Fewer IT jobs were lost last year

A study released recently by the American Electronics Association (AeA) showed that in 2004 the U.S. high-tech industry lost 25,000 jobs, dropping to 5.6 million. This decline in 2004 represents a considerable slowdown in technology jobs lost, compared to the 333,000 jobs lost in 2003 and the 612,000 jobs lost in 2002.

Cyberstates 2005 found that all but four states lost high-tech jobs in 2003, the most recent year for which state data are available. California and Texas lost the greatest number of tech jobs, shedding some 67,800 and 32,900 jobs, respectively.

New York and Illinois were also among the five states that lost the most high-tech jobs. Despite these losses, California and Texas remained the leading cyberstates by employment, followed by New York and Florida. California (916,000), Texas (446,000), New York (305,000), Florida (259,000), and Virginia (244,000) led the nation in high-tech employment in 2003.

However, Virginia displaced Massachusetts in 2003, becoming the fifth largest state by technology employment. And, while Colorado remained the nation's leading cyberstate by concentration of high-tech workers, Virginia also moved up by this metric to second place.

ICCA conference planned for June

The Independent Computer Consultants Association will hold its 28th Annual National Conference in Atlanta this year. The conference is being held at the Doubletree in Buckhead with the theme "HOTlanta-Adding Sizzle to Your Business."

The conference begins with the Welcome Reception on June 10 at 7 PM and ends at completion of the 3 PM session on Sunday, June 12.

Conference session topics will include "The Value-added Technology Consultant," "VAR Wars - How to Avoid Going Over to the Dark Side, " "Shortcuts to Profits: No-Bull Strategic Planning for Actionable Desires, " "Gadgets and Gizmos: Toys for the Technology Professional," "The Next Generation of the Microsoft Operating System," and "Biz e-mail."

The ICCA conference is open to members and non-members. For more information visit www.icca.org.

Procuri makes acquisition and gets new funding

Atlanta-based Procuri Inc. said it bought Contract Management Solutions Inc. (CMSI) of Orlando, Fla., and raised $12.5 million in equity financing. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

CMSI provides contract management software and services. Atlanta-based Procuri will maintain CMSI's existing operations and employees, and CMSI president and CEO Steve Rosbury will become a consultant and observer on Procuri's board of directors.

Procuri also said current investor Insight Venture Partners and new investor Advent International led a $12.5 million Series B round of financing.

Procuri makes online procurement and strategic sourcing software.

AIS revamps Web site

Atlanta-based AIS Media, Inc., an Internet technology and services firm, recently launched its redesigned corporate Web site (www.aismedia.com).

The new site includes expanded payment processing solutions for both retail and Internet merchants.

AIS Media offers credit-card merchant account activation services for small and medium-size businesses.

LexExec releases PDF plug-in

Alpharetta-based LexExec released PDFExec For MS Word, a PDF conversion add-in for Microsoft Word. PDFExec allows users to convert their MS Word documents to PDF as well as updating existing PDF documents.

PDFExec can create a PDF file from any Word document. These PDF files may be securely e-mailed, copied to disk, or printed. PDFExec offers you dozens of options for creating PDF files. PDFExec does not require Adobe Acrobat.

CheckFree buys Accurate Software

Atlanta-based CheckFree completed the acquisition of Wokingham, England-based Accurate Software, and plans to merge Accurate into its software division. CheckFree wants to expand its global presence in operational risk management software and services.

CheckFree provides financial electronic commerce services and products.

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