Marygrove observes anniversary

Southfield-based Marygrove College recently observed its 10th anniversary. Instructors at Marygrove introduced the Information Technology Education Center (ITEC), filling to capacity its first UNIX/C Certification Program classes. More than 2,000 students have gone on to careers in information technology after graduating from one or more of Marygrove College ITEC's programs.

The school's current classes include programs in System Administration & Programming Dual Certification, UNIX/Linux System Administration, Java Programming, MCSE/Windows 2000, MCSA/Windows 2000, Cisco, CompTIA A+ & Network+ Certifications and ITEC programs.

MSU to study rural broadband Internet access

Michigan State University's department of telecommunication received a $408,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the effects of high-speed Internet connections in rural America.

Huron County was chosen for the study because it is the site of an Internet access project also funded by USDA through Air Advantage LLC, an Internet service provider in Frankenmuth. Through the USDA project, any resident can have free high-speed access to the Internet at local schools and libraries, but home access is still rare.

This fall, researchers will interview users of public Internet access locations in the county and organizations that provide Internet to local residents.

In the spring, a mail survey will be sent to 400 Huron County residents to identify barriers to home Internet adoption. Those results will be compared with a follow-up survey in the spring of 2008 to track the effects of Internet adoption over time.

Detroit ranks high in broadband access

Metro Detroit is the third-best market in the United States for broadband access, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

Nielsen/NetRatings, which tracks consumer Web activity, examined 35 markets to determine the percent of broadband users in each place during August.

The company found that 67 percent of metro Detroit households examined in its study had broadband connections.

Phoenix finished second with 68.4 percent connected via broadband, and San Diego topped the list with 69.6 percent.

Ex-Great Lakes Tech partners start new company

Two former Great Lakes Technologies Group partners have founded a Farmington Hills-based information-technology services company, Halo Group LLC.

George Moilanen and Bradley Waite of Great Lakes Technologies formed Halo Group in April. Halo offers recruiting, staffing and management services.

Burkhart new Microsoft area manager

Microsoft Corp. announced Davidde Burkhart as the new general manager of the small and midmarket group for the Great Lakes area.

Burkhart will manage Microsoft's sales and support teams for the group throughout Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio from her Columbus, Ohio, office.

MedHub gains healthcare contract

Ann Arbor-based medical software development company MedHub Inc. signed a contract with Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas Healthcare System to install its MedHub medical residency management system.

MedHub centralizes information and reporting for residency training and Medicare reimbursement into a single database.

Insight signs medical imaging contracts

Traverse City-based Insight Sciences signed a pair of contracts to sell medical-imaging software.

Insight Sciences can now sell Lexington, Mass.-based Able Software Corp,'s 3D-Doctor and the University of Michigan's 4D-MSpect software as part of the company's hardware and software packages.

3D-Doctor is a three-dimensional image processing, modeling and measurement software program for MRI, CT, PET, microscopy and industrial 3-D imaging applications.