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Winners to be Announced at May 12th Eagle Star Awards Gala
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Excitement is building as finalists have been named for Israeli Company of the Year and Deal of the Year for the 9th annual Eagle Star Awards Gala, AICC's community flagship event that honors the people and companies who have contributed most to the Southeast-Israel business relationship. The May 12th event will be hosted by Georgia-Pacific at its headquarters in downtown Atlanta .
Three companies, Given Imaging, Jacada, and ooVoo, will compete for the Israeli Company of the Year award. Three transactions, Odysii Technologies / Documentor, Pluristem Therapeutics / Center for Therapeutics Angiogenesis / Duke University Medical Center, and SeerGate / Integrated Banking Technology will compete for Deal of the Year. An outstanding panel of judges has been assembled to analyze and select the winners: Stephen Fleming, Vice Provost for Economic Development at Georgia Tech; Robin Spratlin, Economic Development Manager for Georgia Power; and John Yates, Technology Partner for Morris Manning & Martin.
Israeli Company of the Year Finalists
- Given Imaging: Yokneam-based company with its North American headquarters in
Atlanta develops, manufactures and markets innovative diagnostic products for the visualization and detection of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Pioneered capsule endoscopy, a proprietary approach to visual examination of the gastrointestinal tract through the use of a miniaturized video camera contained in an ingestible disposable capsule, the PillCam, that can be easily ingested by patients and moves naturally through the gastrointestinal tract without discomfort while wirelessly transmitting to a portable recorder. Enables gastroenterologists to view high quality video, images and data on a computer workstation, utilizing the proprietary RAPID software. As of December 31, 2009, has sold more than 1.1 million capsules in more than 72 countries worldwide, had an installed base of approximately 5,340 Given Systems, sponsored more than 100 clinical trials, and published over 1,100 articles in leading scientific and clinical journals.
- Jacada: Herzliya-based company with corporate headquarters in
Atlanta provides unified desktop and process optimization and software solutions for the customer service and support market. Projects are often deployed in less than six months, and their customers can realize a complete return on investment within 12 months. Jacada's unified service desktop solutions simplify and automate customer service processes -- bridging disconnected systems into a single, intelligent workspace without requiring modification or replacement of existing systems. Contact centers worldwide are using their unified desktop solutions to automate complex processes, improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, reduce operational costs, and enforce and monitor compliance with regulatory policies and procedures. Jacada recently added Permanent General Insurance as a customer, and has released two new solutions, Jacada Advisor and Jacada Insight.
- ooVoo: Ness Ziona-based company, with its business headquarters in New York and operations in
Atlanta , provides a high-quality video-driven communication service to anyone with a computer, broadband connection, and a web camera. Their technology enables people to experience an online face-to-face video conversation at high-resolution with up to six users, video conversation recording, telephone calls, desktop sharing, video messaging, instant message chat and file sharing, with key differentiators being product quality and a multi-point video solution. To date, ooVoo has a registered base of more than 11 million users with an active user base of over 1 million, and is adding 600,000 new users every month. Overall usage in 2009 resulted in 1.4 billion minutes of video chat, and ooVoo is on pace to exceed 5 billion video minutes and 120 million video calls in 2010 with revenue expected to continue growth by targeting key consumer and business-to-business markets.
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Deal of the Year Finalists
- Odysii Technologies / Documentor: Odysii, a Herzliya Pituach-based developer of software solutions for targeted suggestive selling teamed up with Documentor, a Fayetteville, Georgia-based provider of Point-of-Sale systems with a renowned user friendly approach exclusively for the Quick Service Industry. Adding Odysii's capabilities supports Documentor's ongoing effort to meet the needs of its loyal customer base. The ability to increase the average ticket while the customer is placing his order is extremely valuable to any franchise and HQ. Odysii's solution transforms the POS from a passive utility into a proactive marketing tool that drives sales. This additional value was the driving force for Documentor's decision to engage in a strategic partnership with Odysii to provide their solutions for Arby's, KFC, and other major franchises.
- Pluristem Therapeutics / Center for Therapeutics Angiogenesis / Duke University Medical Center: Pluristem Therapeutics, a Haifa-based publicly traded bio-therapeutics company dedicated to the commercialization of unrelated donor-patient placenta derived cell therapy products for a variety of disorders, is conducting a Phase I clinical trial for Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI) at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and at the Center for Therapeutics Angiogenesis (CTA) in Birmingham, Alabama. Pluristem chose these institutions because of their excellent reputations as referral centers for patients afflicted with peripheral vascular disease, their experience in conducting FDA-approved clinical trials using cellular therapeutics, and for the important relationships that existed and continue to develop at these institutions.
- SeerGate / Integrated Banking Technology: SeerGate Ltd., a Ra'anana-based technology company with a fully owned US subsidiary in Atlanta, Georgia, signed a strategic agreement with Cedar Park, Texas-based Integrated Banking Technology (IBT) to deploy SeerGate's Secured LockTM system, a secure interbank payment and invoicing solution, for IBT's growing portfolio of clients. The deal provides SeerGate with an immediate reach to over 200 banks in the US and initial penetration to the P2P and Small Business multi-trillion dollar payment markets where transactions are mostly paper checks and cash based. It will enable IBT's financial institutions to expand and re-leverage their brands and customer relationships directly into the e-payment space while recapturing revenue streams and customer loyalty lost to alternative payment methods.
The Chamber will also recognize past AICC Board Chairman Laurie Olivier (Veritas Venture Partners) with the Chamber Founders Award and the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast with the Community Partner Award. Georgia-Pacific Vice President Sheila Weidman will be the host speaker for the event. Legendary Israeli entrepreneur and investor Dr. Yossi Vardi will be the Israeli keynote speaker, and Crown Diamond Vice President Daryl Pinsky will be the Emcee. The event website, www.eaglestargala.com, features all the event details including online ticket purchasing.
In addition to Georgia-Pacific as Host, sponsors to date include The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, and DeutscheBank Alex.Brown (Gold Sponsors); Atlana Jewish Times (Media Sponsor); BDO, Sutherland, Precision Components International, Grant Thornton, Smith Gambrell & Russell, Given Imaging, Government of Israel Economic Mission to the Southern Region, and Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell (Bronze Sponsors); Veritas Venture Partners, Ballard Spahr, The Miller Richmond Company, Verint Witness Actionable Solutions, Jones Day, SRI Travel, Baran Americas, Jacada, T.I.B.A. Parking, Dale M. Schwartz & Associates, Georgia Power, Mark Black Promotions, Crown Diamond, Habif Arogeti & Wynne, Consulate General of Israel, Carr, Riggs & Ingram, and TechCFO (Patron Sponsors).
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