Nashville Technology Council

From time to time, we feature contributions on the Council Newswire from our members.  Today, Avaya’s Cary Bush comments on working “smarter” with social media in 2011 and a tool at hand that can help us all improve business collaboration.

Learn more ways you and your company can contribute to a smarter planet and smarter Nashville at our Membership Meeting on Tuesday, January 18th!

The ability to stay “top of mind” with our customers and clients has taken a huge leap with the various social media resources available today (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). There are so many ways to “get your point across” that it is easy wonder where to begin. Those of us in the technology industry have a bit of a head start as these tools were created in our own backyard, but even with this jump on the rest of the world, our traditional means of communications processes can slow down with what, and how, we adopt and implement these technologies.

Process is key to any winning strategy, and is true here as well. Simply jumping “online” with the latest application widget does not necessarily mean we will be front and center. For these tools to be both informative and productive, each business needs to understand how their core customer base communicates, and develop a combination strategy that best fits those needs. I would submit that in order to bridge the gap between business collaboration and social media, each business (and even business units within a company) needs to identify exactly what that gap is (it will be largely different depending on your line of work).

Many application companies have put forth attempts to consolidate the media… making it more collaborative and user friendly. Avaya has developed a very unique tool in the Flare Experience. This software solution is purpose built around the way businesses work, with intuitive touch screen interface, document and data sharing, HD video and voice, and “pooling” contacts from various media (including the usual suspects in social media) into a “contextual” experience. More software and application companies are developing integration tools continually, so it will be interesting to look back to see what solutions actually become the match-makers between social media and true business collaboration.

We have heard this a lot, but we must work “smarter”, and to do this we need to apply technologies that are in sync with our core competencies. If all we do is setup a company Facebook page or Tweet about our last trip to Starbucks, we aren’t fully utilizing the tools that are available. Knowing where our prospects go to find out about or research something they need is the first step toward building a collaboration process that benefits both parties.

- Cary Bush

Today we released a study conducted in partnership with Vaco Technology on the state of technology jobs in Middle Tennessee for the third quarter of 2010. This report, released once a quarter, provides a consistent format for reporting on open job positions.  It includes top tech employers, most popular job positions, and trending data points.  One thing is clear: Nashville is poised to gain traction as one of the leading tech centers in the nation.  In particular we are leading Healthcare IT (HIT), transactions, digital media, and start-up enterprises.

In Greater Nashville, there are more tech jobs than there are people to fill them. The Nashville Technology Council is focused on a three level pipeline for talent growth:

* T3 – Organic growth through local high schools and universities
* Professional Development (Courseware for Career Transition)
* Economic Development (Individuals and Companies)

The Nashville Technology Council spearheads the T3 Initiative to help our local students connect with opportunity and support their academic needs. Our partners at the Nashville Health Care Council and Nashville Chamber of Commerce work with us on events such as the Health Care IT Workforce Solutions Forum to address the gap between skills desired in our local IT grads and the myriad career opportunities in their own backyard.   What else can we do to strengthen our existing workforce, encourage companies to relocate and create the next generation of Techville?  Leave us your comments below and let us know what you think we can do as a tech community to address these issues.

You can review the press release on our Q3 2010 Hiring Trends Report here and download the report in its entirety here.

Is Infrastructure Sexy?

When you think about the need to have a solid core to build technology solutions on, infrastructure looks very sex.  In this segment, we will focus on data centers as part of our overall infrastructure story in Nashville.

I am excited to report that what was weakness in the Nashville market last year is now a strength for us.  Several of our existing data center providers have expanded their space and capacity.  Data Centers are the hub of technology growth.  With office space at premium, physical security concerns, and companies needing to squeeze every dime out of their budgets, server virtualization, the sourced data center becomes a viable option.

I spoke to a few of the local data center experts and received their take on how Nashville is positioned for future infrastructure needs. Continue Reading →

Did you miss the event?  Click Here to view PowerPoint Presentations.

The Nashville Technology Council, the Nashville Health Care Council and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce present a “Virtual Trade Mission: Exploring Opportunities in India.”  Join us as we explore health care and technology in India, along with strategies for local and global outsourcing, insourcing and offshoring via live video conferencing with Indian market leaders Apollo Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare, GE, Wipro, Tata and a number of others.

Thursday, May 7, 2009 | 6:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. | AT&T Building

The Virtual Trade Mission agenda includes continental breakfast and networking, keynote address, video connections to experts and industry leaders in India, a luncheon panel discussion with Nashville-based companies working in India, and afternoon breakouts on sourcing solutions.

Afternoon sessions will highlight local companies providing or utilizing  insourcing, outsourcing or offshoring business processes to create competitive advantages in their markets.

Sourcing: What is it?

Insourcing: Using internal resources grouped together virtually or physically to create a new product or service offering.

Local and Global Outsourcing: Subcontracting a process, usually involving product development, help desk/call center, manufacturing, accounting or other back office solutions to a third-party company, either locally and/or globally.

Offshoring: Subcontracting or moving of a business process from one country to another — typically an operational process, such as manufacturing or product development, or supporting processes, such as help desk/call center or accounting.

Click Here to Register Online

Speaker Abstracts

“Three Trends Reshaping Storage”
Speaker:  Russell Schneider, CEO, Marketex Computer Corp.
8:10AM – 9:00AM
 

ABSTRACT COMING SOON! 

Click here to view speaker biography                                    
 

“GeoLock:  Secure & Efficient Tracking”
Speaker:  Dr. Eric Dobson, President & CEO, TrakLok Corp.
9:20AM – 10:00AM

TrakLok Corporation’s mission is to commercialize products and services into the global shipping industry to revolutionize both cargo security and efficiency in order to revolutionize the way cargo is managed on a global scale.  The shipping industry is the world’s third oldest profession and the life-blood of the international economy.  Approximately 90 percent of all cargo moves through the Marine Transportation System (MTS).  Domestic shipping via the MTS totals over $850 billion in cargo annually and contributes $2 trillion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product.  The current volume of domestic maritime shipping is expected to double over the next 20 years. International maritime shipping is expected to triple over the same time period.  Yet, this system is plagued with problems of efficiency and security, which are different sides of the same coin. 

On one side of the coin, there are some estimated 15 million shipping containers in the world, each one a potential Trojan Horse.  Interruptions in this system have a devastating effect on the economy as seen in 2002 with the west-coast port strikes, which cost the domestic economy approximately $10 billion. The destruction of a single key port is estimated to cost $1 trillion, disrupt the global supply chain (a.k.a the value chain) bringing the domestic economy to a screeching halt in a matter of weeks.  On the other side of the coin, gains in efficiency of the MTS represent a dramatic opportunity to expand the cargo capacity of the domestic economy.  The ability to stop loss in this system due to theft represents $18 – $50 billion in measurable savings providing the basis for improved operational conditions and insurance applications as economic incentives for adoption of new products and processes.  TrakLok has developed a patent pending tracking “geolock” that monitors cargo condition and integrity and selectively allows or denies access to a shipping container on the basis of time, geography (location), and authorization code anywhere in the world, to realize the vision of both an efficient and secure supply chain.  Click here to view speaker Biography
 

“Innovative Technologies of Today and Tomorrow”
Speaker:  Alan Dash, Associate Partner – Technology, Syska Hennessy Group, Inc.
10:20AM – 11:00AM
 
There are a plethora of technologies available today with new innovations and upgrades of existing technologies being introduced every day; in fact, the number of patents going through the US Patent and Trademark office is at an all-time high with 157,774 utility patents filed in 2008.  IBM alone was assigned more then 4,000 U.S. patents in 2007, setting the record of most patents by a single company in a single year.   As a result, a technologist would have a difficult time wading through the vast market of offerings.

This session will include a description of some of the more prevalent technologies that a typical high-tech worker is likely to encounter today and in the future.  Technologies discussed will include intelligent security camera systems, RFID/RTLS, conference room technologies, cell phones and cell phone capabilities today and tomorrow, electronic way finding systems, and technologies for the home.  In addition, miscellaneous gadgets will be discussed as well as technologies that we just might be able to live without.  While no particular technology will be reviewed in great depth, participants should walk away with a better awareness of the current status of these technologies, and an understanding of where they will be tomorrow.  The goal of the presentation is to be informative, informal, and light.
Click here to view speaker Biography

“TBA”
Speaker:  Dr. G. Marshall Molen, Team Leader, Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems
11:20AM – 12:00PM 

ABSTRACT COMING SOON!

Click here to view speaker Biography                                      

“Patient Friendly Non-Invasive Cardiac Output Solution”
Speaker:  Rankin A. Clinton III, JD, Chief Executive Officer, Woolsthorpe Technologies
1:20PM – 2:10PM

The incidence of Heart Failure has doubled in the last ten years, with over 5 Million in the US currently diagnosed. This increase is largely due to improvements in drugs that significantly improve heart function, thereby extending life and improving quality of life. They do not, however, “cure” heart failure. Affordable, easy-to-use and accurate technologies to aid in the management of these new drug therapies have not kept pace.
The cardiovascular system is essentially a closed system. The heart is a slave to peripheral/organ oxygen demand. Cardiac Output is the volume of blood expelled per minute, expressed in Liters/minute. Cardiac Output has traditionally been measured by what is commonly called a Right Heart Catheter, or “Pulmonary Artery Catheter (PAC)”. The PAC’s well documented history of poor precision and repeatability (+/- 20%) has been cited as the principle argument against its use when considering the substantial costs and medical risks associated with catheter procedures.

The FloWave is not only entirely non-invasive, it assesses cardiac output from an “outflow” AND “perfusion” perspective—a perspective of substantial added utility to the clinician.  The primary physiologic signals are obtained from a single lead ECG and two photoplethysmographic (oximetry) sensors, one on the hand and one on the ear. The FloWave sees cardiac output as expressed in changes in arterial flow to the periphery (hand) and critical organs (brain).  

Click here to view speaker Biography    
 

Rankin A. Clinton III, J.D. (Kin), CEO, Woolsthorpe Technologies

Rankin A. Clinton III, J.D. (Kin) is the Chief Executive Officer of Woolsthorpe Technologies, a Brentwood-based medical device company that has developed a novel technology to measure cardiac output continuously and noninvasively.

Mr. Clinton earned a Bachelors of Engineering (Environmental and Water Resources Engineering) from Vanderbilt University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law. After service as a Captain in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Mr. Clinton served as Counsel and Risk Manager for a national real estate securities firm. Thereafter, he served as Executive Vice President and COO of a hazardous waste management and environmental services company. In that capacity, he managed the construction and operation of a state-of-the-art biological waste treatment facility, associated analytical laboratories, and an engineering services group. He has served as CEO of a home healthcare agency and regional healthcare staffing agency. Mr. Clinton has also served as the CEO for companies involved in the development and deployment of technologies in investment banking and online learning.

Kin and his wife Cindy are longtime residents of Williamson County. They have four grown children and, recently, a grandson.

Dr. G. Marshall Molen, Team Leader, Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems

G. Marshall Molen received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University in 1974. After graduation he was employed at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, and later was selected as Director of Research and Development for ESCO Manufacturing Company in Greenville, Texas. He began his academic career at Old Dominion University in 1978 and was actively involved in research in the pulsed power area with particular interests in high voltage spark gaps. He was later promoted to Professor of Electrical Engineering and was appointed Director of the Physical Electronics Research Institute. He became Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in 1985.

In 1987 he relocated to Tennessee Technological University as chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and in July 1992 he accepted a position at Mississippi State University where he served as department head for Electrical and Computer Engineering until 2002. He currently serves as team leader for APS and is the principal investigator for the MSU Radar Power program sponsored by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. In his current position as the Diversified Technology/Ergon Distinguished Professor he is involved with unique power applications employing modern power electronics.

Research Interest: Pulsed power technology, gas discharges, quantum electronics and high energy lasers, electromagnetics, electrical power, automotive engineering, power-train design, hybrid vehicle design
 

Publications:

• Molen, M., Oglesby, D., & Lewis, R. (Aug 2007). The Design and Development of a Through-the-Road Parallel Diesel Electric Hybrid. , IEEE VPPC 07 Arlington, TX: IEEE. [Abstract][Document]
• Guoyan, T., Mazzola, M., Molen, M., Martin, P., Parker, C.J., Cheng, L., & Bondarenko, V. (Nov 2008). Prototyping a SiC JFET Drop-In Replacement Module for a 600-V, 600-A Si IGBT Half-Bridge Module. 41st International Symposium on Microelectronics, Providence, Rhode Island.
• Cheng, L., Mazzola, M., Molen, M., Gafford, J., Parker, C., Kelly, R.L., Bondarenko, V., Sheridan, D., & Scofield, J.D. (Aug 2008). HIGH-TEMPERATURE PERFORMANCE OF 4H-SIC VJFET SWITCHES FOR 200-A/600-V POWER MODULE APPLICATION. 2008 LESTER EASTMAN CONFERENCE ON HIGH PERFORMANCE DEVICES, University of Delaware, DE.
• Cheng, L., Mazzola, M., Molen, M., Gafford, J., Parker, C., Kelly, R.L., Bondarenko, V., Sheridan, D., & Scofield, J.D. (Aug 2008). HIGH-TEMPERATURE PERFORMANCE OF 4H-SIC VJFET SWITCHES FOR 200-A/600-V POWER MODULE APPLICATION. International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 18.
• Gafford, J., Mazzola, M., Robbins, J., & Molen, M. (Jun 2008). A Multi-Kilowatt High-Frequency AC-Link Inverter for the Conversion of Low-Voltage DC to Utility Power Voltages. Proceedings of the IEEE Power Electronics Specialist Conference, 3707-3712.