RWD

RWD Technologies Inc., a Columbia-based technology training and consulting company, said yesterday that it has signed a letter of intent to become the first tenant of the $50 million high-technology research park at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.The company is expected to house its newly created RWD Applied Technology Laboratory in a two-story, 40,000-square-foot facility at the park. Construction will begin in early 2000 and should be completed in the second quarter of 2001.

Two Maryland technology companies -- Columbia-based RWD Technologies Inc. and Beltsville's Micros Systems Inc. -- have landed on Business Week's list of "Hot Growth Companies," the magazine's annual ranking of the nation's 100 fastest-growing public companies.RWD Technologies was ranked 39th and Micros 94th. Both were new to the list, which appears in Business Week's May 31 issue.For RWD founder and Chairman Robert W. Deutsch, his company's addition to the list affirms that the technology training and consulting company has implemented the right strategies for continued strong growth.

Columbia-based RWD Technologies Inc. reported a 28 percent jump yesterday in first-quarter profit on 27 percent growth in sales.RWD -- a technology, training and consulting firm -- said it earned $3.8 million, or 24 cents a share, for the quarter that ended March 31, compared with net income of $2.97 million, or 19 cents a share, for the same three months a year ago.The results were a record, the company said. Earnings beat the consensus estimate of analysts by 2 cents a share, according to Zacks Investment Research.

Shares of RWD Technologies Inc. plunged 24 percent and touched a 12-month low yesterday after the Columbia-based technology-consulting company warned that its second-quarter profit would fall well short of analysts' expectations.RWD shares fell $3 each to close at $9.75. At one point during the day, they touched $9.50, their lowest point in a year.The stock had been in a steady decline even before yesterday morning's disclosure; shares topped out at $26.50 on June 30.The company attributed the shortfall to a softening of sales by its enterprise resource planning, or "ERP" unit -- which develops extra features and does training for efficiency-enhancing, business-management software installed at such clients as General Motors Corp.

New positionsRWD elevates Deborah Ung to senior vice presidentRWD Technologies Inc. promoted Deborah T. Ung to senior vice president, enterprise resource planning services group, and named her to its board of directors.Ung has 15 years' experience in developing performance support interventions for technical initiatives for the Columbia-based strategic consulting, implementation, change management, training, documentation and end user support company.A Purdue University graduate, Ung will have responsibility for RWD Technologies' strategic initiatives with SAP America, with Price Waterhouse Coopers and with SAP AG in Europe and the United Kingdom.

Chamber talk to focus on attracting OlympicsThe Howard County Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Baltimore Alliance will present a talk by Dan Knise, "The Olympic Dream," from 11: 30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at Ten Oaks Ballroom, 5000 Signal Bell Lane, Clarksville.Knise is chairman of the 2012 Coalition, which is attempting to bring the Summer Olympics to the Baltimore-Washington corridor.The cost is $25.The chamber will sponsor a brown bag lunch with Jason Graham, of Graham Fitness Enterprise, who will speak about making fitness a part of the daily routine, at noon Thursday at the chamber offices, 5460 Sterrett Place, Columbia.

A week after signing its first tenant, the UMBC Research Park has been dealt a setback by a Maryland appeals court, which ruled yesterday that Baltimore County erred in approving the project's development plan.The Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest, agreed with park opponents that the county zoning commissioner erred when he refused to consider the park's impact beyond the limits of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus.The court ordered a new hearing to determine what impact the project will have on the neighborhood around the $50 million park.

Help others and you'll help yourself is more than just a slogan at RWD Technologies Inc.It's the business model and the mantra.RWD develops technologies and training programs that help employees of its big-name customers do their jobs better -- which, in turn, helps performance and profitability.But employees and managers say that simple statement doesn't capture the energy and innovation that are fueling RWD's growth.The Columbia company has racked up average annual sales gains of 40 percent over the past five years.

RWD Technologies Inc. announced yesterday that third-quarter sales and earnings will fall well short of analysts' estimates, the second straight quarter the Columbia-based company has had to issue such a warning.RWD is projecting a break-even third quarter -- far less than the profit of 13 cents a share that analysts were forecasting. Sales will come in at $29 million, or $4 million below estimates, largely because business dropped off in two of the four key markets that RWD serves, the company said.

To see where Maryland's job growth is headed this year, look no further than Columbia-based RWD Technologies Inc.RWD Technologies, which helps Fortune 200 companies harness technology and improve productivity, added about 150 people last year to bring its total employment to 800. Next year at this time, the company figures to have about 1,000 workers."

Think technology business, and you'll likely imagine a company run by a 20-something or even younger upstart. At RWD Technologies Inc., a Baltimore consulting and training company, the founder turned 84 in March. But don't ask Robert W. Deutsch about his retirement plans. He doesn't have any. Deutsch is just as active in the company today as when he founded it 20 years ago. Deutsch, who gave up his chief executive duties four years ago but remains the board chairman, oversees the private company's research and product development efforts.

Advertising MGH announced the appointments of Edward Repasky as an account director, Bronson Wagner as interactive art director, Kirsten Ellison to interactive account manager and Valerie Amey as traffic coordinator for the Owings Mills-based agency. Banking-finance SunTrust Bank Maryland elected Melvin A. Steinberg, former Maryland lieutenant governor, to the bank's regional advisory board. Education College of Notre Dame of Maryland appointed Lisa V. Byrd as director of alumnae relations.

New Positions Thales Communications promotes Leighton Thales Communications Inc. promoted Ken Leighton to director of tactical communications product management for the Clarksburg-based electronic communications company. He is responsible for business development for the company's tactical radio products. Formerly with Harris RF Communications, the Damascus resident earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Byrdsong-Clark, Floyd, Maier join Benelogic Benelogic LLC hired Alisa Byrdsong-Clark and Greg Floyd as client service specialists and Jared Maier as an implementation analyst for the Timonium software applications and services provider.

RWD Technologies Inc., a Columbia technology consulting and electronic learning company, will save at least $1 million a year by going private, officials said yesterday. The responsibilities of being a public company have an onerous cost, and the decision to go private is essentially a cost-saving measure, said Beth Marie Buck, chief financial officer and vice president at RWD Technologies. "For a company our size we're currently spending around a million dollars to be public," Buck said, adding that the cost would only go up. Founded in 1988, RWD Technologies went public in 1997 and has been struggling to regain profitability during the economic downturn.

In The Region US Airways workers agree on a second round of concessions US Airways employees represented by the Communications Workers of America reached agreement yesterday with the bankrupt airline for a second round of concessions, saying they feared it would shut down if they didn't acquiesce. Last week, the pilots' union agreed to $101 million more in annual concessions. Yesterday, the CWA, which represents about 6,300 reservations agents, gate workers and other passenger service employees, agreed to an unspecified amount of cuts.

The sign on the side of the road reads "bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park," and just beyond that sign, the first building at the park will officially open its doors this week. The RWD Applied Technology Laboratory's grand opening is scheduled for Friday. The building - adjacent to the campus of University of Maryland, Baltimore County - houses the headquarters of Latitude360, a division of Columbia-based RWD Technologies Inc. But company officials envision a day when Latitude360 workers and university researchers work side-by-side in the three-story building.

In the Region, Earnings rise 11% in 3Q at Meridian Medical Technologies Meridian Medical Technologies Inc. yesterday reported an 11 percent increase in net income for its fiscal third quarter, which ended April 30. The Columbia maker of auto-injector drug delivery systems said revenue increased to $14.8 million from $14.1 million a year earlier, and earnings per diluted share rose a penny, to 22 cents from 21 cents in the third quarter of last year....

Community colleges have long been a resource for business training, but a new Web site to be unveiled at the Maryland Technology Showcase at the Baltimore Convention Center this week brings the colleges' offerings together to create one of the largest training resources in the state. Maryland Community Colleges' Business Training Network, online at www.marylandtraining.com, gives businesses access to every training course in all of the state's 16 community colleges. A one-word course search brings up available classes offered from Hagerstown to Ocean City, as well as online training offered by some schools.

Powered by new clients and a sales jump in one of its divisions, RWD Technologies Inc. reported record earnings yesterday for the third quarter that ended Sept. 30, but noted some "uncertainty" for the next two quarters. The Columbia provider of technology solutions and manufacturing consulting services for Fortune 500 companies met analysts' estimates, reporting net income of $1.5 million, or 10 cents per share, on revenue of $35.7 million. That's 23 percent more than last year's third-quarter revenue of $29.1 million.

RWD Technologies Inc., recovering from business it lost as companies spent their information-technology budgets on preventing the Y2K bug, reported yesterday that its first-quarter profit dropped 86 percent to $539,500, or 4 cents a share. Revenue for the three months that ended March 31 was $30.8 million, down 7 percent. "They were slightly above our revised expectations," said William Loomis, an analyst at Legg Mason Wood Walker in Baltimore, who had expected $30 million in revenue and earnings per share of 3 cents.