Orb Hires CRM Vet Edelhertz, 12 Byzantine Rulers, Chambers at Presstek, Reynolds and Reynolds and Xtime, Grossly Overpaid Teachers

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Traffic's "Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave" from their bootleggy Welcome To The Canteen album:

Orb Networks has announced today that CRM and technology industry veteran Paul Edelhertz joined the company as senior vice president of field operations, a new position where he will be responsible for sales and strategic partnerships.

Prior to joining Orb, Edelhertz was senior vice president of field operations for Revenue Science, Inc., a leading provider of behavioral targeting services for the online advertising market. He also served as president and CEO of Santa Cruz Networks, a provider of communication and collaboration services as well as president and CEO of Zamba Solutions, a publicly-traded services firm focused on CRM.

Edelhertz joins the company with more than 23 years experience in building and scaling technology and service businesses.

"Transitioning a company like Orb from start-up to maturity, takes leaders who have done it before and have the relevant experience," said Joe Costello, Chairman and CEO of Orb Networks, noting that Edelhertz has also been an associate partner at Accenture Consulting, led strategic partnerships and run sales organizations.

The company launched the 2.0 version of its MyCasting service in December, surpassed more than 600,000 users of its software last week and developed new relationships in the last quarter with companies including Nokia (News - Alert), Orange, AOL Winamp and Amino.

During his tenure at Zamba the company grew from its formation into a $50 million company in two years and achieved seven straight quarters of profitability. He also served as vice president of customer products of Racotek, Zamba's predecessor company.

Orb's free MyCasting software allows users to get all digital media from their home PC, as well as online videos from Internet TV and content sites, on any networked device with an internet browser -- be it other PCs, lap tops, PDAs or mobile phones with streaming players, as well as on TV with the Nintendo Wii and Sony Play Station 3.

The free software is downloaded onto an always-on home PC; there is no Orb player software download required or other add-ons to install on the device used. Once the Orb MyCasting application lets most any Internet- connected device with a streaming media player stream their media content whenever and wherever they choose.

FYI: Want something really interesting and different to listen to on the way to work? Go to iTunes, click "Podcasts" and search "12 Byzantine Rulers." It's a free podcast in (currently) 13 episodes from teacher Lars Brownworth, who teaches history at The Stony Brook School on Long Island.

Recently spotlighted by The New York Times with a full feature article, it's better than a Book On Tape, a fascinating, engrossing look at a highly ignored area of world history, but in Brownworth's podcasts it's a grand story absorbingly well-told with murders and intrigues, victories and defeats, heroes and scoundrels, passion, betrayal and honor -- it has over 140,000 listeners, and as of this writing it's the #23 podcast in overall popularity on iTunes. The coffee table book can't be far behind.

First Coffee listens to it on his iPod here in Istanbul, née Constantinople, née Byzantium. The next time Mr. Brownworth gets to Istanbul I'm standing the man a dinner. Preferably in a restaurant with a view of the Haigha Sofia.

The Reynolds and Reynolds Company, a vendor of software and services to automotive retailers, has announced an agreement with Xtime that enables Xtime's flagship software product, ServiceCRM, to access data in the Reynolds ERA dealership management system through a secure interface.

Xtime's ServiceCRM software combines consumer Web scheduling, service BDC automation, advanced shop control and service marketing into one product for automotive service departments. By combining all these features into one system, Xtime is billing it as a way to give automotive dealerships "the ability to schedule and manage more service appointments per working day, driving profitability through increased customer-paid service."

The two-way flow of information between ServiceCRM and ERA is promised by company officials to create a "single, integrated, multifunctional service management tool" that "strengthens the dealer's sales processes and profitability as well as eliminates points of double data-entry for users at both ends."

Neal East, CEO of Xtime, said he appreciates the "safe and secure environment in which we can handle the data exchange with the dealership management systems. It assures that our work with the dealer will be smooth and seamless."

The Reynolds Certified Interface program allows non-Reynolds software application providers access to a dealer's DMS data using standard data interfaces. A Certified Interface helps ensure dealer information security, integrity, privacy, and confidentiality.

Presstek, Inc., a vendor of digital offset printing business products for the graphic arts market, has announced the appointment of Todd Chambers, who will be responsible for directing Presstek's worldwide marketing in his role as Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining Presstek, he worked as Chief Marketing Officer at Onyx Software, a worldwide leader in customer relationship management (CRM) products.

Chambers has over 20 years of experience in the technology sector. Prior to joining Presstek and Onyx he was Vice President of Marketing at Authoria, a vendor of HR enterprise software products, and Vice President of Americas Marketing at Parametric Technology Corporation.

You knew it all along, of course, but public school teachers are among the most overpaid people in America. That fact was proved by Jay P. Greene, holder of the endowed chair of education reform at the University of Arkansas and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Marcus A. Winters, senior research associate at the Institute in their report, "How Much Are Public School Teachers Paid (News - Alert)?"

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "public school teachers earned $34.06 per hour in 2005, 36 percent more than the hourly wage of the average white-collar worker and 11 percent more than the average professional specialty or technical worker," the authors say in a The Wall Street Journal commentary on the study.

America spends more than $500 billion on public education, and results haven't improved despite spending more than doubling in real terms since 1965. There is absolutely no positive correlation between teacher pay and actual results -- "higher teacher pay seems to have no effect on raising student achievement," the authors point out. Metro Detroit pays its public school teachers, on average, $47.28 per hour, "61 percent more than the average white-collar worker in the Detroit area and 36 percent more than the average professional worker." And Detroit schools stink.

And yes, the study accounts for all hours teachers work, in the classroom and out, and doesn't even include retirement and health benefits, far more generous for teachers than for most other professions. And of course many teachers are free to take other work during the summer, boosting their annual incomes even more.

And teacher pay is almost exclusively determined by security. So the next time you hear a teacher, especially an older one, whining about their pay you're listening to bellyaching from one of the most highly-paid workers in America with some of the most generous benefits and tenured job security you don't have. Who gets summers off.

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