Trend Spotting
Who better to talk to about technology distribution than
a former sales exec from Tech Data? Timothy J. Curran
is CEO of the St. Petersburg-based Global Technology
Distribution Council (www.gtdc.org), representing the
$80-billion distribution industry.
Aside from his stint at Tech Data (1997-2002), Curran
served as an executive officer at various corporations
and completed his doctorate in international political
economics at Columbia. Curran was a White House hightech
economic consultant on U.S. international economic policy.
Due to new regulations such as HIPAA, Curran says the need for
increased data storage and related high-speed scanners is growing,
presenting many opportunities. A huge increase in the mobility market
is also under way. Sales of laptops now exceed the peak before the
burst of the Internet bubble. “It has more than recovered and regained
all of that ground,” he says. “The market for portable products has
grown seven percent this year despite price declines.”
Such strong growth is driven by the rise in mobile
computing and faster processing speeds. “These
speeds are reaching and exceeding desktops and those
sales are also higher than desktops.”
Another trend is networking. It, too, collapsed after
the downturn but is now growing at about
11 percent, regaining all the ground it
lost. “Businesses are making infrastructure
upgrades for wireless networks using wireless
routers and hubs,” he says. “Clearly the whole world is building
and investing in wireless infrastructure, and companies need to engage
customers wirelessly.”
These trends and others, such as security software, network
attached storage, document imaging and Voice over Internet Protocols,
Curran says, should all be considered.
Wi-Fi’s Worst Nightmare
Need your own hotspot? Verizon Wireless (www.verizonwireless.com) has the answer. The cell phone company recently expanded its
wireless broadband network – BroadbandAccess – in Naples, Bradenton,
Lakeland and St. Augustine. The service is
already available in Tampa and Orlando.
Chuck Hamby, spokesperson, says BroadbandAccess
gives customers the functionality
of a wireless modem – without the need
for a hotspot. “This is Wi-Fi’s worst nightmare
because it has true mobility.”
The aircard looks like a credit card with a modem
and allows users to access information at a minimum
of 400–700 kbps, either from a phone, laptop or any
capable PDA. There are several levels of pricing. A
month of unlimited use is $59.95, and it does not require
voice plans.
What’s so exciting, says Hamby, is the number of services
and products that run off the network that are really cool.
“This is a true convergence of devices. People don’t have to
carry an iPod or other music player, they don’t need a separate
system for GPS navigation. These are just some of the options,”
he says. He adds that the user has to have an EV-DO capable
phone (evolution data optimized) but most are now being sold that
way.
Making the Grade
A small private Sarasota company is benefiting from the increasing
number of services available to students online. Xenegrade (www.xenegrade.com) sells continuing education software, mostly in New
York. President and founder Rick Stern says the primary clients are
non-credit and vocational schools, but there are others.
Stern, a career secondary education administrator in Rochester,
NY, developed the software in the early 1990s after he could not
find in the marketplace a solution to manage student data. Later, he
founded Xenegrade.
Stern moved Xenegrade to Sarasota in 2001 to escape bad weather
and high taxes. “Our busiest time of year was May to September.
Then I’d get a break in my schedule when the weather was bad.
We came here.”
Xenegrade’s four employees service roughly 30 customers,
most of them in NY. Larger customers include the City of
Yonkers and City of Buffalo school districts.
While he does not disclose financials, Stern says the
products are geared towards smaller to medium-sized
organizations, and since 2002 have been Webbased.
The Switch and Data Pick
Tampa’s Switch and Data (www.switchanddata.com) was recently selected by Logicworks
of New York City for Logicworks’ third
data center facility in New York.
Switch and Data was founded in 1998 and
offers Internet exchange, co-location and interconnection
solutions in a neutral marketplace through 34 data center
facilities in 23 markets around the country. “Companies can put their
equipment in our facilities and we provide interconnection services,”
says Duncan Elliott, director of corporate communications.
Switch and Data has approximately 820 customers. It boasts 260
employees, with about half in the bay area.
From Morton Plant Mease with Love
Morton Plant Mease Health Care (www.mpmhealth.com) is making it
easier for you to stay both in touch and informed. The organization’s
four hospitals – Morton Plant in Clearwater, Mease Countryside in Safety
Harbor, Mease Dunedin and Morton Plant North Bay in New Port Richey
– now have free CarePages and wireless Internet access.
Jill Celeste, marketing manager, speaks to the benefits of the program:
A virtual gathering place allowing patients, family members or
friends to create a personalized, private Web page where they can post
medical updates, photos and messages of support. “A lot of people in
Florida have family all over the world, and this allows them to communicate
to one another any time for free,” she says. CarePages is protected
with username, password and restricted access.
Just Web Sites
A fledgling Clearwater company, Bottom Line Publications, will soon
offer a free new business directory for the Tampa Bay area – including
all local businesses with company Web sites. The directory will be both
a hard copy and at www.justlookitup.com.
President Mike Harter, an automotive marketing veteran, says the new
directories will be mailed to roughly one-million homes in winter 2007.
The accompanying Web site will be updated all year long as information
changes.
Basic listings on the site are free but 15-employee Bottom Line will
generate revenues from ads in the book as well as add-ons on the Web site.
“We will do additional features at a cost,” says Harter. He will also offer
Web site development for companies interested in participating but lacking
a Web presence. “Our primary profit centers will be display ads.”
Tech FYI
Clearwater’s Cyclops Technologies (www.cyclopstech.com) is beta
testing its PlateSmart product in Florida and has successfully identified
a number of stolen cars with its software … Tampa’s Advantec (www.advantec-hr.com) recently completed a multi-million dollar hardware
upgrade to its technology systems and the creation of a high security
technology center … Also in Tampa, Syniverse Technologies (www.syniverse.com) received the Wireless Foundation’s “Distinguished Service
Award” for its role in powering the national Wireless AMBER Alerts
initiative … Visual Touch was recently awarded a one-year renewal of a
photo services contract at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. The Seminole
company (www.visualtouch.photoreflect.com) uses customized software
and specialized digital photo equipment. |
