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Posted by Kaylyn

The following is an excerpt of a press release issued by the Department of Labor.

Secretary of Labor, Hilda L. Solis, announced five grant competitions, totaling $500 million, to fund projects that prepare workers for green jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.
“Emerging green jobs are creating opportunities for workers to enter careers that offer good wages and pathways to long term job growth and prosperity,” said Secretary Solis. “Workers receiving training through projects funded by these competitions will be at the forefront as our nation transforms the way we generate electricity, manufacture products and do business across a wide range of industries.”
Four of the competitions announced are designed to serve workers in need of training through various national, state and community outlets. The fifth competition will fund state workforce agencies that will collect, analyze and disseminate labor market information and develop exchange infrastructure to direct individuals to careers in green industries. Detailed information about these solicitations can be found on http://www.grants.gov.

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Posted by Kaylyn

Interesting website on how state and local governments throughout the nation are utilizing emerging technologies as solutions to problems, making government processes more effective and efficient.

Check it out:  http://www.govtech.com/.

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Posted by Josh Lewis

From technologys impact on news and politics, an Apple keynote introducing the Snow Leopard OS while poking fun at Windows 7 and local community translations empowering world bloggers to a thrilling world of wireless energy and how Germany encourages alternative home energy, a new show is launched every week day on WebVisions: a TAG TV compilation of tech news and information clips from various popular Internet video sites.  Watch a show a day to expand your tech IQ! 

Go to WebVisions Now!

Monday: How Technology is Impacting News and Politics
Internet expert Clay Shirky explores how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes such as Iran report on news, bypassing censors briefly. Technology, impacting the end of top-down control of news, is changing the nature of politics. 17 minutes

Tuesday: Apple Keynote Pokes Fun at Windows 7 and Introduces the Snow Leopard OS
Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, makes fun of Windows 7during his Apple WWDC 2009 keynote and explains some of the new features and technologies in the Snow Leopard OS which will ship in September. 11 minutes

Wednesday: Local Community Translations Empower World Bloggers
Blogger David Sasaki describes how the Global Voices website bridges blogging communities around the world by harnessing the power of community translation. Sasaki says each blogger is a “window into their country’s or their community’s or their language’s blogosphere. 3 minutes

Thursday: The Thrilling World of Wireless Energy
Peek inside the electrified world of Omega Recoil, a group of engineers and “makers” who craft giant Tesla Coil and stage humorous and thrilling performances with the large electrical display devices.  But, seriously, its still a quest to make wireless energy a reality.  5 minutes

Friday: How Germany Encourages Alternative Home Energy
Germany’s Renewable Energy Act (EEG) makes it profitable to invest in solar and other renewables, and now people are looking at it is as an extra source of income during the recession.  2 minutes

Go to WebVisions Now!

Other TAG TV Features: Weekly Tech Talk on TAG Radio
TAG President Tino Mantella interviews Atlantas top executives, with a new show launching every Tuesday afternoon. Click to listen to Tinos latest interview!

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Posted by Ariel Killen

http://www.globalatlanta.com/article/17323/
Global Atlanta

Atlanta has most of the right ingredients to become the South’s hub for information technology companies and Indian investment, said NIIT Technologies Inc. President Lalit Dhingra.

“I’m a firm believer that this is a great place for the IT hub of the South,” Mr. Dhingra told GlobalAtlanta in a broad-ranging interview.

Mr. Dhingra’s company is an Atlanta-based branch of NIIT Ltd., an Indian company that started off in IT education and workforce training before it began creating software solutions in the late 1990s.

The software operation broke off into its own subsidiary in 2004. Now, NIIT Technologies takes in $100 million in yearly revenues in the U.S. and $250 million globally.

Since Mr. Dhingra came to Atlanta to oversee the establishment of NIIT’s technology arm, he’s seen tremendous growth in the city.

“When I came here 14 years back, we had an office in Dunwoody, and there were not that many buildings,” he said.  Now, looking out the window, offices have risen all around.

“If you look at the growth, it was extremely high in Atlanta for the last five or six years,” Mr. Dhingra said.

Mr. Dhingra listed a few of the attributes that give Atlanta its economic vitality and make it a good place for IT companies, especially from India.

The weather is warm, which makes Indian people feel at home, he said.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport connects Georgia with the rest of the world.  Atlanta’s cost of living is relatively low, and with a broad pool of quality universities, its talent levels are very high.

In addition, Atlanta has many Fortune 500 companies that make good clients for IT companies.

NIIT has worked with Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc., banks, logistics and retail companies, among others, Mr. Dhingra said.

Another Indian IT company, Wipro Technologies Ltd., also noticed the city’s advantages and announced in 2007 that it would open a software development center here.

Wipro has stalled the opening to weather the economic downturn, but company officials say they remain committed to the center, which officials have said is set to employ up to 500.

Mr. Dhingra said NIIT has done relatively well in the current recession.

“The business is a little slow in the last couple of quarters, but not too much,” he said. “This is the first quarter where we have had flat growth, absolutely zero growth, but we are looking at growth in the (second) quarter.”

He said Atlanta has some obstacles to overcome if it wants to become the South’s central point for information technology companies. The venture capital scene here needs work, as people still think of the main hubs in Boston and California as the places where technology companies can most easily raise money, he said.

The other hurdle is marketing, getting the word out about the advantages Atlanta does have, he said.

The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the top biotechnology schools in the country, and the state should focus on that sector.

“I think the investments of the VCs and the private equity funds have to make sure that the state becomes a hub for biomedical engineering and biotechnology companies,” he said.

Doing so could help Atlanta attract many Indian firms that are “dying to start biotech or biomedical engineering operations in the U.S.”

Mr. Dhingra has been working with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and tech-focused organizations like the Technology Association of Georgia, or TAG, to make sure a clear case is presented for Atlanta on the world stage.

“The environment is there; it just has to get everyone together and say, ‘Let’s create this,’” he said.

Hans Gant, senior vice president of economic development for the metro chamber, said at a recent event at Wipro’s Atlanta office that the chamber is focused on attracting Indian companies.

“We want to make sure that Atlanta and Georgia are one of their primary areas for investment,” Mr. Gant said.

India has announced that it will open a consulate general in Atlanta this year.

Mr. Dhingra said that will help with “community and immigration” issues for Indian workers.

On a different note, Mr. Dhingra mentioned how NIIT’s technology solutions helped inspire the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire.” The movie portrays a poor Indian boy’s rise to fortune when he wins the Indian version of the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

He knows the answers to the questions through life experience, the same principle NIIT used when building its “Hole in the Wall” initiative.  As an experiment to help kids learn technology, the company put computers programmed with education software in kiosks around slums in New Delhi.

Without any supervision, the children began learning how to use the technology.

The program inspired Vikas Swarup, the author of the book “Q&A,” upon which the movie was based.

Its success helped Mr. Swarup realize “that there’s an innate ability in everyone to do something extraordinary, provided they are given an opportunity,” an NIIT press release quotes him as saying

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Posted by Kaylyn

With the ever changing, fast-paced nature of our federal and state government, TAG and TechAmerica are partnering to provide our members with daily news clips from our nation and state’s capitol. 
A unique goal for our organization is to become a key strategic information repository for our membership. TAG seeks to “Educate, Inform and Unite” members of Georgia’s technology community. This new member benefit will facilitate our goal of educating and informing our colleagues about the latest advancements in federal and state specific polices relevant to the high-tech industry.
We invite you to stay current with daily updates by opting into this new feature at the following hyperlink: http://www.tagonline.org/TAG-TechAmerica-Headlines.php.

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Posted by Josh Lewis

From a new supercharged alternative fuel (electric) motorcycle introduced at a TED Talks event and a Microsoft discussion on the evolution of cloud computing, including future benefits and unintended consequences, to Google’s VP talking about the “incomplete Internet,” an expert predicts your power in the user-generated real-time Web and a TGIF look at Japan’s robot chef, a new show is launched every week day on WebVisions: a TAG TV compilation of tech news and information clips from various popular Internet video sites.  Watch a show a day to expand your tech IQ! 

Go to WebVisions Now!

Monday: Sleek Supercharged Electric Motorcycle Introduced
Masters of design Yves Behar and Forrest North unveil Mission One, a sleek, powerful electric motorcycle, the result of their shared dreams and passion for alternative fuel solutions in an entertaining TED Talks presentation.  4 minutes

Tuesday: Microsoft Exec Discusses the Past, Present and Future of Cloud Computing
Join Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie for an expansive discussion on the industry’s evolution to the cloud, where we are today, and the potential future benefits and unintended consequences. 85 minutes

Wednesday: Google’s VP Talks about the Incomplete Internet
Vint Cerf, Google VP and Chief Internet Evangelist, speaks at TechAmerica’s Technology for Government reception last week about incomplete aspects of the Internet, including security and impact on economics.  12 minutes

Thursday: The Power of You in the User-Generated Real-Time Web
Steve Jurvetson, of a worldwide venture capital group, explains how user-generated content is more important than centralized media, predicting the rising popularity of real-time search (a la Twitter) trumping that of Google’s web crawling and indexing method. 7 minutes

Friday: Japan’s Robot Chef
TGIF: What’s cooking at Tokyo’s International Food Machinery and Technology Expo? For this amazing robo-chef, it’s okonomiaki, Japanese pancakes. 1minute

Go to WebVisions Now!

Other TAG TV Features: Weekly Tech Talk on TAG Radio
TAG President Tino Mantella interviews Atlanta’s top executives, with a new show launching every Tuesday afternoon. Click to listen to Tino’s latest interview!

Comments (0) Notables What’s New?

Posted by Kaylyn

From July 15 –18, the city of Atlanta will host state legislators from across the nation for the 36th annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). This is the first time the Peach State will serve as host for ALEC’s meeting.

ALEC serves as a nonpartisan association for state lawmakers who share a vision of “limited government, free markets, federalism and individual liberty.”

Each year, over 2,000 state legislators and other interested parties, including groups from the private sector, join together for thoughtful discussions on pressing issues facing our states, ranging from education to healthcare to fiscal policy.

This year, the Host Committee Chairman is Georgia’s very own, Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), along with co-chairs Sen. John Wiles (R-Marietta) and Rep. Calvin Hill (R-Canton). Rep. Ehrhart serves Georgia’s General Assembly as the Rules Committee Chairman.

Featured speakers for the event include, but are not limited to:  Hermain Cain, The Honorable Newt Gingrich, Daniel Hannan, Dr. Art Laffer, The Honorable Zell Miller and Stephen Moore.

If you are interested in participating in ALEC this year, please visit their website for further information on event registration at http://www.alec.org.

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Posted by Josh Lewis

From the social challenges of rapid innovations such as Twitter and futurist Ray Kurzweil’s exploring the future of technology to a rare glimpse of Microsoft’s visions, the newest gaming products and CSPAN’s interview with the acting chair of the FCC to analyze the role of digital television and the relationship of the Internet in safeguarding the public’s interests, a new show is launched every week day on WebVisions: a TAG TV compilation of tech news and information clips from various popular Internet video sites.  Watch a show a day to conveniently expand your tech IQ!

Go to WebVisions Now!
Monday: The Challenges of Rapid Innovations Such as Twitter
Nicole Wong, deputy general counsel at Google, examines the challenges associated with rapidly adapting to new communication mediums like Twitter and how society no longer has enough time to figure out the rules because periods between innovations continue to shrink. 3 minutes

Tuesday: Futurist Ray Kurzweil Explores the Future of Technology
Inventor, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil explores how technology’s breakneck advances will only accelerate—recession or not—as he discusses his new project, Singularity University, to study oncoming tech and guide it to benefit humanity. 9 minutes

Wednesday: A Rare Glimpse of Microsoft’s Visions
Reuters News enjoys a rare glimpse of a ‘whereabouts’ clock, ‘sensecam’ and Second Light which are just a few of the futuristic visions revealed at Microsoft’s flagship European research laboratory.  2 minutes

Thursday: The Newest Gaming Entries Announced at E3 2009
A look at the E3 2009 Media Briefing in Los Angeles, CA. Announcements included Rock Band Beatles, Tony Hawk Ride (using a skateboard), Crack Down 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Metal Gear Rising, Alan Wake, and the Project Natal.  Its gaming, gaming, gaming!  7 minutes

Friday: The Future of Digitized Media
CSPAN interviews Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chair Michael Copps about the June transition to digital television and the relationship of the Internet in safeguarding the public’s interest.  28 minutes

Go to WebVisions Now!

Other TAG TV Features: Weekly Tech Talk on TAG Radio
TAG President Tino Mantella interviews Atlanta’s top executives, with a new show launching every Tuesday afternoon. Click to listen to Tino’s latest interview!

Comments (0) Notables What’s New?

Posted by Ariel Killen

By Allan Maurer

Knowing where a band’s fan base is located or where its music is played most often on the radio can help it focus both its marketing efforts and plan its tours. But the availability of solid analytics about bands that may be “under the radar” also helps producers in the television, radio and commercial industries find artists with breakout potential they can sign relatively inexpensively.

So says Duncan Freeman, founder and CEO of Band Metrics, one of three finalists in the Georgia Research Alliance/Technology Association of Georgia business launch competition wrapping up this week. “It’s my third start up,” Freeman notes.

The company, one of the brands developed by Indy Music Inc., was founded in 2006. Freeman initially self - funded the effort, but the company did a small Series A round under $1 million in 2008 in with Allen Graber and another investor providing the funds.

“We’re presently closing a Series B under $1 million that includes new investors,” Freeman says.

The two-employee company does data analytics that act as decision making support for professionals in the music industry. “We collect and aggregate massive amounts of data from the Internet relative to musicians,” he says. “We analyze it and provide key insights and trend information to music professionals such as booking agencies, band managers, music labels and others.”

Band Metrics tracks how many friends they have on social Web sites such as Facebook or Myspace, the number of comments, how many people click on “like” buttons related to their music, and other analytics. “It drives insight on how they can best market,” Freeman explains. “Should they focus their updates on a particular site?”

The company also pulls in radio plays from 1,000 different radio stations that tells its clients how many times songs were played in a market, giving artists an idea of where their music is being played most often. “It helps them capitalize on their fan base,” says Freeman. “If they know where most of their fans are located, they can concentrate their marketing in those areas and it helps with tour planning.”

The chief competition to the online service, Freeman says, are companies that use focus groups. The Band Metrics advantage, he points out, “is that we keep our data and can show how artists and songs are doing over time, and compare them to others. You can’t do that with a focus group.”

Although the service is still in beta testing, it already has about 4,000 users signed up, says Freeman.  Bands testing the service include The Beastie Boys, R.E.M., and Metric.

While it will eventually use a subscription model, it is currently free.
Freeman says the site can help music supervisors of popular TV shows or commercials find new talent at inexpensive prices. Music supervisors, a relatively new position at media companies, find the songs that play during shows such as “Gray’s Anatomy,” and “Smallville.”

If they sign a little-known group and end up with a hit song, everyone benefits, says Freeman.

The site helps music supervisors find tunes that appeal to just the right audience, he explains.

“Let’s say Nike is releasing a new type of shoe they want worn by a particular demographic, say the tween market. They want music supervisors to find a song the tween market is really liking so they can cement that demo to their product.”

Freeman says a lot of brands are looking at “sonic branding to help cement a demographic” to their product.

“In that sense, we’re a sales tool,” says Freeman.

He says that while the company’s technology is “agnostic toward any vertical” it is solely focused on the music industry right now. For one thing, Freeman says, it’s a space he knows. He paid his way through college with a cover band that toured the Southeast.

Eventually, however, he says the company will license the technology to others who might want to use the same system for wine or athletes or other areas.

“It’s called sentiment analysis,” says Freeman. It would be useful to marketers he suggest, “If you could gauge how people think about a particular athlete.”

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Posted by Josh Lewis

From a tech news wrap up of last week and a preview of MicroSoft’s iPod Touch contender to be released this fall, to the top 10 emerging tech trends, CNET’s top 5 worst tech gifts to buy for Father’s Day and the Discover Channel spoof of antimatter, a new show is launched every week day on WebVisions: a TAG TV compilation of tech news and information clips from various popular Internet video sites.  Watch a show a day to conveniently grow you tech IQ!

Go to WebVisions Now!

Monday: Last Week’s News Wrap Up
Media Bytes reports on President Obama to appoint Cyber-Czar, Japanese university cyber-stalking students, Susan Boyle the Webs missed opportunity, and SingerExpress launches a new service.  2 minutes

Tuesday: A Preview of Microsoft’s Zune HD
At All Things Digital last week, CNET News’ Ina Fried got a hands-on preview of the touchscreen Zune HD with its striking organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display that Microsoft plans to ship and take on the iPod Touch this fall.  1 minute

Wednesday: Top 10 Emerging Tech Trends Debate
Watch as the industry’s leading visionaries rate and debate what technology trends will emerge during the year ahead at the recent Churchill Club event.  124 minutes

Thursday: CNETs Top 5 Worst Tech Gifts for Dad
Tom Merritt counts down the tech gadgets you should definitely not buy for dad this Fathers Day.  3 minutes

Friday: Discovery Networks Spoofs Antimatter
Now that antimatter is becoming a household word, Discovery Networks humorously shows why it is something better left to the experts. 2 minutes

Go to WebVisions Now!

Other TAG TV Features: Tech Talk on TAG Radio
TAG President Tino Mantella interviews Atlanta’s top executives, with a new show launching every Tuesday afternoon. Click to listen to Tino’s latest interview!

Comments (0) Notables What’s New?

Posted by Kaylyn

To keep our members up-to-date regarding public policy matters effecting our community on a federal and state level, TAG will be issuing a monthly newsletter covering a variety of topics. We invite you to view our publications at:  http://www.tagonline.org/capitol-updates.php.

For questions regarding Capitol Updates, please contact Kaylyn Seawell at .

Comments (0) Legislative Issues

Posted by Kaylyn

In the upcoming weeks, Congress will consider language that will allow for the reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, set to expire on July 31, 2009. As an advocate for Georgia’s high-tech entrepreneurial community, TAG invites you to join us in urging your Senator and Congressman to provide their support for this highly successful and sorely needed program.

With the help of funds allocated through the SBIR program, 264 small Georgia-based companies have received awards totaling $244 million for the advancement of technology development. These companies have also received 638 patents on the technologies they developed — a great win for the companies, the state of Georgia and the federal government!

For 25 years, the SBIR program has helped to fulfill an important need for Georgia’s technology community. Companies funded by SBIR dollars have helped our nation to maintain its competitive edge in a fast-paced global marketplace by providing federal agencies access to emerging and novel technologies.

The House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology, chaired by Congressman Glenn Nye (D-VA), is scheduled to meet regarding SBIR reauthorization on Thursday, June 4.

Please take a moment to contact your Senator and Congressman today to voice your support for this important program!

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Posted by Josh Lewis

WebVisions… where your tech IQ grows.  From exploring the future of technology in entertainment with an academy award winning special effects designer and the opportunities for business in the virtual world to the business logic of implementing “green” processes and a Google executive’s predicts what’s next for media, a new show is launched every week day on WebVisions: a TAG TV compilation of tech news and information clips from various popular Internet video sites.  Watch a show a day to conveniently keep up with, and explore, a variety of tech topics! 

Go to WebVisions Now!

Tuesday: The Future of Technology in Entertainment
Academy Award-winning special effects designer John Gaeta (Matrix, Speed Racer) talks about the technology behind the forthcoming movie Ninja Assassin, plus the future of games, movies, interactive and “hybrid” entertainment.  6 minutes

Wednesday: Real Opportunities for Business in the Virtual World
At the 2009 Front End of Innovation Conference, Kara Francis, Business Development Analyst , Lockheed Martin speaks about the opportunities businesses and organizations can implement in the virtual world.  7 minutes

Thursday: The Business Logic of Implementing Green Processes
At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take / make / waste” industrial system on its head. He shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce.  16 minutes

Friday: Google Executive Predicts What’s Next for Media
Google’s President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development, Nikesh Arora speaks about media and what happens next during the May Media Trends Conference in Warsaw.  30 minutes

Go to WebVisions Now!

Other TAG TV Features: Tech Talk on TAG Radio
TAG President Tino Mantella interviews Atlanta’s top executives, with a new show launching every Tuesday afternoon. Click to listen to Tino’s latest interview!

Comments (0) Notables What’s New?

Posted by Ariel Killen

http://www.techviewatlanta.com/archive_026.html
Tech View Atlanta

More and more, advertisers seek real people to help them sell a variety of products, from soap to nuts. So, back in 2006, Rad Harrell began developing Talent Soup within his six and a half year old media production company, Stir, as a Web marketplace and matching engine to help ad agencies, photographers, and producers find the exact faces they want.

“Advertisers have known for 75 years that faces sell products,” says Harrell. “We sell the faces advertisers want to sell products,” Harrell says.
Harrell, president and founder of Talent Soup, spun out the company from Stir in January and it is one of three firms in the Georgia Research Alliance/Technology Association of Georgia (GRA/TAG) launch competition this year. “This contest woke me up to what a rich technology environment we have in Atlanta,” Harrell says. “I’ve already seen the fruits of the process regardless of the outcome.”

Harrell funded the company with revenue from Stir. Since creating its software matching engine to help production people match faces to their projects, Talent Soup has generated $240,000 in revenue and already has Fortune 500 clients, Harrell says.

Harrell says the company may seek an institutional round of funding in the future, but he sees “multiple ways to build the business,” adding, “You have to crawl before you can run.”

The company has one fulltime employee and seven contract people. “We may be hiring shortly,” Harrell says. “We’re looking to build a team, so management is on the radar.”

Harrell says he created the company as a separate entity because of the increasing shift toward using real people and ad budgets to support acquiring them in the industry. “There has been a shift toward using non-models in major ad campaigns. I just turned 40, I’m balding, wear glasses and I’m not pretty and I’ve been in an ad,” he says. “For me to be in an ad says a lot about the power of using regular people.”

Also, he notes, “There is a lot of media being produced in Atlanta. There are a lot of Fortune 100 to Fortune 500 companies here and they’re shooting more here.”

Talent Soup clients include marquee names such as Delta Airlines, Home Depot, UPS, and more.

Talent Soup’s searchable, city-based matching engine includes both professional models and real people. “It’s a mix of match.com and Amazon,” says Harrell. “It has all the transactional benefits of an online marketplace with a great depth and breadth of talent.”

As new media channels emerge, Harrell says, “We’re moving into a visual economy. In social networking, mobile media, video and interactive channels, there is going to be a great need for new images, new faces, and new people.”

At present the company primarily provides faces for print ads but has also helped Turner Broadcasting find talent.

Talent Soup has about 7,000 people in its system now, with something like 2,900 within 150 miles of Atlanta. “All our growth until now has been viral,” says Harrell. “We planted it here and word spread in Atlanta and from there. We’ve only done some low budget search and Facebook ads.”

Talent Soup has had mixed results with those, but “Driving talent to our community is not difficult,” Harrell says. “We treat people differently than is standard in the industry. We’re very transparent and we don’t take any money from the talent. We try to treat people the way they want to be treated.”

That results in a large selection that users love, while the talent loves the opportunity to be picked for projects, Harrell says.

One thing that helps is that the state of Georgia has done a good job of bringing in more high level film productions, Harrell notes. “More and more, producers in LA and elsewhere see Atlanta as a four season place to shoot. It has good support and good infrastructure and you can shoot here year round. If you’re doing a spring ad, you can’t do that in December in New York. So we’re seeing a lot of new business coming out of New York and LA.”

He points out that while everyone thinks the south is hot, “In August, New York is hot.”

Talent Soup typically interfaces directly with a creator, such as a photographer or producer. “When they’re assembling talent, we get a call to submit folks,” Harrell says. “We have a good deal of return customers. On the client side, we’ve grown virally as well.”

Talent Soup plans a larger ad campaign later this year and is currently building its next generation platform, which will be in beta by the end of June. “Right now we’re focused on the self-service for the talent side. Talent can sign up, fill out forms and upload images, but filling galleries for a project requires a human administrator,” Harrell says.

“The new system allows for a great deal of self-service on the clients side. That includes features that will allow marketing, ad firm execs, photographers and producers to collaborate inside online project folders to review and rank talent, do the booking and everything else within the system.”

The secret sauce of the system is to “Use the power of the technology to streamline the process and create efficiencies and cut out the middlemen,” says Harrell.

The company has lots of room to grow, he adds. “We haven’t even really touched broadcast yet and we can step out to completely different verticals. Locations and crews are ripe for this sort of thing.”

Comments (0) TAG in the News

Posted by Ariel Killen

http://www.citybizlist.com/yourcitybiznews/detail.aspx?id=49173
CityBizList (Baltimore)

TAG Marketing, a society of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), today announced the winners of the 2009 TAMY Awards during its awards ceremony held yesterday at Maggiano’s Little Italy, Cumberland Mall. Winners were recognized for demonstrating significant and measurable accomplishments in specific award categories.

The winners of the 2009 TAMY Awards are:

Corporate Repositioning Award - Emerging Company

Reveille Software

Corporate Repositioning Award - Large Company

ERDAS

Marketing Tactic Award - Emerging Company

Virtual Premise

Marketing Tactic Award - Large Company

Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)

Marketing to the C-Level Award - Large Company

Manhattan Associates

Karin Bursa, Vice President of Marketing at Logility, Inc., was also honored with TAG’s prestigious 2009 Technology Marketing Executive Award.

“We’re extremely pleased with the quality of the submissions in this year’s competition,” said Stein Soelberg, TAMY Awards Co-Chair, TAG Marketing. “In each case, these winners have differentiated themselves as marketing professionals and, importantly, in a competi tive marketplace during one of the worst economies in the modern era. So, we extend sincere congratulations to all.”

The winners were selected from a qualified group of applications. Each applicant had to be currently active in technology in Georgia, and the marketing program entered must have been managed entirely from Georgia. In addition, the programs/tactics submitted must have been carried out primarily during calendar year 2008. All applications were reviewed by a panel of judges comprised of:

• Dr. Goutam Challagalla - College of Management, Georgia Tech
• Mr. Daryl Evans - AT&T
• Ms. Mary Ford - Cbeyond, Inc.
• Mr. Dudley Larus - Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories
• Mr. Ian Oxman 9 3 Oxman Consulting, Inc.

The TAMY Awards were sponsored by Arketi Group, TAG Marketing’s 2009 gold sponsor and CBeyond and Denmark {The Agency} as bronze sponsors along with TechLINKS and Business Wire, the event’s media sponsors.

Penny McIntyre, The Coca-Cola Company senior vice president and general manager, Water, Tea and Coffee Divisions, was the event’s keynote speaker for the TAG Awards Breakfast. In her keynote, entitled “The New Rules of Brand Management - Leveraging New Media in the New Economy,” McIntyre shared the challenges and benefits of applying Web-based communications to reach buyers directly in the era of social media.

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