American-Israel Chamber of Commerce

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Mika Liss (center) receives the Israeli Company of the Year award for Tescom	Oded Ilan of RAD Data Communications (2nd from left), and BellSouth’s Mel Levine (center) and Doug Duett (2nd from right) receive the Deal of the Year award

Tescom was named “Israeli Company of the Year” at the May 23^rdEagle Star Awards Gala in recognition of the jobs they have created, strong customer base in the region, and community involvement.  RAD Data Communications and their U.S. partner, BellSouth, were recognized as “Deal of the Year” for utilizing Israeli technology to restore communications to New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The Eagle Star Awards Gala is AICC’s community flagship event that honors the people and companies who have contributed most to Southeast-Israel business relationship.  The event was hosted this year by IBM at their Atlanta corporate campus, and featured a keynote presentation of how this global technology leader is incorporating Israeli innovation and expertise in solutions for its customers worldwide.

Also recognized were Dr. Mark Braunstein who received the “Chamber Founders” award for his leadership of AICC since its founding and as the inventor of the acclaimed “Industry-Specific Business Exchange” economic development model.  The Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) received the “Community Partner” award in recognition of its collaboration with the Chamber on programs that showcase Israeli security technologies to both the public and private sectors in the Southeast.

“We congratulate these outstanding companies for their role in bringing cutting-edge technologies to the US market and for their contributions to the economic growth and reputation in our region and Israel.  We were also pleased to showcase the contributions of a key individual and organization to the advancement of our cause,” said André Schnabl, AICC Board chairman.

Other finalists for “Israeli Company of the Year” included Metalink and Vyyo.  Other finalists for “Deal of the Year” included Foamix/Stiefel Laboratories and McKesson/Medcon.

Tel Aviv-based Tescom (www.tescom-usa.com) is a software quality assurance consulting company that works with clients to help improve the performance of their information technology.  The company’s US headquarters is in Atlanta, with major customers in the region including UPS, CDC, City of Atlanta, and Georgia Department of Transportation.

Tescom went public on the Tel Aviv exchange in 2004 with a second successful IPO in London’s AIM market in 2005.  The company is active in both AICC and the community, sponsoring events and serving on committees and technology organizations.  The management team is composed of both Israelis and Americans with backgrounds in business and technology.

Tel Aviv-based RAD Data Communications (www.radusa.com) and its US partner, BellSouth (www.bellsouth.com) received the Deal of the Year award.  RAD Data Communications manufactures network access equipment for data communications applications that are sold in the telecommunications, enterprise, and government markets.

In a competitive environment, RAD was awarded a contract with BellSouth to replace an existing router product that was successfully utilized in providing wireless broadband service to restore data communications to New Orleans immediately following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.  Three wireless base stations were installed on the city’s tallest building to provide high-speed Internet access, allowing businesses to communicate with their customers and other companies.

The Chamber thanks chairman Jonathan Minnen (Smith Gambrell & Russell) and our corporate sponsors for their support of the 5^th annual Gala:

IBM, Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Coca-Cola Company, Grant Thornton, BellSouth, Delta Air Lines, Smith Gambrell & Russell, McKesson, TTI Telecom, Veritas Venture Partners, Troutman Sanders, Deutsche Bank, McKenna Long & Aldridge, National Distributing Company, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, WMLB, Given Imaging, Consulate General of Israel, The Miller Richmond Company, Marsh and McLennan, Omni National Bank, and The Blass Group.

For complete details, visit www.eaglestargala.com.

The May 17^th joint event in Atlanta of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, SE Region and Georgia Biomedical Partnership went international through an innovative videoconference that connected an audience of Israeli medical technology companies gathered at IBM in Petach Tikvah.

The first part of the program introduced the Israeli audience to an overview of Georgia’s life science industry, the services of AICC and GBP, and the success already achieved with Israeli bioscience companies including Given Imaging, Mazor, dbMotion, ProChon, Alpha Omega, Proneuron, and Medcon.  The Atlanta area is one of the leading centers of Israeli company activity with almost 50 of them maintaining their US or regional headquarters in the region.

The program next focused on the Israeli side with presentations to the Georgia audience by four cell therapy companies — CellCure, GeneGrafts, Pluristem, and Insight Biopharmaceuticals.  It has been determined that this sector is a “sweet spot” for collaboration due to GTEC (Georgia Tech-Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues) and concentration of private companies such as Cell Dynamics and Cryolife in the Atlanta area.

The event concluded with an interactive panel session featuring CEOs of 3 Israeli bioscience companies and their Georgia-based executives and Israeli VC firm Medica Ventures who discussed various issues related to operating in the multi-country environment.

“This experimental event exceeded our expectations and served to begin a constructive dialogue between our two life science communities,” said Charlie Harrison (Critical Strategies), chairman of the Chamber’s Medical Committee.

AICC thanks organizational co-sponsors ILSI and GBP and corporate sponsors IBM, Fleishman-Hillard, Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer, d&a, and Merchant & Gould for their support of this unique program.