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Keeping you informed and inspired. VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 5

May 2020

COVID-19

HudsonAlpha’s Dr. Neil Lamb Talks Treatments and Vaccines

COVER STORY

Dr. Neil Lamb from HudsonAlpha joined the Huntsville-Madison Chamber of Commerce via teleconference to better explain where the medical profession and science is regarding finding treatments and vaccines for this terrible strain known as COVID-19 – an acronym for coronavirus disease of 2019. By Kimberly Ballard - Page 6

TECHNOLOGY

Despite Increased Teleworking, Huntsville-Areas Internet Integrity ‘Among the Best’

ADDITIONAL STORIES • FBI’s 5-Year Building Plan on Redstone Arsenal Continues By Kimberly Ballard • Page 3

• How Should Millenials Respond to Market Decline Guest Editorial • Page 4 • In the World of COVID-19, Fitness Centers Go Virtual By Lori J. Connors • Page 10

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HUNTSVILLE

BUSINESS JOURNAL Vol 3, Issue 5 May 2020 600 Boulevard South Suite 104 Huntsville, AL 35802

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

May 2020

DEVELOPMENT By Kimberly Ballard

The FBI is the largest and most aggressive builder on Redstone Arsenal these days and construction on the expansive new campus is expected to continue for the next five years. Currently, there are five main building projects in progress. The Operations Support Building will house up to 1,400 employees and contractors from nearly a dozen headquarter divisions. It includes multi-purpose space that can accommodate conference and training efforts, and a parking garage. A technology building will focus on bringing together enterprise security and network operations; and a commons building will support fit-for-duty requirements such as a gym; and provide campus amenities, employee resources, and a pavilion. These three facilities are scheduled to open and be ready for occupancy by summer 2021. The FBI is also expanding its Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center (TEDAC) facilities completed here in February 2016. Most of the enlargement will be to the explosives technical laboratory building where the agency will receive, fully analyze, and exploit all terrorist improvised explosive devices or IEDs related to activities in the United States.

According to the FBI, TEDAC coordinates the efforts of all U.S. government efforts, from law enforcement to intelligence agencies and the military. Many high-level officials are part of the TEDAC organizational structure and the agency will have a large contingent located here in Huntsville upon completion around the fall of 2021. A fifth facility, an Innovation Center will facilitate cyber-based training including cyber skills and tactics, as well as modernization efforts. It should be ready for occupancy in summer 2023. According to a FBI Public Affairs Officer, affected personnel and functions are gradually moving to Huntsville now and the agency anticipates the major-

ity will have moved by the end of 2021. Some of them are occupying “swing space” near the Arsenal’s Gate 9 to accommodate those who will need to transition to the Arsenal before the buildings are complete. The same spokesperson confirmed that the total number of jobs to be relocated to Redstone Arsenal long-term will be based on recommendations by FBI executive management, the Administration and Congress, their respective approvals

of such plans, and the availability of funding. “At Redstone Arsenal, we are able to strategically build a campus that will bring various FBI assets together in one location, as well as address tactical and specialized training requirements,” he said. “The FBI will continue to evaluate programs that would enhance and/ or complement the current and planned FBI functions currently in or moving to Huntsville.” w

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

GUEST EDITORIAL: BRAD WALLACE Subsidiary of EVENT Publishing

The coronavirus crisis has unsettled every age group, as we are all worried about our health and that of our families and communities. And if you’re in the millennial generation, generally defined as anyone born between 1981 and 1996, you might also be concerned about your financial future, given the sharp decline in investment prices. How should you respond to what’s been happening? Your view of the current situation will depend somewhat on your age. If you’re an older millennial, you had probably been investing for a few years when we went through the financial crisis in 2007-2008. And you then experienced 11 years of a record bull market, so you’ve seen both the extremes and the resilience of the investment world. But if you’re a younger millennial, you might not have really started investing until the past few years, if you’ve started at all, so you’ve only seen a steadily climbing market. Consequently, you may find the current situation particularly discouraging, but this is also a lesson in the reality of investing: Markets go down as well as up. But no matter where you are within the millennial age cohort, you might help yourself by taking these steps: Enjoy the benefit of having time on your side. If you’re one of the younger millennials, you’ve got about four decades left until you’re close to retiring. Even if you’re in the older millennial group, you’ve probably got at least 25 years until you stop working. With so many years ahead, you have the opportunity to overcome the periodic drops in investment prices, and your investments have time to grow. And, of course, you’ll be able to add more money into those invest-

ments, too. Invest systematically. The value of your investments will always fluctuate. You can’t control these price movements, but you may be able to take advantage of them through what’s known as systematic investing. By putting the same amount of money at regular intervals into the same investments, you’ll buy more shares when the share price is lower – in other words, you’ll be “buying low,” which is one of the first rules of investing – and you’ll buy fewer shares when the price rises. Over time, this strategy can help you reduce the impact of volatility on your portfolio, although it can’t ensure a profit or protect against loss. Plus, systematic investing can give you a sense of discipline, though you’ll need to consider the ability to keep investing when share prices are declining. Focus on the future. You’re never really investing for today – you’re doing it to reach goals in the future, sometimes just a few years away, but usually much further out. That’s why it’s so important not to panic when you view those scary headlines announcing big drops in the financial markets, or even when you see negative results in your investment statements. By creating an investment strategy that’s appropriate for your risk tolerance and time horizon, and by focusing on your long-term goals, you can develop the discipline to avoid making hasty, ill-advised decisions during times of stress. As a millennial, you’ve got a long road ahead of you as you navigate the financial markets. But by following the suggestions above, you may find that journey a little less stressful. w (Provided by Brad Wallace, Financial Advisor, Edward Jones Investments)

Publisher/President ................................................................ Todd Stephenson Editor .......................................................................................... Bud McLaughlin Writers.........................................................................................Kimberly Ballard Lori J. Connors Mike Easterling Graphic Design ............................................................................. Justina Simon Website................................................................................................ Jim Gharib Photographers...................................................................................Steve Babin Kimberly Ballard Eric Schultz Justina Simon Director of Sales ................................................................. Carolyn Stephenson Account Executives...............................................................................Lee Nast Amanda Peach Michelle Epling Distribution......................................................................................Glenda Mace Huntsville Business Journal is published monthly by EVENT Publishing,

PO Box 14219, Huntsville, AL 35815. For advertising information call 256.533.8078, e-mail todd@eventhuntsville.com, or visit us on the web at www.huntsvillebusinessjournal.com For editorial information contact editor@huntsvillebusinessjournal.com ALL CONTENTS ©2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION OR USE IN WHOLE OR IN PART OF THE CONTENTS WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER IS PROHIBITED. HUNTSVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF EVENT PUBLISHING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNSOLICITED PHOTOGRAPHS OR ARTICLES ARE SUBMITTED AT THE RISK OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER OR AUTHOR. EVENT PUBLISHING ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR THE RETURN OF ANY UNSOLICITED MATERIALS AND MAY USE THEM AT ITS DISCRETION.

May 2020

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

COVID-19 By Kimberly Ballard

It is a disease that has paralyzed the world for the last few months. COVID-19 comes from a large family of coronaviruses given its name because of the “corona” or halo that surrounds each viral spike or protein that stick up from its surface like the points on a crown The common cold, according to the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology in Huntsville, is usually caused by a coronavirus, and it often leads to respiratory infections. Some of them, such as pneumonia and bronchitis, are serious; but much to medical science’s dismay, mankind has never found a “cure” for the common cold. Instead, doctors treat the symptoms, which in the end, usually defeat the virus in the patient so they can recover. Dr. Neil Lamb from HudsonAlpha joined the Huntsville-Madison Chamber of Commerce via teleconference to better explain where the medical profession and

science is regarding finding treatments and vaccines for this terrible strain known as COVID-19 – an acronym for coronavirus disease of 2019. “There are four things people need to know regarding COVID-19 treatments and vaccines,” said Lamb. “The first is, that right now, all we have are symptom-based treatments that fall in two broad categories scientists are looking at around the world. Those are new and repurposed drugs, and neutralizing antibodies. “But we must understand these treatments don’t slow down or prevent the spread of the virus.” He said hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin, long used in the treatment of malaria, are examples of

repurposing antiviral medicines with a goal of stopping the COVID-19 infection process. “They have been through clinical trials and they are safe and already available,” he said. “But are they potentially useful in the fight against COVID-19? Can they prevent the virus from infecting a cell and taking over the cell’s machinery, spreading the virus?

“We don’t know yet.” There are four clinical trials in process, looking at different combinations of these potential drugs, and researchers are waiting to see if they will be of use against COVID-19. “The challenge is that a lot of the studies done in the last two or three months have been on small numbers of people, and small numbers don’t nec-

May 2020

COVID-19

essarily mean, ‘Yes!’ It requires larger clinical trials, which are just getting started, and those will give us that data,” Lamb said. The second treatment piece is neutralizing antibodies. “This is sometimes called ‘convalescent plasma’, an idea that about seven days into the infection, the body starts to recognize COVID-19 as the coronavirus, and it begins attacking it, making antibodies against SARS-Co-V2 virus that causes COVID-19,” he said. “This is important because the body is now actively hypervigilant about targeting the Coronavirus specifically, using these antibodies because they recognize the disease.” Lamb said medical professionals can take those antibodies from someone who has already recovered and give them to someone who is in the early stage of the disease. “If I can immediately boost the patient’s immune response, I can get them further down the path of attacking and defending against the virus,” he said. “You’re seeing this happen in New York right now. People who have recovered are now producing antibodies in their system. We take their blood, separate out the serum, and concentrate down on the antibodies fighting against the SARSCo-V2 virus, and give it to currently sick individuals.” This idea has been used by the medical community for over 100 years as a way to treat infectious diseases, when there are no other good therapies; but Lamb said there are a lot of questions about how much of the serum you can dilute out from a recovered patient; and whether one person can provide enough serum to treat two, five, 10 people? “We don’t know,” he said. “But there are also groups looking at whether they can manufacture those neutralizing antibodies in a lab, and then make them in huge quantities. “Another question we’re looking at is, can this process give us a prevention? If I give this to people at high risk, would having these antibodies in their blood stream afford them some level of protection?” Vaccines are different. They aren’t therapies and they’re not going to be useful in treating anyone, but they are preventatives. “This idea is to give your immune system something virus-like that helps it say, ‘I don’t recognize this, so I need to prepare an immune response to it’,” he said. “The immune response can be very

small. All it needs is enough memory for the immune system to remember it. “Having seen this before, the body already has antibodies ready to fight. Now, if I can do that for your immune system and you are infected later on, your immune system knows what to do and immediately starts producing antibodies so you don’t have that seven-day window where you’re waiting for your immune system to figure out how to respond and how to create antibodies.” Lamb said there are more than 50 groups developing vaccines for COVID-19. Two of them have already started Phase I clinical trials where they try to figure out a safe dosage and whether there are major side effects from the medication. One of those clinical trials is in the United States and the other is in China. Another company is about to start a clinical trial combining Phase I and Phase II, where they’re looking at safety, but also whether it generates any response. “The challenge is that we are probably 12 to 18 months away from a vaccine, and that’s going faster than we’ve ever gone before on vaccine development,” he said. “The good news is, we’re moving incredibly fast. The bad news is, it is not something we’re going to have available immediately, unless some very unusual circumstances arise.” Lamb said there is a lot of work being done on vaccines and you want multiple vaccines in your pipeline because many of them are not going to succeed. The researchers want to start with a large number and at least one, two or three they know work. “The other challenge is that historically, you go through Phase I, II and III clinical trials; the FDA reviews and approves your information so you’re good to go; and then it takes six months to ramp up production,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking an extra six months to ramp up production, so as vaccine possibilities move through the clinical trial stage, as they get into Phase III, it’s very likely we’re going to be asking those companies to begin ramping up production even without the assurance they are going to succeed.” Dr. Lamb has produced a series of Shareable Science educational videos that puts the coronavirus into everyday understandable language. Check them out at https://hudsonalpha.org/ hudsonalpha-launches-covid-19-educational-video-series-beyond-the-blog/. w

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

COVER

The COVID-19 Endgame: Probing Quest

By Kimber Huntsville is accustomed to goaloriented missions. When it was determined that our health care system could be overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 patients, Madison County residents and business owners took unprecedented steps to follow state and federal guidelines for social distancing. They closed their businesses and sheltered at home to help flatten the curve against exposure to the virus. Under all discernible yet cautious reporting, COVID-19 cases seem to be waning and our hospitals seem to be buffered against the threat. Mission accomplished. Goals achieved. But this mission is different from any other. At what costs have we seen success? What does an economic recovery following this pandemic look like? When will it occur? How long will it take to get back to “normal”? Will there ever be a “normal” or will it change us forever? These are the questions posed to Dr. Wafa Hakim Orman, associate dean for undergraduate programs at the College of Business and associate professor of economics and computational analysis at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. “Economically, things are very bad right now,” said Orman “The problem is our normal indicator models don’t do us much good because they are monthly or quarterly.” For instance, the national labor force is around 164 million. Before the pandemic started, unemployment was about 3.5 percent. Today, the B&S rate shows national unemployment at just over 4 percent, but Orman believes the numbers are skewed and that rate is closer to 13 percent because it is based on March in which half of the month was great, but the last half of the month was disastrous. “We need more timely indicators to truly see what is going on with the current state of the economy, and weekly unemployment claims are the best data we have on the subject right now,” she said.

The Madison County labor force is about 186,000. In Madison County last year at this time, based on figures from the Alabama Department of Labor, we had about 203,000 unemployment claims per week. Since March 15, nearly 16.8 million people have filed unemployment claims at a rate of over 6 million per week. “In February (before the pandemic-related shutdown began), it looked really good for us,” Orman said. “The unemployment rate was only 2.7 percent, which was below what we consider our normal unemployment rate, and here in Huntsville, it was lower than the state average.” To put this into proper context, Orman said, you must do some back-of-the-envelope mathematical calculation. “Based on these figures,” she said, “The unemployment rate for Madison County is probably already over 8 percent and nationally, the true unemployment rate is probably over 13 percent.” Compared to the financial crisis of 2008, this is off the charts. Even when compared it to the Great Depression, unemployment was very high, but the fall-off was gradual, not all at once. “The country has never seen anything like it. It is completely unprecedented,” said Orman. “There are

however some alternative indicators available if we look for them and one of those is electricity demand. “The Department of Energy provides hourly indicators on electricity demand and you can tell if commercial establishments are shutting down because electricity use will be lower. Based on up-to-the-minute indicators provided by University of Chicago economist Steve Cicala, electricity use has plummeted, and this information has been adjusted to allow for temperature, weather patterns, and holidays.” Electricity demand should be at the February average of 2 percent. After March 15, it dropped precipitously to nearly minus-8 percent. “I did a similar analysis for the areas covered by the Tennessee Valley Authority, because that’s the smallest

scale at which we can get this electricity data for our region, and the results are very similar,” she said. Another alternative source of data comes from Homebase.com. “They provide timesheets and scheduling software and they have very helpfully made aggregates of what they’re seeing available on their website,” Orman said. “You can see the impact on local business from their customer base looking at hours worked. Again, we see a sharp decline, and when you look at it by industry, this provides us with something I think we should be paying a lot of attention to as we think about reopening.” Orman said the industries that are seeing the biggest declines are likely to be the industries people will be the most reluctant to go back to after reopening. “As an economist, what we have is essentially a major shock to aggregate demand,” she said. “And it creates this tension. We need to save lives by shutting down, but we also face terrible consequences from the economic shutdown. Increases in unemployment, increases in poverty, and all the negatives we know are associated with recessions, are really intensified in a very short time right now.” While the number appears to be flattening the

May 2020

STORY

tions Will Remain with a ‘New’ Economy

rly Ballard curve and social distancing seems to have been a successful strategy for slowing the spread of the virus, the long-term effects are unknown. Orman however presents some ideas for discussion. “And it is completely implausible that we just wait for some bell to ring that tells us the virus is no longer a threat,” she said. “That is impossible. It will have to be a phased reopening but how does that unfold?” She said a slow, limping back to normal over a prolonged period is difficult to assess at this point because if the economy reopens to some nonessential businesses, there is a risk of another spike in infections and that will be bad news that affects further openings. And there are yet other considerations equally as concerning. “What businesses will people actually go back to and what businesses are likely to continue to suffer, even after we reopen,” she said. “Looking at data from Homebase.com, home and repair and transportation don’t involve much contact so people will probably be quite happy to see those reopen.” Orman believes there will be some pent-up demand with people stuck in their houses for a couple of months. They will want to go to a restaurant, buy things they have been needing or wanting, take a hiking trip, go camping, or attend a social gathering at a local venue. People will be able to get a leak in their roof fixed or plant their spring garden, but what about professional services? She points out it may be awhile before people are comfortable with touching gym equipment someone else has been using; getting a manicure, a massage, or even a haircut because it requires a lot of personal contact with another person. “And what about the food and beverage industry,” she asks. “We’re talking about opening restaurants, but they will have to deal with capacity. They still will not be able to employ as many workers as they did before, leaving some unemployed.” During the pandemic, automation and teleconferencing has replaced

in-person contact and has prompted serious questions. Since many industries have been using self-checkout counters and teleconferencing software as a back-up, how many jobs will be lost to fully-automated services? How much business travel will be cut in lieu of online meetings? How many office jobs will move to telework? There is also a question mark concerning education. “Students are being forced to adapt to online learning, including elementary school and kindergarten,” Orman said. “Those that can move online, have done so, but education at the lower grade levels such as kindergarten through 12th grade may be online this semester. What happens to other educational activities like after-school programs, sports, tutoring, music, and extracurricular activities like summer camp? “How long will it be before people are comfortable sitting in a crowded movie theater, attending a concert, or other events that involve large numbers of people in one place.” She will not be surprised if relatively high unemployment remains for a while as people don’t get rehired such as teacher’s aides, personal trainers, and extra restaurant workers. Some businesses such as hair stylists, manicurists, and massage therapists won’t reopen because there is not enough demand to be profitable. Orman said at that point, unemployed workers will continue to be a drag on GDP. “By fall, that’s starting to get far enough in the future that although difficult to predict, I think the best we can do is an optimistic scenario and a pessimistic scenario,” she said. “In the optimistic scenario, our healthcare system can put in place widespread contact tracing and widespread testing, so if someone is diagnosed, we treat them and everybody they’ve been in

contact with. Those people are quarantined but everybody else can go back to normal. In that scenario she said it is also possible to develop the so-called herd immunity - that once enough people have the coronavirus, it is not such a problem anymore. “Most businesses open, and we can realistically hope hiring and spending start to increase,” Orman said. “This is happening in China where they are experiencing a V-shaped recovery for manufacturing that’s taking off but again, tourism and personal service industries are much, much slower.” In the pessimistic scenario, she said, we do not yet have widespread contact tracing and testing and the virus spikes back up. In this scenario, it will be like the 1918 influenza that started out relatively mild in the spring of 1918, then surged with a vengeance that fall. “Pandemics and epidemics have throughout history, resulted in big long-term changes to society and I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see the same with this one,” said Orman. “And how soon economic recovery takes place depends on what American society is willing to live with.” That requires compliance. “This is a free country,” she said. “We prize our freedoms, so will we submit to required testing on a regular basis, or being told you need to be in quarantine because of someone you’ve been in contact with has contracted

the disease and you need to be quarantined for two weeks, even if you’re not feeling sick? “I think some people will and some people won’t. Initially there will be a strong sense of public spiritedness so people will comply, but eventually people will get tired of it, so compliance will probably be an issue.” And will widespread maskwearing make sense, and will people comply with it? Orman said it’s hard to see how it won’t become standard at this point, but how will people feel about it in the long-term?” Orman shared three very telling images from China after they reopened their economy. The differences are stark of Chinese factory workers maintaining six-foot social distancing while enjoying lunch looks more like an image from a prison. One image shows a sparsely populated subway in Beijing with passengers sitting six feet apart in a car that is usually very crowded. And perhaps the most telling picture of all - a wedding, where aside from the bride and groom, everyone in the wedding party, including the photographer, are wearing masks. After seeing these images - to what extent are people going to be comfortable with this and for how long? “These are still the probing questions,” Orman said. w

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

SPORTS / RECREATION By Lori J. Connors / Photo provided by Kayla Bodel

As one of the cornerstones to health, physical exercise serves to strengthen and to build immune systems. Exercise is also highly recommended for reducing stress and burning off anxiety; two things that a lot of folks may be experiencing during the recent “Stay at Home” order. Classified “non-essential” businesses, fitness centers throughout the state have shuttered their doors. Prior to the full-out closure, centers were already limiting the number of participants allowed at facilities while doubling down on sanitization protocols. Once closures became the new reality, local fitness center owners and instructors got creative by developing ways to maintain contact with their members, while keeping them engaged and active. Using tools such as Facebook Live, YouTube, Zoom, and phone apps, the fitness centers are doing their part in keeping the community active, healthy, and most importantly, connected. Jeff Barnett and his wife Christina own Crossfit Impulse in Madison. Since the closures, they have been organizing their schedule around their 3-year-old son, operating the business, while taking turns with childcare duties. “Back the second week of March, we instituted tighter cleaning protocols,” said Barnett. “We always had protocols for each athlete to wipe down their equipment; we just kept tighter supervision on that.” On March 16, Barnett saw that closure might be a distinct possibility. To prepare for it, the studio needed to come up with a way to keep providing workouts for their athletes, by creating workouts that they could do at home. To that end, Barnett developed a system for their members to check out equipment, while developing online workouts. “We actually started testing those workouts online,” said Barnett. “We started with Facebook Live on Wednesday the 18th, before the closure ever happened.” The workouts were so well-received, Barnett piloted two more, before migrating classes to a completely online format. “We started with Facebook Live,” said Barnett. “But that was more of

a one-way street and our model is coaching, we provide direct coaching to our athletes to make sure they’re staying safe, that they’re getting a great workout.” Barnett then migrated to the Zoom format, while maintaining the regular class schedule. Natalie Halsey, owner of Pure Barre Madison, is the mother of 3, ranging from 6 months to 7 years. Running a studio and raising a family keeps Halsey busy, but the added bonus of the “Stay at Home” order presents additional challenges. To keep its members engaged and active, Pure Barre Madison has migrated to video streaming so they can continue working out during the shutdown. “The biggest thing that we’ve done is live streaming,” said Halsey. “We schedule one class a day. My instructors go into the studio and they live stream to Facebook. It’s a normal class, just with no clients there.” Jason Haynes and his wife Anu are the franchise owners of Regymen Fitness. Both have other jobs and a school-age child at home. Anu is a cardiac nurse; Jason works for MDA and is teleworking while homeschooling their 8-year-old son. With regards to the closure, “We actually did it early,” said Haynes. “Before most of the studios shut down. St. Patty’s day was our last day open. We had a little fun with it and shut down the next day.” “What we did immediately was try to figure out ways to keep our membership engaged and just to support our members. We bought a high-tech video camera and started doing Facebook workouts.”

Once a day, Regymen does a live feed out of the studio, led by one of the coaches. The two other coaches demonstrate the exercises, with respect appropriate social distancing. “We have a lot of people dialing in and checking it out,” said Haynes. Atlanta-based Workout Anytime is a 24-7 fitness center with 160 loca-

tions throughout the U.S. Franchise owner Steven Elliott has four locations throughout North Alabama and Tennessee. His Huntsville location is on University Drive. “Right now, we have two options for our members to work out at home,” said Elliott. “One of the things we have is called ‘Workout of the Day,’ which is on YouTube; we’ve posted the link on our Facebook page. We also have an app that we rolled out a month ago that has custom workouts. The app prompts you with questions about what level of work out and what kind of equipment you have on-hand.” One of the many reasons people stay with a fitness center or program, aside from the obvious fitness goals, is the sense of community and connectiveness that it provides - something that is comforting and reassuring in these uncertain times. w

May 2020

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

TECHNOLOGY By Mike Easterling

West Coast researcher BroadbandNow published a study of the top 200 U.S. cities based on population regarding Internet performance and the numbers say Huntsville is “among the best.’’ That’s according to study author Tyler Cooper, the editor-in-chief at Los Angeles-based BroadbandNow. “Really, Huntsville’s among the best in terms of the network integrity (recently),’’ Cooper said. “We’ve not found a single week since we started tracking this that Internet performance and either upload or download has actually dropped below what it was in prior weeks of the year - like in January and February, for instance.’’ BroadbandNow decided to do the study since there has been a mass shift of remote Internet usage with the shutdown and stay-at-home orders in most states throughout the country because of

the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’ve seen a huge spike in terms of Internet usage throughout the day,’’ Cooper said. “We wanted to see what is that doing to networks at the national level really because we’re not talking about any specific provider technology here. “… We’ve seen things ebb and flow. For a few weeks in early to mid-March, we saw a pretty steep drop in many cities where we were showing that many of them were falling out of the range that they were sort of holding within before the pandemic really sat down in the U.S.’’ BroadbandNow’s most recent and previous findings can be found at https:// broadbandnow.com/report/internetspeed-analysis-april-5th-11th/. “Over the past two weeks,’’ Cooper said, “we’ve seen those networks start to

level off and we’ve seen that many of the connections across the country have actually been slowly improving once more, which has been good to see. Interestingly, Huntsville has been an area that has actually held pretty steady through this entire ordeal in terms of the upload and download performance,’’ Among local Internet providers, only AT&T has open offices and an associate there said they had not been receiving any complaints about slow Internet speeds.

Nationwide, here are key finding from the research for the week of April 5-11: • Internet performance across the top 200 cities continued to improve; 91 (45.5 percent) cities have seen download speed decreases, down from 97 (48.5 percent). Also, 135 cities (67.5 percent) have experienced upload speed decreases, which is once again down from the previous total of 139 (69 percent). • Median rural download and upload

May 2020

TECHNOLOGY

speeds recorded little change from the previous week, remaining below where they were in earlier months of 2020. • Five cities have recorded upload speed decreases of greater than 40 percent out of range, including Baltimore, Maryland, Beaverton, Oregon, Jamaica, New York, Oxnard, California, and Shreveport, Louisiana. • Only two cities have experienced significant download speed decreases of greater than 40 percent out of range: Evansville, Indiana and Saint Paul, Minnesota. BroadbandNow (https://broadbandnow.com) bills itself a champion for consumers in-the-market for broadband internet services. BroadbandNow’s database of providers, the largest in the U.S., delivers the highest-value guides consisting of comprehensive plans, prices and ratings for thousands of internet service providers. BroadbandNow relentlessly collects and analyzes internet providers’ coverage and availability to provide the most accurate zip code search, so consumers can compare and contrast providers and plans to find the best broadband service. w

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

BRIEFCASE

Teledyne Brown Engineering Receives Raytheon’s 5-Star Award for Outstanding Service and Partnership in 2019 Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems has awarded its highest level of recognition, the 5-Star Award, to Teledyne Brown Engineering. The 5-Star Award is given to Raytheon partners who exceed requirements by providing outstanding service and partnership. This award is earned by achievement of yearly scores of 100 percent in quality and on-time delivery and demonstration of a commitment to continuous improvement. “We are honored to be recognized by Raytheon for this prestigious award,” said Jan Hess, president of Teledyne Brown Engi-

neering. “Teledyne is appreciative of the opportunity to strengthen relations with our partner and is looking forward to maintaining our standard of excellence in 2020”. Each year these awards are presented at Raytheon’s Supplier Excellence Conference. However, due to the ongoing COVID -19 restrictions, this year’s conference has been canceled. w

Robins & Morton Receives National Construction Awards BIRMINGHAM – Associated Builders and Contractors announced Robins & Morton as the 2019 National Excellence in

Construction Eagle Award winner for three projects in healthcare and commercial categories. Eagle Awards are equitable to first place and are followed by Pyramid Awards. Projects are eligible to compete for a national excellence designation after earning awardwinning status in their respective regions. Robins & Morton’s national award winners include the renovation of Sanmina’s Huntsville plant. The renovation of the 1960s-era manufacturing facility occurred in three phases, bringing each area up to current standards, adding aesthetic elements and incorporating the latest technology. Although the space’s purpose remains the same, the plant now benefits from new offices and a large, upgraded conference room with improved functionality. The revamp will assist Sanmina in its quest to design, manufacture and

repair some of the most complex audiovisual, electronic and mechanical products in the world. w

Kömmerling Provides ‘Essential’ Support Across the Country Huntsville-based Kommerling USA, part of the international Profine Group, has been quick to support its network of plastics distribution partners across the United States and through its regional supply hubs. The business was declared ‘essential’ following the ‘stay at home’ order from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey last month.

May 2020

BRIEFCASE

As an essential business, Kömmerling USA has been able to manufacture and supply large PVC sheets to its distribution partners that have been required by companies working with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the US Department of Homeland Security - Federal Emergency Management Agency, to construct various COVID-19 related projects. These include field hospitals, drive-thru testing units, hospital bed areas, barrier walls, shields and other easy clean applications. “Not only do we have to thank our wonderful staff here in Huntsville, but also to our network of distribution partners across the USA who helped declare us an essential business,” said Marcy Menoni, Vice President of Sales – Sheet Division. “Normally our PVC sheet is used in the graphics sector, but we’ve adapted our man-

ufacturing so that we can support the country in the fight against COVID-19. “We’ve been keeping our employees safe and within the strict guidelines set by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and feel honored to be able to support those that have needed our products most. We wish everyone to stay safe and keep well during this unprecedented pandemic.’ PVC sheets offer chemical resistance, an easy clean surface, are durable yet lightweight and with a USA manufacturing operation, it has been critical that there has been the facility to manufacture in volume and with a quick turnaround time. The team has also developed KomaPod, an easy-clean hygienic PVC Pod suitable for a wide variety of applications. w

Crestwood Medical Center Appoints Lewis to Board of Trustees Crestwood Medical Center announced has appointed Kim Caudle Lewis to its Board of Trustees for a three-year term. Lewis is the CEO of ProjectXYZ, Inc., which she founded in Huntsville in 2002. “We are delighted and honored to have Ms. Lewis join our board,” said Mike Gillespie, Chairman of the Crestwood Board. “She embodies the spirit of community, brings a wealth of knowledge of our community’s needs, as well as has tremendous business acumen and energy as we further our mission to provide exceptional care and service excellence for patients and

their families.” ProjectXYZ has been recognized by numerous organizations including Inc. 5000 in 2014 - 2017; the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Small Business of the Year Award in 2015; the U.S. Chamber Blue Ribbon Award in 2016; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Women-Owned Business of the Year in 2017. Lewis was also selected as an honoree of the 2016 Women Honoring Women by the WEDC Foundation and recognized as one of the 2017 Women That Shape the State of Alabama. “Crestwood plays a vital role in the overall health of our community and I look forward to working with this team to assure that we continue to provide access to quality health care for our residents,” Lewis said. w

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL