New to Innovation Park, Immersion Offers Crisis Response Communications

The Immersion, Ltd. team from left to right: Carolyn Schwartz, Office Administrator; Tom Schwartz, President; Larissa Crum, Executive Vice President; and Ashley Kranich, General Counsel and Vice President. Immersion, Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NPC, Inc., recently opened a new office in Innovation Park at Penn State. Located in Claysburg, Pennsylvania, NPC has been providing a broad range of products and services in the print and communications industry for over 50 years.

NPC’s extensive print and mail capabilities can do everything from electronic document tagging and volume offset printing to variable digital printing, fulfillment and distribution. NPC is privately owned, employs approximately 460 people, and includes numerous federal government agencies as customers. In December 2008, NPC was named the second largest print supplier for the federal government.

According to Tom Schwartz, President of Immersion, “Immersion’s decision to locate in Innovation Park was a conscious choice to surround our company with the world-class talent and tremendous knowledge that exists in the Park. Our goal is to create a business that is both unique within the Park and that will replicate the many success stories that already exist here.”

There are many benefits to being a Park tenant,” Schwartz continued. “We get access to many of Penn State’s departments and programs such as the Industrial Research Office and Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and we’ll have a close connection to the Penn State community and the vibrant environment of success created by the Park’s tenants and administration.”

Immersion's new office located in Innovation Park at Penn State.Immersion was established for two reasons: to create a visibility in the State College and Penn State communities that would allow NPC to connect with local, regional and national businesses to promote and sell its core products and services; and to brand and sell InfoLaunch™ which is Immersion’s Crisis Response Communication Service.

The mission of InfoLaunch™ is to prepare a business, in advance, to respond quickly and effectively in a crisis situation, such as a data or security breach, a sudden loss of sensitive personal information, a company-wide policy change or tragedy, or a national or man-made disaster. InfoLaunch prints and mails pertinent information to the organization’s audience, allowing the business to focus on the emergency.

Larissa Crum, Executive Vice President of Immersion, is promoting and recommending the InfoLaunch service. “Organizations that maintain personal, confidential and/or health-related information of customers or employees really need to engage InfoLaunch’s Crisis Response Communication Service for numerous reasons,” explained Crum.

Those reasons include, meeting state and federal notification requirements if confidential information is breached or released into the wrong hands, being prepared to transmit by mail the required written notifications to those adversely affected, providing a call center for affected individuals following a breach and, should a breach occur, creating “peace of mind” for an organization that all systems are in place.

The NPC, Inc. facility located in Claysburg, Pennsylvania.In a crisis situation, InfoLaunch will help to maintain that organization’s brand and reputation with customers and employees. InfoLaunch prints and mails the notifications, provides a call center (phone and web), and other “hands-on” services to assist companies in the midst of a data breach crisis.

Immersion and the Penn State Industrial Research Office have also been discussing potential research partnerships. “There is definite potential for research projects with Penn State, particularly with Immersion’s parent company, NPC,” said Schwartz.

NPC has collaborated with several companies and licensed patented technology in an effort to provide authentication and verification of secured documents. Schwartz continued, “These document security advances could be of great interest to Penn State. In turn, the University, with its world-class research capabilities, can assist in making these technologies even more robust and effective. At Immersion, we are already working on projects with several of the individual colleges and intend to actively seek out many more collaborative opportunities within the University.”