Norcross' EMS Partners with Israel’s Starling to Win Deal of the Year at 8th Annual Eagle Star A

May 28, 2009 - PRLog -- Contact: Mitch Leff, Leff & Associates, (404) 861-4769, mitch@leffassociates.com

Norcross-based EMS Partners with Israel’s Starling to Win Deal of the Year at 8th Annual Eagle Star Awards Gala

John Oxendine Receives Chamber Founders Award in Recognition of Efforts to Build Atlanta-Israel Business Relationships
      
ATLANTA, May 28, 2009 – Norcross-based EMS won the “Deal of the Year” award and Precision Components International was named “Israeli Company of the Year” at the 8th annual Eagle Star Awards Gala last night.  The American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region (AICC), awards the honors each year.  Georgia Power hosted the event at its headquarters.

Deal of the Year
•   EMS (www.ems-t.com) / Starling (www.starling-com.com) – Norcross, GA-based company and Yokneam, Israel-based company formed an alliance in 2008 to combine the best of their respective technologies for airborne satellite antenna systems into a joint product for in-fight entertainment service providers.

A key global service provider selected them to design, develop, certify, manufacture, and support a satellite communications antenna system for its new in-flight connectivity service.  The system will give airline passengers the same mobile wireless connectivity options they enjoy at the home and office. The EMS-Starling broadband Ku-band antenna system provides reliable connectivity and worldwide coverage at unprecedented speeds and quality. The deal further strengthens EMS’s and Starling’s leadership as solutions providers of in-flight connectivity for commercial passenger airlines.

Accepting the EMS-Starling award were David Smith, vice president and general manager of EMS Defense & Space, and Jacob Keret, vice president of Marketing for Starling Advanced Communications.

Keret described Starling’s collaboration with EMS to develop a “breakthrough technology to bring communications into airplanes and other platforms” as a “true partnership based on friendship.”

“What we found in EMS Technologies is much more than just a manufacturer, a factory or integrator; we found a real partnership and friendship that in no time, secured a long-term multi-million-dollar contact,” said Keret.  “For Starling, this is not just the deal of the year, but the deal of the decade. That’s how our shareholders are looking at that, and that’s thanks to our friends at EMS Technologies.”

Smith credited “eight years of hard work by a small company in Israel” for helping bring the in-flight technology on board aircraft that allows passengers to be just as productive on e-mail and the web as they are in their home or office.

“We’re not going to stop there; we’re going to modify the product mix and continue to sell to commercial airliners, to business jets, and to military aircraft as well as to various types of ground mobile units for troop communications in a tactical scenario,” he said.

Israeli Company of the Year
•   Precision Components International (www.pciga.com) – Nahariya-based Blades Technology Ltd. established its U.S. subsidiary in Columbus, GA in 1995. Operating from a 270,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility, PCI manufactures high-quality jet engine compressor blades and vanes made from stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and nickel-based super alloys, counts as customers the top three jet engine manufacturers in the world, and has expanded into other fields such as medical equipment and golf.  The company employs 350 people in Georgia, and over the past three years, has invested $12 million in new equipment and creation of 70 new jobs.

The Eagle Star Gala is AICC’s community flagship event, honoring the people and companies who have contributed most to the Southeast-Israel business relationship.  In addition to awarding the Israeli Company of the Year and Deal of the Year, the Chamber also recognized Georgia Safety Fire and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine with the Chamber Founders Award and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) with the Community Partner Award.

Georgia Power president and CEO Michael D. Garrett was the host keynote speaker for the event.  WXIA Atlanta & Company Host Holly Firfer was the Emcee.

Asaf Vitman, Minister for Economic Affairs for the U.S., was the event’s Israeli keynote speaker.  Vitman was recently appointed to his position, where he will work to promote the economic relationship between the United States and Israel based upon mutual trust and cooperation.

Other Israeli Company of the Year Finalists
•   Baran Telecom (www.barangroup.com) – Beit Dagan-based global provider of engineering, technology and construction services established the U.S. headquarters of its telecommunications division in Cumming, GA in 2002, and in the last four years, has tripled its revenue to more than $64 million a year.  
•   Verint Systems (www.verint.com) - Tel Aviv-based company acquired Atlanta-based Witness Systems in 2007 for $950 million, resulting in Verint Witness Actionable Solutions, its largest division.  The company has 2,500 worldwide employees, with approximately a quarter of that number based in the company’s Tel Aviv location and 250 in the Georgia office.

Other Deal of the Year Finalists
•   Jacada (www.jacada.com)/Nationwide Insurance (www.nationwide.com)–Herzliya-based company with corporate headquarters in Atlanta developed a unified desktop solution for major national insurance carrier that integrates the 26 different business systems that Nationwide already had.  
•   Southern Company (www.southerncompany.com) / NICE (www.nice.com) - Atlanta-based energy utility expanded its strategic implementation of NICE Systems’ SmartCenter solution to create a more integrated, comprehensive contact center technology environment, replace competing recording and quality management solutions, and add screen content analytics.  

The event website, www.eaglestargala.com, features all the event details.

In addition to Georgia Power as the Host, sponsors included The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines,  and DeutscheBank Alex.Brown (Gold Sponsors), Business to Business magazine (Media sponsor),  Grant Thornton and Baran Americas (Silver Sponsors), MetroLight, BDO Seidman, LLP, Verint, SRI Travel, Troutman Sanders, LLP, Smith Gambrell & Russell, T.I.B.A. Parking, The Intersect Group, Given Imaging, and Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell (Bronze Sponsors), Veritas Venture Partners, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, The Miller Richmond Company, Dale M. Schwartz & Associates, Ann & Jay Davis, Habif Arogeti & Wynne, Jacada, Advocate Networks, Tim Williams, Consulate General of Israel, and Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC, Jones Day (Patron Sponsors).

For further information on the event, contact Tom Glaser at aiccse@aiccse.org or call 404-843-9426.

About the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce
The American-Israel Chamber of Commerce is a bi-national business association with the mission of increasing economic development by fostering understanding, cooperation, and business relationships between Israel and the Southeast. Since its founding in 1992, AICC has been involved in completed transactions valued at more than $950 million, creating jobs and benefiting the economies of both Israel and the Southeast.  AICC targets a range of projects involving import, export, research & development, direct investment and joint ventures.  Key areas of focus include software, telecommunications, cleantech, life sciences, real estate, and security.  For details, visit www.aiccse.org.