PerkinElmer and Swedish Firm Elekta Sign Agreement
PerkinElmer, based in Wellesley, has signed a $15 million agreement with the U.K-based oncology subsidiary of Elekta Ltd. a Swedish biomedical firm, to supply flat panel X-Ray detector technology for Elekta's line of radiation products. The detectors, which will be produced by PerkinElmer Optoelectronics, use high resolution patient images to guide radiation precisely to cancerous tumors while sparing healthy tissue.

WISER Relocates to Holyoke Community College
WISER, the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research, has relocated to Holyoke Community College and will become part of the new Kittredge Business and Technology Center when new construction is completed next year. WISER trade data is available in a variety of formats, including online, and is a tool for businesses, trade service providers, libraries, universities and other trade data users. WISER's new Web site is www.wisertrade.org.

Venture Tape and Italy's BoMa S.rl. Agree to Acquisition
Venture Tape Corp. in Rockland, a worldwide manufacturer of specialty pressure sensitive adhesive tapes for industrial applications, has acquired BoMa S.rl, a tape manufacturer in Villesse, Italy. BoMa will continue to operate manufacturing and warehousing facilities in Italy under its own brand names.

LoJack Launches Service in Italy
LoJack Corp. of Westwood has secured radio frequency rights to operate its consumer stolen vehicle recovery system in Italy. Initially, LoJack service will be restricted to Rome, but expand after the company finds an operating partner and builds out its operating network. The company's systems are also used by law enforcement officials in 25 countries in Europe, Asia, and the Western Hemisphere.

Liberty Mutual Acquires Chile's AFG Insurance
Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group has purchased the insurance operations of AGF Allianz Chile S.A. for $47 million. The group will be renamed Liberty Seguros and offer a full range of property and casualty products for companies and customers in Chile. The acquisition expands the operations of the company's International Group, which includes 17 countries in Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia.

Dyax Corp Granted European Patent
Dyax Corp., a biopharmaceutical company in Cambridge, has been granted a European patent for DX-88, a human protein that inhibits blood coagulation, hypotension, and inflammation and may treat a rare genetic disorder, hereditary angiodema. The patent complements previously granted U.S. patents for the protein, which Dyax is developing in partnership with Genzyme Corporation.

SolidWorks Opens Office in Brazil
SolidWorks of Concord has opened an office in Sao Paolo, Brazil to coordinate the company's 1,000 resellers of SolidWorks 3D mechanical design software. The office will provide resellers and customers with product information, training, and support. SolidWorks develops and markets software for mechanical design, analysis, and product data management, including COSMOS design analysis software.

Perini and Consortium Construct Iraqi Power Plants
Framingham-based Perini and a consortium of companies have completed a 40 MW power plant in Buzurgan, Iraq to provide electric power to customers and to adjacent oil fields. The plant, constructed along with Power Engineers of Boise, Idaho, Tetra Tech, and GE Aero Energy and Industrial Systems, is designed to be operated by natural gas or diesel fuel. The new plant, a second plant constructed by Perini in southern Iraq, and the refurbishment of two other plants will contribute nearly 200 MW to the Iraqi national grid and can serve as many as 600,000 Iraqi homes. Project contracts were awarded under a contingency contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Staples Buys U.K.'s Globus Office World
Staples Inc. in Framingham has purchased Globus Office World plc, a U.K. office products company headquartered in Switzerland, for 32.5 million pounds. The purchase adds 59 stores to the 95 stores Staples currently operates in the U.K.. Staples European retail division currently operates 265 stores in the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Belgium. Staples has additional stores in France, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

Best Buy Canada Chooses Kronos
Chemlsford-based Kronos has been chosen by Best Buy Canada, Canada's fastest-growing national retailer and e-tailer of consumer electronic products, to provide a suite of optimized Web-based scheduling products and services, Kronos Workforce Central. Best Buy Canada operates 131 stores under the Best Buy and Future Shop names and employs over 13,000 workers. Kronos products and services are intended to facilitate employee scheduling, identify gaps in employee coverage, and integrate data into existing payroll and financial management programs.

Equiserve Acquired by Computershare
Equiserve, a Boston-based subsidiary of DST Systems, will be acquired by Computershare Ltd. of Australia in a deal worth approximately $91 million. Equiserve provides administration services to more than half of the companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average, to 1,300 other corporate clients, and to 19 million shareholders. Services include date processing, AWD products and services, output solutions, and e-proxy services.

Suddekor LLC Breaks Ground in East Longmeadow
Suddekor LLC, a roto-gravure printer based in Agawam that supplies decorative paper to the North American laminate industry, has begun construction of a 108,000-sq. ft. factory in East Longmeadow. The new facility will double the company's pre-press capabilities by adding a second lab printing press, cylinder proofing equipment and a digital scanner, doubling the company's pre-press capabilities. Suddekor prints decorative paper products that are used in the manufacturing of laminate countertops, cabinets, and flooring, a market that company officials estimate will grow by 34% in the next five years.

Lucent Opens Bell Labs Research Center in Dublin
Lucent Technologies of Andover will open a new Bell Labs Research Center at its facility in Blanchardstown, Dublin. The center includes the establishment of the Centre for Telecommunications Value-Chain-Driven Research at Trinity College, Dublin that will involve eight other Irish universities and institutes of technology. The center will focus on research in engineering, manufacturing and supply chain techniques, tools, and technologies and serve Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Canadian Company Acquires eMed
Cedara Software Corp of Toronto will acquire Burlington-based eMed, a privately held provider of Web-based medical imaging radiology products, for $48 million. The acquisition will allow Cedara, a developer of medical software technologies for the healthcare market, access to eMed's customer base of imaging centers and hospitals.

Lufthansa Adopts Ascential Software
Ascential Software Corp in Westboro announced that Lufthansa Technik Logistik, an aviation industry logistics provider, is using Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite software to merge accounting systems with inventory management, storage, shipping, and transportation management. Ascential's software suite transforms data from other applications to streamline financial operations, improve customer support, and expedite business transactions. Lufthansa is one of Ascential's 3,000 international customers in banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, and manufacturing industries.

Cognos Acquires Stockholm's Frango
Cognos Inc., a Canadian provider of business intelligence and corporate performance management products with U.S. headquarters in Burlington, will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Frango AB, a Stockholm-based company that specializes in financial reporting services. The acquisition offer is being made through Cognos AB, a wholly-owned Cognos Swedish subsidiary.

Alliance Announces 2004 Bay State Export Increases
The Alliance for the Commonwealth, a research and educational foundation of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, announced that Massachusetts exports during the first seven months of 2004 increased 21.9 percent from the previous year, the greatest percentage increase among the top 10 exporting states. Massachusetts exports for the period totaled $12.76 billion. Total U.S. exports totaled $446.1 billion, an increase of 13.4%. The state's top export destinations-Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and the U.K-accounted for approximately half of the state's exports. Top industry sectors included electric machinery, instruments, industrial machinery, pharmaceutical products, and organic chemicals.

Port of Boston Reports Increases in Cargo Volumes
The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) reported a 12% increase in TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) and a 17% overall container tonnage for the first six months of 2004. Export tonnage alone increased 20% to 227,554 tons. The increases are attributed to direct inbound service by the steamship alliance of COSCO, K Line, Yang Ming, and Hanjan and expanded service to Boston by the Mediterranean Shipping Company. Since Far East service increased in 2002, the ratio of imports to exports has narrowed from 2.5:1 to 1.6:1. The Port of Boston is New England's largest port.

Parexel Partners With U.K. Online Medical Source
Parexel International Ltd in Boston is partnering with Doctors.net.uk, the United Kingdom's largest forum for medical professionals. The partnership will give Parexel access to U.K.-based clinical investigators and their patient populations. The site has more than 100,000 members, more than 80% of whom are physicians. The alliance gives Doctors.net.UK customers access to clinical trial expertise, advanced technologies, and project management information.

Zoll Equips and Trains Greek Ambulance Service
Zoll Medical Corp in Chelmsford, a manufacturer of non-invasive resuscitation devices and information-collection software, completed its outfitting of 295 Greek ambulances, 25 fast-response motor bikes, and four local defibrillator medical stations. An additional 200 ambulances currently in service have been upgraded with Zoll AED defibrillators, bringing the total of deployed units to 524. The equipment was purchased in preparation for the Olympic Games in August and will help medical professionals and first responders diagnose and treat victims of trauma and sudden cardiac arrest.

Deutche Bank Acquires Berkshire Mortgage Assets
Deutche Bank will acquire virtually all of the origination and servicing assets of Berkshire Mortgage Finance Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Boston-based Berkshire Group. Berkshire Mortgage, one of the largest privately held commercial mortgage lenders in the U.S. with a mortgage portfolio of $18 billion, will become part of Deutche Bank's global Real Estate Debt Markets group. Berkshire Mortgage will retain its corporate offices in Boston and its regional offices in Bethesda, MD and Irving, CA.

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