Kennedy new IDEAlliance VP

IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance) named Dianne Kennedy vice president for publishing technologies and membership.

Kennedy will head the IDEAlliance Publishing Technologies group. In this role, Kennedy will provide project management to IDEAlliance standards Working Groups, enhance the association's collaborative tools to support standards development and communications, launch new online services to members and the industry, and extend new programs to better link advances in information technologies with print media.

In addition to naming Kennedy to this new position, IDEAlliance also announced that Vice President Marion Elledge will take the role of vice president for information technology alliances and conferences.

Visual Networks sales dip

Rockville-based Visual Networks, whose software helps companies manage communications networks, says third-quarter revenue will be as much as 4 percent lower than revenue in the second quarter of 2003. It says expenses will be slightly higher.

Visual Networks had second-quarter sales of $9.8 million. It says it expects to report third-quarter revenue of $9.4 million to $9.7 million. The company will release its quarterly financial report on Oct. 16.

The company said third-quarter sales were adversely affected by a decrease in September shipments to its traditional service provider channels.

OAO Technology eyes foreign expansion

Greenbelt-based OAO Technology Solutions has formed a European advisory board that will help guide the company's European market expansion.

OAO offers managed IT solutions.

The board members are: Sir Christopher Lewinton, chairman of J. F. Lehman & Co. Europe; David Thorpe, former president of EDS Europe; Maurice Abell, former chairman of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, UK & Ireland; Jim Ungerleider, OAO president of managed IT solutions; and Paul Henry, general manager for OAO Europe.

Consolidated Graphics adopts MassTransit

Arlington-based Group Logic, developer of network workflow software products, said Consolidated Graphics Inc., a commercial printing service, has begun using Group Logic's MassTransit Professional product.

MassTransit Enterprise facilitates transfer of graphic arts files across high-speed wide area networks including the Internet. The product is used by 11 of the top 15 printing companies in North America, as well as major publishers and Fortune 500 print purchasing and creative organizations.

UMUC joins with Defense Acquisition University

University of Maryland University College (UMUC) and the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) established a strategic partnership agreement to enable DAU students and graduates to earn a host of undergraduate and graduate certificates and degrees at UMUC supporting DAU workforce requirements.

The DAU, headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., provides the Department of Defense's acquisition, technology, and logistics community with learning products and services.

Dominion to sell telecom division

Dominion Resources, Virginia Power's parent company, will exit the telecom business at a $650 million loss, saying the fiber-optic business it started six years ago hasn't panned out.

Dominion Telecom, which sells fiber optic services to underserved markets east of the Mississippi River, will continue to operate and its 94 employees will keep their jobs until the unit is sold. Dominion did not identify any potential buyers.

Dominion formed VPS Communications in 1997 and eventually renamed it Dominion Telecom.

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