Press Release
Contact:
Jocelyn Sese |
919-549-7500
ext.119 |
What's Next for the InfoTech Industry?
Stellar Speakers Prognosticate on Future Trends and Demo Companies Take Away Awards at CED's InfoTech 2002
October 30, 2002, Research Triangle Park, NC - Entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, and other interested parties witnessed the best of North Carolina's multi-billion dollar IT industry at InfoTech 2002, where 609 participants test-drove some of the industry's newest technologies and heard national experts expound on its future directions. CED presented InfoTech in partnership with The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) Carolinas and the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Points of interest included the Demo Company Awards, wherein a team of panelists and participants cast their votes for hottest demo company. The Journalists' Pick was Durham's SiliconMöbius, Pinpoint Networks of Cary got the Investors' top ranking, and Raleigh's CipherOptics was the CIO choice. Winners were selected based on a number of criteria, including business viability, "most likely to succeed," "most innovative technology," and which company would have the greatest impact on its industry.
"It's gratifying to see such an assemblage of business leaders interested in and focused on the future of IT here in the Research Triangle and North Carolina," said Monica Doss, CED president. "The industry's taken quite a beating recently, but the energy at today's conference makes me believe the region's moving forward in a positive direction and positioned well for future success."
YankeeTek Ventures' (www.yankeetek.com) founding partner and senior managing director Howard Anderson gave a humorous, accessible, and to-the-point keynote speech entitled "The Future of Technology Investing," and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (WA) spoke on the importance of the IT sector to the U.S. economy and her interest in the Senate's pursuit of an IT-friendly legislative agenda. Also, Marc Lautenbach, general manager, Global Small and Medium Business, IBM (www.ibm.com/us), participated in a panel about winning leadership strategies in the current challenging business climate.
Select speakers included representatives from some of the following entities: Academy Funds; Art.com; Bloomberg; Cisco Systems; CNET News.com; CNN; Columbia University; Commerciality; Duke University; GE Equity; Intel Capital; Intersouth Partners; LVL7 Systems, Inc.; MCNC; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Progress Energy; RBC Capital Markets; Red Hat; Riverbend Group; SAS; Sockwell && Associates; Southeast Interactive Technology Funds; TPG Ventures; Wachovia Securities; and The Wall Street Journal.
Session highlights included a lively journalist panel entitled "Technologies Present and Future," as well as other such panels as "Investors' Appetite for IT Deals," "Motivating Employees: When Options Aren't an Option," and "Alternatives to VC Financing."
In addition to the speakers, 21 companies showcased their technologies in the demo rooms throughout the day. Demo company technologies ranged from wireless applications, software solutions, customer management and data mining, as well as industry hot-button sectors such as security and law enforcement.
More information on the conference, speakers, and demo companies can be found at www.cednc.org/infotech/2002.
About CED
The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located in Research Triangle
Park, NC, is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to stimulate
the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research
Triangle region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation
resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual
conferences, seminars, workshops and monthly programs on entrepreneurial
management and finance. CED is the largest entrepreneurial support organization
in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing 1,100 entrepreneurial
companies, financiers, and professional firms. www.cednc.org