Maine Fund of Funds top

TechMaine has proposed the creation of a bold new capital resource initiative in Maine to build an investment pool of $100,000,000 for private equity investment in emerging technology start-ups and ideas. Maine needs additional financing vehicles to attract new companies and ideas and to fund and retain our current entrepreneurs. Some of you were able to join us at our Annual Conference where we had an exceptional panel discussion covering the details of the plan. Background information and presentation details can be found here

Mainebiz covered the initiative in the current magazine cover story

This is an exciting initiative; we have some excellent momentum, but will need your help to move legislation forward that will enable creation of the fund. Yes, we need legislative approval to create the fund, but the plan is NOT to use tax dollars. Please email me joe@mesda.com, if you are interested in additional details and are willing to add your support to this proposal.

Software Testing and Usability Design Center top

The Mainebiz story mentioned above also gives coverage of the Center’s mission. You can find an outline of the program here

We have three educational partners on board and will be reconvening our business roundtables to determine the activities that will be implemented. Please contact me joe@mesda.com if you would like to help influence the development of the Center.

The PEPC Challenge top

The PEPC Challenge: Place, Education, People, Capital
Creating a Foundation for Growth

OK - So what’s up with PEPC? What’s the "Challenge?" We need to build a vibrant technology cluster in Maine. We need to identify our strength, our niche if you will, and create a solid foundation for growth.

Recent reports and white papers have helped us focus on our economic opportunities. The Brookings Report reminded us that Maine does indeed have a brand - Quality! Unfortunately, from a user’s perspective, quality doesn’t often intersect with technology. The Gartner Group produced a startling report earlier this year that highlighted that belief and stated that quality issues in the development of technology products and services will lead to liability obstacles that will severely impact our sector. Just recently, TechMaine’s national partner, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) produced a white paper on Lower Cost Domestic Sourcing (LCDS). This report outlined niche opportunities for regions like ours to compete on a global scale. It is evident that the area of high-touch technology (testing, QA and usability) plays well to Maine’s "quality" brand. High-touch tech also creates opportunities for both men and women to become actively engaged in high paying careers.

Maine has a quality niche but we need to build on the foundation; the PEPC Challenge!

• Place. The first P in the PEPC Challenge is Place. Maine does have quality of place, and our metropolitan areas are cool enough for Web 2.0 folks...but not too cool for nerds. It’s special here in Maine!
• Education. The E in PEPC is Education. We need to have an educational center of excellence. The Software Testing and Usability Design Center will bring the educational facilities together with Maine’s technology businesses to create the infrastructure needed to build a high-touch tech center of excellence. For those of you keen to acronyms; you’ll understand how we’re positioning the Center!
• People. The second P signifies People. The Center will enable students to work on Maine business projects while creating a pipeline of workers for Maine businesses and for those new businesses that want a supply of talented workers. We already have interest "from-away" to bring jobs to the region that will tap into the workforce that we plan to create.
• Capital. The C in our PEPC Challenge ties us back to the Fund of Funds. We need to have the Capital to grow new ideas. One hundred million dollars can support a significant amount of entrepreneurial activity in Maine. Especially in light of the passage of the recent Research and Development bond, the Fund of Funds is needed to keep good ideas in the state. We voted in November to invest our tax dollars in ideas (R&D) we now need to create the capital infrastructure that will allow them to be brought to market (commercialized) in Maine.

Support Maine's Tech Sectors top

TechMaine is all about community, workforce and economic development; but we can’t do it alone. As you can see, we have a full agenda for 2008. We need your support to continue our efforts! Membership Dues and Sponsorships are crucial for us to meet the PEPC Challenge, grow Maine’s economy and support our technology sectors. TechMaine is supported by YOU; we are not a publicly funded organization. Memberships and sponsorships are very affordable and offer a significant ROI. Please contact me today joe@mesda.com and tell me "I want to help"!

Project Leadership Users Group top
Monday, January 7, 2008
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: TechMaine Technology Center, 506 Main Street, Westbrook

Agile and Iterative Project Management Discussion - with Dean Ostergaard, IDEXX

Is software development really the repeatable, predictable, and stable practice that the civil and industrial engineering metaphors we are so fond of make it seem? Does design stop when the specification is handed over to the programmer like it does when the blueprints are handed over to the construction foreman? Is the programmer or "coder" the equivalent of the iron worker or mason? Is software development repeatable manufacturing or new product development? Bring your answers and join us as we examine the methods, and practices involved in software development, and some alternative methodologies that are not so rooted in the bridge building paradigm.

If software development is indeed so different how then do we manage these projects?

Why do we need Agile and Iterative methodologies anyway?

Answers to important questions:

Where are the requirements?
What does the WBS look like?
How do we deal with frequent changes?
Who is doing what when?

PLUG is sponsored by Tyler Technologies; Tyler’s software and services enable the public sector to be more efficient, more accessible, and more responsive to the needs of citizens.

PLUG meets bi-monthly. Please Register Here to attend the next meeting: include your email address to be notified of any change in schedule.

2008 State of Maine Economic Forecast top
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Time: 7:15 - 9:00 am
Location: USM - Hannaford Lecture Hall

2008 State of Maine Economic Forecast with Charlie Colgan

I hope you will plan to join us in the Hannaford Lecture Hall on January 9th for Professor Charles Colgan's "2008 State of Maine Economic Forecast".

This event is free to attend. Please register on line at:

http://www.usm.maine.edu/corporatepartners/calendar_jan09.html

Database Users Group top
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: TechMaine Technology Center, 506 Main Street, Westbrook

Plan Reuse & Query Tuning in SQL Server 2005 - with Andrew J. Kelly

This session will explore the process the optimizer uses to decide on how it will build a query plan and whether or not it will reuse an existing plan as well. Plan reuse is crucial to getting peak performance out of SQL Server, and we will see examples of how the batch submitted can affect this. We will also see how you can influence the optimizer's choices when it creates a plan or decides which to reuse.

About the Speaker: Andrew J. Kelly is the Practice Manager for Performance & Scalability with Solid Quality Mentors and lives in Plaistow, New Hampshire. He has over 20 years experience with relational databases and application development on both UNIX and Windows platforms but his main focus now is SQL Server. In addition to general SQL Server training and Mentoring he specializes in Performance, Scalability and Maintainability of large scale SQL Servers. He is a regular speaker each year at many conferences and user groups and has been a SQL Server MVP since 2001.

Door Prizes: Registered attendees will be entered in drawings for new O'Reilly books, The Relational Database Dictionary, by C.J. Date and Understanding MySQL Internals, by Sasha Pachev. You must register and attend to be in the drawing.

MDUG meets monthly, on the 2nd Thursday of the month. Please Register Here to attend the next meeting: include your email address to be notified of any change in schedule.

Digital Communications Users Group top
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: TechMaine Technology Center, 506 Main Street, Westbrook

Redundant Internet Options in Maine- The Northern Route - with Tim McAfee, Pioneer Wireless.

For years businesses in Maine have been relegated to internet access provided by carriers delivered by southern fiber routes. Organizations needing a greater level of internet redundancy had no other options. Southern routes were all that existed. This lack of choice even forced some organizations to move critical operations out of state. Finally, you have choice. What if you could have traditional, terrestrial, internet access delivered to you via a southern and a northern route? How would that impact your business in the event of a southern fiber cut? How much costly downtime would be avoided? Would you be able to attract larger customers because you had a more a robust operation? Would you be able to meet regulatory obligations by having true internet diversity? Find out what all this about. You do not want to miss this discussion!

About the Speaker: Tim served in the U.S. Navy from 1989 to 1995 and for 5 of those years he served as a Nuclear Reactor Operator on the USS L. Mendel Rivers. After serving in the U.S. Navy Tim moved back to Maine and developed his own company called McAfee Information Systems. Tim worked as an independent consultant for 1 year before going to work for Computer Systems and Solutions as a service technician. In 1999 Tim took over as System Administrator for the F.A. Peabody Company until the inception of Pioneer Wireless, INC. in 2001. Tim is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and has been the General Manager & Engineer of Pioneer Wireless since its inception.

Door Prize: Registered attendees will be entered in a door prize drawing for a copy of an O'Reilly book, title TBA. You must register and attend to be in the drawing.

DCUG meets monthly, on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. Please Register Here to attend the next meeting: include your email address to be notified of any change in schedule.

Open Source Solutions Users Group top
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: TechMaine Technology Center, 506 Main Street, Westbrook

Death of the Desktop Application - Panel Discussion

With increasingly more client application services available on the Web and advances in Web technologies there are fewer reasons than ever to roll out traditional client/server applications.

Details coming soon, on this panel discussion. But you can register to attend now.

Door Prize: Registered attendees will be entered in a door prize drawing for a copy of a new O'Reilly book, title TBA.You must register and attend to be in the drawing.

OSSUG meets monthly, on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. Please Register Here to attend the next meeting: include your email address to be notified of any change in schedule.

Maine STEM Summit top
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Time: See Listing
Location: Augusta Civic Center

The economy and workforce of Maine increasingly depends on innovation in the face of global competitiveness which will require a strong educational background in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Data from the Maine Department of Labor states that 40% of industries projected to gain jobs in Maine from 2004-2014 are STEM related. Maine needs a focused set of actions to ensure all Maine students will have essential knowledge and skills in STEM and aspire to continue in those fields either for work or college.

Agenda
Augusta Civic Center January 24, 2008
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM: Registration
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM: Welcome and Keynote Speakers Chris Joyce, National Semiconductor and Eric Klopfer, MIT
10:30 AM - 10:45 AM: Morning Break
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM: Breakout Sessions (see below)
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM: Lunch (provided)
12:45 PM - 1:20 PM: Governor John E. Baldacci and State Agency Panel Discussion
1:20 PM - 1:30 PM: Afternoon Break
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM: Breakout Sessions (see below)
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM: STEM and ME - Angus King, Former Maine Governor
3:30 PM - 3:45 PM: Concluding Remarks

Details on the speakers and agenda are at www.STEMinME.org

These sessions focus on the future needs for Maine’s economically designed cluster areas and current business/research and education partnerships. Discussions about what is and could happen to encourage more STEM related learning experiences is an additional focus. Topic will include:

Biotechnology
Composites
Aquaculture
Advanced Technology for Forestry and Agriculture
Environmental
Information Technology with TechMaine
Precision Manufacturing

The Goal of the STEM Summit: To raise the awareness of key constituencies of the importance of STEM education for Maine’s future, its connection to the economic prosperity of Maine, and to commit to improving STEM education in Maine.

User/Usability Users Group top
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: TechMaine Technology Center, 506 Main Street, Westbrook

Usability Conference Reports

Shannon McHarg and Leo Smith will provide conference reports. Details soon.

Door Prize: Registered attendees will be entered in a drawing for a new O'Reilly book, title TBA. You must register and attend to be in the drawing.

UUUG is sponsored by IDEXX Laboratories; a worldwide leader in innovative products and services for veterinary, food and water applications.

UUUG meets monthly on the last Tuesday of the month. Please Register Here to attend the next meeting: include your email address to be notified of any change in schedule.

JAVA Users Group top
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: TechMaine Technology Center, 506 Main Street, Westbrook

Life in a Post Web 2.0 World - with Mike Culver, Amazon Web Services

What’s possible in a post Web 2.0 world? Innovation continues at a mind-bending pace, and this presentation will showcase some thought-provoking new directions that Web Services are headed in. The presentation will provide an overview of Amazon Web Services, including a Web Service named Mechanical Turk that allows computers to make requests of people, an online storage service, a Virtual Server service, and more. There will also be a demo showing how to set up the virtual server. But mostly this will be an opportunity to have a discussion about innovation and entrepreneurial tools.

Amazon spent ten years developing a world-class technology and content platform that powers Amazon web sites for millions of customers every day. Most people think “Amazon.com” when they hear the word; however developers are excited to learn that there is a separate technology arm of the company, known as Amazon Web Services or AWS. Using AWS, developers can build software applications leveraging the same robust, scalable, and reliable technology that powers Amazon’s retail business. AWS has now launched ten services with open API’s for developers to build applications, with the result that over 265,000 developers have registered on Amazon’s developer site to create applications based on these services.

About the Speaker: Mike Culver joined the Developer Relations Group of Amazon Web Services in May, 2006. Mike brings with him fifteen years of technology leadership experience, including at companies such as Microsoft. In addition Mr. Culver has a strong background running an IT organization, with over a decade of experience in the Electrical Wholesale Distribution industry. As a Web Services Evangelist at Amazon, he helps developers take advantage of disruptive technologies that are going to change the way we think about computer applications, and the way that businesses compete.

Door Prize: Registered attendees will be entered in a door prize drawing for a new O'Reilly book, title TBA. You must register and attend to be in the drawing.

MaineJUG meets monthly on the last Wednesday of the month. Please Register Here to attend the next meeting: include your email address to be notified of any change in schedule.

MTI Development Award Deadline top
Monday, February 4, 2008
Time: 5:00 pm
Location: www.mainetechnology.org

Up to $500,000 per project available.
Complete applications must be in the MTI office by 5:00 p.m.
For an application visit: www.mainetechnology.org.

Maine Technology Awards Gala top
Friday, March 21, 2008
Time: TBA
Location: Eastland Park Hotel Ballroom

SAVE THE DATE

The 2008 Technology Awards Gala will be the largest ever celebration of Technology in Northern New England. Watch for exciting details!