North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s President and Chief Executive Officer Norris Tolson and Southeastern Office Director Randall Johnson, spoke on how biotechnology drives North Carolina’s economic development at  the Brunswick County Entrepreneurship Conference held on April 10th and 11th in Sunset Beach, N.C.  Some of the topics discussed were expanding the production of natural products, growing algae to produce biodiesel, marine fish farming and practical applications of marine biotechnology.   According to Johnson, entrepreneurship, expanding existing business and recruitment are three equally important components to economic development.

“The key is to start the business here and it will grow. The big question is how to move the ideas from the mind to the marketplace‚” said Johnson.

One of the most promising biotechnologies is using algae to produce fuel. Corn produces less than one hundred gallons of biodiesel per acre, but algae has the potential to produce between five and fifteen thousands gallons of fuel per acre, said Johnson. Currently the supply of biodiesel can not keep up with demand because of the cost of the corn-based feed stock used in its production, so alternative sources are particularly attractive.   Biodiesel can be used as a replacement for petroleum-based diesel fuel with minimal changes to a diesel engine.  In addition to trucking and residential vehicles, biodiesel can now be used in Yachts, as some marine engine manufactures have begun to approve biodiesel as a replacement to traditional diesel fuel.

Another area of interest to Johnson is dealing with the waste produced by hog production.  He listed a range of options from changing the way the waste is collected to using enzymes similar to those used in cleaners and detergents to convert the waste to ethanol. “Small bio-refineries, using enzymes to make fuel, sounds futuristic, but it is not that far fetched,” said Johnson.

Two Wilmington IT Events

The first week in April brought two Information Technology events to the Wilmington area.    The Business Technology Expo occurred on April 1st in downtown Wilmington at the Riverfront Park  and the 2008 InterACT and Wilmington Area Information Technology Professionals Mixer on April 2nd in the Computer Information Systems building on the UNCW campus.

The Business Technology Expo was co-sponsored by Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, VCi and blue dog Network and featured Information Technology vendors and displays.  One presenting company of particular interest was Rogo, a Wilmington based start-up that provides low-cost video surveillance software using common web cameras connected to a personal computer.  Rogo demonstrated their technology, showing how a person could check their home remotely from a video camera via a cell phone.  Their software is also currently in business settings such as Cape Fear Land Rover and the Wilmington Wine Shop and they just did a large installation Culligan water bottling in Goldboro, said James Trimble, company president.  “Water bottlers are actually required by Homeland Security to have security cameras. We are working with big companies to license our technology, as it is simple and bandwidth efficient, and even in larger installation is cheaper than conventional systems,” said Trimble.

The 2008 InterACT and Wilmington Area Information Technology Professionals Mixer included Information Technology vendors and graduate student projects on display. This was the fifth year that UNCW hosted this event  and over 350 people registered to attend.
For many of the student displaying projects, the event was a requirement of their grant funding. One project that attracted considerable crowd attention was research by a UNCW student, two staff and a faculty member into the effects of off-the-shelf video games on learning by developmentally challenged children.  Sheri Anderson, a graduate student in the Master’s of Instructional Design program, Beth Allred and Jeff Ertzberge, Technology Liaisons at the Watson School of Education and faculty member Monica Campbell are using Nintendo wii game consoles with commercially available software to see if there is a positive effect on the academic performance of students involved in Special Education.   The team is looking at  End-of-Course testing and Individual Education Plans and comparing the results between students who are have used video consoles in class and those who have not.  Additionally, the study is evaluating whether allowing students time to use Nintendo DS handheld video consoles as a reward for academic performance works to motivate students to improve.  The study will wrap up this May and so far the progress reports look promising. The full report will not be completed until the fall.

Hosted Solutions, a Raleigh-based provider of data center and managed hosting services, was recently acquired by Boston-based Private Equity Firm ABRY Partners for $140 million.   Hosted Solutions has data centers in Charlotte, Raleigh, Cary and Boston where customers can colocate servers to host business application or websites and provides Microsoft, Sun and Red Hat Linux dedicated servers.  The company will keep its name, the same management team and retain and add employees in its two Charlotte data centers. Hosted Solutions provides services for companies such as the Carolina Panthers, Harris Teeter, Lowe’s Motor Speedway as well as local Wilmington companies including CF Webmasters, Emerson Software, First Research, Signal Design and Sage Island.

Category Five Networks

Wilmington-based Category Five Networks, a provider of networking and IT services recently announced they have earned two additional certifications,  Microsoft Small Business Specialists and Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist.

McKim & Creed, a engineering firm, started in Wilmington, with an office in downtown Wilmington, won the 2007 Construction Writer’s Association (CWA) for best website.   CWA a non-profit organization for professional journalists, writers, editors, and publicists serving the the construction industry and presented a total of  three national awards this year for electronic communications. Web sites are judged on criteria such as quality of content, overall design and use of innovative and accessible technology.

The number one challenge for this industry is hiring and retaining good people and this site helps attract quality employees, especially recent graduates,  said Pete Kienle, Chief Marketing Officer McKim & Creed and past national president for the Society for Marketing Professional Services.  Kienle stated that the firm has put a greater emphasis on their online presence than most of their competitors and that more employees are increasingly using the web to research employment.

“Most firms in this industry would not have spent as much money and time on their website but we felt it was money well spent, the owners are thrilled to death,” said Kienle.

The firms has also hired a full time person to administer the site and create a company intranet and used video of staff throughout the site.

The website (www.mckimcreed.com), launched in July 2007 and was built by Signal, a design, marketing, and technology firm with offices in Wilmington and Raleigh. The website includes a custom-built content management system that enables McKim & Creed staff  to update key portions, add pages and content to the site, said Bryan Kristof, Director of Marketing for Signal.   “McKim & Creed was easy to work with because they already understood the design and construction process.”   Since the award, there has been “huge activity” on the site, said Kienle.

Trio Visions launch new web content platform

National country star Tim McGraw and Wilmington based AAI Pharma have something in common.  Both are using Triovisions, a  local interactive marketing firm, new web content platform. Local interactive marketing firm Triovision developed their new Trio360i internet content management platform to provide users of websites and mobile browsers with a seamless experience regardless of the device.  Their first major project based on the framework,  recording artist Tim McGraw’s mobile internet site (mcgraw2go.mobi) , launched recently and provides fans a way to  receive SMS and email alerts, view news, tour dates, download photos or videos, and purchase electronic media.

The platform is not just for  content-rich sites like McGraw’s, said Richard Trio, company president .  AII Pharma’s new web site will be based on the Trio360i platform and will launch in March.   This site will primarily use a slimmed down set off features not the mobile or ecommerce features.

The Trio360i platform automatically recognizes the type of device and its capabilities to provide content to mobile phones or web browsers in HTML or Adobe Flash format.  Additionally, the site allows authorized users to edit the sites pages and content and includes so-called “social networking” features that allow components of the site to be used on mySpace and on personal websites.

For mobile device content, the platform uses the emerging dotMobi standard where sites use a .mobi ending to denote mobile content instead of the traditional .com, .net or .org Top Level Domain. (TLD)  dotMobi sites are optimized to display consistently across a range of mobile devices, regardless of manufacture.  “We made the decision early in the game to adopt dotMobi standards because we know consumers expect to receive content that works properly on their mobile devices,” said Trio.   dotMobi is a consortium of mobile phone operators and device manufactures and includes Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM, Visa and Vodafone.

Cyberlawyer Offers  Software for Attorneys

Wilmington attorney Stephanie Kimbro originally built a website to allow her to practice law online, in what she calls a “Virtual Law Office,” but is expanding her business to provide the software to other attorneys who would like to follow a similar model.  Kimbro’s web based product, VLOTech is offered as a hosted solution and provides tools to attorneys to deliver legal services online, in a secure environment.  According to Kimbro, many of their clients are solo and small firms who want to set up completely virtual law offices and work from home or collaborate with a colleague online who lives in different city. “Over the past couple months, we have gotten a large response nationwide to VLOTech with feedback from attorneys regarding the different ways they intend to use the product”, said Kimbro in an email to GWB. “We have even been contacted by several accountants who work with attorneys who see various applications for the technology for their own businesses and their attorney clients’ businesses.”

A 2006 ethics opinion by the North Carolina State Bar, the state agency responsible for regulating the practice of law in North Carolina,  supported the practice of providing legal services exclusively online. The opinion approved the “use of the internet as an exclusive means of promoting and delivering legal services” by attorneys but cautioned about several potential pitfalls, including unauthorized practice in other states and violations of advertising rules.

The software is currently being used as part of Kimbro’s personal virtual law firm.  (www.kimbrolaw.com) Once the software is launched to the public, it will be offered to attorneys and their staff as a monthly subscription with a per user fee which will include training and tech support.

Cofounder Mary Elizabeth Beal, an Allied Member of the American Society of Interior Designers, will be participating in the classes since she is based in the Greensboro area.   “We are excited about the program and believe it will help solidify and refine our business plan and identify ways to grow the business on a much faster track,” said cofounder Thera Storm, who lives in Wilmington. According to Storm, since being featured in the “pitch” section,  the company has seen an increase in interest in the idea but have not secured funding.   The site is live and in the second beta phase, increasing in membership and  the company is starting to work with key groups; REALTORS, builders and sponsored marketing partners.  The next step is to work with a group of UNCW entrepreneurial students to test the software and offer new ideas.  Storm said they are analyzing the data that is coming through the software to see how target groups utilize the application. “Right now the number one goal is to raise $150,000 and then six months later an additional $500,000,” said Storm.