Press Releases

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The board of directors of Viad Corp (NYSE: VVI) today declared a quarterly dividend of $0.04 per share on the common stock. The dividend is payable January 4, 2010 to stockholders of record December 18, 2009.

Viad is an S&P SmallCap 600 company. Major operating companies include GES Exposition Services, Exhibitgroup/Giltspur, Brewster, and Glacier Park, Inc. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.viad.com.

    Source: Viad Corp

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ServerPronto, provider of the most affordable dedicated servers in the industry, is pleased to announce the expansion of their services in Latin America. At http://www.serverpronto.com/serverpronto-international.php, ServerPronto has information about their offerings in Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and more than a dozen other countries.

They also are providing Spanish Language technical support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for their Spanish speaking customers.

ServerPronto is already known as the leader of the dedicated server industry, providing numerous pricing packages which serve business of all sizes. Their dedicated servers are a secure solution for businesses that need backup servers, email servers, gaming servers, file servers, and numerous other applications.

And now, these same high quality services are available to customers in Spanish speaking countries at the same low prices.

"Our Spanish speaking customers will enjoy the same high quality, reliability and affordability that we've always offered our customers, plus our personal attention and assistance in Spanish," according to Octavio Diaz, chief operating officer.

In fact, ServerPronto has servers in both the United States and Central America. Having servers in Central America will result in faster speeds in many cases, Diaz explained.

The data centers, just like the ones in the United States, will be self-managed servers.

Those seeking more information can visit http://www.serverpronto.com/serverpronto-international.php.

About ServerPronto

ServerPronto is part of the 'Pronto family' of companies with MailPronto and ColoPronto which have been leading a low-cost revolution in the hosting industry since 2003. Following in those footsteps, ServerPronto is breaking the price barrier for dedicated hosting in secured and reinforced Data Centers with redundant power, lightning fast fiber connections, and 24X7X365 support from a staff with more than 10 years experience building and maintaining servers and computer networks. To learn more, visit http://www.serverpronto.com.

    Source: ServerPronto

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tech Image, recognized as one of the most influential technology public relations agencies in the U. S., announced today that Dennis Collins has been named president, effective December 31, 2009. Collins replaces founder and CEO Mike Nikolich, who will become chief marketing officer at SmithBucklin Corporation, the world's largest association management firm. SmithBucklin acquired Tech Image in 2007.

"I am delighted to announce Dennis as my successor because he played a critical role in the growth of the agency," Nikolich said. "We worked together for 11 years and he understands the business intimately, so this should be a very smooth transition for our employees and clients."

Collins joined Tech Image in 1998 as chief operating officer and was instrumental in building the agency to its current stature among the country's premier technology PR firms. Since being acquired by SmithBucklin, the agency has continued to enjoy record growth and completed its best year in 2009.

"While I'm going to miss working alongside Mike, I am both flattered and thrilled to be his successor," Collins said. "The agency will evolve as we embrace new communications channels such as social media, which is a positive motivator for the entire staff. But as we adapt to these exciting new market opportunities, one of my goals is to continue providing a flexible work-life balance for the employees - I want Tech Image to be the destination of choice for the industry's best and brightest public relations professionals."

A 30-year veteran of marketing and management, Collins has split his career on the agency and client sides of advertising, public relations and marketing. Collins has worked with technology companies since 1981, and has experience in channel management, social media, retail and all facets of communications production. His resume includes companies such as GE, ITT, McDonald's, Sara Lee and Truevision.

A resident of Arlington Heights, Illinois, Collins graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. degree in advertising. He has served on the board of directors for the Illinois Institute of Art and the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Diabetes Association. Outside of Tech Image, Collins enjoys cooking, playing pool, and attending numerous musical concerts.

About Tech Image

Founded in 1993, Tech Image is a Chicago-area public relations firm with a proven reputation for positioning growing technology companies as market leaders. Tech Image provides media and analyst relations, messaging services, media coaching and sales acceleration programs for business-to-business organizations. Representative clients include Cisco, CompTIA, GlobalSpec, Initiate Systems, NEC Display Solutions, ProtusIP Solutions and RedPrairie. The company was named "Best Boutique PR Agency to Work For" in two consecutive years by the Holmes Report, and was cited three times as one of the Top Tech Communicators in a survey of technology journalists by PRSourceCode. Tech Image is owned by SmithBucklin, the world's largest association management and professional services company. SmithBucklin is 100 percent employee-owned. Learn more at www.techimage.com or call 1-888-4-TECH-PR (1-888-483-2477).

    Source: Tech Image

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In North America, which represents the lion's share of the global market for managed home automation, more than one million systems are expected to be installed in 2012. That figure -- which represents a tripling of the 2008 market - is forecast to nearly double again in 2014.

One significant element of managed home automation packages is security. Traditional security service alarm service providers as well as telcos and cable broadband service providers are now entering the market for managed home monitoring and automation services.

"Managed home security usually represents good value for the consumer," says ABI Research practice director Sam Lucero. "It's something of a 'plain vanilla' offering, but it is packaged by the service provider in a way that is relatively easy to deliver. Standalone home automation and security systems pose a significant challenge to consumers, in both cost and complexity. When home automation functionality is included in an overall security alarm package, it is more seamless and less expensive for the consumer to acquire."

And what is the motivation for the service providers? There are a number of drivers:

    --  Service providers have existing relationships with their subscribers
        that facilitate education about home automation's benefits.
    --  "Stickiness": service providers are motivated to deploy managed services
        to increase their revenue and subscriber retention rates. "Revenue is
        slightly increased," notes Lucero, "but it's not really about that; it's
        more about customer loyalty."
    --  Service providers' efforts are greatly assisted by turnkey solutions
        suppliers such as InGrid, 4Home, iControl and others, which can help the
        service providers go to market quickly with compelling offerings.
    --  Home security, along with the energy management, healthcare and media
        management elements of home automation, are more intuitively beneficial
        to consumers, resulting in greater willingness to adopt.

ABI Research's "Home Automation and Security" (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1003235) report analyzes the market for home automation and home security technologies and examines how these two markets are increasingly intersecting with the advent of home monitoring and managed home automation services. It includes detailed forecasts through 2014, and is a part of the firm's Home Networking (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Home_Networking_Research_Service), M2M (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/M2M_Research_Service), and Short-Range Wireless (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Short_Range_Wireless_Research_Service) Research Services.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research's worldwide team of experts advise thousands of decision makers through 28 research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.

    Source: ABI Research

SAMMAMISH, WA, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Tradeshow Marketing Company, Ltd. (Pink Sheets: TSHO) announced today that Pink OTC Markets has determined that the company has met the requirements for the "Pink Sheets Current Information" OTC market tier for the period ending 08/31/2009, and as a result, the company has been moved to this designated transparent tier.

According to a recent news release issued by Pink OTC Markets, trading in this tier enables a company to offer its shareholders ease of trading through regulated broker-dealers, while providing full transparency to its investors, business partners, customers, and broker-dealers by following the Alternative Reporting Standard.

"This tier upgrade marks a major milestone in our reporting and trading status, and along with our commitment to maintaining this necessary benchmark, it will allow us to further maximize shareholder value through the benefits that this level of transparency brings," said Luniel de Beer, CEO of Tradeshow Marketing.

Some of the benefits of being quoted on the Pink Sheets Current Information tier include increased liquidity (as indicated by Pink Sheets' statistics suggesting a strong correlation between company transparency and trading volume), reduced insider liability by making material information publicly available to all investors, and the ability to sponsor real-time level 2 quotes.

About The Tradeshow Marketing Company

The Tradeshow Marketing Company, Ltd. is a publicly-traded consumer-products company focused on the development and distribution of unique products that have broad appeal and improve the lives of consumers. The company operates a direct demonstration business via trade shows and exhibitions throughout North America, and various product-specific e-commerce web sites. The company was established in 2003, and is headquartered in Sammamish, Washington.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company.

All company or product names used are the property of their respective owners and may be the trade marks(TM), service marks(SM), or registered marks(R) of other companies, and are used for information purposes only and to their owners' benefit, without intent to infringe.

SOURCE Tradeshow Marketing Company Ltd.