Gov. Bev Perdue and Secretary of Commerce Keith Crisco will be in Research Triangle Park this morning to celebrate Longistics launch of a new exhibition center in Suzhou, China.

Longistics, which handles logistics, warehousing and transportation needs for its clients, will open the SIP International Commodities Exhibition Center at the Suzhou Industrial Park on March 1, 2011.

Suzhou is located about 60 miles west of Shanghai.

The center is designed to accelerate the export of products from North Carolina and other U.S.-based companies to China. Plans call for Longistics to add 50 companies at the center within the first year of operations, and 500 companies by five years.

Today's 11 a.m. event is being held at Longistic's headquarters in RTP.

Nortel Networks has accused Genband of trying to get out of paying the full cost of buying a Nortel business unit with hundreds of employees in Research Triangle Park.

Nortel, which is winding down its bankruptcy, said in federal court filings this week that Genband is looking to "drastically and improperly" reduce its bid price for Nortel's CVAS unit, which stands for Carrier Voice over Internet Protocol and Application Solutions.

According to Reuters news service, Genband is trying to reduce the purchase price by $37 million to $143 million. Genband spokesman Frank Puglia said the disputed total is a fluctuating figure.

The New York design firm hired to review the Research Triangle Park's master plan has begun interviewing people as part of its year-long assignment.

Officials with Cooper, Robertson & Partners began their work Sept. 1. They are currently in the early stages of a discovery phase that will involve talking to hundreds of property owners in the park, relocation experts, developers and officials with companies that have left the park.

The goal is to learn more about what makes RTP attractive and where things could be improved.

Rick Weddle, chief executive of the Research Triangle Foundation, which runs the park, reiterated today that the review is meant to reinvent the park for the next 50 years in a "transformational" way.

"Plan B has to be as dramatic as Plan A," he said. 

RTP's 7,000 acres are home to more than 170 companies, government agencies and other tenants that employ 42,000 workers and 10,000 contractors.
 

IBM CEO Sam Palmisano said today that it isn't "cast in stone" that he'll step down at age 60.

Palmisano, who turns 60 next year, was asked at the Wall Street Journal's Viewpoints Executive Breakfast Series in New York whether he plans to step down.

"There's no formal policy," Palmisano said, according to Bloomberg News.  He later added, "I'm not going anywhere."

Despite layoffs in recent years, IBM has an estimated 10,000 employees in Research Triangle Park. The company announced in July it would add 600 jobs at its RTP campus by opening a center to provide services to mortgage lenders.

Three of IBM's past four CEOs have stepped down at 60. Palmisano has led IBM since 2002.

A team led by a New York urban design firm will take the next 12 months to review potential changes to the Research Triangle Park’s master plan.

The Research Triangle Foundation, which owns and manages the park, said today the review will consider changes to zoning and land uses and the transportation network within the park.

The effort will be led by Cooper, Robertson & Partners, an architecture and urban design firm. The firm was selected by a task force comprised of foundation board members and chaired by Richard Daugherty, a retired IBM executive.

This will be the first update to RTP's master plan since the nearly 7,000-acre park was formed in 1959.
 

When it comes to cities, size no longer matters.

That's good news for Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

A Michigan State University sociologist says that networks, not size, give cities competitive advantage and he points to the Triangle as a prime example, in his study of urban hierarchies.

Zachary Neal's study, which was published in the online research journal City and Community, says that cities with connections to other places have among the most sophisticated economies — an honor that used to go to only the country's largest cities.

He writes: "Recently, smaller towns that would have been insignificant in a size-based hierarchy are emerging as major centers due to their critical positions in the urban network."

Neal goes on to say that the Research Triangle area offers one example of such a place in the United States. He credits the linking of NCSU, Duke and UNC and their "common roles as centers of innovation and creativity" which facilitate collaboration and an exchange of information.

Another such "wired town," Neal says, is Miami. The similarities between the two regions ends there.

If you want to read his study go here and then click on the related link.

The foundation that runs Research Triangle Park, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, is preparing a new strategy to ensure the park remains competitive.

The board of the Research Triangle Foundation is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss developing a new master plan, said spokeswoman Cara Rousseau. The task force is being led by board member Richard Daugherty, a retired IBM executive.

It will be the first update to RTP's master plan since the nearly 7,000-acre park was formed in 1959, Rousseau said. The new strategy is scheduled to be put in place over the next 12 months.

Foundation CEO Rick Weddle, left, was traveling today and couldn't be reached for further comment. Weddle has said repeatedly that RTP needs to evolve to adapt to new competition and a changing economy.

Visitors to Research Triangle Park will begin seeing new signs in the park beginning next month.

The project, which is being done by Poblocki Sign Co., involves the installation of a total of 199 signs.

The 62 existing directional and street signs will be replaced with 84 new signs.

It also involves removing and replacing address markers, changing out arm panels on stop lights and installing maps and gateway markers throughout the park.

The new signs will display RTP's logo.

Gov. Bev Perdue and Rep. David Price were among the salons in attendance today at the opening of IEM's new Research Triangle Park headquarters.

IEM, a risk management firm that announced in December that it would relocate from Louisiana to RTP, has leased nearly 10,000 square feet in a building that houses the headquarters of chemical manufacturer Reichhold.

IEM has about 45 employees in the Triangle and plans to have 55 by the end of the year. (Available positions are listed on the company's website.)
 

Cisco Systems' stock was headed south in mid-morning trading after the technology company missed analyst expectations for fourth-quarter earnings and financial forecasts.

The Silicon Valley company, with major operations in Research Triangle Park, is considered a measure of the nation's economic health because of its size and market dominance. Cisco is the world's largest maker of routers, switches and other computer networking equipment that channels Internet traffic.

The company's stock was down $2.30 this morning, hovering at $21.43 per share, more than 10 percent off its opening price.

Cisco's fourth-quarter sales actually increased 27 percent to $10.8 billion, but analysts had expected a better showing. The company also lowered its expectations for the current quarter amid broader concerns about economic recovery and job growth.

The company employs more than 4,600 employees and contractors at its 12-building campus in RTP.