State drops on high-tech index
Connecticut dropped two slots to ninth on the Milken Institute”™s 2010 State Technology and Science Index, swapping places with New Hampshire as Massachusetts again led the semiannual ranking.
No other Northeast states cracked the top 10.
The index evaluates nearly 80 economic indicators across categories like research, capital, work forces and high-tech clusters.
Bolt sales rise
Fresh off its acquisition of a San Diego undersea robot maker, sales continue to rise for Norwalk-based Bolt Technology Corp., which makes devices called air guns that emit large underwater bubbles to help oil exploration companies take better seismic readings of the ocean floor.
In its second fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31, Bolt sales totaled $10.1 million, slightly more than what it paid to acquire SeaBotix, not including up to $20 million more in additional payments pegged to future milestones.
SeaBotix makes remotely operated vehicle used for everything from oceanographic research to rescuing unconscious people in frigid waters.
Terra lands contracts
Food giants General Mills Inc. and Kraft Foods separately selected Terra Technology Inc.”™s inventory and transportation forecasting software to improve their logistics.
Norwalk-based Terra Technology”™s software is designed to analyze daily demand signals and apply advanced mathematics to decrease inventory forecasting errors by as much as half.
Mobile device applications spike
Stamford-based Gartner Inc. estimates mobile device application downloads will more than double this year to 17.7 billion in all and that revenue will nearly triple to more than $15.1 billion. Gartner expects free downloads to account for four in five of all downloads this year.
“Many are wondering if the app frenzy we have been witnessing is just a fashion and, like many others, (if) it shall pass,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner, in a prepared statement. “We do not think so ”¦ However, applications will have to ”˜grow up”™ and deliver a superior experience to the one that a web-based app will be able to deliver.”
