GSA Technology Council

The Upstate Chapter of the ISSA, a group of career minded security professionals, meets for lunch on Friday. Their presentation is entitled “Securing Internet Availability from MPLS to BGP & VPN’s” and is described below:

Over the years, many different communication technology’s have evolved for office to office connectivity ranging drastically from costs, performance and complexity. From MPLS-to-BGP-to-VPN, there are numerous options to weigh – all while trying to still provide simple security and easy high availability. In addition, investing in additional connections for HA can also help increase network performance for no additional cost – if you know how. With today’s economy, companies are looking at more cost effective ways to provide connectivity, while not compromising security or costs.

This discussion will review each of the options, weighing options but also highlighted cost effective approaches to deliver enterprise performance, availability and security for smaller organizations via VPN.

The group meets from 11:15 to 12:30 with a nominal charge for a box lunch. Details at their website.

via: Upstate ISSA

What are people looking for at Tech After Five this month? This is what they’ve asked us to print on their badges:

Looking for:

• good ideas
• education
• To meet new people
• Networking
• a brain break
• Employees to hire
• new connections and engaging conversation
• New Contacts
• Bad Data
• Opportunities
• Stimulating business conversation
• Opportunity to network with other tech entrepreneurs and professionals
• Looking for Project Management Opportunities – What are YOU Looking for?
• Contacts, a new gig maybe, introductions
• Datacenter Managers
• Employment Opportunities
• The WOW Moment
• Contacts
• connections
• Employment
• start-ups and entrepeneurs in need of social marketing with ROI results
• Networking Opportunities
• Business Owners
• Ideas
• Networking opportunities
• .Net Developers
• Networking
• @nullvariable fans, friends and acquaintances
• Internet & Telephone Leads
• Interesting People and Customers
• The Ultimate Warrior
• Networking
• Just a good time!
• Anchors
• Interesting startups that need a mentor
• Formerly with Ralph Lauren in NYC, currently seeking employment opportunities in the Upstate
• NETWORKING
• I heard my ex was at the last one…
• networking
• …its a long list
• You!
• Virtualized conversations – VMware
• Business Ideas
• Probably two beers this time, and some zany tech talk.
• social, business leads
• Network and meet people from the Tech world in GSA
• Folks with Intellectual Property
• Insurance Agents and Adjustors
• something good to write here for next time
• People to Interview for podcasts, Photography opportunities, New Media Partners
• I am an International business executive that has extensive contacts in the Middle East North Africa and Far East. I am currently between jobs and I would like to meet with companies that may be interested pursing international business initiatives.
• Networking
• RFID and GPS used in interesting ways
• I want to reconnect with other IT Associates in the Up-State.
• Anyone needing a Google Ninja
• Enlightenment
• Those questioning their industry’s old model, and how to improve it.
• Networking
• Networking
• Operations Manager

Join in the fun or see if you can help. Register to attend our June 17 Ta5.

We’ve got the following events on our calendar this week.

Tuesday Jun 16

6pm GSP Developers Guild

• An Introduction to Winforms User Controls by Seth Spearman. What are Winforms User Controls? How do you make them? test them? Debug them? Domain Driven Development by Rick Casebere. Rick is going to cover the basics of Domain Driven Development. After explaining what Domain Driven Development is and why you would use it, he is going to show how you can use ECO (Enterprise Core Objects), a tool by Capable Objects, to create a .NET application directly from your Domain Model.

7pm PC User Group

• All PC Enthusiasts are invited.

Wednesday Jun 17

12pm Radio: Your Day

• A live call-in hour on the Internet, computers, and related technologies. Eric Rodgers hosts Phil Yanov, President of the GSA Technology Council and Thinkhammer. Listeners can call in via the tollfree number 888-539-8859 to ask questions about the Internet, computers, new digital devices and related topics in consumer electronics or listen to the live webstream.

5:30pm Tech After Five

• We’ve got a double header of special guests in the room this month. We’ll have the NextStart Entrepreneurs as well as a group of Real Estate agents who use technology to drive their businesses. They’re the cover story on the latest Greenville Magazine. RSVP Online to reserve your spot.

See these and other great tech events on our calendar.

Yahoo! Inc. has announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Tim Morse as chief financial officer. Reporting directly to Carol Bartz, the chief executive officer of Yahoo!, Morse will be responsible for the company’s finance, investor relations, and mergers and acquisitions groups. He will commence employment on June 17, 2009 and will assume the responsibilities of CFO on July 1, 2009.

“Tim has a proven ability to translate strategy into structure, process, and execution, and I am delighted that he will be joining my leadership team to help drive Yahoo!’s growth,” said Bartz. “With his passion for operational finance, global experience, and expertise simplifying complex organizations and managing growth, Tim is a natural fit for Yahoo!.”

Morse has financial experience in both large and small organizations, managing in complex, fast-paced environments and establishing scalable, cost-effective processes and controls. Prior to joining Yahoo!, he was the CFO of Altera Corporation, a semiconductor company specializing in programmable logic devices for communications, industrial, and consumer applications. Morse previously served as the CFO and general manager of business development for General Electric Plastics. A 15 year veteran of GE, he also held a variety of positions at GE Plastics, GE Appliances and GE Capital in North America, Europe and Asia.

“Yahoo! is an amazing brand with a unique combination of assets, and I am extremely excited to be joining a finance team with a deep commitment to financial excellence and fiscal discipline,” said Morse. “I look forward to working with the entire leadership team to continue to focus on driving results and creating value for our shareholders.”

Morse holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and operations and strategic management from the Boston College Carroll School of Management.

via Yahoo!

The GSP Developers Guild meets Tuesday for a double header presentation. The presenters will cover the following topics:

1. An Introduction to Winforms User Controls by Seth Spearman

What are Winforms User Controls? How do you make them? test them? Debug them?

Seth Spearman founded SpearSoft LLC and has been a self-employed contract developer for 10+ years. Most of that time he was developing professional/commercial grade Microsoft Access applications and has been doing .NET development for approximately 3 years. Much of his .NET experience has been spent writing CSLA business objects.

2. Domain Driven Development by Rick Casebere

Rick is going to cover the basics of Domain Driven Development. After explaining what Domain Driven Development is and why you would use it, he is going to show how you can use ECO (Enterprise Core Objects), a tool by Capable Objects, to create a .NET application directly from your Domain Model.

Meetings begin at 6 PM on the Greenville Tech Campus. For more information, to RSVP, or get a parking permit for the event, visit the GSP Developers Guild website.

via: http://www.gspdevelopers.org/

New business provides convenience, control and compliance in eData destruction

The upstate’s growing need for dealing with data that has outlived its usefulness has been answered. Carolina Data Destroyers, LLC has received its Business Filings from the South Carolina’s Secretary of State’s Office and is starting business today.
This new business provides on-site data purging from hard drives (working or broken,) and recording (backup) tape.

Carolina Data Destroyers is prepared to serve organizations of all sizes with fast, efficient and compliant on-site eData clearing and purging services. The company performs the work on-site so customers never loose custody or control of their computer data.

“More and more organizations are learning that deleting, erasing, re-formatting, or even re-partitioning does not eliminate information,” said Barry Bettenhausen, President, Carolina Data Destroyers, LLC. “A number of businesses have had ‘wake-up calls’ from information they assumed was long gone. These experiences and concerns are why we started this business.”
Bettenhausen notes that the risks are real. “Recovering information off a poorly erased computer’s hard disk drive is so easy with retail software that no special skills are required. We alleviate that concern. We come in and completely purge the machine. We also as provide a certificate of data destruction so customers can show they are complying with all applicable Federal, State, or Local regulations.”

Conflict of interest issues are also eliminated with Carolina Data Destroyers’ services. “Even if someone inside the organization has the equipment and knowledge to do a purge correctly, real or perceived conflict of interest issues can arise,” notes Bettenhausen. “As a disinterested third party, we take that issue off the table.”

Regardless of how eData is stored, Carolina Data Destroyers can find and eliminate it. They have the capability to destroy data on working or non-working hard disk drives as well as on magnetic tape.

via: Carolina Data Destroyers

Network Controls and Electric, Inc. has named Antonio Troiano as the company’s sales manager to direct new business development for the communications network and electrical infrastructure company. “Troiano brings a depth of industry experience to our company and is hitting the ground running. He is a valuable addition to the team,” said Brad Cunningham, President and CEO of Network Controls and Electric.

Troiano, who will report to the company’s Vice President of Operations, is experienced with working with architects, engineers, general contractors and end-users to formulate proper infrastructure plans and provides detailed customer service. He is a 1993 graduate of Clemson University and has worked in the Greenville area since 2004.

We love fan mail…

Thank you so much for the lunch yesterday. Awesome deal bringing in Kevin from AWS. You know I enjoyed hearing what he had to say and meeting him. Keep up the awesome job down there in SC.
- Troy Tolle, VP & CTO, DigitalChalk

It was extremely informative and very professionally done as always. I attend a lot of networking events, and the GSATC functions are by far, the most well run, informative, and entertaining events. We are looking to branch out our business into other parts of SC, and it is a shame that this network does not exist in other areas…hint, hint.
- Dave Garner, Immedion

The amazon stuff was mind-boggling. I’d like to share it with others.
- George

Excellent lunch today! … The topic was very appropriate, I’ve been considering building a few web apps and running them in the cloud and now I have a much better understanding of the aws and will likely give them a try this year, thanks to the presentation.
- Dan Wooster, The Worthwhile Company

Good meeting – Great Speaker. I wasn’t aware of AWS at all.
Bob Williams, Williams Technology Solutions

On June 11, AFL Telecommunications presented a $60,000 check for its annual United Way campaign to Kathy Dunleavy, President and CEO of United Way of the Piedmont. This year’s contribution is an increase of 45% over the 2008 campaign.

“With the downturn in the economy, we didn’t set high expectations and were hoping to maintain last year’s giving or give slightly higher,” said Corie Culp, community relations manager of AFL Telecommunications. “But at a time when our community needs us the most, our associates really stepped up to the plate to give back.” Employee giving increased 47% over the 2008 campaign.

AFL kicked off its campaign with a corporate contribution of $5,000 and two challenges – AFL matched, dollar for dollar, all monies donated over last year’s employee contributions; and teams were set up with various goals to attain, earning associates an additional vacation day. AFL ambassadors were recruited internally to answer questions and talk with other associates about United Way and their mission, as well as encourage associates to donate, making them aware of the different goals. AFL held an Agency Fair in early May where various agencies from both Spartanburg and Greenville where invited set up a display and talk with associates about what they do, what their needs are and how they can help. And lastly, AFL hosted a company carnival where associates competed for prizes and bragging rights with a Rock Band/Wii competition, basketball hoops competition, putting green, horseshoes and adult trike races.

“When we plan our events, we want to accomplish two things – inform associates about United Way and community agencies and generate excitement about what they do that helps our community prosper,” said Sherise Brown, Human Resources Director. “We’re pleased to support United Way each year and we thank our employees for helping to make this year’s campaign a monumental success.”

via: AFL Telecommunications

Photographer Patrick Greer helped us capture the crowd at our June Lunch. Take a look at the photos and see who you missed. Thanks to Patrick for making us all look good.

Photos by Patrick Greer

If you find yourself reviewing the set on Flickr, be sure to check out Fishbowl Phil.