SmarterKids.com plans shipping center
NEEDHAM – SmarterKids.com, Inc., which had been using J.L. Hammett Co., a school supplies firm to pick up and distribute its orders, announced that it will open a 140,000 square-foot distribution center this summer in Mansfield. An online retailer of children’s toys, SmarterKids decided to develop its own distribution center when its requirements exceeded Hammett’s capacity, the company announced.
CBSI opens regional offices
PROVIDENCE – Complete Business Solutions, Inc., (CBSI) opened its Eastern regional offices and Eastern Operations Delivery Center last week in the historic Foundry Complex on Promenade Street. The region covers the territory from Montreal, Canada to Florida and as far west as Texas. CBSI’s employment in Rhode Island has doubled in the last 18 months to 130. The company was recently awarded a $16.8 million contract by the state Employees Retirement Board to design, develop, and implement a new state-of-the-art pension administration system. The company’s national headquarters are in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
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Bluestreak.com opens four new offices
NEWPORT – Bluestreak.com, an interactive marketing solutions provider, has opened offices in San Francisco, New York City, Chicago and Boston. The company was a year old in March, and has already seen employment grow from nine to 47. The company offers media and interactive marketing solutions.
Another high-speed Internet provider
NEW YORK – Prism Communications Services, Inc., a susbsidiary of Comdisco, Inc. has joined the race to provide Rhode Islanders with high-speed internet service. Last week it announced it was making its RED(SM) high-speed Internet services available in the Providence market. RED uses Nortel Networks digital modem technology over standard copper telephone wires, providing always-on high speed connectivity for customers to access the Internet.
ICSL adds $5 million in contracts
PROVIDENCE – ICSL Network Management, a division of Innovative Clinical Solutions, Ltd. announced it had closed several new contracts, adding some $5 million in revenues, and adding close to 1.6 million in covered lives. ICSL provides management services to single and multi-speciality networks of providers. The company said the new contracts are in the areas of dermatology, gastroenterology, and chiropractic, and that the contracted services include credentialing, claims payment, utilization management, quality management and provider relations.
Grant supports Providence’s Project Family Net
PROVIDENCE – The Providence School Department has been awarded a $231,250 Technology Challenge Grant from the U.S. Department o Education to help fund Project Family Net, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI announced. Project Family Net is a joint venture between the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (the Met), Providence Public Schools and its community partners. Grants will be used to provide computer training and support for parents in low income areas as it relates to their children’s schooling, to provide professional development and support for teachers and principals, and to create collaborative learning environments.
Nasdaq Buys FleetBoston’s Software Unit
WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) — The Nasdaq Stock Market said it acquired FleetBoston Financial Corp.’s Financial Systemware Inc. unit, a maker of software that can be used by broker-dealers to streamline the trading process. Nasdaq, the second largest stock market in the U.S., didn’t disclose how much it is paying for the acquisition. The new subsidiary, to be called Nasdaq Tools, makes a software product aimed at letting dealers manage their quotations and orders more efficiently, Nasdaq said. The Nasdaq unit also will release this summer a new service bureau, called “Tools Plus,” that seeks to provide dealers with position and order management, and profit and loss calculations, the market said. FleetBoston, based in Boston, provides commercial and investment banking services in the U.S. and abroad.
Sapient first quarter profits triple
CAMBRIDGE (Bloomberg) — Sapient Corp., which helps companies build software and Internet systems, said first-quarter profit almost tripled, boosted by increasing demand in Europe and improved collection of revenue. Net income rose to $11.9 million, from $4.28 million, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 74 percent to $100.3 million from $57.8 million. The company said it now has 200 employees in Europe as demand for its Internet consulting services increases. Sapient, which has 2,300 employees worldwide, generated about 7 percent of its revenue outside of North America, almost all of that in Europe.
Zany purchase
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pennsylvania (Bloomberg) — Zany Brainy Inc., an educational toy retailer, agreed to buy rival Noodle Kidoodle Inc. for $35.4 million in stock to expand in New York, Texas, Florida, Michigan and other markets. Zany Brainy will exchange 1.233 shares for each Noodle Kidoodle share. Syosset, New York-based Noodle Kidoodle sells toys, games and software in 59 stores in 15 states, in such cities as Boston, Chicago and Detroit. The company had sales of $135 million in the year ended Jan. 29, while Zany Brainy had sales of $241 million.
(Compiled from news reports, services and releases, print and electronic.)
