|
 |
MAKING HEADLINES
|
The St. Louis
region and its companies often make national news. This column highlights
some of the most recent headline grabbers.
Wall Street Journal Spotlights Region’s “Biobelt” Plant and Life
Science Initiative in National Story on Industry Clusters
The St. Louis
region’s emergence as the center of the plant and life science industry
continues to receive national media attention. The June 6 edition
of The Wall Street Journal spotlighted St. Louis’ efforts
to strengthen its plant and life science cluster, in a feature story
examining the emerging trend in economic development to develop
distinctive industry clusters as key elements of regional development
strategies. Three regions were featured: St. Louis, San Diego and
Kansas City.
In the year-long Battelle Study, through which the RCGA and civic
partners developed St. Louis’ plant and life sciences cluster strategy,
St. Louis was benchmarked against San Diego and eight other successful
plant and life sciences regions. San Diego has developed one of
the world’s strongest life science clusters over a 25-year period.
Battelle projected that St. Louis could reach such a level of cluster
prominence in 10 to 12 years, given the strong life/plant sciences
assets already in the region.
Kansas City and St. Louis have been actively partnering over the
past two years in an effort to encourage the Missouri Governor and
Legislature to dedicate 20 percent of Missouri’s Tobacco Settlement
to establish an ongoing fund for life and plant sciences research.
The recently-concluded General Assembly included a $22 million first-year
commitment for this purpose in the budget.
The Wall Street Journal article (http://www.stlrcga.org/memo/06062001.html)
highlighted the BioBelt brand, the well-established plant and life
sciences role of Monsanto and other business strengths, the new
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Stowers Institute for
Medical Research in Kansas City, Washington University’s strong
research role, and the RCGA’s focus on this industry cluster.
St. Louis Engineering Firms Ranked in Top 500
Five firms with their corporate headquarters in the St. Louis metropolitan
area have been named to the “Top 500 Design Firms” list, according
to Engineering News Record (April 16, 2001, page 58), the international
publication for the engineering design and construction industry.
The firms and their rankings are: (see table below)
CEO Magazine’s
Annual Growth 100 List Includes Toan of Express Scripts
Barrett
Toan
|
Express Scripts’
Barrett Toan ranked amongst the CEOs from America Online, Cisco
Systems and Texas Instruments in CEO Magazine’s 10th annual
CEO Growth 100.
The list was compiled of companies that delivered superior stock-price
gains over the prior three years, had the same CEO from January
1998 through December 2000, was a public company from 1996 to 2000
and the common stock had a market capitalization value of at least
$1.71 billion at the end of 1999.
Network World Awards CoreExpress as One of “10
Start-Ups to Watch” in 2001
CoreExpress Also Named One of Leading Network Service Providers
by America’s Network Magazine
Network World
magazine has named St. Louis-based CoreExpress one of the “10 Start-Ups
to Watch” in 2001. In addition, America’s Network magazine listed
CoreExpress as one of nine most innovative and most promising startups
in the country. The company showcased its award-winning technology
and services at the spring Networld+Interop tradeshow in Las Vegas.
These awards demonstrate the value of CoreExpress Extranet, the
only service currently available that allows companies to communicate
across company sites or with business partners using their existing
Internet connections with guaranteed performance and reliability
even if they use different Internet Service Providers (ISPs). CoreExpress
Extranet was made commercially available during the first quarter
of 2001.
Network World’s “10 Start-Ups to Watch” is the industry’s
annual list of strong networking start-ups appearing in the Network
World 200 Issue, a special edition ranking the 200 biggest U.S.
public companies in the network industry. This Network World
“10 Start-Ups to Watch” feature consists of companies launched by
experienced network professionals focusing on the essentials: delivering
products, attracting enterprise customers, earning profits and building
lasting technology. Network World editors chose companies they considered
“sharp enough for the long-haul.”
CoreExpress was recognized by Network World as the best known—and
best funded—of a group of upstart service providers enabling the
Internet for secure, critical business applications. Editors carefully
screened eligible companies based on a number of critical issues
including the industry experiences of each companies’ founders,
top executives and other personnel, the amount and type of funding
the company has received, and customer testimonials. In short, the
selection process focused on companies with seasoned executives
and innovative services that address real market needs.
Along with the Network World distinction, CoreExpress was
also named by America’s Network magazine as one of the nine
hottest startups in the country, based on the company’s unique solution
to the problems associated with traditional peering. As part of
this solution, CoreExpress has established an Internet core network
that bypasses public peering points and guarantees service quality
across multiple ISPs. The editorial staff chose the “Hot Startups”
for their innovation, promising business models, strong leadership
and overall likelihood of success even in bumpy market conditions.
“Being recognized by two of the leading telecom publications as
a top-notch startup on the path to success is a resounding endorsement
of our technology and our management,” says Mike Gaddis, then CEO
of CoreExpress. “The focus of our company now and going forward
is to attract enterprise customers and to ensure that we continue
to raise the bar on service quality so that the Internet can finally
reach its potential as a business-critical communications medium.”
|
|
|
|
|
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
