Online shopping is at an all-time high. As people flock to the Internet in search of good deals, one Central Florida company is helping consumers easily find and buy products online.

Channel Intelligence (CI) - based in Celebration, Fla. - is a software company that provides e-commerce solutions to online retailers such as Best Buy, Target, Neiman Marcus, Circuit City, Overstock.com and hundreds of others. CI's innovative technology not only enables consumers to find available products (in real-time, in-stock status), but also provides them with information on where to purchase the products whether it be on-line or in stores. The company also helps manufacturers by enabling them to track and manage their inventory levels and pricing, while comparing the data with competitors.

Channel Intelligence recently expanded their headquarters operations, adding 420 new jobs and a capital investment of $33 million.

For more info, click here.

DataSite Orlando announced that it will invest $26 million to renovate an existing 130,000 sq. ft. facility into a 21st century data center that prioritizes energy efficiency. Located in Orange County's South Park on John Young Parkway, building features will include thermoplastic roof membrane, capturing rainwater for liquid cooling, ducted returns to remove warm air before it mixes with cold air and participation in an energy-efficiency program offered by Progress Energy.

In addition to an energy-saving facility re-fab that will put an important new technology infrastructure piece in place here in Central Florida, the project is expected to generate 39 new jobs averaging salaries of $70,000.

Owned by BURGES Property + Company, DataSite Orlando provides a secure facility serving high tech companies with varying needs in purpose-built data centers. The facility offers customizable space and true redundancy with fail-safe power from two independent utility feeds from separate substations.

Commuter rail. UCF College of Medicine funding. Film production incentives. Support for these, and many other issues vital to Metro Orlando's economic development success, are included among the EDC's list of 2009 Legislative Priorities, which was recently approved by the EDC Board of Directors. Click here for a summary of the EDC legislative priorities.

Throughout the coming months, the EDC's Legislative Committee will work closely with university, local government and industry trade association partners to help ensure that our delegations understand the importance of their support for priorities that help build and diversify our economy.

Companies and government agencies alike are all looking to cut costs right now. However, they don't want to sacrifice training for employees. The solution? Using virtual worlds for training purposes.

Virtual worlds provide a safe, secure and private training environment while reducing expenses incurred from traveling for conferences and other training.

Here is what three companies in Orlando are doing:

Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) is in the process of designing a new virtual classroom which utilizes avatars for instructional delivery that will provide the Department of Homeland Security online/virtual world with 3D secure social network capabilities for training and education. Previously, ECS provided the National Guard Bureau will a virtual world called Nexus. And under a new contract with U.S. Army's RDECOM, ECS will adapt its Nexus virtual world program to train military medical professionals.

Forterra Systems, Inc builds distributed virtual world technology for defense, homeland security, medical, corporate training and education industries. The company's On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) technology provides private, service-oriented virtual worlds for global collaboration, training, simulation and planning.

Lockheed Martin has created Virtual World Labs to shape the future of training with the creation of collaborative simulation learning and data visualization solutions for government, military and corporate sectors. The company utilizes tools that enable it to modify the virtual world capabilities to the customer's needs and to maximize human potential. The company's UltiSim platform can be used to develop rules-based learning scenarios, as well as true non-linear simulations using high-fidelity dynamic/physics based models.

Online Support Center to bring 750+ jobs to Orange County

Kaplan University, a leading provider of online higher education, announced this week they will open a new online student support center in a two-story, 124,000-square-foot space at 12650 Ingenuity Drive in the Central Florida Research Park. Slated for opening in January, the facility will house admissions advisors, financial aid officers, human resources and information technology representatives who will support Kaplan University's online students.

Kaplan has already begun hiring in Orlando. The University expects to employ as many as 750 people over the next four years. In announcing this location decision, Andrew Rosen, President of Kaplan University, said, "We looked at 20 different cities and decided that the Orlando site was the best fit for the University because of its affordable cost of living and great labor pool."

Kaplan has four other online student support centers in South Florida, as well as centers in Chicago and Phoenix. Kaplan University is part of Kaplan Higher Education, which serves more than 80,000 students through 70 campus-based schools across the United States and in Europe.

According to a recent report from the Pew Hispanic Center, one of the fastest growing regions for Hispanics isn't Miami, New York or Los Angeles... it's Orlando, Fla.

Hispanics currently make up 22 percent of the population in Metro Orlando and that percentage is growing. Between 2000 and 2007, the Hispanic community grew 4 percent in the U.S. while Metro Orlando experienced a 29 percent growth rate. In fact, Orange County, Fla., ranked 17th in the increase of Hispanic residents and Lake County, Fla., ranked 18th among the 25 fastest-growing Hispanic counties in the country during this same time.

This diversity is a competitive advantage when it comes to business and personal choices for relocation. Over 20,000 Hispanic owned businesses have chosen to locate their operations in Metro Orlando and many of the region's top businesses are led by Hispanics. From the personal side, one out of every six residents in Metro Orlando was born outside the United States, the majority of which (about two-thirds) are from Latin America.

The region's diversity was recently recognized by Forbes when they named Orlando as one of "America's newest immigrant capitals" and the #5 spot for immigrants. The reason? Forbes cites plentiful jobs. And while many know Orlando as a tourism destination, the region is also home to a vibrant $13.4 billion technology industry in fields such as photonics and optics, modeling and simulation, digital media and many others.

Orlando's access and proximity to Latin America is another reason the area is considered a top spot for immigrants. And with recent announcements for direct flights from Copa Airlines to/from Panama, Tam Airlines to/from Brazil and JetBlue to/from Colombia, access to Latin America is easier than ever from Orlando. Not only does this make travel more convenient for leisure and business travelers alike, but it also opens opportunities for companies looking to export products and trade with Latin America.

Building on the belief that a culturally diverse community makes good business sense, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC) established a Minority Channel initiative aimed at encouraging minority owned and led businesses in targeted industries to consider Orlando as the site of choice for relocation or expansion. For more information on this initiative, contact us.

Most of us living in Florida take our comfort for granted. We can even control our own personal environment with the simple flick of a switch -- until we walk outside. But what if there were a way to create a personal air conditioner portable enough to take with you anywhere you went?

This may seem a bit decadent for everyday life, even in our summer heat, but what if your job required you to wear a heavy, barely-breathable suit for safety reasons under harsh environmental conditions? Imagine a solider working in a sealed biohazard suit in a HazMat situation in Iraq, or a firefighter attempting to control an intense chemical blaze.

In these cases a personal air conditioner could actually save lives. The concept of personal climate control, one that has interested the military for decades, caught the attention of Dr. Daniel P. Rini, founder of Oviedo-based Rini Technologies, Inc. (RTI). An expert in cooling technology, Rini's company recently produced the first viable prototype of an ultra-portable personal air-conditioner.

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Two Olympic gold medals (1996 and 2000) prove softball is very, very good to Dot Richardson. Singled out as a star with the first U.S. hit and the first softball homerun in Olympic history, she was an NBC commentator at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, delivering play-by-play as her former U.S. Women's Softball Team won its third consecutive gold medal.

However, as an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, Richardson has a more enduring and direct impact on the lives of other American and international athletes of all sports. That includes Central Florida residents who want to improve fitness and athletic prowess. As medical director of the National Training Center (NTC), part of a 300-acre sports, health and education campus in Clermont, Fla., west of Orlando, Richardson establishes the vision and goals for this nonprofit branch of South Lake Hospital. Her focus is on state-of-the-art facilities,
sports science, performance programs and research in adolescent obesity, activity levels and shoulder injuries.

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Many may see the resemblance of Iake Eissinmann in Tony, the young alien in Disney's popular classic family films Escape to Witch Mountain and Return From Witch Mountain, or from the short TV series The Fantastic Journey, among other roles before he moved behind the camera.

In his latest adventure, Iake, along with his actress/writer wife Alexi, escaped from L.A. to Orlando four years ago for a less hectic lifestyle, with "no business plan" in hand. In late 2005, the creative duo formed Mighty Mojo Studios, a digital animation company based in Celebration.

The Eissinmanns and team of artists are working on the studio's first project, The Mystery of?, a half animation/half live action children's production that seeks to inspire learning in kids through the mysteries of the natural world. The title is already under contract for distribution on DVD. It seems they have found their mojo.

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Dom Meffe is one of those instant-likeables. Maybe it's because he hails from the tight-knit, friendly hometown of Pittsburgh. Maybe it's because he's just a good guy...with a big heart for his family, his employees, his clients and his business. Maybe it's because he tells good stories and draws interesting comparisons to his life and work. Maybe it's because he's someone you can relate to...who admits failures, has had tragedies in his life, and has done good. Or maybe it's because he's a survivor.

Cancer has inflicted a number of people in his family, including himself and his wife, and took his sister's life. And this is what's driven him to do what he's doing now...own and acquire a growing number of nuclear pharmacies to better diagnose and treat chronic conditions such as cancer.

In fact, only one year after founding Orlando-based Triad Isotopes, Meffe, 43, who has been a central figure in the pharma business over the past decade, is heading up what is now the fourth largest radiopharmaceutical services company in the industry. Triad has grown from 24 to 291 people with $90 million in current revenue and projections to double that in two years. That growth has come from 13 strategic M&As throughout the southeast...with many more planned over the next few years. And, Triad is among numerous specialty pharmaceutical companies (CuraScript, Axium, ACS and ICore) that have made their headquarters home in the nation's newest emerging biotech hub of Orlando.

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