COMPANY OFFERS COLLECTION KIOSKS FOR DOCUMENTS
ShredStation, based in Bensalem, Pa., has announced the launch of its patent-pending drop box for sensitive materials.
The ShredStation units, which can be installed at a variety of retail locations, including banks, grocery stores, drug stores and office building lobbies, combine security with convenience, according to the company.
ShredStation drop boxes stand about 4 feet tall and are similar in design to the package drop boxes used by FedEx and other shipping companies. The company says that more than 500 units are being rolled out to 10 markets throughout the country, including retail outlets in Arizona, Florida, California, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In a press release, the company says that it plans to expand to more than 150 markets by the end of 2006.
"Until now, consumers and small businesses had to depend on noisy, unreliable and time-consuming home shredders that may be increasing their risk of theft," Al Villamil, president of ShredStation, says. He adds that "most people are unaware that shredded material left in public Dumpsters may help identity thieves to find their most sensitive information."
ShredStation drop boxes, which are made of commercial grade steel and bolted to the floor at the location, accept a variety of media, including floppy discs, CDs, credit cards and paper documents that include paperclips and staples.
Customers enclose their sensitive information in envelopes that can hold up to four pounds of material and are provided at the kiosk. They then place the envelope in the ShredStation and swipe their credit or debit cards in the machine’s card reader. Each deposit costs $5. Transaction I.D. numbers are printed on the receipts and are automatically registered on the ShredStation Web site. When full, the deposit box automatically notifies licensed agents with mobile shredding trucks to pick up the contents for shredding. Following the secure shredding of the material, the customer receives notification via text message or e-mail of the exact time of the destruction.
According to the company, all of its licensed agents are required to pass the same background and clearance checks as FBI agents. The company’s Web site (www.shredstation.com) says that ShredStation licensees are certified and bonded document destruction companies.
IRON MOUNTAIN ACQUIRES BACKUP RECOVERY FIRM
Iron Mountain Inc., headquartered in Boston, has signed an agreement to acquire LiveVault Corp., a Marlborough, Mass.-based provider of disk-based online server backup and recovery solutions for small and mid-size businesses and for corporations with remote offices.
The $50 million acquisition follows a five-year partnership between the two companies. Iron Mountain has offered server electronic vaulting services via a license agreement with LiveVault and has served as the technology company’s largest sales channel, according to a press release from Iron Mountain. Collectively, more than 2,000 corporate customers use the LiveVault technology to protect their servers.
"Joining forces with LiveVault is a natural move for Iron Mountain that extends our leadership role in the protection of our customers’ business data," John Clancy, executive vice president of Iron Mountain’s digital business unit, says. "Server backup and recovery has become one of the fastest growing segments of our business, so it’s important for us to own the technology and intellectual property that fuels our ability to provide the best and most comprehensive backup and recovery solutions to the marketplace."
Iron Mountain, having acquired Connected Corp., a provider of backup and recovery solutions for personal computer data, in 2004, says its latest acquisition demonstrates its continued commitment to solving the distributed data protection challenge.
"We’ve had a very close and successful relationship with Iron Mountain for many years, and I can’t think of a better, more natural strategic partner," Bob Cramer, CEO of LiveVault, says. "We’re very excited to bring these teams together and to integrate the award-winning LiveVault technology into a comprehensive suite of solutions for data protection. This is a win-win for our partners, customers and employees."
Iron Mountain has been an investor in LiveVault since 2000 and currently owns nearly 14 percent of the company.
SHRED FIRST MAKES SECOND ALABAMA ACQUISITION
Shred First LLC, Spartanburg, S.C., has announced the purchase of Docu-Shred LLC of Mobile, Ala.
According to Shred First CEO Nick Wildrick, the acquisition will help increase the company’s presence in that market. "We are very pleased each time we are able to increase our density in an existing market," says Wildrick.
"Docu-Shred has a very loyal customer base that we are looking forward to providing service for," adds John Bauknight IV, president of Shred First.
This is the second deal completed by Shred First (with the help of North Shore Capital Advisors) within a 90-day period. In the fall of 2005, Shred First acquired Power Shred, another Alabama document destruction firm. "Having the strength of North Shore in our corner has made all the difference in the world," says Wildrick.
Also in late 2005, Shred First was selected by Inc. magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing small to mid-size companies in the United States (see Eye on the Market) and the company was selected by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and Elliot Davis LLP as the 17th fastest growing company in South Carolina.
Shred First currently serves customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, the Florida panhandle, Texas and Northern California with two processing facilities in South Carolina and one each in Texas, Alabama and California. The company also services national contracts through a network of sub-contractors.
RealTime Shredding Intros Self-Service Kiosks
RealTime Shredding, based in Monument, Colo., has placed one of its self-service shredding kiosks at a mall in Littleton, Colo., a suburb of Denver.
At the self-serve kiosk, customers can shred material at the rate of $1 per two-minute session. With RealTime Shredding’s industrial-quality shredder, that equates to up to four pounds, or about 400 sheets of paper, says Amanda Verrie, the company’s president.
The RealTime Shredding system shreds paper, cardboard, credit cards, paper clips, staples and even CDs, DVDs and floppy disks. The shredder provides Security Level 3 cross-cut shredding, the highest level of security available outside of classified/government use, according to the company.
A RealTime Shredding kiosk has been in operation at the Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs since mid-September of 2004. Verrie says that feedback from the initial installation has been positive and that in addition to mall customers who have been using the service a number of mall merchants also use the kiosk.
Illinois House to Debate Shredding Bill
A bill that amends the Illinois’ State Records Act mandating that each state agency require shredding was introduced into the Illinois House.
Reps. Robert Flider and Brandon Phelps introduced HB 4229 to the Illinois House in December. The bill is expected to be up for debate this year.
If HB 4229 is passed, the State Records Act would be amended to require state agency heads to establish and to maintain programs that would "require shredding as the means of disposing of or destroying records containing personal information when another means is not provided by this Act."
Violators of the proposed shredding requirement would be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
Arizona Considers I.D. Theft Legislation
Arizona state legislators are considering a bill that would require companies to shred or otherwise erase personal information on documents and electronic files, according to a report in the Arizona Star Daily (Tucson, Ariz.).
Failure to comply could result in hefty fines of at least $10,000, according to the report.
In addition, companion legislation would require companies to notify customers whose information may have been compromised in the instance of a security breach as well as local law enforcement.
California County Considers I.D. Theft Unit
San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos has announced his goal to create a specialized unit of prosecutors to focus exclusively on the county’s identity theft cases, according to a report in the Daily Press (Victorville, Calif.).
According to the report, Ramos has discussed the idea and possibilities for funding the special prosecution units with the county board of supervisors.
Proponents of the plan say that a specialized prosecution unit would increase interaction between prosecutors and law enforcement, helping law enforcement better define what prosecutors need in terms of evidence to build a case against an identity thief, which would increase the number of offenders tried, convicted and sentenced.
Iron Mountain Names President, COO
Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc. has named Bob Brennan as president and chief operating officer.
Brennan has been Iron Mountain’s North America president since joining the company last November through the acquisition of Connected Corp., where he served as CEO.
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