Indiana Chamber Blogs

The Business Blog of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce

Indiana Chamber Blogs

Gain Power Through Knowledge at the Indiana Energy Management Conference

Concerned about rising energy demands and costs? Join experts and colleagues at the Indiana Conference on Energy Management for the latest updates, forecasts and trends regarding energy issues.

Learn how to cut costs while remaining compliant and see what’s coming down the pipeline during the day-and-a-half conference (July 31-August 1) at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis.

Choose from among 12 sessions and attend two keynote presentations, a roundtable lunch and reception. Browse and network at the concurrent Expo.

The program is ideal for facility and energy managers, plant operations managers, maintenance supervisors, energy aggregators, energy engineers, utility company managers, governmental affairs managers and others.

Session topics include:

  • Real-time energy management
  • Corporate renewable energy in Indiana
  • Demand reduction versus peak shaving
  • Economic benefits of distributed generation
  • What’s next with the Volkswagen Environmental Trust
  • How the dynamic electric utility industry impacts industrial and manufacturing customers
  • Saving energy in compressor systems

Registration is $399 for Chamber members with a special $199 rate for government employees. Register two or more and receive a 20% discount.

The conference is sponsored by Indiana Michigan Power along with Ice Miller, Apex Clean Energy, MacAllister Power Systems, EDF Energy Services, Vectren, Cummins, Inc., Citizens Energy Group, Geronimo Energy, Country Mark and NIPSCO. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Jim Wagner at (317) 264-6876 for details.

Preview the complete agendaregister or call (800) 824-6885 for more information.

VIDEO: ‘Paris is Only the Beginning’

Indiana Chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar comments on the enhanced connectivity to and from Indianapolis thanks to an increasing number of direct flights from the Indianapolis International Airport. Those locations include the west coast and, of course, the city’s first international direct flight to Paris, France, which had its inaugural flight May 25. Watch:

 

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Interns and Mentors Invited to Five Summer Events

*Editor’s note: This post originally appeared at www.indianaintern.net.

Interns and internship supervisors from organizations throughout central Indiana are invited to events at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (May 31), Fountain Square Theatre Rooftop Garden (June 1), Indianapolis Zoo (July 10), Indiana State Fair (August 3) and meet@TheChallenge (August 23). Each will offer professional development and networking opportunities in addition to time to explore the venues and have fun.

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis event will begin at 9 a.m. with an interactive workshop. Prior to that, check-in will be held at 8:30 a.m., and interns will be invited to participate in a networking game. Following the workshop, attendees will be free to explore The Children’s Museum until it closes at 5 p.m. Guests will have access to The Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience. Lunch will not be provided, but attendees may bring their own or purchase at the museum. Capacity is limited and online registration is required.

Indy Intern Connection, hosted in partnership with the Indy Chamber, will begin at 5:00 p.m. at the Fountain Square Theatre Rooftop Garden. Network with local professionals and enjoy the festivities of First Friday with drinks, duckpin bowling, food and open artist galleries throughout Fountain Square. Online registration is required.

The Indianapolis Zoo event will start at 1 p.m. During the day, interns will participate in networking and a panel discussion with representatives from various career fields. They will also have the chance to compete in a scavenger hunt for prizes while exploring the zoo. The newest exhibit of long-tailed macaques will be open! Food will not be provided, but guests are welcome to eat beforehand or purchase something from concessions. Due to capacity restrictions, a maximum of two intern supervisors per company may attend.

The Indiana State Fair event will begin at 9 a.m. (check-in: 8 a.m.) with a welcome and networking activity. During the programming, interns can compete in a trivia contest to win prizes. After that, guests will be able to explore the Indiana State Fair at their leisure.

Indiana INTERNnet is partnering with the Indiana Sports Corp to host an intern networking event called “meet@TheChallenge” during the cycling time trial leg of its Corporate Challenge. Interns are invited to enjoy food, drinks, games and networking with Young Professionals groups at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event will run from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Register online by August 17.

Capacity is limited, and registration is required. The reservation deadline is June 22 for the Indianapolis Zoo and July 12 for the Indiana State Fair. For more information or to RSVP, contact INTERNnet@indianachamber.com or (317) 264-6852.

The purpose of these events is to increase talent retention in Indiana. A feeling of community connectedness is a significant factor in a young professional’s decision regarding where he or she lives and works.

“Talent retention is at the core of Indiana INTERNnet’s mission,” emphasizes executive director Janet Boston. “To complement the real-world experience interns gain on the job, these engagement events provide an opportunity for interns to build relationships through networking and develop community pride.”

Airbnb’s Top Indiana Cities Revealed

In late 2017, Indianapolis was identified as a top trending American city for Airbnb. The company also announced that Indiana hosts welcomed approximately 175,000 arrivals in the past year – earning more than $20.7 million.

The 175,000 guest arrivals to Indiana via Airbnb represents 108% year-over-year growth. This comes as “Hoosiers increasingly embrace the home sharing platform as an opportunity to earn supplemental income and make ends meet.” There are now just under 3,600 Indiana hosts who share their homes via Airbnb, 37% of whom simply share an extra, unused room (i.e. empty nester).

The top Airbnb markets in Indiana in 2017:

  1. Indianapolis: 73,000 guest arrivals; $8.42 million in host income
  2. South Bend: 20,000; $2.89 million
  3. Bloomington: 16,800; $1.87 million
  4. Michigan City: 5,700; $867,300
  5. Fort Wayne: 4,250; $437,900
  6. West Lafayette: 3,050; $311,350
  7. Lafayette: 3,050; $383,500
  8. Nashville: 1,950; $207,700
  9. Fishers: 1,800; $200,600
  10. Evansville: 1,670; $163,700

IHS to Honor 70 Years of Indianapolis Southside Harley-Davidson with New Exhibition

George and Ann Schulteti enjoy a fine day for a Harley ride. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Southside Harley-Davidson)

The Indiana Historical Society’s (IHS’s) newest exhibition gives guests a chance to celebrate history – and Harleys. The exhibition, “The Harley Shop: Seventy Years of Indianapolis Southside Harley-Davidson,” runs July 22 – Sept. 9 at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in downtown Indianapolis. An IHS release has more:

The Harley Shop features artifacts, collectables, photographs and vintage motorcycles as it showcases this iconic American treasure through the lens of a Hoosier family who has been in the business for almost a century.

When George Schulteti began working for Harley-Davidson Motor Company in 1922, his first job was to sweep the floors of the factory’s service department. Later, he worked in research and development. Schulteti was also one of the company’s test riders. During World War II, he took inventory of all the Harley-Davidson motorcycles in military service and rode more than 50,000 miles per year.

While Schulteti enjoyed his work at the factory, he wanted to become a dealer. Schulteti and a partner bought the Indianapolis dealership in 1947, and he and his wife, Ann, moved from Wisconsin. She was the office manager and worked the parts counter. The couple lived above the dealership at 701 S. Meridian St. Ten years later, Schulteti bought his partner’s share of the business. The family welcomed customers to that location for the next 51 years.

By the time the dealership moved in 1998 to its current location, 4930 Southport Crossing Place, the number of employees had risen from 17 to 32. Future plans include raising a fifth generation of the Schulteti family to carry on the tradition.

“I get great pleasure sharing each day with family and watching them grow and carry on a family tradition,” says Bob Schulteti, George Schulteti’s son and second generation owner of Indianapolis Southside Harley-Davidson. “We feel honored to be recognized by the Indiana Historical Society and given the opportunity to display some of our family history.”

Guests can visit The Harley Shop during the History Center’s regular operating hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Admission includes parking, which is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Harley Shop is presented by Indianapolis Southside Harley-Davidson. For more information about the dealership, visit www.southsideharley.com.

For more information about the exhibition or other IHS offerings, call 232-1882 or visit www.indianahistory.org.

ProTrans Awarded 3PL of the Year at Automotive Global Awards North America

(left to right) Sam Ogle, editor of Automotive Purchasing & Supply Chain Magazine, John Woods, executive vice president of sales for ProTrans, and Peter Wooding, CEO of Three6Zero.

Indianapolis-based ProTrans was selected as 3PL of the Year (an award for third party logistics companies) at the Automotive Global Awards North America 2017, held in April during the Automotive Leaders’ Summit in New Orleans. ProTrans reports:

“These awards reflect the enthusiasm for development and innovation across the whole industry. Encouraging and developing individuals through creativity of ideas, through adaptation and flexibility, through planning and pioneering new ways, through new thoughts and new ideas,” said Peter Wooding, CEO of Three6Zero who organized the awards.

“We are very proud to receive such a prestigious award within the industry. From the tiered suppliers to the OEM manufacturers, ProTrans continues our commitment to meeting the automotive industries’ challenges and delivering technological and cost-effective innovations.” said Shawn Masters, Chief Commercial Officer for ProTrans.

Masters further commented “Over the last year, to meet the specific business needs of our customers, ProTrans has enhanced its proprietary TMS platform, Optimiz, has committed to a new state of the art business intelligence platform and has expanded its North American footprint in strategic areas within North America. Again, thank you to Three6Zero, to our customers and to our employees for helping ProTrans win this exceptional award.”

Hoosier Gasket Corporation Receives Presidential Award for Exports

The following is a release from the U.S. Department of Commerce:

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross presented Indianapolis-based Hoosier Gasket Corporation with the 2017 President’s “E” Award for Exports at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 22. The President’s “E” Award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

“Hoosier Gasket has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion. The “E” Award Committee was very impressed with Hoosier Gasket’s growth in employment directly tied to exports,” said Secretary Ross in his congratulatory letter to the company announcing its selection.

Hoosier Gasket Corporation is a designer and manufacturer of high quality gaskets and seals for automotive, construction, agriculture, marine, power generation and other industries.

“Exporting is an important and growing part of our business, with exports now accounting for 15% of our total sales and supporting 15% of the 140 jobs in our Indianapolis headquarters,” said Oleg Gostomelsky, vice president at Hoosier Gasket Corporation. “Buyers and consumers in foreign markets want quality products made in the United States, and we are very honored to receive the ‘E’ Award.”

In total, Secretary Ross honored 32 U.S. companies and organizations from across the country with the President’s “E” Award for their role in strengthening the U.S. economy by sharing American ingenuity outside of our borders.

U.S. companies are nominated for the “E” Awards through the U.S. Commercial Service, part of the Department’s International Trade Administration. With offices across the United States and in embassies and consulates around the world, the International Trade Administration lends its expertise at every state of the exporting process by promoting and facilitating exports and investment into the United States; administering anti-dumping and countervailing duties orders; and removing, reducing or preventing foreign trade barriers.

U.S. exports totaled $2.21 trillion in 2016, accounting for nearly 12% of U.S. gross domestic product. Exports supported an estimated 11.5 million jobs nationwide in 2015, according to the International Trade Administration.

Tech Talk: Don’t Miss Out on inX3 Extravaganza

What is one of the biggest challenges for Indiana’s technology and innovation communities? Many would agree that it’s securing the needed venture capital to take promising start-ups to the next level.

What is a new event to try and overcome that hurdle? It’s inX3 and it’s coming in just two weeks – June 13-16.

inX3 stands for inspire, innovate and invest. Indiana’s leading tech organizations are coordinating a series of events that will bring together entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and investors. And most of the action takes place at The Union 525 space in downtown Indianapolis.

A special Almost Fail Entrepreneur Reception celebration kicks off the week, which concludes with the next in a series of Indy Civic Hack programs. The two middle days feature a variety of programs – Pitch Competition Finals, Invest Indiana Forum and much more – as well as an AT&T Street Party on June 14.

There’s something for everyone at inX3. Details are on the web site, with app updates available through iTunes and GooglePlay.

inX3 asks the simple question: Are you in? The answer should be equally clear: Y-E-S.

NIST 800-171 R1 Compliance Made Easy for Defense Contractors

The laws are on the books and the auditors are starting to enforce compliance, so how can an expensive and complicated compliance requirement become much easier to obtain for defense contractors?

First, let’s understand from the table below that NIST 800-171 R1 is a subset of controls from the FedRAMP Baseline, which is a subset of controls and control enhancements from the gigantic NIST 800-53 R4 document.

NIST 800-171 R1 is simply the minimum set of controls, as adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense, required to protect controlled unclassified information (CUI) outside of the government. FedRAMP is the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, which is a US government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. Another simple way to say that is, “FedRAMP is US government audited secure application and data hosting”.

Since NIST 800-171 R1 is just a 38% subset of the FedRAMP control baseline and FedRAMP compliance is where the commercial hosting market is headed to satisfy the needs of hosting government data, then the easiest and often least expensive way to ensure conformity with NIST 800-171 R1 is to host your company’s applications and data in a FedRAMP-Authorized Cloud.

Todd Bylsma is a founding partner of GlassFire, which partners with Lifeline Data Centers in Indianapolis.

What You Should Know About Data Center Uptime

The following is a guest blog by Alex Carroll, co-owner and managing member of Lifeline Data Centers in Indianapolis. 

Anyone in the data center industry—or in business, for that matter—understands the importance of uptime. Recent statistics show that it costs, on average, $8,851 each minute businesses experience a data center outage — an essential reason to minimize the incidents that cause downtime.

While there’s already pressure for IT professionals and data center managers to maintain a high rate of uptime, the demand will be even more intense in the 2020s. The expectation will be for 100% uptime, as internet connectivity—especially with the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT)—will become essential for everyday living, experts projected.

“For data centers, the idea that you need to be perfect will not be far from the truth,” futurist Michael Rogers said during a Dell World presentation. “Every decision you make needs to head to that point on the horizon.”

In the future, losing an internet connection will be as disruptive as losing electrical power, he added. “We will be asking data centers to provide the type of reliability power plants provide, only moreso,” he said.

Unfortunately, data center operations of all sizes are not there yet. According to an AFCOM survey, 81% of respondents reported a data center failure in the previous five years. About 20 percent had experienced five or more failures.

Did your data center report a failure in the last five years?

Assessing data center uptime
Among the initiatives data centers are exploring to increase uptime include infrastructures that receive higher ratings from the Uptime Institute for reliability; predictive support which anticipates failures; and the minimizing of human errors, which have been attributed to as much as 75% of data center outages.

The Uptime Institute, for example, certifies data centers based on four tiers — Tier I through Tier IV. Under the classification system, the uptime rating is determined by infrastructure, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), power and cooling equipment, engine generators, and other components that impact uptime. Even a slight difference in the uptime rating — from 99% to 99.9% could translate into nine hours a year, which could result in significant losses.

Also, training employees to avoid the type of errors that can contribute downtime should be a top priority for your data center. Understanding why and how downtime happens will be critical in combatting it.

What you should know
Downtime in any business is no joke and can create serious problems. From loss of productivity to loss of revenue, if you’re experiencing downtime on even a semi-consistent basis, it’s time for you to outsource your data center needs or find a new data center.

At Lifeline Data Centers, we developed custom processes (and trademarked them) because they worked so well:

  • Redundant Array of Generators™
  • Redundant Array of UPS’s™
  • Redundant Array of Chiller Plants™
  • Most Direct Power Path™

These custom processes have contributed to our 99.999% uptime, and our largest data center where we have been able to employ our full sets of technology has not experienced an outage since inception—going on eight years.

As you explore ways to boost uptime while expanding capacity, give us a call. We can give you insights on how to reach your goals. Schedule a tour with us today.


Alex Carroll, Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers
Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex headed the team that developed Lifeline’s proprietary, award-winning equipment maintenance methodology. He is also hands-on every day in the data center.