Austin-based IT consulting firm Catapult Systems is expanding its business in the Washington, D.C. area, the firm said today. The firm said it has appointed Reed Parker as General Manager of its Federal and Commercial Microsoft-focused lines of business. Reed previously served at Management Concept, The Gallup Organization, and MarchFirst. Catapult Systems said Reed will head up its expansion plans in the D.C. area.Continue →

Austin-based HotSchedules, which develops mobile and web-based employeee scheduling software, said Thursday that it has tied into online education service Schoox. HOtSchedules said it has added single sign-on integration with Schoox, a provider of online education tools. Financial details of the partnership between the companies were not announced. HotSchedules helps the restaurant and hospitality industry with employee scheduling and forecasting. Schoox develops employee training services....Continue →

ShopSavvy, the developer of the popular, mobile comparison shopping and barcode scanning app, has totally redesigned its iOS application, the company said today. The company said it redesigned the navigation and improved the look and feel of the app, along with adding other features to the comparison shopping app. Dallas-based ShopSavvy said the update works on both the iPhone and iPad. ShopSavvy's app allows users to scan a barcode and see the cost of those items online or at nearby retailers....Continue →

A Silicon Valley based developer of electronic design automation (EDA) software for the semiconductor industry, Blue Pearl Software, has opened up a new office in Texas, the company said Thursday. The firm did not say where exactly in Texas it has established its office, but said the new office will help provide local support to its customer base. The new office is headed by Richard Gary. Blue Pearl's software is used for field programmable gate array (FPGA) design efforts....Continue →

Austin-based Spanning Cloud Apps, the developer of enterprise backup software for Google Apps, said today that it has launched a new, reseller program. The firm said it is looking to help provide value added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators with the ability to sell its products. Spanning Cloud Apps said the channel effort would include an "aggressive" discount structure and strong margins for those resellers....Continue →

Austin-based online coupon site RetailMeNot is one of a number of companies who have integrated with Google Wallet, Google said Wednesday at its big Google I/O conference. RetailMeNot will soon allow Google Wallet users to save and use coupons as part of the service; other supporters of Google's Wallet effort include Alaska Airlines, Red Mango, Marriott Rewards, and The Body Shop.Continue →

Round Rock-based Dell has awarded $60,000 in the grand prize of its Dell Social Innovation Challenge, its efforts to encourage social entrepreneurs who are solving the world's problems. According to Dell, it awarded the grand prize to a team from India, which created a "social conduction dryer", which uses the sun to reduce the estimated 20 to 30 percent food spoilage rate seen by poor rural farmers....Continue →

In yet, another proof that Austin is becoming one of the leading cities for the startup world, startup accelerator pioneer TechStars said that it is launching its program in Austin, out of Austin's Capital Factory. TechStars has made its name as one of the more successful accelerator programs nationwide, using a three month program which helps hone startup ideas into actual companies, and gets them funded through a Demo Day....Continue →

Data center services firm CyrusOne said today that it has selected Carrollton for its new corporate headquarters location, and will officially be cutting the ribbon on the site on May 21st. CyrusOne said the new headquarters will be based at its data center facility on Frankford Road. The company said it worked with
Senator Jane Nelson, Carrollton Mayor Matthew Marchant, Economic Development Director Brad Mink, and other officials on the new location. CyrusOne was founded in Houston in 2000....Continue →

Allen, Texas-based PFSweb, the provider of e-commerce services to many major brands, said today that it has raised $14.7M in an equity investment. The investment came from Japanese digital marketing services and call center outsourcing company transcosmos. PFSweb, which is publicly held, said the deal calls for transcosmos (TCI) to acquire 3,214,369 shares of its common stock at a price of $4.57 per share, a premium to the company's closing price as of yesterday....Continue →

Austin's MyEdu is looking to help college students looking to relieve the burden of school on their pocketbooks today, saying it has launched a $10,000 tuition sweepstakes. The startup, which is backed by the University of Texas System and Bain Capital Ventures, said it will award $10,000 to one student for their Fall 2013 tuition, plus give away $100 Amazon gift card every week to members who join the site....Continue →