Business Bits

By Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Ellie Mae

Ellie Mae's Encompass360 has been selected by First Bank Mortgage, a division of First Bank of Georgia, as its mortgage management solution. In 2011, First Bank Mortgage originated more than $400 million in mortgages through its retail branches and 60 correspondent lenders. Prior to selecting Encompass360, First Bank Mortgage had been using multiple systems, which made it increasingly difficult to do business with their wholesale correspondent lending clients.

Thomas Bird, First Bank Mortgage's executive vice president, estimates that the new software will produce at least $200,000 in savings in the first full year after implementation. "That's not counting intangibles like higher productivity, increased business, improved customer service or the cost savings of preventing mistakes that could lead to compliance penalties or buybacks," Bird said.
Polycom

The Southeast Kansas Education Service Center at Greenbush has equipped 110 classrooms with Polycom RealPresence video in order to enhance the educational experience of more than 55,000 students, staff, administrators, and lifelong learners in Kansas and three other states. "Kansas is very rural and students in smaller communities do not have access to the same learning activities that are available to kids in more affluent urban areas," said Lisa Blair, Director of Student Learning at Greenbush. "We turned to Polycom's video collaboration solution to create a distance learning program, enabling educational opportunities for students in these rural areas. Deploying RealPresence video systems in the classrooms and the RealPresence Platform in the network, school districts can now pool their resources and deliver innovative and enriching content to students."
Rolith, Inc.

Rolith, Inc., a Hacienda start-up developing advanced nanostructured coatings and devices, has received Series A funding in the total amount of $5 million from DFJ VTB Capital Aurora and AGC America Inc. "We are very fortunate to have the support of world's leading glass producer, AGC (Asahi Glass Company) Group, and DFJ VTB Capital Aurora, a highly reputable nanotechnology investor associated with one of the major Russia's banking groups, VTB Group," said Boris Kobrin, Founder and CEO of Rolith. "This investment will allow us to scale up our nanostructuring technology to substrate areas larger than what is offered by any competitors and demonstrate feasibility of the first few of our nanostructured coatings."

Rolith's coatings are targeted for the renewable energy, green building, and consumer electronics markets. The US $5 million investments will also be used to expand the engineering team and further research and development. The company was formed by Dr. Boris Kobrin, Prof. Mark Brongersma and Julian Zegelman in 2008.

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April Business Bits

Business Bits