Locus obtains certified status in Microsoft Partner Program

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 26 January 2005, — Locus Technologies (Locus), a leader in environmental information management, today announced that it has earned Microsoft Certified Partner status for software developed as part of Locus’s award-winning LocusFocusSM suite of environmental business solutions. The LocusFocus suite is a web-based environmental data management system – EIM™, along with Locus’s other environmental portal software applications for document management, environmental remediation system automation, waste management, and the soon-to-be-released air data management module.

“Only companies that have demonstrated high levels of customer service, proved their experience, and attained advanced certification receive the designation of Microsoft Certified Partner,” said Allison Watson, vice president of the Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing Group at Microsoft. “Today, Microsoft recognizes Locus Technologies for its skills and expertise in providing customer satisfaction with Microsoft products and technology.”

Locus is pleased that its industry leading, web-based environmental database is based on Microsoft technology. “We find the Microsoft name to be immensely valuable when selling systems to Fortune 100 companies who value EIM’s Microsoft database engine behind the scenes,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus. “With more than 5,000 sites worldwide and millions of environmental records being managed in EIM, it’s clear that having a Microsoft database engine is a key differentiator in the marketplace and provides our clients with a high degree confidence in our systems.”

Microsoft appreciates companies like Locus that have skills and expertise in providing customer satisfaction with Microsoft products and technology. Microsoft Certified Partner status proves a high degree of competency and expertise with Microsoft technologies. Standards for acceptance into Microsoft Partner community are strict. To achieve Microsoft Certified Partner status, Locus satisfied Microsoft Competency requirements by proving its
ability and proficiency to develop high-quality products and software solutions based on Microsoft technologies.

“We are extremely pleased to have earned certified status in the Microsoft Partner Program. The certified status allows us to promote our relationship with Microsoft to our customers. The benefits provided through our certified membership will allow us to continue to enhance the offerings that we provide for customers,” added Dr. Duplancic.

The Microsoft Partner Program was launched in December 2003 and represents Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to the success of partners worldwide. The Microsoft Partner Program offers a single, integrated partnering framework that recognizes partner expertise, rewards the total impact that partners have in the technology marketplace, and delivers more value to help partners’ businesses be successful.

Environmental Information Management Services Puts Environmental Liability Information at Your Fingertips

BusinessWeek: Environmental Solutions, Progressive Ideas and Leading Technologies 

15 November 2004 — Environmental compliance ranks high on the list of corporate responsibilities, and most large companies have a department or division to manage such work. Companies generally find the task of assessing and quantifying their environmental liabilities extremely challenging—even those with significant technical and financial resources at their disposal.

Arecent BTI Consulting report titled E-strategies for Environmental Management estimates that for every dollar companies spend for environmental management, they spend another $1.75 for managing related information. Sooner or later, businesses must attack and eliminate this inefficiency in managing their environmental operations, particularly now that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires them to report these costs on their balance sheet. The resulting increased scrutiny of these obligations, and the possibility of lawsuits arising from incorrect or misleading information, also makes it imperative that officers and directors provide investors and regulators with as accurate an accounting as possible of their corporations’ environmental liabilities.

The investigation, cleanup, and long-term monitoring of contaminated waste sites, as well as air emissions monitoring and regulatory compliance monitoring, produce enormous amounts of data on the nature and extent of chemical presence at a site. One key to an effective environmental program is the deployment of an Environmental Information Management System (EIMS) that can provide managers and engineers with ready access to the information they need for their planning, decision-making, and reporting.

 

To read the full report go to www.environmental-resource.com.

Locus announces addition of web reporting tools to LocusFocus

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., and Dulles, Virginia, 20 September 2004 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a leader in environmental information management, announced today that it has added Cizer Software’s reporting tools to LocusFocus, its award-winning suite of web-based information management systems for the environmental industry.

“Cizer’s Report Builder and Quick Query products will enable users of LocusFocus and EIM to design their own reports and/or run existing reports over the web without having to install or download any software onto their local computers. Both products include an extensive set of formatting and querying options, giving users the utmost in flexibility with respect to the content and organization of their reports. The combination of these tools, together with LocusFocus’s other download and data visualization options, will provide environmental professionals with all the querying and reporting power they need to perform their work in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Furthermore, Locus’s corporate customers stand to gain tremendous savings when necessary report formats are not created independently by separate offices but, instead, are developed just once, after which they are stored and made available over the web, where all who have the appropriate authorization can access and run them,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus.

“We are very pleased that Locus selected our technology to assist their customers with environmental reporting. Locus has recognized the crucial need of business users to get secure reports in a timely way and is providing their clients with the ability to generate those reports in their browser. LocusFocus users will now be able to create both ad hoc and production reports with headers and footers, banded grouping, pagination, conditional formatting, charting, SQL optimization, and parameters without having to waiting in line at the IT department’s door to get their reports made,” said Caitlyn Harts, President and CEO of Cizer.

With the addition of Cizer reporting tools, Locus continues to provide its customers with a cost-competitive, centralized analytical information management system that is superior to any client-server system available in the marketplace today.

“As our client base continues to expand to private and government sectors, Locus is committed to meeting all federal and state electronic data deliverables for the environmental industry, and automating the complex world of environmental reporting,” added Dr. Duplancic.

 

ABOUT CIZER SOFTWARE
Cizer Software has provided data reporting services and solutions for more than 20 years and has published Cizer Server Report products since 1996. As a Microsoft Reporting Services Joint Development Partner and ISV, Cizer is known for its reporting expertise and provides SQL Server-based solutions to commercial and public sector customers and to the US Federal Government via a GSA schedule. Both commercial and public sector clients rely on Cizer to publish thousands of reports each day and will now be able to create those reports and queries in their browser with the latest .NET XML technology. Information on the Cizer .NET Reporting Suite of products can be found by visiting Cizer’s website at www.cizer.com or contacting sales@cizer.com.

1-4 Dioxane Treatment in Mountain View, Calif.

Pollution Engineering, Casebook

Mountain View, Calif. 1 July 2004 — As the consultant for a Fortune 500 semiconductor company at the San Francisco Bay Area Superfund site, Locus Technologies was facing a number of challenges. In 2003, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board requested that the effluent of all treatment facilities within the Superfund site be sampled for 1,4-dioxane. Data obtained during these tests indicated that 1,4-dioxane was present in the effluent at levels of 15 ppb, whereas the statutory discharge limit for 1,4-dioxane was 5 ppb. Additionally, local residents had raised concerns that airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) should not be discharged into the atmosphere. Based on these issues, Locus’s client desire to replace its existing air stripping/vapor carbon/aqueous carbon polishing treatmrnt technolgy with an innovative treatment technology that would:

  • Remove or destroy VOCs and 1,4-dioxane
  • Provide cost-efficient treatment
  • Be easily expandable in the future
  • Be able to meet projected EPA discharge requirements

The design flow rate for the treatment system was 50 gpm. Influent groundwater concentrations had a significant bearing on both the capital and the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs for the required treatment technology. The design influent concentrations are shown in Table 1.

During the early stages of the design process, Locus personnel brought a mobile advanced ozone/peroxide pilot treatment facility known as ozone peroxide, to the site. The engineers also ran a series of performance tests on the actual groundwater. Meanwhile, groundwater samples were sent to various UV/peroxide manufacturers and equipment suppliers so as to obtain process design requirements, capital price quotations and O&M cost for each of the various process treatment systems being considered.

Based on data from pilot studies, treatability studies and evaluations using carbon isotherms, each of the equipment suppliers was able to provide lump sum capital and guaranteed O&M costs for the influent groundwater specified (see Table 1). The scope of services specified for this treatment project were quite specific and required forfeiture of equipment costs should the treatment process not meet the discharge requirements and/or the O&M costs exceed those values provided. Plugging the design groundwater specified into its equations the manufacturers provided equipment capital cost pricing and annual O&M cost. Locus presented its findings in a Basis of Design Report that determined the construction cost and 15-year total present value for each system. Based on the strength of both pilot study results and guaranteed capital and O&M costs, the client chose to proceed with the ozone perioxide system.

Locus proceeded to order the specified equipment and begin construction. Following installation of the equipment, the manufacturers started and operated the treatment system for a period of one week. During that time, the company’s personnel carried out a detailed performance test to verify the destruction efficiency of the process and calculate the actual cost to operate the system. After completing the test phase, the manufacturer provided filed training for the Locus O&M staff.

Locus personnel discovered satisfactorily that the ozone peroxide system completely destroyed 1,4-dioxane without producing measurable air emissions. The fully automated system utilized multiple ozone injection points that increased treatment efficiency. Ozone was injected at high pressure to improve its solubility and thus reduce operational costs. The system could be easily expanded to accommodate changes in flow rates or contaminant concentration. costs to operate the system were very definable and reliable.

The ozone peroxide system has operated flawlessly since it was commissioned in December 2003 and maintained consistent effluent results. Furthermore, the O&M costs have remained below those values that were guaranteed in the original equipment proposal.

For more information about the remediation of 1,4-dioxane and the use of the treatment system at the San Francisco Bay Area Superfund Site, visit www.locustec.com.

Water Disposal May be Avoided at GI Dump

Middletown Times Star

Read the Press Release Here

Locus Announces Completion of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Reporting Requirements

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 23 July 2003 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a leader in environmental information management, today announced that it has expanded its award winning, web-based Environmental Information Management™ (EIM™ system, to include the capability of importing and exporting data in compliance with New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Site Remediation Program (SRP).

As part of New Jersey’s participation in the National Environmental Performance Partnership System (NEPPS), the SRP is developing groundwater indicators to show progress in ground water contamination cleanup. The SRP has issued regulations requiring analytical results of sampling data to be submitted electronically and in a GIS-compatible format. Using this information, the SRP plans to delineate changes in the aerial extent of each groundwater plume to evaluate environmental progress in cleaning up contaminated sites.

Addressing the issue of voluminous hardcopy data submissions, the SRP requires that all sites presently being remediated within New Jersey submit their data in electronic format. Moving away from hardcopy data submission has the potential to accelerate the review and statistical manipulation of information, significantly enhancing NJDEP’s ability to service the regulated community and protect the environment and the public. The agency is already collecting massive amounts of data, therefore, the need to be able to process this information quickly and accurately is a growing concern. With Locus’s incorporation of the SRP standard, EIM™ users now have the tools they need to import and export NJDEP data formats.

“We are very pleased that EIM™ now provides interoperability with NJDEP requirements. By bringing EIM™ technology to its customers in New Jersey, Locus has provided the first web-based tool to upload and transmit vast amounts of sampling data to the state from a centralized web system. The EIM™ system links laboratories, clients, and their consultants to the state through a seamless web-based interface. By leveraging Web Services and XML technologies, Locus continues to provide its customers with a cost-competitive, centralized analytical information management system that is superior to any client-server system available in the marketplace today,” said Mr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

“Only three months after announcing California’s Water Resources Control Board AB2886 reporting requirements compatibility, Locus has delivered another important state standard. Locus is committed to meeting all federal and state electronic data deliverables for the environmental industry, including the XML-based, federal SEDD, once it has been approved,” added Dr. Duplancic.

Locus announces release of eWaste

Walnut Creek, Calif., 13 January 2003  — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, announced today they have released eWaste, the environmental industry’s premier hazardous waste and chemicals management software.

eWaste is a comprehensive, but easy-to-use, software program for the classification, labeling, packaging, lab packing, storage, manifesting, transporting, disposal, tracking, and reporting on hazardous waste and hazardous chemicals. It automatically assigns EPA and DOT regulatory information to waste chemical products. The program helps clients determine the chemical compatibility of their waste chemicals, and safely assign them to containers with compatible items.

eWaste manages customers’ waste profiles, allowing for full EPA reporting capabilities, as well as reduced errors in labeling and shipping descriptions. eWaste synchronizes with either Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or portable bar code readers, such as Symbol units, for quick and accurate collection of field data and container tracking. As part of its joint application development and marketing partnership with Symbol Technologies, Locus has committed to making all of its hand-held applications compatible with Symbol PDAs and mobile computing devices. eWaste continues to fulfill Locus’s commitments to offer all of its environmental software on multiple platforms and wireless devices equipped with bar-code readers and GPS (Global Positioning System) capabilities.

eWaste also features point-n-click preparation and printing of 11 different states’ waste manifests, as well as federal uniform, nonhaz, and bills of ladings. It can automatically prepare up to a nine-page manifest, utilizing either uniform or state-specified continuation sheets. eWaste prepares management, cost tracking, and regulatory reports, including the Biennial Regulatory Report and SARA 313. In the near future, Locus plans to fully webenable eWaste, thereby allowing for secure, but easy access, of all inventories and reports to key personnel, no matter where they are.

“We are pleased to offer our customers another module in LocusFocus(SM) that allows complete waste tracking solutions from cradle to grave. Coupled with our web-based analytical Environmental Information Management™ (EIM™) system, eWaste provides the most comprehensive enterprise-based integrated solution for managing waste and contaminated sites analytical data at lowest cost”, said Mr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus.

Innovative & Award Winners Section, Web-Based EIM Solves Data Management Chaos

ENR Magazine

23 December 2002 — When the Lucchini Group of Italy embarked on acquisition strategy to become the largest long-steel products company in Europe, it acquired the environmental liabilities of steel plants across Europe.

Lucchini’s acquisition of France’s Ascometal in 1999 was a centerpiece in its growth strategy. However, the company also gained ownership of a number of sites – some originating from the time of Napoleon – that had been the subjects of many environmental investigations. Lucchini needed to quickly digest and organize the data from these studies to ensure compliance with emerging European Union environmental laws and regulations.

 

Enter Locus and the Internet
Lucchini recognized the benefits of the Internet for managing their burgeoning amounts of environmental data. To meet their need, Lucchini turned to Locus Technologies who was building the first Web-based, enterprise-level environmental information management system (EIM) to server companies such as FMC, Union Pacific Railroad, Philips Semiconductor, Waste Management, and Schlumberger, and its alliance partner, Alstom Power.

Instead of leaving data and reports buried in offices across Europe, Locus’ EIM system and LocusFocus provided Lucchini with a central repository that can be accessed via the Internet any time, from anywhere. “Lucchini cut its environmental costs and standardized its information management processes by deploying LocusFocus,” said Dr. Francesco Caforio, director of Lucchini’s environmental programs in Paris, France. “The system has also provided us with due diligence cost reduction on the M&A front.”

EIM has the capabilities engineers, scientists, and managers require: access to lists of methods and chemicals, a planning module, forms for entering field data, a utility to upload electronic data deliverables (EDDs), and an extensive reporting and plotting module. However, it also has less common components, such as a calendar module for viewing information on sampling events and uploaded EDDs, emailing capabilities, an electronic data verification and validation module, a customizable EDD loader, and a flexible cross-tab report writer.

The system also include eGIS-SVG, a new way to view site maps and data, based on scalable vector graphics, the emerging standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium for viewing graphical information over the Internet.

 

Electronic Glue
Communications technologies, such as XML and Web Services, can knit the different parts of fragmented environmental business into a more coherent whole. “The key,” said Mr. Chris French of Honeywell, a company that recently entered into Beta testing of Locus’ EIM system, and itself a leader in applying digitization to all its business processes, “is to standardize, automate and centralize the fragmented array of company-wide and outside consultants information systems, utilizing metrics to quantify the business case. Our six sigma examination shows substantial variability in the quality, efficiency, and cost of current “silo” data management systems. Pilot testing has shown the potential for substantial downstream cost savings by digitizing and standardizing the process through the adoption of systems such as LocusFocus.

Locus and STP Specialty Technical Publishers team up to provide PDA auditing tool

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 13 September 2002 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, announced today that it has entered into a marketing partnership with STP Specialty Technical Publishers. The two companies will develop application software focusing on compliance, auditing, and data and information gathering and management for the environmental, waste management, and due diligence industries.

Locus initially intends to add checklists, guidelines, and other content developed by STP Specialty Technical Publishers to eSurvey, Locus’s integrated environmental health and safety (EH&S) auditing software tool used by auditors in the field to record deficiencies as they are noted, either directly into a Palm OS™- or Pocket PC™-based personal digital assistant (PDA) or a Symbol Technologies™ unit equipped with a bar code reader. eSurvey
is a module of LocusFocusSM, Locus Technologies’ award-winning, comprehensive environmental web portal.

The functionality of eSurvey is provided through three separate interfaces: the PDA interface, a web-based user interface, and a web-based management interface. After an audit or inspection is completed, results are uploaded into a holding table on a networked database. Through the user interface, auditors can review and, as necessary, modify their findings before final logging into the system. Managers can track deficiencies in their various areas and monitor progress in resolving issues, as well as comment and schedule re-audits through the web-based management interface. eSurvey also includes e-mailing and customized reporting capabilities. Through the web-based user interface, EH&S staff can also print customized reports and presentations.

“We are very pleased that, through this partnership, STP Specialty Technical Publishers content will be made available to our customers via eSurvey. Auditors will be able to access familiar STP Specialty Technical Publishers auditing checklists and guidance in the field, directly through eSurvey, thus significantly reducing the time to perform the audits, reducing errors, and eliminating double-input of audit information,” said Mr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus. “STP Specialty Technical Publishers content on eSurvey will be of particular interest to large industrial companies with numerous, complex industrial sites and those performing due diligence audits for Merger and Acquisition (M&A) industries,” added Duplancic.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our tried-and-tested compliance and auditing content in such an exciting new medium, and we look forward to working in partnership with Locus Technologies. While still producing our guides in the more traditional mediums we need to be at the cutting edge of technology in order to meet the needs of the entire compliance community,” says Chris Heming, president of STP Specialty Technical Publishers.

 

ABOUT STP SPECIALTY TECHNICAL PUBLISHERS
STP Specialty Technical Publishers, one of North America’s leading publishers of reference and interpretive materials, publishes environmental, health & safety, transportation, business management, and accounting guides, including International Standard Organization (ISO) guides. STP Specialty Technical Publishers publications are authored by experts in their respective fields who monitor changing laws and regulations to provide meaningful and practical updates. More information about the company can be obtained at www.stpub.com or by telephone at (604) 983-3434 or (800) 251-0381.

Locus Wins Baldwin Park Operable Unit Superfund Site Professional Consulting and Engineering Services

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 31 May 2002 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a leader in groundwater consulting and engineering services, announced today that it has been selected by certain settling Cooperating Respondents to provide professional consulting and engineering services at the Baldwin Park Operable Unit (BPOU), a part of the San Gabriel Valley Superfund site. The San Gabriel Valley Superfund site consists of plumes of groundwater contamination in an area more than a mile wide and 7 miles long. The groundwater in this area is utilized for multiple purposes, including public water supply. Traditionally, local water companies simply shut down water supply wells to avoid service of impacted groundwater. Groundwater contamination extends from the water table to more than 1,000 feet below ground surface. The primary contaminants in groundwater are chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), perchlorate, N nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), and 1,4-dioxane. Contaminant concentrations measured in groundwater in the BPOU area range up to several tens of parts per million.

In March 1994, EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) and selected a cleanup plan for VOCs in the BPOU and, in 1999, subsequently issued an explanation of significant differences to the ROD requiring additional treatment systems as a result of the discovery of perchlorate, NDMA, and 1,4-dioxane in groundwater. EPA then issued a Unilateral Administrative Order on 30 June 2000, directing 19 potential responsible parties (PRPs) to complete the remedial design and make arrangements for the construction and operation of the BPOU groundwater extraction wells, treatment systems, and related cleanup facilities. The selected remedy, now in the design and construction stage, calls for large groundwater pump-and-treat systems capable of extracting and treating approximately 21,000 gallons per minute. Current plans approved by EPA call for the remedy to be built as four sub-projects, ranging in capacity from 2,500 gallons per minute to 7,800 gallons per minute. Each subproject will have two or more groundwater extraction wells and a series of treatment processes expected to include air-stripping, ion exchange, and UV oxidation. Clean, treated water will be distributed by local water purveyors for use in the public water supply system.

Locus’s contract is with several of the Cooperating Respondents that include companies such as Oil & Solvent Process Company, Reichhold, Inc., Azusa Land Reclamation Co., Inc., Fairchild Holding Company, Hartwell Corporation, Huffy Corporation, and Wynn Oil Company. “We are very pleased to be selected as consultants to one of the largest groundwater cleanup projects in the United States. This further demonstrates Locus’s ability to provide technical and strategic representation to its clients on complex, multidisciplinary groundwater sites. We will be working closely with the Cooperating Respondents to implement the groundwater remedy and restore the public drinking water supply” said Mr. Gregory Murphy, Vice President of Locus Technologies in charge of the program.