“Husband Of ATV Crash Victim Speaks - KPHO” plus 3 more

Husband Of ATV Crash Victim Speaks - KPHO
GEICO’s Largest Regional Office Turns 35 - Earthtimes
Plasan contract swells to $1B - Rutland Herald
GEICO CIO to Deliver Keynote Address at JBoss World 2009 - Newsblaze.com

Husband Of ATV Crash Victim Speaks - KPHO

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 07:32 AM PDT

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GEICO’s Largest Regional Office Turns 35 - Earthtimes

Posted: 12 Aug 2009 02:55 AM PDT

MACON, Ga. - (Business Wire) On a muggy, overcast August morning in 1974, GEICO employees reported for work at a new, sprawling, four-story, brick-and-glass building in East Macon. A huge storm the night before made the pathways a muddy mess to navigate (the sidewalks and many of the parking areas were yet unpaved), and associates tracked Georgia red clay on their shoes and into the building.

The day was marked with optimism as GEICO opened its Southeast Regional office, one of the first large regional offices of its kind in company history. At 8:10 a.m. that Aug. 12 morning, then-Gov. Jimmy Carter sent flowers and called GEICO management to welcome the company to the Peach State.

"We are so excited to be celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Macon office," said Regional Vice President Mary Zarcone. "Selecting the Middle Georgia area has certainly been a big win for us. It's hard to imagine GEICO without Macon or Macon without GEICO."

Since its opening, GEICO has become one of Macon's largest employers. Thirty-five years ago, the Macon office opened with 150 employees, but by year's end there were nearly 800 associates in the Macon office. The work force continued to grow and 25 years later, in 1999, GEICO opened a second, four-story, brick-and-glass office across the street from the first building to house its Southeast operations. When the second building opened, the company had roughly 3,400 employees and contributed $74 million in payroll to the local and state economy, according to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Earlier in 1974, GEICO operated in a small office space on Poplar Street in the old First National Bank office building downtown. But GEICO relocated from those temporary digs and moved to a large tract of land off Ocmulgee East Boulevard – which was a two lane highway coined locally as the "Cochran Short Route."

The site GEICO chose was formerly Camp Wheeler, a staging location for many U.S. Army units during World Wars I and II roughly five miles outside of Macon city limits in east Bibb County. The military compound was the best one scouted by the GEICO selection committee according to former Macon's 1974 regional vice president Ross Pierce, who was also a member of the selection committee.

"(Camp Wheeler) and the city of Macon had great infrastructure, particularly its mail and phone facilities," Pierce said.

Today, Macon remains GEICO's largest regional office comprised of both Midwest and Southeast regions, as well as consolidated services. With nearly 4,100 employees, the company is the third largest employer in the city, behind Robins Air Force Base and The Medical Center of Central Georgia. The Macon office is also the largest corporate contributor to the United Way of Central Georgia.

"We're elated to have GEICO's largest operation right here in Macon," said Southeast Regional Vice President Shawn Burklin. "We're over 4,000 employees strong – and growing."

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) – as part of Berkshire Hathaway – is the third-largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States*. GEICO provides auto insurance coverage for 9 million policyholders and insures more than 15 million vehicles.

In addition to auto insurance, GEICO offers customers insurance products for their motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), boats, homes, apartments and mobile homes. Commercial auto insurance and personal umbrella protection and life insurance are also available.

As a member of the Berkshire Hathaway group of companies, GEICO is rated A++ for financial strength by A.M. Best Company and ranks at the top of several national customer satisfaction surveys. For more information, go to http://www.geico.com.

*A.M. Best 2008 market share data

GEICO Communications
301-986-3271

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Plasan contract swells to $1B - Rutland Herald

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 06:01 AM PDT

Plasan contract swells to $1B

By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: August 6, 2009

BENNINGTON The good news continued for Plasan North America when it learned on Friday that their contract to supply armor for about 2,250 vehicles for the U.S. Army had increased by 1,700.
Bruce Evey, general manager of Plasan North America, said the contract to supply the armor for all-terrain vehicles which are mine resistant and armor protected was worth about $1.06 billion.
The vehicles are made with Oshkosh Corp. in Wisconsin and are known as MRAP vehicles or, in this case, M-ATVs.
In July, Plasan and Oshkosh won a contract worth $1.05 billion to make 2,224 of the vehicles.
Evey said the new contract would help strengthen the manufacturer's ability to keep some of the new people who have been hired to help them meet the requirements of the first contract and add up to 50 new jobs.
According to Evey, Plasan has already hired 55 to 60 people. The company is still looking for more people, Evey said, both to work on the factory's lines and in positions like engineering, accounting and human resources.
Evey said he also expected the Army may commission even more vehicles in the future that would lead to even more jobs.
The M-ATVs are especially designed to easily navigate difficult terrain and dirt roads like U.S. troops are encountering in Afghanistan while the armor protects the soldiers inside. Larger versions of the vehicle are already being used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Plasan has further plans for development and expansion, Evey said.
While the company is currently able to place armor on about 20 vehicles a week, Evey said they plan to be prepared to armor 1,000 vehicles a month by November.
They are also looking at other sites in the Bennington-area for possible expansion.
While making the armor for the recent contracts, the Bennington site is also involved in another U.S. army-related contract to do research and development for body armor.
The Bennington manufacturer, which has two plants in town but whose parent company is based in Israel, is working on developing some projects for the Canadian market. The parent company, Plasan Sasa, already has several international contracts.
"It's definitely a global market," Evey said.
Plasan's second local site, Plasan Carbon Composites, on Shields Drive, manufactures parts for various auto makers. In January, about 90 people were laid off from that plant. Evey said many of those people were contacted about the open positions at Plasan North America.
The company is working with a Bennington staffing agency, Adecco, to hire people on a temporary basis. Those who show the right skills are offered a chance to stay on, Evey said.
So far, Oshkosh and Plasan have shown great enthusiasm for meeting the requirements of the contact with the Army, even providing one more vehicle than the 45 specified in its first month.
Bennington Town Manager Stuart Hurd said the company's success was good news for the town and the area.
"It almost sounds like it's too good to be true. But it's real and we'll take it," he said.
Plasan North America in Bennington employs about 175 people.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com

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GEICO CIO to Deliver Keynote Address at JBoss World 2009 - Newsblaze.com

Posted: 12 Aug 2009 04:57 AM PDT

RALEIGH, N.C. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that GEICO Group Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Jess Reed will keynote at the 2009 JBoss World conference in Chicago, September 1-4, 2009. Reed will highlight GEICO's deployment of Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise Middleware and their use of open source middleware software for mission critical platforms. GEICO's participation in JBoss World demonstrates the continuing adoption of JBoss by leading global companies.

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) - as part of Berkshire Hathaway - is the third-largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States. GEICO provides auto insurance coverage for 9 million policyholders and insures more than 15 million vehicles.

Reed and his GEICO colleagues have made strides to improve performance, position the company for additional growth and implemented ways to improve the efficiency of IT systems and applications. Most recently Reed's team deployed Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, where GEICO was able to reduce the total cost of ownership over proprietary Java application servers by more than 30%.

"Middleware represents the next wave of open source adoption, which is why we made a strategic decision to standardize on Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise Middleware," said Reed. "We are very pleased with our JBoss deployment and I look forward to sharing our successes and vision with JBoss customers, partners and developers at JBoss World 2009."

"We are happy to welcome GEICO's CIO, Jess Reed, as a featured keynote speaker at JBoss World 2009. This event will highlight some of the best and most innovative open source middleware use cases and technologies and we are proud to count GEICO as one of our customers," said Craig Muzilla, vice president, Middleware, Red Hat. "GEICO has executed a highly successful migration from proprietary Java middleware products to Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise Middleware. Their story is a prime example of how companies can carve costs out of their datacenters and leverage open source to drive innovation."

GEICO's strategic use of Red Hat's middleware solutions led them to win a JBoss Innovation Award in the "Superior Alternative" category. The awards are designed to recognize the outstanding use, innovation and extension of Red Hat and JBoss solutions by Red Hat customers, partners and the open source community.

For more information or to register for the 2009 Red Hat Summit or JBoss World, please visit www.redhat.com/summit or www.jbossworld.com.

About JBoss World

JBoss World is an annual conference that brings together business decision makers, engineers, developers and community enthusiasts from around the world. Attendees will learn about the latest open source advancements from Red Hat solutions and JBoss Enterprise Middleware technologies. Co-located for the first time this year with the Red Hat Summit, JBoss World will take place in Chicago, Sept. 1-4, 2009. The co-location of Red Hat Summit and JBoss World will provide attendees with the unique ability to move between both conferences with one pass, offering the opportunity to gain increased knowledge across the entire application stack.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat, the world's leading open source solutions provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with over 65 offices spanning the globe. CIOs ranked Red Hat as one of the top vendors delivering value in Enterprise Software for five consecutive years in the CIO Insight Magazine Vendor Value survey. Red Hat provides high-quality, affordable technology with its operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, together with applications, management and Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions, including JBoss Enterprise Middleware. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to delays or reductions in information technology spending, the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; the ability of the Company to effectively compete; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company's growth and international operations; fluctuations in exchange rates; adverse results in litigation; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations". In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.

Red Hat
Caroline Kazmierski, 972-892-4509
ckazmier@redhat.com

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