[July News]

Orkin launches company-wide interactive satellite TV network

ATLANTA — Orkin recently launched Orkin TV, an interactive satellite television communications network that links the company’s 8,000 employees through first-of-its-kind live broadcast technology.
Commissioned by Orkin and developed by three firms specializing in satellite broadcasting and digital content delivery, the system creates a live “virtual classroom” for Orkin’s employees across the country.  Orkin TV is the first to deliver interactive video on-demand (IVOD) to the classroom through a system that also allows employees to play back past programming (much like digital video recorders found in many homes) and participate in past broadcast events. Furthermore, IVOD participation is tracked and recorded in Orkin’s learning management system.
Orkin Satellite Television’s distinguishing features include:
• Interactive Video-on-Demand – Orkin’s branch offices will have the ability to play back past programming stored on each receiver’s hard drive. While viewers of “on-demand” video are not able to communicate live with the instructor, they can respond to questions in real time and view survey results.
• Integrated Satellite Receiver and Site Controller – Allows viewers to communicate with instructors in real-time – as if in a live classroom – and respond to survey questions via a site controller keypad. Results are tabulated and displayed immediately.
• Direct-to-Monitor Broadcasting — Programs are delivered to TV monitors that are dedicated to use by the satellite system — an important benefit for Orkin’s workforce, many of whom do not have computer access.
Orkin is using the satellite training system to add interactive distance learning to its award-winning employee training programs. The system will help Orkin save time and monetary resources related to traditional employee training, as new hires will no longer have to travel to the company’s Atlanta headquarters for initial training sessions or wait for an instructor to visit their region. And, the time needed to make a new employee productive will be cut in half.

The future on display at
Bayer’s Clayton facility
CLAYTON, N.C. – Representatives from leading universities specializing in urban pest management recently toured the Bayer Environmental Science Research and Training Center in Clayton, N.C., to learn about the company’s latest product developments, new formulation technologies and state-of-the-art training for PMPs.
Steve Burt, managing director of Bayer’s Professional Pest Management Business, described Clayton as a “very special site” that plays a critical role in the company’s support of its pest control and “green” businesses (golf, landscape management, right-of-ways, etc.). “They are two very important businesses we’ve been in for a long time and we’ll be in for a long time,” he said.
To meet the product needs of an expanding market, Burt said Bayer ES is continuing to invest millions of dollars in research and development, including $20 million a year in North America alone at the Clayton Research Center.
Overseeing all of this new product development is Dr. Nick Hamon, director of research and development at Bayer. Hamon provided university researchers with an overview of the mission of the Bayer Research and Training Center. The company’s vision for the lab, according to Hamon, was to create “a development and training center dedicated to professional products, with in-house testing capabilities facilitating a smooth transition from lab to field to customer.”
“We’ve realized that vision,” he said, but it hasn’t come cheap. To develop six to eight new products annually, Bayer ES employs more than 50 scientists in multiple disciplines, devoting more than 4,500 days per year in field research alone. In addition, Bayer invests $2.5 million per year in cooperative research with 30 universities and cooperators throughout the United States. “We have a fantastic (product) pipeline right now, but we’re not relying on this great new chemistry for our future,” Hamon said. “We’re taking what we have and making it better. It’s not about AI’s. It’s about what you do with them once they come to market.”
“Some of the science that goes on behind the Bayer walls is absolutely stunning,” Hamon added. The 281-acre site, which includes 11,000 square feet of office and laboratory space, is the centerpiece of the company’s structural pest control research effort in North America.
Following Hamon on the program was Product Development Manager Dr. Byron Reid, who shared what Bayer is doing in support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to reduce the devastating effects of malaria in Africa and other emerging countries.
Bayer is working with several other global companies to “fast track development of improved insecticides and other mosquito control methods” to fight malaria, which kills 2,000 children a day in Africa, Reid says. “We’re really happy to be involved in this effort,” he said. “We believe it’s a responsibility of leadership.” To learn more about the effort, visit www.gatesfoundation.org.
Following the group presentation, attendees were divided into smaller groups to observe a series of lab and field research demonstrations, including product demonstrations.

University of Kentucky
announces 36th annual
Pest Control Short Course
LEXINGTON, KY. — The 36th annual University of Kentucky Pest Control Short Course will be held Oct. 3-5. The conference features many of the industry’s top speakers.
Featured topics include: new insights about bed bugs; the future of termites; performing better inspections; a detailed look at odorous house ants; spider mania; preventing lawsuits; return of the cat flea; a half-day identification workshop; and pest control in Iraq. Featured speakers include: Bobby Corrigan, George Rambo, Brian Forschler, Stoy Hedges, Cindy Mannes, Mark Sheperdigian, Karen Vail, Rick Cooper, Nancy Hinkle, Rick Vetter, Dan Collins and Laurel Hansen.
For more information contact Dr. Michael F. Potter, department of entomology, S-225 Agric. Sci. Bldg. N., University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0091; call 859/257-5955; fax 859/323-1120; or e-mail: dthorpe@uky.edu.

Vital Forces, a new fictional novel from Jerome Goddard, now available for purchase
Dr. Jerome Goddard announces that his latest novel, “Vital Forces,” has been released by Trebleheart Books, Sierra Vista, Ariz., and is available both as an e-book and trade paperback. The book, written in first person (necessary for the Southern drawl), is about a professor at Ole Miss who makes a discovery about virus behavior, ultimately leading to disastrous consequences. Copies can be ordered directly from the publisher at www.trebleheartbooks.com/WDJeromeGoddard.html.

TermiteInstitute.com, a new consumer site from BASF
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — TermiteInstitute.com, a new Web site developed earlier this year by BASF, educates consumers about termites and the $5 billion worth of structural damage they cause annually. The site has logged more than 40,000 visits from viewers seeking educational information about termites and the best ways to combat and prevent them.
TermiteInstitute.com was conceived to provide consumers with straightforward educational information about termites. It serves as a “one-stop-shop” for termite facts where viewers can experience a breadth and depth of termite essentials — from termite prevalence by region, to how to spot termite problems, to how to make a home termite-free. The site also offers recommendations for termite control when buying, selling, or building a home, and important information for homeowners moving into areas with high termite activity. A direct link to BASF’s TermidorHome.com allows visitors to find a pest professional in their area.
BASF collaborated with a variety of experts including entomologist Dr. Harold J. Harlan, veteran realtor and Senior Instructor for the Graduate REALTOR Institute Steven David, and the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). “TermiteInstitute.com is a very valuable and incredibly informative resource for anyone seeking facts about termites,” Harlan said.
Strategically launched to coincide with the start of the 2006 termite swarming season, TermiteInstitute.com has since received an average of more than 350 visits per day from consumers who spend four minutes on the site once they get there, according to BASF. Thirty-five percent of visitors are referred from major search engines Google and Yahoo!, while more than one-third reach the site by directly entering the URL into their Web browsers, an indication that homeowners are hearing or reading about the site in the media, then going online to see it for themselves, BASF says. “Clearly, there was a need for a streamlined and concise source for people to get accurate and reliable information on termite treatments and prevention,” said Karl J. Kisner, senior marketing manager for BASF. “An online search for termites can produce as many as three million results, and within those results a lot of the information is confusing and misleading. We think the web traffic we’ve seen so far substantiates the importance of TermiteInstitute.com and the need to have all the facts in one, very accessible place.”