AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Updated: 9:32 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011

Published: 9:18 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011

When Rand Arnold founded AVAI Ventures Inc. a decade ago, he was banking on his estate management software to turn the Austin-based company into a success.

But when the nation’s economic struggles hit the estate management market particularly hard, Arnold and AVAI had to take another path — this one using the smartphone.

As demand for technology for multimillion-dollar homes shrank, Arnold said he and AVAI executives knew the future of the company depended on an additional division. The logical place: mobile phone apps.

“Since the residential estate market was not growing, we came across mobile and said, ‘Look, that’s obviously going to grow. What does it need? It needs people who understand easy and intuitive interfaces,’” Arnold said.

AVAI stepped into the mobile apps space in 2008, creating its AVAI Mobile Platform division. The division’s flagship app is Mobile Campus, which is designed to enhance the experience for visitors at zoos, malls, national parks and entertainment venues such as Reliant Stadium in Houston and Schlitterbahn water parks.

The concept, Arnold said, was to do with the app what AVAI was doing with its estate management products — to converge more than one function into a single, user-friendly system.

AVAI’s apps offer GPS navigation, updated schedules, admission prices and friend and family finders as well as exhibit information and history. For example, AVAI developed an app for Rodeo Austin that offers users a schedule complete with attraction show times, a music function that lets you browse the bands playing at both inside and outside stages, and an interactive section called My Line-up, which lets users create their preferred schedule for the day.

To date, 55 of AVAI’s apps are available through Apple, and 23 can be used with Android products. Since the launch of AVAI’s mobile division, more than half a million apps have been downloaded, Arnold said.

AVAI’s mobile apps division also continues to expand. Last week, the company debuted its newest product, OnCampus, a campus-management mobile app aimed at students, faculty, staff and visitors to college campuses. Like the AVAI apps before it, OnCampus performs mapping, security, social networking and mass communication functions for smartphones and tablet computers.

Peter Lange, AVAI’s director of operations, said several institutions have expressed interest in the app, but contracts are still in the works.

Arnold said the company’s revamped business model has company officials optimistic again after a difficult 2008, when AVAI lost more then half of its 50 employees during the downturn.

“It’s very fun and upbeat around here because it’s another step in the evolution of the company moving and taking on some of the expertise, building and IT and now presenting an offering of our own,” Arnold said.

The company’s workforce has built back to 32, Arnold said, with 23 at the company’s Austin headquarters and the remainder at AVAI’s offices in Phoenix. AVAI has made at least one new hire every month for the past 10 months, Arnold said, and more growth is anticipated.

AVAI doesn’t release specific revenue figures, but Arnold said since January 2010, the company has been profitable and has seen revenues rise 35 percent.

As AVAI continues to evolve in the often-fickle technology industry, Arnold said he is confident in the company’s future.

“There is more and more technology in this world and less and less people graduating with the knowledge to even understand the basis of how it works”, Arnold said. “My premise at the time was I will always have work because there will always be more technology than there are people who understand it.”

jcoolidge@statesman.com

Platform Delivers Full Control of Mobile Content and Management; Innovative Pricing Model
Eliminates All Upfront Costs

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Sept. 27, 2011) – AVAI Ventures, Inc. of Austin, Texas, announced today at the Campus Technology Forum the launch of AVAI OnCampus™, a platform suite of applications that enhance campus life for students, faculty, employees, visitors and campus administrators. The OnCampus suite delivers advanced communications, mapping, security, social networking, mass notification and more in a distributed, content management platform for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

Moreover, colleges and universities eliminate any budgetary risk with the innovative business model offered by AVAI. While many higher education campuses seek the benefits of having a comprehensive mobile strategy, many struggle with a way to pay for it, especially in these tough economic times. The marketing approach that AVAI has taken is new to the higher education domain, but has proven successful in other areas of mobile application proliferation. Campuses, regardless of size, can implement a full suite of robust applications while maintaining full control of application deployment and content management.

OnCampus is a unique comprehensive mobile content management platform that all campus personnel can use to manage disparate information. Campus information technology directors can distribute management tools across campus departments without losing any control over presentation, and institutional marketing departments can manage brand and delivery. OnCampus was designed from the bottom-up to support faster deployment and lower IT management costs, which make it a more cost-effective and efficient tool for delivering content and for improving user experience.

AVAI’s OnCampus pricing structure will also ensure that a colleges or universities can employ a cutting edge mobile strategy while also meeting budgetary concerns. The social marketing pricing structure allows an institution to employ the OnCampus platform at no costs up front through a sponsored advertising plug in. A standard retail pricing structure will be available as well.

“A campus is more than a collection of classrooms, libraries and research labs, with students and employees filling chairs. It is a caring community with the desire to share experiences and ideas in an open and safe environment. Tools and technology should empower these desires,” said Rand Arnold, president of AVAI, Inc. “Our campus platform and mobile applications facilitate this level of campus communication while adding security and administrative features that help all members of the campus community make better, more informed decisions.”

Providing functionality beyond typical e-learning and collaboration mobile apps , AVAI OnCampus adds one-touch emergency activation, asset tracking, GPS location and security features, interactive maps, administration and human resource tools, real-time mobile coordination with first responders and a host of features dedicated to making student life more productive. The OnCampus platform’s enhanced communications and security functionality that can help higher-education campuses meet security compliance measures regulated after the country’s recent school shootings and security threats.

The OnCampus application suite is available on smartphones using Android^TM, Blackberry, iOS for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and will soon be available on the Microsoft operating system for smartphones. The applications may be downloaded via smartphone app stores and are available free to users including students, faculty, administrators, parents and campus visitors.

For more information or to request a meeting with an AVAI representative please visit www.oncampus.info or contact AVAI at oncampus@avai.com. Follow on Twitter at @AVAImobile.

About AVAI Special Systems

AVAI Special Systems, a division of AVAI, Inc. of Austin, Texas, delivers System of Systems Automation (SOSA) for corporations, educational institutions and governments seeking greater control and higher performance for better decisions and outcomes. By helping large organizations integrate disparate systems to deliver a more complete and accurate picture, AVAI Special Systems helps organizations make more intelligent decisions by automating the delivery of information across systems. The AVAI SOSA framework reduces the time, labor and operational costs typically required to manually retrieve and analyze data from multiple systems. Ultimately, AVAI Special Systems enables organizations to respond quickly to organizational change and threats through simple and powerful human interfaces that deliver complete control across the corporate. For more information, visit www.avaisystems.com.

The CT Forum app is officially available in the iTunes App Store! 

The development of a mobile event app has been an amazing learning opportunity for us that will benefit our CT attendees and exhibitors.

As an exhibitor- you company information will be highlighted within the app. However, if you would like to add more information to the listing on the app please just send any additional white papers, downloads, videos, etc to jwomble@1105media.com. She can also answer any of your questions about the new app. Of course, we suggest downloading it now and taking a look!

Users do not have to have a iPhone, iTouch or iPad to use the app—it can be viewed through the optimized web site with all other mobile devices. 1105media is branding itself as a leader in the implementation of technology at events by providing this sate of the art dynamic tool to the fingertips of the public.

We want users to keep the app on their device 365 days a year so we can push content, announcements and keep Campus Technology in the palm of their hands.  We have added RSS feeds to the magazine and social media items to engage users and encourage year-round use of the app

Download the CT Forum Mobile App Now!

The link to download the app from iTunes is: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/campus-technology-forum/id465150111?mt=8

CT Forum wants to help attendees get connected, go green, enhance networking, and allow them to review the conference agenda and events schedule to create their own personal schedule with our NEW CT Forum Conference Mobile App. Download our CT Forum event application to stay ‘in the know’ with interactive maps, floor plans, event schedules and guides, as well as local information, all in your pocket. Now, use the application to read collateral from speakers and exhibitors, rate sessions, take surveys, as well as plan out your own unique conference route. With Social Media integration, everyone can stay on top of what’s going on at the conference through Twitter and connect to each other with Linked in.

To download the CT Forum mobile application, simply scan the QR code shown on all our event signs. If you do not have a QR code reader, you can also download the app from www.campustechnology.com/ctforum.  To download the free mobile app, iPhone, iPad and iPod users go to the Apple iTunes icon and search for “CT FORUM.” It downloads just like any other app.

For all other phones, including Android, Blackberry and other web-browser smart phones or tablet users point their mobile phone’s browser to www.campustechnology.com/ctforum and follow directions to download the proper version of the app for their particular device.

AVAI Special Systems has partnered with 1105 Media to create a productivity app for use at Campus Technology Forum 2011. The company will also launch its new OnCampus Mobile application suite at the event taking place in Long Beach, CA September 27-29.

The Campus Technology Forum app is designed to help attendees network and maximize their conference experience with interactive maps, floor plans, event schedules, guides, and local information. Other features include:

• The ability to read supplementary material from presenters and exhibitors;
• Session rating;
• Surveys; and
• The ability to plan a conference visit.

The conference app is currently available for free in the iTunes store.

AVAI’s new OnCampus Mobile app suite “delivers a comprehensive security and productivity solution that automates information, communication and control across multiple campus systems,” according to information released by the company. The suite comprises three apps: OnCampus Director; OnCampus Mobile; and OnCampus Responder.

OnCampus Director allows administrators to track assets and personnel, and send mass notifications.

OnCampus Mobile provides end users personal control over access to campus information, news, events, and course information. It also includes personal safety features designed to provide information for first responders, security officials, and administration as necessary.

OnCampus Responder gives first responders location, facilities, and threat-level information during security incidents and other emergencies. Features for incident logging and analysis are included as well.

AVAI will be demonstrating the OnCampus Mobile suite in booth MB6.

(Source:  http://campustechnology.com/)