GSA Technology Council

Comcast Corporation and BitTorrent, Inc. announced today that they will undertake a collaborative effort with one another and with the broader Internet and ISP community to more effectively address issues associated with  rich media content and network capacity management. While BitTorrent and Comcast are talking directly, they are also in discussions with other parties to help facilitate a broader dialogue and cooperation across industries.

The Comcast and BitTorrent discussions have already produced meaningful results.  On the one hand, Comcast announced that it will migrate by year-end 2008 to a capacity management technique that is protocol agnostic.  “This means that we will have to rapidly reconfigure our network management systems, but the outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today’s emerging Internet trends.  We have been discussing this migration and its effects with leaders in the Internet community for the last several months, and we will refine, adjust, and publish the technique based upon feedback and initial trial results,” said Tony Werner, Comcast Cable’s Chief Technology Officer.

In turn, BitTorrent acknowledged the need of ISPs to manage their networks, especially during times of peak congestion.  “While we think there were other management techniques that could have been deployed, we understand why Comcast and other ISPs adopted the approach that they did initially.  Recognizing that the Web is richer and more bandwidth intensive than it has been historically, we are pleased that Comcast understands these changing traffic patterns and wants to collaborate with us to migrate to techniques that the Internet community will find to be more transparent,” said Eric Klinker, BitTorrent’s Chief Technology Officer.

“Earlier this year, Comcast announced its plans for the aggressive deployment of wideband Internet services using the DOCSIS 3.0 standard, which we project will be available in up to 20% of Comcast’s households by the end of this year,” said John Schanz, Comcast Cable’s Executive Vice President of National Engineering and Technical Operations.  “Additionally, we plan to more than double the upstream capacity of our residential Internet service in several key markets by year end 2008.  We plan to take advantage of multi-carrier technology to further increase upstream capacity for all of our broadband customers in advance of the full DOCSIS 3.0 roll out.”

BitTorrent and Comcast have also agreed to work with other ISPs, other technology companies, and the Internet Engineering Task Force, to explore and develop a new distribution architecture for the efficient delivery of rich media content.  “In the spirit of openness and fostering innovative solutions, BitTorrent will take the first step in enhancing our client applications to optimize them for a new broadband network architecture.  Furthermore, we will publish these optimizations in open forums and standard bodies for all application developers to benefit from,” said Ashwin Navin, co-founder and president of BitTorrent, Inc.

“This new architecture would enable many new and emerging applications and will be based upon an open, non-discriminatory framework that could interface with or support multiple technologies.   We believe that P2P technology has matured as an enabler for legal content distribution, so we need to have an architecture that can support it with techniques that work over all networks,” said Werner.

Both BitTorrent and Comcast expressed the view that these technical issues can be worked out through private business discussions without the need for government intervention.

“BitTorrent and Comcast can serve consumers best by working together along with the broader ISP and Internet community to jointly develop more efficient networks and applications. This should prove to be a productive partnership that will provide consumers with a better Internet experience,” said Doug Walker, CEO of BitTorrent.

“We appreciate the recent dialogue that we have had with Bit Torrent and the progress that we have made in addressing our respective concerns.  Working together, we can deliver a truly superior experience to all of our customers,” said Steve Burke, President of Comcast Cable.

via Comcast

The Boeing Company announced today it has agreed to acquire Vought Aircraft Industries’ interest in Global Aeronautica, LLC, a South Carolina fuselage sub-assembly facility for Boeing’s newest airplane, the 787 Dreamliner. After the transaction is complete, Global Aeronautica will become a 50-50 joint venture between The Boeing Company and Alenia North America, a subsidiary of Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica — a Finmeccanica company. Vought will continue to produce the aft fuselage for the 787 at its facility adjacent to Global Aeronautica in North Charleston.

Closing will occur following receipt of regulatory approvals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction will not affect Boeing’s current financial guidance. Boeing’s supplier management organization will continue to oversee Global Aeronautica along with the other major 787 supplier-partner team members.

“As a partner in the Global Aeronautica joint venture, Boeing will work with Alenia to apply proven lean manufacturing expertise to continue improving the efficiency and productivity of GA’s operations, while Vought will focus on its primary business of delivering quality aft fuselage structures for the 787,” said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. “All three partners in this transaction — Boeing, Vought and Alenia — believe these changes will enable the 787 team to continue to overcome supply-chain challenges of the program.”

Elmer Doty, president and chief executive officer, Vought Aircraft Industries, said, “This seamless transition of joint venture ownership will build upon the strong foundation already established within Global Aeronautica. Selling our interest has no impact on our adjacent facility, where the Vought 787 team remains focused on manufacturing composite fuselage sections for this incredible airplane.”

Giuseppe Giordo, president and chief executive officer, Alenia North America, said, “The 787 program is a strategic program for Alenia and its presence in South Carolina. We are confident that with Boeing as an investor, the successful work of Global Aeronautica will continue thanks to the hard work and dedication of its management and employees.”

“We look forward to working with the Global Aeronautica team and continuing our relationships with Vought and Alenia as we move ahead on the 787 program,” said Shanahan.

via Boeing

David A. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Columbia, SC, Division will discuss current and past cyber cases, demonstrate an intrusion, discuss securing confidential information, and review the current issues faced by businesses in the U.S. and around the world. This executive briefing will give you a high-level view regarding hacker’s specific targets and intrusion methods.

Specific Topics to include:

* Global cyber crime trends
* Specifically what hackers are after
* Current cases being investigated by the FBI
* Tools and Methodologies

Come listen, learn, and lunch with us as David A. Thomas reveals the current state of the art in Cybercrime at our April meeting.

GSATC Learning Lunch

Topic: Cybercrime, the internet, and you
Presented by: David A. Thomas, FBI
Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Time: 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Location: Crowne Plaza (Map: I-385 at Roper Mtn.)

Agenda

11:30 - 11:55 Registration, Networking, Lunch
11:55 - 12:10 Announcements
12:10 - 12:50 Presentation
12:50 - 1:00 Door Prizes, Adjourn

This meeting features easy access from I-385, plenty of free parking, ample networking opportunities, a great presentation, and door prizes. Plan to attend.

Lunch is $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

RSVP Online

Online registration is now closed. Please register at the event.

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If this got picked up by “Big Media” I must have missed it…

It was announced from the stage at Innoventure that the celebrity judge for the New Ideas for a New Carolina contest will be Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert along with his wife Evelyn. While Colbert is famous for his deadpan character on the show, it wasn’t made clear whether he would be judging entries as the character Stephen Colbert or the real-life Stephen Colbert.

It seems that it might affect the outcome.

The 2008 New Ideas contest winners will be announced June 4 in the categories of Engineering, Information Technology, BioScience, Environmental Sustainability and a Wild Card category. (The Colberts will judge the Wild Card category.) There will be one $5,000 Grand Prize, four $2,500 First Place Winners and five $1,000 Runners-Up. Winners will also receive a scholarship to FastTrac entrepreneurial training programs and the Grand Prize winner will have access to a Dream Team of Mentors to help cultivate the idea into a business.

The deadline for entries to the New Ideas Contest is May 1.

UPDATE: (from an official source) Colbert’s wife, Evie is judging the Wild Card contest and the two of them will present the award together at the awards ceremony in Charleston.

I grabbed a few shots of our table and the people around it at this week’s Innoventure 2008. The photos are quite random, but I may have pointed the camera at you while I was there.

View the Photos / slideshow

read on and you may win something…

I had the OLPC at the show, and took the time to submit one of my business ideas to the New Ideas contest. I can’t say that I want the competition from you, but I do know that I want my fellow upstate entrepreneurs and would be entrepreneurs to be well represented in the contest. I am smiling because I finally submitted my business idea to the contest. Now go submit your business idea to the New Ideas for a New South Carolina contest!

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Greenville, Selah Technologies, an advanced materials manufacturer, has signed a license agreement with Clemson University for a multiphoton imaging technology, an additional capability that strengthens the company’s nano-enabled product set. The application for the new technology focuses on Multiphoton Fluorescence Imaging and Selah DotsTM, carbon-based quantum dots that can be used for various applications, including life sciences, solar cells and anticounterfeiting, among others.

“Nanomaterials such as our Selah DotsTM have great potential to provide significant advances in the fight against cancer,” states Dr. Andrew Metters, CTO of Selah Technologies. “In particular, Multiphoton Fluorescence Imaging of specially functionalized Selah DotsTM will provide vital data such as the number and location of cancerous cells in a patient’s body. In contrast to existing diagnostic methods, this information will be immediately available during treatment or surgery to enable physicians to precisely remove all diseased cells while maximizing retention of healthy tissue, thereby improving the survival rates and quality of life for cancer patients.”

Continues Dr. Metters, “The current license agreement strengthens the ongoing relationship between Clemson University and Selah Technologies. This type of industry-university partnership is critical to rapidly moving cutting-edge nanomaterials discoveries out of the laboratory and into the commercial marketplace.”

Clemson has filed for a patent under the title “Photoluminescent Materials for Multiphoton Imaging.”

via Selah Technologies

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced Adobe Photoshop Express public beta, a free Rich Internet Application (RIA) available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off digital photos with eye-catching effects. During the public beta period, Adobe will solicit Photoshop Express user feedback on product features and functionality, which will continue to evolve over time. As the newest addition to the Photoshop family line, Photoshop Express has taken much of Adobe’s best image editing technology and made it simple and accessible to a new online audience. Photoshop Express allows users to store up to 2 gigabytes of images online for free, make edits to their photos, and share them online in creative ways, including downloading and uploading photos from popular social networking sites like Facebook.

“Photoshop is trusted technology that has changed the visual landscape of our world. Now, Photoshop Express allows anyone who snaps a digital photo to easily achieve the high-impact results for which Adobe is known,” said Doug Mack, vice president of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe. “Photoshop Express is a convenient, single destination where you can store, edit and share photos whether you’re at home, school or on the road.”

Simple, Fun and Accessible

With Photoshop Express, digital photos can be uploaded and sorted anytime, edited non-destructively to always preserve the original image, and shared from anywhere, on any Web browser. In a few easy clicks, Photoshop Express empowers anyone to make standard edits, such as removing blemishes and red-eye, converting to black and white, cropping and resizing, and much more.

No experience is required to add special effects that will impress friends and family. In keeping with its one-click approach, Photoshop Express offers tricks like Pop Color which selects an object in an image, mutes the background color of the photo and allows the user to swap the object’s color so it jumps off the page. Sketch effects help photos look like drawings and the Distort feature allows you to distort facial features or objects within the images for a comical or artistic effect. Even users with limited photo editing knowledge can simply select what looks best from a line-up of sample photos with visual hints showing different variations of the added effect.

Photoshop Express offers a variety of creative sharing options, including uploading and showing off photos and slideshows in your own online “Gallery” hosted by Adobe, or conveniently embedding or linking photos to social networking sites and personal blogs without having to leave the application. Slideshows never looked better with animation that makes photos float and fly across the screen, allowing for viewer interactivity and unique presentation styles.

Adobe Photoshop Family

Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended are at the heart of the Photoshop family, joined by solutions for users at every level who want to bring out the best in their digital images. Photoshop Lightroom™ addresses the workflow needs of professional and serious amateur photographers. Photoshop Elements provides exciting tools and sharing options for photo hobbyists.

Photoshop Express is the latest step Adobe is taking to leverage the advanced technology that underpins its award-winning creative products and deliver it to new online communities. In early 2007, Adobe also announced the availability of Adobe® Premiere® Express, an online video editing and mash-up tool on partner sites such as MTV and Photobucket. Adobe Premiere Express leverages the functionality found in Premiere Elements, a fully-featured desktop video editing program.

Free and Available Now

Adobe Photoshop Express beta is available now for free via any Web browser at http://www.photoshop.com/express. Photoshop Express was created with Flex, Adobe’s free, open source framework for building RIAs. Flex applications provide a consistent, rich user experience across operating systems and all major browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and others. An Internet connection and an up-to-date Flash® Player 9 are all that are required to experience Adobe Photoshop Express. In its early phases, Photoshop Express is available to US residents-only in English. Users may experience slow performance if accessed outside of the US. Future plans include availability in other languages and countries.

via Adobe

“An emerging coalition of companies and universities is planning an annual conference on advanced materials in the Upstate as a first step in trying to develop a world-renown advanced materials industry, a corporate scientist announced Wednesday.

Philip Wilson, who leads advanced materials research for Spartanburg-based Milliken & Co., the textiles and chemicals company, said the conference should take place within the year, maybe at Clemson University.

He spoke at the Carolina First Center, where the annual InnoVenture conference continued for a second and final day.”

read more at Greenvilleonline.com

Microsoft Corp. today announced the call for entries for the 2008 Microsoft Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation Awards, recognizing breakthroughs in the use of Microsoft technology in four categories.

Awarded annually, this year’s competition will recognize the positive impact that new and innovative technologies are delivering in the areas of discovery and product innovation, sales and marketing, manufacturing and supply chain, and clinical development. Pharmaceutical and life sciences corporations worldwide are eligible, including those in the areas of biotechnology, diagnostics, medical equipment, animal health, nutritional products and consumer health products.

An award will be presented in each category to eligible pharmaceutical or life sciences corporations that best demonstrate leadership in improving business operations through deployment of Microsoft technologies. Implementations for consideration must include the use of BizTalk Server, the Microsoft Office system, Microsoft SQL Server or other Microsoft technology.

The award categories and judging criteria include these

• Discovery and Product Innovation: This award recognizes technological innovation that enhances a pharmaceutical or life sciences corporation’s ability to quickly deliver safer and more efficacious products to the market by reducing complexity, lowering cost, and enhancing the speed and quality of the discovery process.
• Sales and Marketing: This award recognizes technological innovation that enhances a pharmaceutical or life sciences corporation’s ability to inform and educate physicians and healthcare professionals, consumers, and even insurance and benefits plan providers about the benefits, value and safety of the pharmaceutical and healthcare offerings produced.
• Manufacturing and Supply Chain: This award recognizes the use of innovative technology to improve a pharmaceutical or life sciences corporation’s ability to expedite delivery of products to consumers by reducing complexity and costs, improving productivity, and enhancing product life-cycle management, compliance, safety, quality and speed to use through advancements in manufacturing and supply chain.
• Clinical Development: The winner in this category will be the pharmaceutical or life sciences company demonstrating innovative use of Microsoft technologies in drug development, biotechnology, medical and diagnostic devices, or animal health and consumer health products resulting in the company’s ability to improve time to market as well as quality during the process of conducting clinical trials, analysis and submission.

Awards Schedule

Entries must be submitted by 5 p.m. PDT Monday, May 5, 2008. Microsoft will announce the winners at the DIA annual meeting in Boston in June 2008. An entry kit and full details are available on the Microsoft Life Sciences Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/lifesciences under the Events & Webcasts section. To enter, participants should download the entry form and e-mail their completed applications to lsia@microsoft.com. More information about the awards can be obtained by contacting Monika Skibeness at (425) 870-4880

via Microsoft

Greenville, SC — Tekgraf, a value added distributor for the wide-format printing industry, announced today that it has expanded its workforce with the addition of Kevin Grabiec. Grabiec, with two decades of industry experience, has recently accepted Tekgraf’s position as director of solvent and UV technologies, specifically in the area of sign and graphics. Headquartered in Greenville, SC, Tekgraf is a private company with annual revenues exceeding $125 million.

As Tekgraf’s director of solvent and UV technologies, Grabiec is responsible for vendor relations and growth in the sign and graphic market segments. In this capacity, Grabiec will cultivate vendor relationships and strengthen reseller initiatives.

Prior to Tekgraf, Grabiec served as vice president of product management for Advantage Sign Supply, Inc. based in Grand Rapids, MI. He was also the production director for franchise outlets. Grabiec is a graduate of Western Michigan University where he studied Fine Arts.

via Tekgraf