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Monday, June 21, 2010

Polycom's New President and CEO Appointed to Board of Directors

Pleasanton's Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) has announced that it's new President and CEO, Andrew Miller, has been appointed to serve on its Board of Directors, with a term as a director commencing immediately.

For more on the news from the telepresence, video and voice communications solutions company, click here.

San Ramon land developer touts "rapid growth"

A San Ramon-based land developer says it's experiencing rapid growth, despite the down economy:
San Ramon, California-based residential land developer Americap Development Partners is being heralded by many as an outstanding example of our nations’ continuing economic recovery. In late 2007, Scott D. Clark, CEO of Americap, realized that times were changing—and began to prepare himself and his company for the “opportunity of a lifetime.”
The entire press release can be read here.

Livermore boxed wine company touts wines

A Livermore company that makes boxed wine says it's "time to rethink boxed wine":
Box wines are gaining significant ground with consumers and wine critics alike due to new wine selections and significant packaging improvements. New consumers entering the marketplace, the ability of bag-in-the-box (BIB) to keep wines fresh up to six weeks once opened and the ever increasing acceptance that – it’s the wine inside that really matters – are all helping to drive adoption of this growing format. The latest market data from Nielsen market research shows that sales of 3-liter boxed table wine increased 19.9% during the one-year period ending April 3, while overall sales of table wine edged up just 3.5%.
The rest of the press release is here.

Nissan chooses Livermore as Western training center

Nissan has chosen Livermore as the spot to open a training center. Autotalk.com says dealership workers from across the West Coast will come to Livermore:

The Training Center – located at 455 N. Canyons Parkway in Livermore - will provide dealership technician product training supporting the Northwest region which covers Northern California, Colorado, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

...“Providing support to our retail partners via this new, state-of-the-art facility is a critical component of our efforts to ensure a quality ownership experience for our customers,” said Zinger. “With our expanding presence in the Bay Area and Northwest, the Livermore location provides a central, easy-to-access location in a key market area.’

Covering more than 23,000 square feet of operational area, the center includes three classrooms, component repair area, a 10,000 square foot Vehicle Demonstrations Area featuring wheel service and alignment areas, 16 service bays, and eight vehicle lifts. In addition, courses on core curriculum will be conducted at the center, covering topics such as heating and cooling systems, chassis integrity, on-board diagnostics and emissions. Other meetings covering related sales and fixed operations training will be conducted at the venue, as well.

The Livermore facility will be one of two technical centers scheduled to open in the western United States this year, joining another facility in Ontario, Calif. set to open early this fall. A total of nine other centers support Nissan and Infiniti’s total of over 1,300 retail locations and 9,000 technicians nationwide.

Body discovered near Utah oil spill

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Chevron plans to flush Utah creek today

San Ramon's Chevron plans to flush out the Utah creek it's been accidently leaking oil into today. The pipeline spill has sent 33,000 gallons of crude oil into Red Butte Creek near Salt Lake City. City officials say they're negotiating with Chevron regarding a reiumbursement deal for the cost of cleaning up the spill. Today's flush will entail capturing residual oil with booms.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Formfactor to layoff 8% of it's workforce

Livermore-based FormFactor (NASDAQ: FORM) is laying off 8% of it's workforce. The reduction will work out to about 55 workers losing their jobs.

Via press release:
"The decision to eliminate jobs is a very difficult one, but we believe this action is crucial to our goal of simplifying the structure and getting back to basics," said FormFactor's Chief Executive Officer, Carl Everett. "Our priority remains serving our customers. We are working to streamline the organization and to improve our company-wide performance."
The company makes technology used with semiconductors. It employs more than 600 people in Livermore and Singapore and expects to take a hit of $5 million in this latest restructuring plan.

Del Valle named on list of America's top family campgrounds

ReserveAmerica, one of the largest providers of campground reservation services, has released it's annual "Top 100 Family Campgrounds” list, and Livermore's Del Valle is on it.

press release calls the list "a guide to help campers and families plan camping trips at great locations across America’s outdoors":
“Each year outdoor enthusiasts look forward to ReserveAmerica’s annual list of the nation’s finest campgrounds that provide convenient services, offer beautiful scenery and ensure families have a great camping experience,” explained David Dutch, general manager for the Active Network’s Outdoors division. “We hope families find this diverse list of camping locations and attractions useful as they make their summer plans.”
To determine the top campgrounds and locations, over 3,000 parks were evaluated based in part on testimonials from park rangers, regional park management and campers, as well as specific family-friendly criteria including kid-friendly parks, scenic views, hiking trails, children’s activities and more.
Click here for the entire list.