FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas announced that it has formed an alliance with Pitney Bowes MapInfo Corp. of Troy, N.Y., and the Gadberry Group LLC, of Little Rock, Ark. The alliance will provide Walton College finance students with access to the latest advanced spatial technology from MapInfo and the most current data intelligence products from Gadberry.

“We are excited about the applications of this innovative technology to come to more informed financial decision-making,” said Wayne Lee, chair of the finance department and executive director of the Garrison Financial Institute. “Markets are global, but competition is local. Understanding the idiosyncratic attributes of consumers where they live and work is critical to the success of any business. Our students have an unparalleled window of opportunity to lead in the strategic use of this innovative technology.”

The Walton College unveiled a newly redesigned Master of Business Administration program in January 2007 focused on consumer products and retailing with industry career track electives in retail marketing and supply chain management, finance, as well as entrepreneurship and innovation. MBA students will be the first to take advantage of this new technology.

“MapInfo is dedicated to fostering education in location intelligence, and we are proud to partner with the Walton College to help build a world-class program.” said Devon Wolfe, retail global practice leader for MapInfo. “Together with Gadberry Group, we look forward to working with the Garrison Financial Institute and the Center for Retailing Excellence to deliver the students the most innovative, industry-leading solution, and ensuring they graduate with a distinct advantage over their competition in the workplace.”

University alumnus Adam Gadberry of the Little Rock-based Gadberry Group said, “We could not be more excited about this alliance. The opportunity to leverage our MicroBuildT product with MapInfo’s best of breed mapping technology in an academic setting is a great way to help future retail and real estate professionals understand the power of data and visualization.”

Gadberry Group is a strategic business partner of MapInfo and provides data products to retail research professionals, including James Webster, a former Wal-Mart director of real estate research and planning who is now an adjunct professor of finance in the Walton College.

“Geospatial technology combined with market-specific, detailed data is having an important and broad impact on retail today and will have an expanded one in the future.” said Webster. “This alliance will allow students in the Walton College the unique opportunity to be exposed to these tools to assist them in retail financial decision-making.”

MapInfo is a global company and the leading provider of location intelligence solutions, integrating software, data and services to provide greater value from location-based information and drive more insightful decisions for businesses and government organizations around the world. MapInfo solutions are available in multiple languages through a network of strategic partners and distribution channels in 60 countries. Headquartered in Troy, N.Y., MapInfo is on the World Wide Web at http://www.mapinfo.com.

The Gadberry Group provides location-based services and information data products, for clients who demand the most current, accurate and precise household and population data for their site location analysis. MicroBuildT, Gadberry’s trademarked, patent-pending product, is unique because only MicroBuildT uses consumer data at the rooftop level to deliver quarterly household and population counts beginning at the census block level. For more information, visit http://www.gadberry.net.