fife-based WAM was the largest, independent records and information management provider in the Seattle/Tacoma area.

"This acquisition of Washington Archives Management from Mark and Bill Naubert represents the largest in Access history and extends our service coverage to include nine U.S. states," said Rob Alston, CEO of Access Information Management.

LOTT Clean Water Alliance has issued a request for qualifications from creative professionals experienced in developing interactive games for websites.

The RFQ is available online. Submissions must be received by 4 p.m. Jan. 31, 2012. For more information, contact Susie Vanderburg at (360) 528-5742.

Pierce County has installed electric vehicle charging stations at its downtown Tacoma campus and the Public Services Annex. The stations are available for public use at a cost of $3 per charge.

The stations operate by self-serve kiosks and accept major credit and debit cards.

Online voting, the London Summer Olympics and exploits of enterprise top the list of Internet Identity's security concerns for 2012.
 
"Cyber criminals have gotten much smarter about capitalizing on current events to swindle victims. In this sense, cyber criminals are acting just as much like psychologists and pollsters as thieves," said IID President and CTO Rod Rasmussen. "In 2012, there are several events that cybercriminals have had years to prepare for."

An electronic application that quickly and efficiently finds loans, grants, and other useful small business resources, and its developer, Somesh Kumar of Freemont, Calif., won first prize and $5,000 in a nationwide competition sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The competition and resulting seven "apps" are meant to put new and useful Web tools at the fingertips of growing entrepreneurs.

As a result of SBA's "Apps for Entrepreneurs Challenge," a competition for tech-savvy developers to build new and useful web tools for small businesses, entrepreneurs can reach for their smartphone or tablet and search federal, state and local databases for vital information by using one of seven award-winning apps.

Avaunt Technologies has acquired REI Creative Inc.

"We are significantly expanding our overall business technology solutions especially through website design and Web optimization by adding REI Creative Principal Jeff Allen to our Avaunt team," Avaunt President Steve Seroshek said. "Jeff and REI Creative have extensive experience and client relationships in central and eastern Washington as well as Pierce County."

Michael Radzienda M.D., SFHM has joined Sound Physicians as chief medical officer for the Midwest region. He also will serve Sound Physicians' Northeast region practices. Radzienda most recently served as vice president for hospital medicine and clinical effectiveness at Vanguard Health Systems, a 25-facility, for-profit hospital management corporation with more than 20,000 employees. He is a Senior Fellow in the Society of Hospital Medicine and serves on the organization's Practice Management committee. Radzienda also has held faculty appointments at three medical schools. He graduated from Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine.

Internet Identity has released its list of the top security trends from 2011. Some specific trends that Tacoma-based IID saw emerge during the past year include the extended enterprise coming under assault, the emergence of dangerous mobile applications and cybercriminals increasingly harnessing the power of social media.

The top Internet security incidents and trends from 2011 include:

State regulatory staff are proposing to give only a fraction of the revenue Puget Sound Energy is seeking in its latest electric and natural gas rate increase request.

In testimony filed Wednesday, staff members of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission are recommending PSE be allowed to raise electric rates by only $39 million a year and $1.5 million for natural gas rates, significantly less than the $152 million and $30 million, respectively, the utility requested last June.

Workers looking for a jump-start on their holiday gift lists will have a harder time browsing for bargains at the office. The majority (60 percent) of chief information officers interviewed by Robert Half Technology said their companies block access to online shopping sites – up from 48 percent last year.

Another 23 percent said they allow access but monitor activity for excessive use. The CIOs whose firms allow online shopping said they expect employees to spend four hours per week, on average, surfing for deals this holiday season.

CMIT Solutions has opened an information technology services franchise in Tacoma.

Alan Bush, the franchisee, has more than 26 years of experience in professional services, IT and managed services with Fortune 500 companies. Before he concentrated exclusively on IT, Bush held engineering and management positions at
Weyerhaeuser, Hewlett-Packard and Electronic Data Systems. He has also worked as a Realtor and is a Army veteran.

The Broadway Center for Performing Arts is opening its information technology department to proposals from service providers.

"As we've grown and become more complex, it's time to look at a new model," said Gabe Garcia, who currently manages IT service with the assistance of a third-party contractor.  "Our needs have increased beyond the capacity of a single internal staff member."

Online shopping continues to win over millions of Americans this holiday season, with a record number planning to hit retailers' websites today – Cyber Monday – to take advantage of one-day only deals, percentages off websites and free shipping offers.

According to a survey conducted for Shop.org by BIGresearch, 122.9 million Americans plan to shop on Cyber Monday this year, up from the 106.9 million who shopped on Cyber Monday in 2010. Eager to meet consumers' demands, nearly eight in ten (78.4 percent) retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, according to a survey released last week.

A Kirkland company working on a groundbreaking project with Mason County PUD No. 3 has received the "Smart Power" award in the 2011 Cleantech Open competition. GridMobility won the award for its signal technology, which enables business, industry and consumers to choose electricity sources based on their personal preferences.

GridMobility is collaborating with PUD 3 and the Bonneville Power Administration on a pilot program to measure the ability to match renewable energy generation with customer energy use. The company's Renewable Demand Response software is testing the time-shift of electricity use based on renewable electricity delivery.

Thirty-nine state and territorial attorneys general today asked federal authorities to prevent foreign manufacturers from using stolen software to illegally slash costs and unfairly compete with American companies.

The group - which included National Association of Attorneys General president and Washington state AG Rob McKenna - said this action will strike back against unfair competition, which costs U.S. jobs.



 

Despite large budget cuts, the Employment Security Department has extended its contract with Microsoft to make the company's entire suite of online courses available for free to Washington residents for another year. The contract originally was scheduled to end today but will be continued through October 2012.

Employment Security Commissioner Paul Trause said the extension reflects his decision to make cost-effective customer services a priority as tough budget choices are made.

The University of Washington has won a $2.1 million federal grant to train graduate students in the burgeoning field of information assurance and cybersecurity.

The four-year Scholarship for Service grant will eventually provide full-ride scholarships and stipends to 18 graduate students at the UW Tacoma Institute of Technology and UW Seattle campus, said Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, director of the UW Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, which received the grant.

A website claiming to be the "official provider of Washington driver license forms" has gotten the attention of the state Department of Licensing. The website asks customers to pay $24.95. It's not clear what that payment will get them, but it won't renew a driver license.

"The only 'official provider' of Department of Licensing forms is the Department of Licensing, and they are free," said Alan Haight, the agency's director. "Our agency website is safe, secure and offers a lot of time-saving services."

On-the-go access to the information riders need to take advantage of bus and train service throughout the region just got easier with the launch of a new Sound Transit website for smartphones.

When users of devices that feature HTML5- compliant smartphone technology visit the agency's website they are automatically directed to the new site offering more convenient access to service information. Riders can:

Internet Identity has received the Online Trust Alliance's online trust leadership award.
 
Tacoma-based IID was recognized in the "excellence in business solutions" category for its ActiveTrust Resolver product. OTA received more than 200 nominations for the online trust leadership awards this year. Past winners include Bank of America, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Cisco, Microsoft, PayPal and VeriSign.