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Business Agility with the Cloud

741_ Business Agility with the Cloud: Do you need an IT department/CIO?
 Defrag 2009 - what an education! - it was the place to be. We corralled Matthew Taylor, Vice President of Managed Services and IT & IS Operations, ViaWest, covering seven states and 16 data centers. Matt was a keynote speaker at the Defrag 2009 Conference. Matt said, "I have a long title because we wear a lot of hats at ViaWest, there's a real value to that for organizations." Topic Matt delivered: Business Agility with the Cloud. We wanted to know, what is the cloud? Matthew replied, "Well, there isn't a definition for 'the cloud' and depending on who you're talking to they have a different definition of the cloud. What we have to take this back to is, the user, customer or CIO, whoever you are, what is it you're trying to get out of a solution overall? So to a business person how do you get agility out of a cloud? You get agility out of a cloud ... and for some this is a painful answer... through your CIO. There are people out there, the press, organizations that have said, 'now the cloud is out there and you don't need your IT department/CIO' -- That's absolutely not the case. The customer needs to make sure they have flexibility to be able to scale up or scale down; pay for what they have to pay for but not overpay. At the same time they need to make sure they have a high level of security. So when you combine all these things, you start to say, I really need to understand each portion of my company from an application standpoint. What do I need to do with it and make sure I'm managing the data and the way those applications work together. What is your best approach and to me that is a CIO and why today, the CIO is more important than ever." Listen for some additional suggestions. Larry asked about SAAS (software as a Service) "...in the last couple of years, I'd heard that was the cloud." Matt agrees it was one of the first offerings from the cloud, there are load testing applications etc., watch the smoke and mirrors - do your homework. He also provides...
Related Links: ViaWest || Defrag || Economy Builders || Event Photos || Keywords: Matthew Taylor, ViaWest, Defrag, Business Agility, Cloud, CIO, Hosting, IT Department, SaaS, Change - Channel: News 12195439 bytes - 11/16/09 LISTEN

Using innovation for social good - NCWIT

Using innovation for social good - NCWIT Entrepreneurial Tool Box
 732_ Lucy Sanders, the CEO for the National Center for Women and Information Technology or NCWIT and Lee Kennedy, NCWIT Director, serial entrepreneur and founder of Boldersearch, along with Larry Nelson, from w3w3.com interviewed Yoky Matsuoka for the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Tool Box series. Yoky is a Torode Family Endowed Career Development Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Computational Neuroscience in 1998. She was also a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT and in Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University. Today Yoky is an associate professor at the University of Washington focusing on neurobotics. In 2007 Her work in Robotics gained the MacArthur’s Foundation "Genius Award". The MacArthur Foundation characterizes her work as transforming our understanding of how the central nervous system coordinates musculoskeletal action and of how robotic technology can enhance the mobility of people with manipulation disabilities. In addition, Yoky started the YokyWorks Ffoundation – a non-profit to be recognized as a premier provider of practical engineering solutions for people seeking to improve their life experience. Their mission is to enable people to experience life beyond their physical or sensory capabilities. "Also I want to help my volunteers. Many have raised families and now want to have a way to contribute to society and I feel just having them exposed to this effort is giving them pleasure, and that also is extremely rewarding." Listen for more exciting details...
Related Links: Yoky Works || NCWIT Home || NCWIT Practice || NCWIT Blog || Heroes Channel || Keywords: NCWIT, Yoky Matsuoka, Yoky Works, Lucy Sanders, NCWIT, Lee Kennedy, Boldersearch, Entrepreneurial Tool Box, Neurobotics, Channel: NCWIT > 24587183 bytes - 11/2/09 LISTEN

The history of the Telluride Tech Festival now comes to Boulder

696_ The history of the Telluride Tech Festival now comes to Boulder
The Telluride Tech Festival is '@ Boulder' this year which is a great opportunity to involve some local folks here, and with some of the changes in the economy it's a little more accessible. Larry talked with Sarah McClain, Trent Hein and Ned McClain about the great news for Front Range technology enthusiasts. Larry asked Sarah to give us an idea of what this event was about. "We're talking about the annual Telluride Tech Festival which was an event we founded in Telluride in 2000. It was founded on the idea that Telluride was sort of an incubator of inventions. In 1891 Nicola Tessla, George Westinghouse and L.L. Nunn invented the first commercial grade alternating current power plant in Telluride. That's why we say the beginning of the technological revolution began there. Our event invites technological innovators from around the world to come and present their ideas to us in a small, intimate environment, and it's very interactive. Inside the event and even outside the event we have opportunities to interact with the honorees and sort of foster discussion and ideas." Some of the past honorees are Freeman Dyson, a theoretical physicist; Vinton Cerf, known as the 'Father of the Internet'; Murray Gellman, a Nobel Prize Laureate; and Jill Tarter, she heads up SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). This year it's in Boulder at the NCAR Mesa Top Lab, a really excellent venue. So, mark your calendars for July 30th, that's a Thursday evening and we're going to gather at 5:30pm. You need to RSVP. We'll see you there...
Related Links: Tech Fest RSVP || Tech Festible History || Applied Trust || Dear Ned || Keywords: Telluride Tech Festival, Boulder, Sarah McClain, Trent Hein, Ned McClain, NCAR, Applied Trust, Dear Ned > Channel: ATE 6225609 bytes 7/20/09 LISTEN

Times are Tough but Good Companies are Still Being Funded

578_ Times are Tough but Good Companies are Still Being Funded 
Larry was talking to David Cohen, Founder of Colorado Startups and co-founder of TechStars about the impact of the economy on startups, the Expense Paid Job Fair held in Boulder, and the position of venture capital and angel funding in today's market place. About 17 companies put money into a pot, flew 81 candidates in to Boulder, for an expense paid job fair – worked out to about $60 an interview, a pretty good deal. TechStars Demo and Investor Day 2007 (i.e. first year TechStar Grad') Social Thing was there - BTW they've been bought by AOL and now have opened offices here in Boulder - was one of the companies interviewing at the Job Fair. Since TechStars Demo & Investor Day in Boulder, TechStars has done a similar event in Silicon Valley.. and at that event, 9/23/08, announced their second acquisition from the first class of 10 companies, a company called Intense Debate, acquired by Automatic, which is the company behind Word Press. So that’s very exciting. They’ll be integrating the blog comments that they were working on directly into the WordPress platform. That’s 100 million blogs that they’ll get distribution on. So the first class has been really amazing and there are other companies that are doing really well from that 2007 class including Event Theater, FiltrBox, BrightKite and other companies, we’re expecting more good things out of that first class. The second class, it’s a little early to tell, but a lot of them are getting funded. David offers some great funding advice...listen now...

Related Links: TechStars Home || Entrepreneur Channel || Colorado Startups || Expense Paid Job Fair ||  Bytes: 10349403 - LISTEN > 11/3/08

Energy Initiative Leadership Council: Business and Education

576_ Energy Initiative Leadership Council: Business and Education
"We definitely need a connection to the business community for the academic research that goes on, so that the business community can hear what is going on and we can understand in the academic world, what some of the leading trends are," said Kate Tallman, Director of the CU Tech Transfer Office Boulder and Colorado Springs. Kate and CU TTO's guest, Paul Nelson who is focused on Special Projects for the Energy Initiative Leadership Council (EILC) discuss the goals of EILC as well as how they will help support the Colorado energy sector and Colorado's position as the epicenter of the clean tech energy scene. Paul said, "Kate, and myself along with Dave Allen at Tech Transfer; Paul Jerde at the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and Dr. Carl Koval who is heading up the Energy Initiative, put our heads together and thought about how we could more effectively bring in the private sector to the Energy Initiative." He went onto say, ". So the idea was to form this council that provides guidance. The thinking was that each seat on the council would represent a unique perspective on the issue. We have some from the financial community; we wanted the venture capital and investment fund and individual investor and banking perspectives. But we have another group of seats that are more traditional industry; we have an automotive seat and materials seat and things like that. Then we have a group of seats that are traditional energy; utilities, an oil company, a gas company. And then we have a big group of renewable energy companies." There's more exciting news...
Related Links: Energy Initiative website || EILC Article || CU Tech Transfer Channel || CU TTO || - Bytes: 13102919- 10/27/08 LISTEN

Don't Spend a Dime Before It's Time

577_ Don't Spend a Dime Before Its Time 
"The Inventors Business Plan’ tends to be, have idea, get patent, make money," pointed out Rita Crompton, Founder of the Inventors' Roundtable. Rita went onto say, "It just doesn’t happen that way. We really want to teach you how to do as much as you can before you start spending any money. Then how do you decide what money is the best to spend and where do you get the biggest bang for your buck. So we’ve really looked at bringing in resources for the inventor. Search Quest is the company that does most of the searches for our inventors. They’re one of the few that does the USPTO search by classification (so they actually go back 350 years) not just the most recent 35 that is on line. But they also do an international search and a product search. Knowing that material is critical, if something has been patented anywhere in the world at any time in history, you cannot get another patent on it. Now you’re making a big mistake that costs you money down the road and that’s why ‘Don’t spend a dime until its time’ is critical. The Inventors' Roundtable website has a number of helpful and valuable links. At The Inventors' RoundtableTM, the one and only safe, free, original inventors' roundtable, we have "inventor-approved" patent attorneys, engineers, marketing experts and others who donate their time once a month to work with the inventors." There's more...
Related Links: Inventors' Roundtable || SearchQuest || Colorado Inventor Showcase || FleCusa International ||  Bytes: 8231186 > 10/27/08 LISTEN

Geospatial Challenges and Choices for California and Colorado

Geospatial Challenges and Choices for California and Colorado
CH2M HILL is now on the track of a $6 Billion, privately held engineering services company, construction management, and program management company. It is one of the largest privately held companies in the state of Colorado. They have 1800 – 2000 employees here, 26-28,000 employees worldwide. Jeff Akers, President, Enterprise Management Solutions, CH2M HILL points out, "In addition we’re doing things like being the program manager for the rebuild of the Panama Canal; program manager for the London 2012 Olympics; and are relocating the largest military base in the world out of Seoul, Korea. Larry brought up the successful efforts at Rocky Flats and Jeff said, "Yes we are still the number one nuclear environmental cleanup company. We’re doing a great job at the Idaho National Laboratories right now...and the worldwide list goes on."

CH2M Hill originally was in the business of building and managing telecom networks, wireless networks, fiber networks and cable networks all over the world. Jeff mentioned, "We have specific leadership in areas, first and foremost, this one, Geospatial Information Management; we’re the number one systems integrator for Google Works, for Microsoft Virtual Earth, the company called ERSI which makes 3-dimensional software; and there is another company called Auto Desk that we’re a large systems integrator for; and we have over 500 consultants. We also manage a lot of data for very large customers both here in the United States and all over the world. We help companies like Corporate Express, Level3." CH2M HILL has done a great deal for San Francisco and other cities with solar mapping. Now we are looking forward to the same in Denver.
Related Links: Enterprise Management Solutions || Conscious Economy Channel || CORE Colorado || Podcast Directory || - Bytes: 10156306 LISTEN 6/23/08

Green IT Infrastructure Costs Less: Bigger is not Better

Green IT infrastructure costs less and improves the health of our planet. Trent Hein co-founder of Applied Trust and CEO and Ned McClain, co-founder and CTO talk about the proactive steps Applied Trust has taken to implement a Green IT infrastructure and take that even a step further and call it EcoInfrastructure.  Everyone knows that with today’s high cost of data center real estate, the increasing cost of energy, and your company’s desire to be more eco-friendly, infrastructure is on everyone’s mind. Trent and Ned discussed specific tactics and strategies for taking steps to building a Green IT infrastructure. Here are five key points: 1) Bigger is not better 2) Consolidate 3) Server virtualization 4) Organizational philosophy 5) Reduce the waste stream. Applied Trust engineers will work closely with your staff to ensure that a thorough assessment is conducted. All assessment recommendations will be presented in an actionable manner, such that network and system administrators can use the document as a guide for mitigation. Here are some results you can expect: • Reduced capital costs • Stronger bottom line through significantly reduced operating costs (including reduced energy consumption and reduced system administration labor) • Support for the environment • Improved employee morale and workplace environment • Improved corporate image as a “green business,” which can provide a marketing or recruiting edge. Listen Now...
Related Links: Applied Trust (ATE) || Women in IT || Conscious Economy Channel || Safe Surfing || BYTES: 21668156

Brad Feld, The Foundry Group - Why am I Passing?

"Over the years - I've come up with a set of filters to quickly turn down deals. This is an important process as I want to limit the time I spent investigating companies that I don't investment in. Rather - I want to maximize my time working with my existing portfolio companies and quickly / deeply evaluating new companies that have a high chance of us funding them. Every day I tell at least one entrepreneur that I am passing on investment in their company. Sometimes I tell 10. I don't know what the most in one day is, but it's probably more than 25. I try to respond to all emails so a lot of these are in the 'never were appropriate to pursue' category, but at least one each day is someone that I've actually engaged with beyond a cold email that was randomly sent to me. My first pass filter has three parts to it. The top level filter is 'Is this in a theme that I'm currently interested in?' If yes, then I try to determine whether or not I think the people involved can create a huge company. If yes, then I often at least spend some time going deeper." Larry asks Brad to expand on this and more. Brad also explains what it takes to stay on the positive road to funding. Listen in his own words.
Related Links: Brad Feld Blog || Why Am I Passig? || Lijit Search || Foundry Group || Venture Capital ||
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Confidence Based Learning System and Your Bottom-Line

Mark Richtermeyer founder of the Spitfire Group and producer of the new "Disruptive Technology" Channel on w3w3.com brought up another 'disruptive technology' topic. Mark interviews Pat Engstrom, Chairman and Founder of Knowledge Factor about a patented, breakthrough technology that is truly disruptive and it's all about learning. Pat points out that, "Corporate training in situations where the consequence of confidently-held misinformation can be catastrophic." Health care is an area that has training challenges and is an area that is constantly in the news. Corporations are embracing Knowledge Factor’s Confidence- Based Learning System (CBL system) because it helps their employees learn faster, retain the information far longer and CBL proves Mastery of the learning material. Another focus is on education. The same technology can be used to greatly improve learning outcomes both in K-12 and Higher Ed. By using Knowledge Factor’s patented Confidence-Based Learning System, students will be more engaged, learn faster, have better standardized test scores. The role of the teacher can also move toward being more of a facilitator and spend quality time helping students apply the knowledge they learn using CBL. We can all benefit from CBL.
Related Links: Disruptive Technology Channel || Spitfire Group || Knowledge Factor ||

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