Buffalo Grove team offers wireless controls for buildings

A company in Buffalo Grove developed and distributes a wireless solution that connects building operations, including heating, air conditioning, ventilation and lighting, to help conserve energy and ultimately save money.

The Apogee Wireless system, made by Siemens Building Technologies in Buffalo Grove, has now shipped about 25,000 wireless control devices that operate in about 150 buildings nationwide, including the Office Max headquarters in Naperville.

Apogee was first available for commercial use in November 2006 and has since offered a system that "peacefully" coexists without interference from other wireless systems, like Wi-Fi networks.

While the average person working in those buildings won't see or feel a difference, the corporate bottom line could. Most of all, the system helps connect old and new buildings, said Siemens spokesman Steven E. Kuehn.

"It helps to eliminate the need to hardware all the controls and helps unify the old and new building systems, especially when you can't dig trenches or cut through walls," Kuehn said.

Surfing: AT&T Inc., which has its Midwest headquarters in Hoffman Estates, now offers Sony's $500 Cybershot DSC-G3 digital camera that is Wi-Fi enabled. It can access free Wi-Fi until 2012 from AT&T so you can send your pictures to anyone from any public hot spot with its built-n Web browser.

•Vernon Hills-based CDW Corp. surveyed 766 IT professionals who work on unified communications for businesses, government, higher education and health care organizations. CDW found that only 6 percent said their deployments were complete. At least interest continues. The survey shows that 20 percent of organizations actively are implementing unified communications, and 33 percent actively are planning to put it in. About 70 percent expect to complete their adoption within two years, despite the weak economy.

•Hard2Hire.com, a free Web site that helped ex-offenders find jobs, relaunched its site on Thursday to expand its employment matchmaking services to all laid-off workers, disabled workers and Baby Boomers.