Aboundu Designates IBEW Local 490 Apprenticeship as Certified Training Facility

Aboundi Inc. Recognizes the IBEW Local 490 New Hampshire JATC as Its Certified Electric Connect Training Facility

Innovative Electric Connect solution prepares New Hampshire JATC apprentices to meet the challenges of upcoming ubiquitous high speed networking connectivity frontiers.

Nashua, NH, May 09, 2009 ---- Aboundi Inc. has recognized IBEW Local Union 490 JATC as its first off-site third party certified training facility for its innovative Electric Connect technologies.

Electric Connect is commercially advanced, cost-effective deployment solution that enables high speed Ethernet packets to traverse over existing legacy copper wiring as its networking infrastructure. It encompasses many different transmission mediums, such as in-premise electrical wirings, coaxial cables and voice grade twisted pairs. Electric Connect complements the existing structured networking infrastructure with CAT5/6, fiber and WiFi as its Ethernet based IP applications.

“Aboundi’s Electric Connect technology is very impressive and this new technology synergistically complements our mandate to provide our apprentices with the ‘Green Technology’ knowledge in addition to our Wind and Solar renewable energy technologies program,” said Jonathan Mitchell, training director for the IBEW Local Union 490 JACTC based in Concord, New Hampshire. “The ability to network high speed data over the existing electrical wirings opens up a whole new frontier for many future ubiquitous applications. Its greatest merit is minimizing the need for installing additional expensive CAT5/6 copper for much of the in-premise wiring in order to provide networking applications.”

“I appreciate the opportunities Electric Connect brings forth to our apprentice students," commented Lyle Doughty, Chairman of the IBEW Local Union 490. “This new technology prepares our students to meet more complex challenges in their future endeavors."

“We are most delighted to have the opportunity to introduce our Electric Connect to broader industry professionals at the grass roots level through an organized and well-equipped facility,” said Hong Yu, President and CEO of Aboundi Inc. “We are very honored to become the IBEW Local 490 technology training partner, where our Electric Connect technology and knowledge will benefit the apprentices and provide the opportunity to flourish through knowledge-sharing opportunities. We believe the ability to network utilizing the existing in-premise copper wiring will be the wave of the future. It will not only reduce the Total Cost of Deployment (TCD) but also provide the ability to accelerate many IP based ubiquitous applications, such as smart facility energy management, security / video surveillance, and audio video (AV) appliances networking. We will work diligently with the JATC team to continually upgrade our program as both organizations learn more from the expansion possibilities of our applications.”

About IBEW Local Union 490 JATC NH Electrical Training Facility
IBEW Local 490 JATC is New Hampshire’s new Joint Apprenticeship Training Council electrical training center co-sponsored by the National Electrical Contractor’s Association (NECA), which officially opened on September, 2008 in Concord, New Hampshire. The training center is a state-of-the-art 8,080 square-foot facility with seven classrooms and a large lab to train all skills required to become a licensed journeyman electrician, from pipe-bending, programmable logic control to emerging technologies, including solar / photovoltaic and wind energies. Industry leaders have referred to the facility and its programs as “the future of the electrical industry” in the state.

About Aboundi, Inc.
Aboundi, Inc. is the leading company providing POS/Retail/Hospitality, Small to Medium-sized Businesses (SMB), Municipalities and Enterprises with commercially advanced and cost-effective deployment solutions utilizing the existing/legacy copper wiring as their networking infrastructure. Our combined solutions of ‘Electric Connect’ and ‘WebEyeAlert’, an open system IP based camera brand agonistic remote video surveillance monitoring and management software platform, provide corporate, commercial and institutional clients with unparalleled cost-effective and powerful networking solutions.

PR Contact:
+1-603-889-8188

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IBEW Local 7 Helps Family of Iraq Marine

Lending a Helping Hand

Posted: May 8, 2009 09:27 PM

Updated: May 9, 2009 08:53 AM

By: Elizabeth Corridan

GOSHEN, Mass (abc40) -- A Goshen Marine learned firsthand what true friendship means when his family needed a helping hand. Greg Denys' family was without power for a week last December following the devastating ice storm that crippled much of the region. Greg was not there to put his electrical skills to work because he was on leave from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 7 Apprentice Program serving in Iraq. Denys' says, "It sucks knowing that I'd rather be in that position than have them in that position."

Once the ice had thawed and the lights were back on, Denys' family decided to install a back-up generator. Greg's mom mentioned their plans to one of her son's mentors at the I.B.E.W. who had called to check in. Training Director Mark Kuenzel said, "They had bought a generator and were about to start calling contractors for the install and I said 'Don't do anything. I will call Greg's teacher and class to see what they can do.'"

Greg's class stepped up in a big way. Not only did they provide all the labor for free, they even found a local contractor to donate additional parts for the installation. Classmate Mark Rodrigo says, "We are required to do six hours of community service as part of our program but when it was to help Greg out it was easier to do."

Longtime friend and classmate Jacob McGrath agrees, saying, "Growing up with him, when I learned what happened I was happy to help."

Greg was thrilled when he heard. "It's always good to get news from home but great news like that is even better," he says.

Greg is back home in Goshen with his family. He knows he has more than just classmates looking out for him. He has friends for life and they are all happy to have Greg home.

Students get education in construction from IBEW Local 48

Teens gain hands-on industry experience at Northwest Youth Careers Expo
Posted: 04:00 AM PDT Monday, May 11, 2009
BY JUSTIN CARINCI
With schools across the state cutting shop classes, students might leave high school without having been exposed to technical education. On Thursday, masses of high schoolers got a crash course at the Oregon Convention Center.

Approximately 6,200 students thronged the convention center for the Northwest Youth Careers Expo, spilling out into the lobby and sidewalks. As inspiring as the turnout was, it’s not a substitute for vocational training, expo organizer Drew Park said.

But events like the expo can get students interested and excited about careers in construction and related industries.

“It’s just to spark their interest,” said Park, president and CEO of Columbia Wire and Iron.

“We’re trying to give kids an opportunity to see companies in the local economy, what kinds of jobs they offer, what kind of pay they offer.

“This will at least give them a little glimpse of something, something to put their hands on.”

Tyler Winslow, an Oregon City High School senior, got his hands on a drill at the Hoffman Construction booth. Students were able to practice drilling screws into two-by-fours at the display.

Winslow, who also takes welding instruction at Clackamas Community College, said he’s interested in all types of construction. “I’m in it for whatever,” he said. “I just like building stuff.”

Dick Burnham, operations manager with Hoffman, said he saw plenty of enthusiasm at the booth. “Some of the kids are really energized and asking good questions,” he said.

Various colleges and job programs set up booths for interested students. Other companies set up video games and other displays without any apparent educational purpose.

Not so fast, Park said. Watching students manipulate a backhoe at the Nutter booth, it’s clear some are putting their video game skills to good use.

“Some of the kids, they come in here, with all their gaming abilities, and it’s just ‘boom, boom, boom.’ They get it right away.” Park said. “It transfers directly.”

Ian Bruggeman, a Job Corps student from Estacada, bragged about his prowess after using a backhoe to dunk a softball into a traffic cone. “I got it in three seconds,” Bruggeman said.

“It’s, like, a new world record.”

Jacob Cutts, an Estacada freshman, has plenty of video game experience but took longer to adjust to the machine’s dual joysticks. “It’s kind of confusing with the controls,” he said.

Keeping up with high-school students requires extra effort to stay up to date, said Sarah Hammer, working at the National Electrical Contractors Association and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ booth. “You have to be when you’re working with these kids,” she said.

The union Local 48 booth offered free digital music cards and videos of workers in action. Students entered their names into a drawing for a backpack.

Stressing the electrical connection, the backpack has a solar panel to charge personal electronic devices. “One kid actually called it ‘gangsta,’ ” Hammer said.

Each person who entered the drawing will get a friend request from the union local’s MySpace and Facebook pages. And, yes, Local 48 also tweets.

It looks like the kids are going for it, Hammer said. “People are saying ‘You have a MySpace page? That’s awesome!’
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Philadelphia Auditor's Race Draws Support from IBEW Local 98

Posted on Tue, May. 12, 2009
from the Philadelphia Inquirer web site


Butkovitz rivals say he's part of the problem

By Jeff Shields

Inquirer Staff Writer
This year's race to become the city's fiscal watchdog for the next four years will be a referendum on the man who now holds the job, as Controller Alan Butkovitz's challengers pose this question: Can you be part of the system and still reform it?

The practical advantages belong to Butkovitz, the first-term controller, over his two Democratic rivals in the May 19 primary. His challengers are former Common Pleas Court Judge John Braxton and Brett Mandel, the former head of Philadelphia Forward, which has campaigned for five years to reduce wage and business taxes in the city.

The winner will face Republican Al Schmidt, a former federal auditor, in November.

A Democratic ward leader in the Northeast and a former 15-year member of the House of Representatives, the 57-year-old Butkovitz has gathered support not just from establishment Democrats and unions but from the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity and Mayor Nutter, who was elected in 2007 on a promise to clean up the city.

How do you beat that? By attacking Butkovitz's strengths as his weakness, his opponents have concluded.

"If you're part of the old guard, you're not going to speak up, you're not going to stand up, and you're not going to say anything," said Braxton, 64, a Common Pleas Court judge for nearly 15 years who was thrown off the primary ballot on a technical issue when he sought the same office in 2005.

Mandel and Braxton have both accused Butkovitz of "gotcha" auditing and shameless self-promotion - tailoring audit findings to gain media attention for himself, not to effect lasting changes.

"The professional people who can do great work are being forced to do the 'gotcha' audits and political auditing, and that's causing long-term damage to the Controller's Office," said Mandel, 40, a financial analyst in the Controller's Office under Controller Jonathan Saidel. Mandel has written books on city economic policy and baseball.

Schmidt, 37, formerly worked as auditor in the federal Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, and as a consultant before moving to Philadelphia in 2005 and becoming executive director of the Republican City Committee. He left in January to run for controller.

Schmidt said he offers voters a simple choice in November - choose a minority party candidate to do a job that a Democrat will never do.

Schmidt told voters last week at a Philadelphia Magazine-sponsored debate at the National Constitution Center that he would "do something about the one-party rule that's ruining Philadelphia."

Butkovitz has embraced - his opponents say abused - the bully pulpit of his office, the main responsibility of which is auditing city expenditures by all departments.

By doing so, he has collected some considerable headlines with audits on EMS response times, the poor condition of police facilities, and a hidden $200 million deficit in the school district.

Butkovitz has won national awards, and combined with Nutter and municipal unions on a budgetsaving pension proposal to save $332 million by spreading out payments and adjusting accounting rules. But he has also been criticized for far-afield audits such as of juvenile crime in the subway system.

He has stretched the mandate of his office, speaking out on genocide in Darfur and educating low-income residents on financial services and banking.

"I want to continue fighting for the people of Philadelphia and saving taxpayers' money by eliminating waste, fraud, and mismanagement in city government - while offering new and innovative solutions to some of our most pressing problems," Butkovitz declares on his campaign Web site.

Butkovitz has emphasized performance audits, which test the effectiveness of a department, over traditional department audits, which simply make sure all the numbers line up.

Mandel says Butkovitz's failure to perform complete audits of departments yearly, as mandated by the City Charter, shirks his responsibility and compromises accountability. Butkovitz notes that Mandel's former boss, Saidel, also saw that yearly audits were not the best use of resources, and says his performance audits have revealed $413 million in savings and new revenues.

"I have been a strong and independent voice in the Controller's Office," Butkovitz said at a forum in Mayfair last week, noting that he had taken on such establishment figures as former schools chief executive Paul Vallas and convicted former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo.

Butkovitz is supported by elements of the traditional establishment, including Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and other members of the building trades, and fellow ward leaders. Local 98 gave him $20,000 this year - nearly 30 percent of all his contributions since Jan. 1.

Butkovitz's two appointees on the Philadelphia Housing Authority are Debra Brady, wife of U.S. Rep. and Democratic City Committee Chairman Bob Brady, and Pat Eiding of the Philadelphia Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO; his campaign spokesman, Marty O'Rourke, has the same role for the Parking Authority, which Butkovitz is supposed to be auditing, and until recently, had it for the Controller's Office itself.

Mandel has made the Parking Authority audit a theme of his campaign, and recently held a news conference in front of the Parking Authority's Market Street office before being kicked off the property.

Following a series of articles in The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News about the Parking Authority's spending in the fall of 2007, Gov. Rendell asked Butkovitz for an audit. Butkovitz said Rendell held up the audit for six months by withholding the $80,000 promised for the audit. Butkovitz said he eventually proceeded on his own with the audit, and he asked for it to be rewritten because the findings were not as "sharp or hard hitting" as the underlying information indicated.

Braxton said the alleged foot-dragging is emblematic of the way Butkovitz does business. He said Butkovitz has largely avoided "sacred cows" such as the Police Department and the Department of Human Services, although Butkovitz said he has exposed police overtime abuses.

All the candidates have piled on Butkovitz for creating an office of community affairs, which is headed by his former legislative chief of staff, Lisa Deeley. Butkovitz said the agency is needed to reach out to the community to gather information on potential waste and abuse in city government.

Deeley serves as Butkovitz's campaign treasurer. She can hold the treasurer position because she is an employee only of the school district, one of six controller employees funded by the school district in a decades-old arrangement to pay for district audits. (Most city employees are prohibited from participating in political campaigns.)

In addition to Deeley, three of those employees are Democratic committee people, elected political positions they could not hold if they were on the city payroll. Those employees were there when Butkovitz arrived in office in 2006.

"He can't be expected to root out patronage when his own office benefits from patronage and practices patronage," said Schmidt.

"My concern is, Butkovitz is so entrenched in his political dealings that he cannot function," Braxton said.

Butkovitz has parried these attacks in public with the skill of a veteran politician. He has painted Mandel as a champion of property tax hikes; Mandel acknowledges that he would choose to raise property taxes before "job-killing" wage and business taxes, though says he is in favor of lower taxes all around.

Butkovitz has repeatedly criticized Braxton for his role as chair of the Berean Institute when the charter school in North Philly was skewered in 2008 in a state audit of the school. Braxton said the problems involved the school's management, not the board that oversaw it.