Tapping Tech 3

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V E R M O N T ’ S D I G I T A L F U T U R E

V ermont is famous for its farms, maple syrup, scenic beauty and outdoor rec-reation – all of which make it a great place to live and visit. But the state is also gaining a reputation for its technology business sector, featuring dynamic, fast-growing and innovative companies.

Studies have pegged the Green Mountain State as the second most entrepre-neurial in the country and also the most inventive, as measured by the number of tech business start-ups and volume of patent activity per capita. Techie.com recently named Burlington one of the nation’s 10 most promising tech hubs. In a National Public Radio interview on his American Futures Project, writer James Fallows of the Atlantic described the Burlington area as “a little tech empire.”

Vermont’s expanding technology business sector contains a diverse array of companies delivering cutting-edge products, software and services to customers worldwide. They provide high-paying jobs, bring money into the state and generate tax revenue — in a way that’s compatible with Vermont’s thriving downtowns and working landscape.

In short, technology is a critical and clean component of the Vermont economy and provides a crucial growth opportunity for the state.

In this edition of Tapping Tech, we introduce you to some of the companies — from large, established fi rms to small start-ups — that are leading the way.

— JEFF COUTURE, vtTA Executive Director

ANSWER: VERMONT

NAME A STATE THAT’S HOME TO TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INVENTION — AND A GREAT QUALITY OF LIFE

T A P P I N G T E C H : V E R M O N T ’ S D I G I T A L F U T U R E 3

Tapping Tech is brought to you by the Vermont Technology Alliance and the Vermont Technology Council, with support from the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development and our advertiser sponsors. The vtTA is a business association — formed by entrepreneurs for the benefi t of entrepreneurs — with a mission to support, promote, celebrate and grow technology businesses and jobs in Vermont. The vtTA sponsors and promotes technology programs and events, creates opportunities for networking and collaboration, and advocates on behalf of Vermont’s technology business sector. The Vermont Technology Council was founded in 1994 to support technology-enabled economic development, and it serves as the statewide board for the National Science Foundation-sponsored Vermont EPSCoR program. The VTC also creates the state science and technology plan, and has helped found organizations such as the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering, and Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center. The Vermont Technology Alliance and the Vermont Technology Council created this publication to showcase the state’s growing technology sector and its importance to Vermont’s economy. Connect with them at vermonttechnologyalliance.org and vttechcouncil.org.

Tapping Tech: Vermont’s Digital Future was produced by Seven Days and published in April, 2014.

COMPANY PROFILES Introductions to some of Vermont’s fastest-growing and most innovative tech enterprises, organized by sector

SOFTWARE Dealer.com and Global-Z International PAGE 4

CYBERSECURITY Leahy Center for Digital Investigation at Champlain College and Pwnie Express PAGE 8

GAMINGBirnam Wood Games PAGE 12

EDUCATION Middlebury Interactive Languages PAGE 13

HEALTH CARE BioTek Instruments and OpenTempo PAGE 14

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING Logic Supply and Eastman Benz PAGE 20

IT SOLUTIONS C2 and Network Performance, Inc. PAGE 24

INSIDE THE ECOSYSTEMOverviews of the ecosystem that fosters and supports Vermont innovationEVENTS PAGE 6

SPACES PAGE 10

EDUCATION PAGE 16

IT ALL ADDS UP PAGE 18The Economic Impact of TechnologyCONNECTIVITY PAGE 22

COMPLETE THE CIRCUIT PAGE 26Joining the vtTAINDEX OF VERMONT TECH COMPANIES PAGE 28

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Burlington, Vermont, is home to dozens of soft-ware and tech companies, but none has taken off as fast as Dealer.com. This turbo-charged start-up went from zero to 800 employees

in just 15 years — and that has had a big impact on Dealer.com’s hometown.

It all started at Mark Bonfi gli’s Earthcars dealership in Williston in the late 1990s. Mike Lane dropped by in search of a new ride, and their conversation soon turned from cars to computers; Bonfi gli was testing and proto-typing the business concept at Earthcars that would be-come the genesis for starting Dealer.com. That led to a meeting over burgers and beers with Lane’s friends, Rick Gibbs, Ryan Dunn and Jamie LaScolea. In 1998, the fi ve of them went to work at the company that would be-come Dealer.com.

Their online inventory tracking and lead manage-ment system quickly gained traction. With help from Vermont HITEC, which provided assistance with train-ing, Dealer.com scaled up its operations in Burlington’s South End.

The company’s momentum was driven by demand from dealers eager to connect with customers online, but it was also fueled by Dealer.com’s evolving corpo-rate culture. “Go big or go home” was one of the com-pany’s core values. Today, Dealer.com provides digital marketing solutions and services to auto dealers around the world. Its sales were up 25 percent in 2013, a year in

which it generated $230 million in revenue — almost all of it from clients outside of Vermont.

The company plays big, too. “We will embrace life, work hard and enjoy the ride,” goes the mission state-ment. “Having a great time is mandatory.”

To that end, Dealer.com invests heavily in its “earth-lings,” as it calls its employees; the term is a throwback to Bonfi gli’s earlier enterprise. When the company reno-vated the vacant Specialty Filaments plant on Pine Street in 2008 to house them, it included space for two organ-ic cafés, a rooftop terrace complete with a mini golf course, and an on-site fi tness facility, where employees can receive chair massages and take free tennis lessons. Dealer.com also subsidizes employee lift tickets to lo-cal mountains and throws spectacular company par-ties geared toward showing appreciation for employees and customers. All of that earned it a 2009 Best Places to Work award from Outside magazine.

Its rapid sales growth has allowed Dealer.com to cre-ate hundreds of jobs and funnel money back into the lo-cal economy through taxes, wages and money spent on local vendors. But it also attracted industry attention: In March, 2014, New York-based Dealertrack Technologies fi nalized its acquisition of Dealer.com in a transac-tion valued at nearly $1 billion. Dealertrack will base its digital marketing management in Burlington at the Dealer.com headquarters.

The company is equally committed to its Corporate

DriVing teCh DoLLars to VermontCOMPANYDealer.com

LOCATION Burlington

WEBSITEdealer.com

The Dealer.com staff at the company’s headquarters

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Social Responsibility Program, offi cially launched in 2013 but in practice since the be-ginning, and managed by its original market-ing director, Jill Badolato — “employee num-ber 35.”

“We are a big part of this city,” Badolato declares. “It’s important to make sure we’re giving back.”

And they are. Referencing her annu-al report, Badolato points out that 550 Dealer.com employees did volunteer work on company time in 2013 for a total of 4,400 hours of service. The company dis-tributed 66 community grants and aided 38 different local organizations, including the South End Arts and Business Association and the Intervale Center. The company’s annu-al Woody Classic tennis tournament raised $58,000 for the King Street Center kids.

In addition to community service and fun-draising for nonprofi ts, Dealer.com employ-ees also collected two tons of electronics to be recycled and refurbished through the compa-ny’s fi rst E-Waste Day. And the company dis-played the work of 19 different local artists on the walls of its corporate HQ, which re-sulted in 42 art sales.

Why invest so heavily in the community? Badolato says employees love it. “The num-ber of employees who say ‘thank you for do-ing this’ is off the charts.”

But it’s also about making Burlington a desirable place to live, which helps the company attract and retain good employ-ees. “Everything we do is about making Burlington a place where people want to live and work,” she says.

That’s good for the rest of us, too.

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DeLiVering the message

V ermont’s technology industry extends far be-yond Burlington. When U.S. companies such as Orvis, Victoria’s Secret and Coldwater Creek want to reach their overseas customers, they turn to

Bennington-based Global-Z International. The 25-year-old, family-owned company specializes

in international contact data hy-giene. Its 17 employees ensure that clients’ global address data is accu-rate to guarantee that overseas di-rect mail communications are sent to the right people, on time and on budget.

That’s more complicated than it sounds — postal codes, data cap-ture regulations and address for-mats are constantly changing. Global-Z employs technical ex-perts as well as a research and de-velopment staff familiar with the geographic, linguistic and cultural issues of each country to keep the company’s proprietary software updated. They enable clients to as-semble an accurate demographic profi le of their overseas customer base in real time. It’s a valuable service for com-panies with millions of international customers across sev-eral continents.

Other fi rms manage contact data for U.S. customers, but “our solutions serve the global market better than anybody else’s can,” says sales and marketing assistant Paul Harris.

International expertise is part of Global-Z’s DNA. The family-owned company was started by Russian-born Leonid Garder; his wife Sasha, who grew up in France and Switzerland; and their son, Dimitri. The family fi nally set-tled in southern Vermont after leaving New York City; they started Global-Z in their garage.

The company is poised to grow in 2014, Harris explains, as overseas markets become increasingly valuable to its cli-ents. “It’s a super-busy year for us,” he says.

COMPANYGlobal-Z

International

LOCATIONBennington

WEBSITEglobalz.com

“Everything we do is about MAKING BURLINGTON A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE WANT TO LIVE AND WORK.” JILL BADOLATO, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAM OWNER, DEALER.COM

SOFTWARE

U.S. high-technol-ogy employment is projected to grow more than 16% between 2011 and 2020. Employment growth projected for software developers is 57%.— Bay Area Council Economic Institute, Bureau of Labor Statistics

The greater Burlington area is ranked 4th among small U.S. cities for high-tech GDP concentration.— Milken Institute

QUICKFACTS

Gov. Peter Shumlin with the Garders

Looking for a tech job? Got a great idea for a start-up? Want to meet hackers, coders and digital media mavens? You’ll fi nd them at these annual Vermont events.

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Vermont Tech Jam at Memorial Auditorium

in Burlington

Merchants Bank President Mike Tuttle presents the 2013 Vermont Tech Jam Innovator and Ambassador Awards to Pwnie Express and FreshTracks Capital


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Champlain Mini Maker Faire at Shelburne Farms 2012 Hack VT contestants

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VERMONT TECH JAM: This job fair and tech expo, organized by Seven Days and the Vermont Technology Alliance, draws dozens of growing companies, large and small, to exhibit alongside educational institutions that offer training in tech fi elds.

CHAMPLAIN MINI MAKER FAIRE: Artists, inventors and tinkerers — aka “makers” — gather to showcase their creations at this volunteer-run Shelburne Farms festival.

HACK VT: A 24-hour programming competition hosted by MyWebGrocer invites participants to use data provided by the state to create apps for Vermont.

INVENTION2VENTURE: Researchers and entrepreneurs collide at this annual conference hosted by the University of Vermont’s Offi ce of Technology Commercialization, Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies and the Vermont Technology Council.

BURLINGTON RUBY CONFERENCE: A team of local volunteers hosts this language-specifi c coding conference; in 2013, it drew 150 programmers from all over the Northeast.

LAUNCH VT: The Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce and its Burlington Young Professionals group organize this business-pitch competition, with help from FreshTracks Capital.

NATIONAL DAY OF CIVIC HACKING: Volunteer “civic hackers” from Code for BTV host this two-day hackathon to build digital tools for nonprofi ts and municipalities.

STORYHACK VT: Participants have 24 hours to create a narrative using multiple digital media platforms during this volunteer-run hackathon for creative types.

VERMONT CODE CAMP: Volunteers from the local computing community host this daylong, hands-on conference for freelancers and local programming professionals.

WOODSTOCK DIGITAL MEDIA FESTIVAL: Artists and digital media makers mingle with potential investors at this celebration of all things online.

PEAK PITCH: Entrepreneurs court venture capital investors while riding up the mountain on a ski lift as part of this Vermont-style start-up support session organized by FreshTracks Capital.

COMPANYLeahy Center

for Digital Investigation at Champlain

College

LOCATIONBurlington

WEBSITE lcdi.champlain.edu

training CoLLege stuDents to Fight CYBer Crime

Digital devices such as laptops and smartphones store massive amounts of data, from emails and texts to photos and GPS coordi-

nates. That information can be helpful to police when the owner is a crime victim, or a perpetrator. But understanding what to look for and accessing it — not to mention keeping up with all the apps, operating sys-tems and privacy issues — takes time.

That’s why many Vermont police de-partments and law fi rms seek help from the Leahy Center for Digital Investigation at Champlain College. This profession-al laboratory, established with a $500,000 Department of Justice earmark secured by Senator Patrick Leahy, specializes in mobile forensics, digital evidence management, data recovery and law-en-forcement training. It’s one of the reasons SC Magazine chose Champlain’s digital forensics program as the Best Cyber Security Higher Education Program in 2013.

The LCDI is run by Champlain faculty and staffed by 50 undergraduate and graduate students. “The LCDI is an educational center focused on helping students get real-world practical experience while they attend col-lege,” says Robin Abramson, provost and chief academic offi cer. “The things we’re doing at the LCDI will help not only students, but Vermonters throughout the state.”

LCDI clients include federal, state and local law-en-forcement agencies, as well as private companies and nonprofi ts. “Right now, we’re their research wing,”

explains director Jonathan Rajewski, an as-sistant professor in Champlain’s Division of Information Technology and Sciences. The trim 32-year-old with close-cropped hair looks more like an FBI agent than a profes-sor. In fact, he’s a member of the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; in 2011, Forensic 4cast named him Digital Forensic Investigator of the Year.

Rajewski explains that “some pret-ty big cases in Burlington and through-out Vermont” have made use of his stu-dents‘ research, though that’s as much as he can reveal. Many of the recent high-pro-fi le murder cases in Vermont have includ-ed evidence derived from digital forensics

investigations.The students assist law enforcement in a variety of

ways. The LCDI staff studies digital devices and exper-iments with ways to extract data — these studies can take “40 to 80 to 100 hours,” Rajewski notes. They also monitor battery usage, because devices consume varying amounts of power depending on which apps are open. If someone were driving while wearing Google Glass, for instance, their studies might be able to show whether the wearer was using apps while on the road.

The students publish their research on Champlain’s Computer & Digital Forensics blog, which documents their efforts to pry inside iPhones and a Smart TV from Samsung, as well as their experiments in recovering data from cloud-based services such as Google Drive,

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Listings for cybersecurity positions rose 73% from 2007 through 2012, 3.5 times faster than postings for computer jobs as a whole.— Burning Glass, a Boston-based labor market analytics fi rm

U.S. companies and public sector or-ganizations raised outlays on com-puter security to an estimated $89.1 billion in the fi scal year that ended in October 2013, more than double the 2006 level.— Ponemon Institute

In 2014, security practitioners se-lected the cyberse-curity courses and degree programs at Norwich University in Northfi eld as the second best in the country.— Ponemon Institute

QUICKFACTS


CYBERSECURITY

Jonathan Rajewski, LCDI Director, works with student Julie Desautels

DeFenDing Data

Worried about hackers compromising your compa-ny’s servers? Cybersecurity start-up Pwnie Express, founded in 2010, proposes that the best defense is a good offense.

Pwnie derives its name from the hacker slang term “pwn,” which rhymes with “own” and refers to a humiliating defeat. The company’s website uses the term in a sentence: “Don’t get pwned by network hackers.” Its Pwn Plug 2 looks like a harm-less Wi-Fi router, but it’s actually a powerful “drop box” that, once installed, lets companies try to penetrate their own fi rewalls to discover their vulnerabilities.

Hackers have been rigging drop boxes to penetrate networks for years. But Pwnie commodifi ed this technology and put it in the hands of the good guys. The com-pany built a standardized pene-tration-testing tool that retails for just $1,100. It gives corporate se-curity professionals the ability to monitor network security remote-ly, which saves on costly and time-consuming site visits.

In other words, the Pwn Plug 2 makes penetration testing “much, much, much cheaper,” says Senior Engineer Gabe Koss. As a result, Pwnie has been lauded in the industry press, and received the 2013 Vermont Tech Jam Innovator Award. More than 1,000 customers worldwide now use Pwnie’s products, from Fortune 500 companies to govern-ment agencies and security service providers.

The company began when founder Dave Porcello start-ed making early drop box prototypes in his Barre basement and offering them for sale on his blog. Strong demand encour-aged him to expand his operations, so he, Koss and Robert Awk founded Pwnie. The Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies incubated the company and, in 2012, helped Pwnie secure $600,000 from the Vermont Seed Capital Fund and a Boston investor. In 2013, Pwnie raised over $5 million in Series A funding; the Vermont Seed Capital Fund is its only local investor.

Pwnie now has 15 employees, who are split between the company’s offi ces in Boston, Berlin, Vt., and the Karma Bird House in Burlington, where Koss is based. The 30-year-old Montpelier native and UVM grad notes that the company has kept its R&D operations in Vermont, as well as its shipping, manufacturing and customer service staff. All of the compa-ny’s products are still assembled in Berlin; South Burlington’s Logic Supply builds the shell for the Pwn Appliance, a unit that’s larger and more powerful than the Pwn Plug 2.

Koss is proud of the company’s Vermont roots and hopes Pwnie Express can help attract more cybersecurity talent to the state. “It’s cool to know that I didn’t have to go to California to be involved in something like this,” he says. “I want to see jobs like this be the norm in Vermont.”

COMPANYPwnie Express

LOCATIONBerlin

WEBSITEpwnieexpress.com

Dropbox and SkyDrive. Rajewski says they get thousands of hits a month, mainly from other data security professionals.

The LCDI also helps clients develop cyber-security plans. Data breaches can be costly; a 2012 study by NetDiligence reports “the average insurance cost per breach was $3.7 million, up sharply from last year’s study where the average insurance cost per breach was $2.4 million.”

And the LCDI hosts trainings for law-enforcement offi cials. A session on iPhones, for example, might explain something as basic as how to put the phone in Airplane Mode, to prevent anyone from accessing it wirelessly.

Rajewski notes that the LCDI is able to offer all of these services at a reduced cost, because it relies on student labor. Unlike the gray-suited administrator, the kids show up for work wearing jeans, hoodies and piercings. It’s a worthwhile trade-off for them, though — more than 90 percent of Champlain’s digi-tal forensics grads get job offers within the fi rst few months of graduation. The largest cybersecurity consulting companies come to Champlain College on an annual basis to compete for its students.

The lab has been so successful, it’s expanding. According to David Provost, senior vice president of fi nance, “the LCDI will add on to its existing 900-square-foot space in the next year, doubling the number of computer stations available.”

Rajewski is also collaborating with BTV Ignite, which seeks to develop apps that use Burlington Telecom’s gigabit internet connec-tion. He hopes to leverage the lightning-fast network to create a “forensic cloud,” which will be piloted in Burlington and then rolled out to select US Ignite partner cities.

“We want to put Burlington on the map,” he says.

The Pwn Plug 2

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“It’s cool to know thatI DIDN’T HAVE TO GO TO CALIFORNIA to be involved in something like this.”

GABE KOSS, SENIOR ENGINEER AT PWNIE EXPRESS

Coworking spaces, business incubators, makerspaces and hackerspaces are hubs of entrepreneurial activity — and they’re popping up in vacant downtown spaces all over Vermont. They give freelance professionals a place to work, offer start-ups access to low-cost offi ce space and provide inventors with access to shared tools such as 3-D printers and laser cutters.

The Karma Bird House

Local 64

Generator Board of Directors: Denise Shekerjian, Doug Webster, Chris Thompson, Ken Howell, Generator Director Christy Mitchell, John Cohn, Doreen Kraft, Pauline Law, Michael Metz and Dan Harvey

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THE GENERATOR: The new Generator makerspace, located in the Annex of Burlington’s city-owned Memorial Auditorium, offers members studio space, classes and access to equipment.

LABORATORY B: Burlington’s volunteer-run hackerspace offers community classes in soldering and coding. It also hosts forums about topics such as “crypto-currencies” — think Bitcoin.

OFFICE SQUARED: Jen Mincar owns and runs Burlington’s oldest coworking space, on Main Street; it recently expanded to a College Street location.

LOCAL 64: Lars Torres, director of Vermont’s Offi ce of the Creative Economy, founded Montpelier’s downtown coworking space. It attracts a cross-section of tenants, including video-game designers and online-marketing professionals.

VERMONT CENTER FOR EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: VCET is currently incubating several agricultural, manufacturing and tech-based businesses at its Burlington and Middlebury offi ces.

THE KARMA BIRD HOUSE: This building, at 47 Maple Street, Burlington, once belonged exclusively to JDK Design but is now home to freelance programmers, small businesses and tech start-ups, including Pwnie Express and Birnam Wood Games.

Vermont Offi ce of Creative Economy Director Lars Torres reports that coworking spaces are currently forming in Newport, White River Junction, Springfi eld, Brattleboro, Middlebury and Vergennes.

MATTHEW THORSEN


COMPANYBirnam Wood Games

LOCATIONBurlington

WEBSITE birnamwoodgames.com

GAMING

starting up Vermont’s ViDeo game inDustrY

Birnam Wood Games employs the latest digital tools, but the Burlington-based video game stu-dio takes its name from a 400-year-old source: Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In the play, the English

army camoufl ages itself with branches from Birnam Wood during the fi nal assault on the Scottish castle. BWG founder and CEO Marguerite Dibble lik-ens that historic stealth attack to the way video games are battling novels, TV and movies to emerge as the 21st century’s dominant ar-tistic medium.

The svelte and poised 24-year-old is an unlikely general to be leading the charge. A native of the tiny Bennington County town of Landgrove, Dibble wasn’t even allowed to play vid-eo games, or watch much TV, as a kid. After graduating from Burr and Burton Academy, she attended Champlain College to study video game art and animation. That’s where she met the other members of her team; BWG formed after graduation. The goal? To stay in Vermont and be part of an emerging gaming industry that counts just a few oth-er developers in the state.

BWG has produced several titles so far. Its most recent release, funded by Boston-based publisher Gameblyr, is an infectious strategy game called Pathogen — avail-able on tablets and mobile devices for $2.99. Industry reviewers have given it high marks: “Pathogen’s simple-yet-addictive gameplay is augmented by terrifi c presen-tation, with visuals that make it feel like you’re playing on a computer from a 1980s sci-fi movie,” wrote Andrew Webster for the Verge. Pathogen won Best Online Game in the Mass Digi Games Challenge and is one of several titles nominated by PocketGamer for Best Casual/Puzzle Game of 2013.

But as with many art forms, critical and commercial

successes don’t always go hand in hand. BWG pays its bills primarily by taking on commercial work. The stu-dio has applied its expertise in gamifi cation to proj-ects for companies such as Vermont Energy Investment Corporation and JDK Design.

Seven Days hired the studio to create Runoff, an education-al game that demonstrates how rain barrels can reduce stormwa-ter runoff into Lake Champlain. ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center helped design Runoff; visitors to ECHO can play it in a vintage arcade cabinet out-fi tted by Logic Supply of South Burlington. According to BWG’s database, Runoff has been played more than 10,000 times since it launched in the summer of 2013.

A forthcoming commercial project has a similar, socially re-

sponsible goal. BWG collaborated with Burlington-based Superconductor on 8BitFit, a free, fi tness-tracking app. “It uses game mechanics to motivate you to exercise,” Dibble explains. The app helps users earn points for run-ning and walking, for example. “Instead of interacting with the game through a joystick,” she says, “you’re in-teracting through your personal fi tness.”

Dibble admits that juggling all of these projects while making intelligent, artistic games — and making payroll — is a constant challenge. “It’s absolutely insane,” she says.

That’s one reason she’s working with local advisors and angel investors; she’s hoping to raise a couple hun-dred thousand dollars to fund the creation of a commer-cially driven game that will generate steady revenue. That, she says, will help pay for more creative projects and let BWG continue to employ Champlain College gaming grads.

“It’ll keep more good talent in the area,” she says.

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The global wireless games market will reach $14.4 billion by 2017.— Pricewaterhouse-Coopers

58% of Americans play video games; 36% of gamers play games on their smartphones; 25% play on their wire-less devices.— Entertainment Software Association

The fi rst Green Mountain Games Festival at Champlain College in February, 2014, drew 31 exhibitors and more than 250 students and com-munity members.

QUICKFACTS

Matt Brand, Mike Hopke and Marguerite Dibble of Birnam Wood Games at the Karma Bird House

COMPANYMiddlebury Interactive

Languages

LOCATIONMiddlebury

WEBSITEmiddleburyinteractive.com

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Parlez-vous Français? For nearly 100 years, university students, diplomats and business leaders have come to Middlebury College to learn to speak

French and other foreign languages. The Middlebury Language Schools, established in 1915, have an international reputation for high-quality instruction.

Now K-12 students can benefi t from Middlebury’s proven language learning meth-ods, too — using digital tools developed by Middlebury Interactive Languages. The compa-ny, founded in 2010, is a joint venture between the college and K12 Inc., a Virginia technology fi rm that creates online learning solutions.

Middlebury Interactive receives guidance from the school — its chief learning offi cer is Aline Germain-Rutherford, who is also direc-

tor of the French School and associ-ate vice president of the language and graduate programs. But it employs its own linguistic and software experts, three of whom found the company through the Vermont Tech Jam.

Many of its 45 Vermont employees are Middlebury College grads. “A lot of folks want to come back,” ob-serves chief strategy offi cer Stacey Rainey. Those who re-turn to the quintessential Vermont college town work in a spacious, brightly painted offi ce just a few minutes’ drive from campus.

There they’ve developed French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Latin courses for K-12 students using the college’s immersive language pedagogy and teaching methodology. Courses for the youngest learners involve playing games and listening to stories and songs; offer-ings at the high school level develop students’ reading, writing, speaking and listening skills through activities and videos. Today more than 170,000 students at 1,200 schools across the country use Middlebury Interactive’s digital courses.

The venture provides a way for the college to capital-ize on its rep and benefi t from the online-ed boom — the school owns a 40-percent stake in the company — but it’s also a response to a real need.

Fluency in a language other than English is increasing-ly valuable in a global economy. And studies show that the younger kids start learning, the better. Meanwhile, cash-strapped K-12 schools across the country are elim-inating foreign language programs; just 58 percent of middle schools offered language instruction in 2008, down from 75 percent in 1997.

Unlike Rosetta Stone, which markets language soft-ware to consumers, Middlebury Interactive works

7.1 million post-secondary students take at least one class online.— Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the U.S. 2013

In 2012-2013, the Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative part-nered with 76% of the state’s high schools to offer on-line classes, many of which would oth-erwise be unavail-able in small, rural schools. Recent course offerings in-clude AP Calculus, Latin, Intro to Green Energy Design and 3-D Modeling to Print.

QUICKFACTS

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Middlebury Interactive employees Reuben Oswald, Ben Simmons, Stacey Rainey, Rachel Connor, Erin McCormick and Reinhold Lange work at the company headquarters

primarily with schools and school districts. Teachers use the company’s media-rich tools to supplement ex-isting instruction, offer additional language levels such as advanced placement courses, or even to add programs where none existed before.

That was the case at the K-8 Coventry Village School, one of 29 Vermont schools that participated in the com-pany’s Vermont World Language Initiative in 2013. This pilot program gave Vermont schools discounted access to Middlebury Interactive courses, as well as four days of teacher training that were subsidized by the college. The initiative helped Coventry establish a French pro-gram, which enabled some students to learn to commu-nicate for the fi rst time with French-speaking relatives in Québec.

And Middlebury Interactive isn’t just offering digi-tal courses. The company also runs immersive summer language academies for teens, similar to Middlebury College’s summer programs, at three liberal arts colleg-es. The company added a Chinese academy in Beijing in 2013, and an academy in Spain starts in June, 2014.

Demand for all of these services is strong, says Rainey. The company initially expected to double in size by 2015, but met that goal in a year — a sign that college president Ronald Leibowitz was onto something when he guided the school into this partnership.

In a 2010 note to the community explaining the new venture, he wrote: “To be an innovator and a leader, we must continue to take smart risks and adapt to chang-es — in this case, the opportunities technology has to offer.”

Despite the double whammy of govern-ment sequestration and a new excise tax on medical devices, Winooski’s BioTek Instruments had a good 2013.

The 45-year-old, family-owned fi rm designs and manufactures microplate spectrophotom-eters — high-tech diagnostic instruments that allow researchers to analyze blood and tissue samples and test for diseases such as hepati-tis and HIV.

Sales were up, and BioTek increased its market share. Why? President and CEO Briar Alpert cites two factors. First, the company introduced a new product, the Cytation3, a combination microplate spectrophotometer and microscope.

“It’s basically a microscope in a box,” says Alpert. “But it’s a very sophisticated box.”

The Cytation3 allows researchers to analyze their samples and then take images of them using a high-powered microscope, all in the same machine. This two-in-one device saves lab space and simplifi es the scientifi c process by enabling researchers to use one set of samples rather than two.

And it’s a lot cheaper than its competitors. Alpert says that before the Cytation3,

companies would have to pay between $250,000

and $1 million to get equivalent function-ality. Cytation3 costs in the $40,000 to $80,000 range.

“These kinds of machines were once only available to multi-billion-dollar companies,” Alpert explains. “Now they’re available to biotech start-ups. An army of re-searchers is getting access to an affordable tool.”

In the fall of 2013, SelectScience, an independent worldwide scientifi c review website, gave the Cytation3 its Scientists’ Choice Award for Best Drug Discovery Product. The instrument also won the New Product Innovation Award at the MipTec conference and exhibi-tion in Basel, Switzerland. And it’s a fi nalist for the 2014 Edison Awards, which recognize “innovation, creativity and ingenuity in the global economy.”

BioTek’s second big revenue driver in 2013 was over-seas expansion, according to Alpert. All of the compa-ny’s design and manufacturing is done by its 241 em-ployees in Winooski. But BioTek also employs 130 sales and service workers in 10 overseas subsidiaries, in plac-es such as China, France, Germany and India. In 2013, BioTek opened offi ces in Japan and Taiwan.

Alpert says it’s imperative that the company establish teams across the globe to sell these Vermont-made prod-ucts. “Locally based BioTek personnel are able to offer the customer a superior level of technical expertise, ser-vice and support that simply can’t be accomplished re-motely,” he explains. Overseas sales currently account for about half of BioTek’s approximately $100 million in annual revenue.

Alpert, who owns and runs BioTek with his brother,

BuiLDing a Better LaBoratorY

COMPANYBioTek

Instruments

LOCATIONWinooski

WEBSITE biotek.com

The Cytation3, a cell imaging microscope, developed by BioTek

COURTESY OF BIOTEK INSTRUMENTS

BioTek Laboratory Manager Paul Held works on tissue cultures at the BioTek laboratory

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Adam, attributes the company’s longevity to innovation. If BioTek hadn’t invested heav-ily in developing the Cytation3, he reasons, revenues would have been down in 2013. “You have to constantly be investing in the future of the company,” Alpert insists. “You have to constantly be fi lling the pipeline.”

For BioTek, that means investing in prod-ucts, but also in people. “We pay people well,” says Alpert, and the company also picks up the tab for their education. A num-ber of employees have gone back to school on the company’s dime to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UVM, St. Michael’s College and Champlain College.

Alpert’s father, Norman, was the fi rm’s founder and a University of Vermont physiologist.

BioTek’s global reach hasn’t loosened its local roots. “We’re hiring Vermont ven-dors,” says Alpert, citing Winooski neighbor Eastman Benz, whose employees produce circuit boards for the company. “We literally purchase millions of dollars of parts and ser-vice in Vermont.” BioTek has also sponsored the Vermont Tech Jam, as well as a local high school robotics team.

“The moment you stop making these for-ward-thinking investments,” he says, “you sign the company’s death warrant.”

sCheDuLing suCCess

Hospitals are high-tech environments as far as patient care is concerned, but for many of them, managing doctor and nurse schedules is still a low-tech process. The complexities of accounting for clinical require-

ments, staff specialities and certifi cations, as well as vacation requests and union rules, mean that hospitals still frequent-ly build their schedules by hand. That infl ates staffi ng costs, which typically make up more than 50 percent of a hospital’s operating budget.

Williston-based OpenTempo views this challenge as an op-portunity. The rapidly growing company, founded in 2006 by CEO Rich Miller, has designed software that automates the health care staff scheduling process. “We make sure you have the right physician, the right nurse, the right tech in the right place, at the right time,” says John Jordan, vice president of sales and marketing.

Given soaring health care costs and falling reimbursements, this is an area where the right technology can have a big im-pact. It has in the operating room at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. Building a schedule for its 160 nurses used to take a health care professional about 80 hours a month. OpenTempo’s software cut that to just eight hours a month, a tenfold reduction that equates to less time on paperwork and more time on patients.

The Fletcher Allen anesthesiology department also uses OpenTempo, as do a growing number of academic and clin-ical clients across the country, including Mass General, MD Anderson, Vanderbilt University and the University of Illinois. As a result, since January 2013, the company has expanded from a handful of staffers to nearly 30 employees, including one recruit from the Vermont Tech Jam. Many of its new hires have come from recently downsized companies such as GE Healthcare, IBM and PKC/Sharecare, and are being retrained thanks to a Vermont Department of Labor grant.

OpenTempo’s software provides a tremendous ROI for large health care systems with hundreds of employees to manage. And Jordan points out that many of them haven’t upgraded yet. “These organizations need a way to control their operat-ing costs while maintaining excellent patient care,” he says. “It’s almost shocking how much green space there is in this market.”

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“You have to constantly be investing in the future of the company. YOU HAVE TO CONSTANTLY BE FILLING THE PIPELINE.”BRIAR ALPERT, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF BIOTEK

From 2001-2010, the U.S. bioscience industry grew by 6.4%, adding more than 96,000 jobs.— Battelle/BIO State Bioscience Industry Development Report

Mobile health tech-nology usage is growing rapidly in the U.S. Analysts predict that the size of the worldwide mobile health mar-ket will reach $23 billion by the end of 2017.— Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution, in its Health in China and the United States report

QUICKFACTS

COMPANY OpenTempo

LOCATIONWilliston

WEBSITEopentempo.com

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Brooke Stahle, director of Peri-Op Services, and resident Lyle Gerety at Fletcher Allan Health Care.

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Girl Develop It Code and Coffee participants

Lizzie Michael and Alexa Herrera at the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont

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Vermont’s colleges and universities run a number of STEM-related programs, but they’re not the only places to fi nd tech training. Here are some other organizations offering kids and adults an on-ramp to the information highway.

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Setting up the Maker Bot at a meeting of the Burlington 3-D Printing and Modeling Group.

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GOVERNOR’S INSTITUTES OF VERMONT: GIV runs weeklong summer programs for high schoolers in engineering, information technology and digital media, as well as winter weekends devoted to astrophotography, IT, engineering and advanced mathematics.

GIRL DEVELOP IT BURLINGTON: The local chapter of this national nonprofi t offers introductory programming classes for adults. They’re aimed at women, but open to all, regardless of skill level or gender.

FIRST ROBOTICS: Middle and high school students build robots and compete in tournaments through this national league; UVM hosts a competition every spring.

ARTDUINO MAKER CAMP: The organizers of the Champlain Mini Maker Faire put together this weeklong summer day camp at Shelburne Farms for kids ages 10 to 18. It combines electronics, microcontrollers, writing, movement and music.

BLU-BIN 3-D PRINTING: Burlington’s 3-D print shop, located at 20 Church Street, holds weekly workshops for all ages on 3-D printing and computer-aided design.

YOUNG HACKS ACADEMY: This summer day camp for kids ages 9 to 14 teaches programming fundamentals at 10 Vermont sites, including Hyde Park, Newport and St. Albans.

TARRANT CODE CAMP: UVM hosts this weeklong summer session for K-12 students and educators, organized by the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education. Offerings include computer art, game development, mobile app development, robotics and web development.

HOUR OF CODE: In 2013, this nationwide campaign promoting computer science education inspired more than 110 Vermont schools to offer K-12 students an hour of computer programming instruction. Self-guided Hour of Code tutorials are available online at code.org.

USER GROUPS: Programmers who want to stay current can join one of dozens of local volunteer-run user groups, including the Burlington 3-D Printing and Modeling Group. Find a list of them at techjamvt.com.

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“Our tech industry is a signifi cant multiplier in our economy. It has spawned a culture of innovation that has resulted in many booming businesses, millions of dollars of development and other capital in-vestment, and a cascading effect of jobs within our communities.”

— GOV. PETER SHUMLIN, 2014 BUDGET ADDRESS

For every software developer hired, vtTA member companies add 6 NONTECHNICAL POSITIONS in fi elds such as sales, marketing, administration and accounting.

— VTTA DATA

Why should we care about the health of Vermont’s tech sector? BECAUSE IT HELPS DRIVE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ACROSS THE STATE.

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Vermont Technology Alliance member companies report a 25% INCREASE in employment on average between 2012-2014.

— VTTA DATA

Vermont technology jobs pay up to 70% MORE than the average Vermont wage. Software develop-ers earn twice as much as the Vermont average.

— VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WAGE DATA

States actively investing in and utilizing broadband networks are seeing stronger economic growth, better connected communities and enhanced quality of life.

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VERMONT’S TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS SECTOR HAS A SOLID FOUNDATION AND A PROMISING FUTURE.

HOW CAN WE HELP THE STATE ADVANCE ITS TECHNOLOGY ECONOMY?

Continue investment in Vermont’s broadband connectivityTech companies require a strong broadband and mobile infrastructure. » With robust broadband connectivity, tech business can be done anywhere in Vermont, bringing jobs to the state.» Vermont has made progress, but more needs to be done to achieve competitive, statewide broadband, including:

Setting targets for faster broadband speeds at lower prices Improving performance, access and choice in the state’s most rural areas

Market Vermont as a home for technology business and careersVermont’s thriving technology business sector may be one of the state’s best-kept secrets. » Vermont’s rural image sometimes creates the impression that it is not a home for tech entrepreneurs and jobs. But you can be a tech entrepreneur or have a great tech career and experience Vermont’s great quality of life. » Promoting Vermont’s vibrant technology business sector can attract high-tech business and high-tech employment.

Expand opportunities for technology business fi nancing and investment Vermont tech companies say they fi nd it diffi cult to get business fi nancing. » Many tech companies deal with intellectual, not physical, property, which can make it harder to secure collateral for a large loan. » Providing access to fi nancing creates jobs and helps small technology companies succeed. » The creation of programs and incentives that enable and encourage loans and investment for technology enterprises will drive economic growth and jobs for Vermont.

Encourage educational programs and opportunities for a tech workforce Tech companies look for employees who have a strong foundation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fi elds, but who can also write, reason and work collaboratively to solve problems. » The vtTA and VTC believe it is important for Vermont to educate, attract and retain a workforce ready for tech careers. This requires:

internships for students and adults

new tech workers to the state



Designing Computers that Won’t Break DoWn

The U.S. Coast Guard tracks ships entering American seaports using digital sensors that are positioned along both coasts. But the landlocked state of Vermont supplies the computers that re-

lay this vital security information to a central command post. They’re designed and assembled at Logic Supply in South Burlington.

Founded in 2003 by Roland and Lisa Groeneveld, the growing 50-employee firm specializes in designing and building small, reliable computers that function in rug-ged environments. The Coast Guard units, for example, are exposed to high humidity and salty sea air.

Logic Supply makes computers that are dust-proof, shock-absorbent, water-resistant and able to function in extreme temperatures. Its products run everything from route management software in garbage trucks to baccarat tables in casinos, from hurricane-hunting Coast Guard helicopters to cranes that can hoist molten steel five sto-ries above the ground.

Some clients install its computers on factory floors, where dust, dirt and debris threaten to overwhelm oth-er models. “It can be as simple as a desktop computer,” says CEO and President Roland Groeneveld. “A comput-er that just doesn’t die.”

The company achieves that reliability by designing fanless computers with no moving parts. The resulting hardware simply has fewer opportunities to fail.

Logic Supply doesn’t sell these highly engineered computers directly to consumers — its clients are private companies such as Microsoft, Archer Daniels Midland and Caterpillar, and governmental agencies including

NASA and the U.S. Navy. Logic Supply’s products are in use on every continent except Antartica, though that could soon change: A customer is currently testing a unit for use at the McMurdo Station near the South Pole.

Logic Supply also sells computers to companies that package its products for sale with other systems. A tour of the engineering shop on the first floor of the compa-ny’s two-story HQ turns up containers full of panels em-blazoned with various brand names — employees affix different versions according to each client’s instructions. Groeneveld notes that the company’s products are both “unique” and “versatile.”

Its market niche isn’t the only thing that distinguish-es Logic Supply; the corporate culture is also somewhat unusual. The privately held company has a flat organi-zational structure that encourages interdepartmental col-laboration. And its culture of transparency extends to sal-ary information, which is shared with everyone on staff.

Most notably, Logic Supply embraces tinkerers. “Geeks are the lifeblood of our organization,” reads the career page on the company website. “If you have ‘Tinkerer’s DNA,’ we want your passion, your ideas and your ability to make things work.”

As a result, the company is a big supporter of Vermont’s maker community — it participates in the Champlain Mini Maker Faire and sponsors maker spaces at Champlain College and Memorial Auditorium, as well as the Vermont Tech Jam and two high school FIRST ro-botics teams. It also holds microcomputer workshops in which staffers teach participants to build their own small computers.

COMPANYLogic Supply

LOCATIONSouth Burlington

WEBSITElogicsupply.com

Vincent Flores works on a computer at Logic Supply’s office in Burlington

A D V A N C E D M A N U F A C T U R I N G 2 1

assemBLing the essentiaLs

Nearly every electronic device contains a printed cir-cuit board with various components soldered on.Vermont technology companies can assemble their own circuit boards, but creating an in-house manu-

facturing department is complicat-ed and expensive. And outsourcing assembly out of state or over-seas presents a variety of different problems.

Enter Eastman Benz. The fi ve-year-old contract manufacturing company assembles circuit boards for clients who need a few pieces quickly for building prototypes or a few hundred units a month to sat-isfy low-volume production needs. Its customers include more than 30 local technology compa-nies, engineers, and inventors.

The company’s two founders, Dan Eastman and Karl Benz, met while pursuing engineering degrees at Vermont Technical College. They later worked for IBM and various other com-panies. In 2008, Microprocessor Designs in Shelburne asked Eastman to produce some circuit-board prototypes; the East Hardwick native and his friend Benz started laboring away at Eastman’s kitchen table on nights and weekends. They soon re-alized they could turn this side job into a full-time gig, and went into business together.

Today the company’s fi ve employees assemble hundreds of printed circuit boards, cables and electromechanical devices every month in their 5,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manu-facturing facility. All of the employees are engineers, a fact that separates Eastman-Benz from its competitors. Benz notes that it’s important to have engineers talking to engineers when assembling a new product for the fi rst time or troubleshoot-ing technical issues that inevitably surface when dealing with complex products.

Eastman Benz has grown steadily — Eastman predicts the company will double in size this year, and within fi ve years will be generating $8 to $10 million in annual revenue. It might be fi lling a small-volume niche, but, as Eastman ob-serves, “We have big plans.”

“Ultimately, for us, it’s about local awareness, bringing in fresh blood,” says Groeneveld. It can be hard to fi nd talented employees locally, he adds, though the com-pany did recently hire an engineer who was laid off from IBM.

In addition to its Vermont HQ, the compa-ny maintains a small offi ce in Taipei, to man-age its Asian supply chain, and an offi ce in the Netherlands, Groeneveld’s home country. Four employees work there and serve Logic Supply’s expanding European Union market. Groeneveld says he sees a lot of growth po-tential there.

He also expects growth in the company’s development of networked systems — what futurists refer to as the coming “Internet of Things.” Logic Supply has already installed a wireless RFID system that tracks ship-ping containers full of produce from South America. If a Logic Supply computer in one of the ports along the way senses from a transmitter in one of the containers that the shipment has been en route for too long, it assumes the food inside has spoiled and re-routes it to a different destination.

Groeneveld predicts that these intelli-gent systems will help drive Logic Supply’s Vermont expansion — the company recent-ly received a Vermont Employment Growth Incentive Award, based on meeting certain milestones in employee growth, and plans to double the size of its building over the next few years.

Says Groeneveld: “The potential applica-tions are sort of limitless.”

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LOCATIONWinooski

WEBSITEeastmanbenz.com

Karl Benz works on a circuit board at Eastman Benz

Manufacturing has a larger multiplier effect than any oth-er major economic activity — $1 spent in manufacturing generates $1.35 in additional economic activity.— Manufacturing.gov

On average, 1 new manufacturing job creates 1.6 addi-tional jobs in local service businesses. Jobs in high-tech manufacturing in-dustries, which re-quire workers with high skill levels and pay above-average wages, generate 5 local service jobs.— Manufacturing.gov

QUICKFACTS

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

“The potential applications ARE SORT OF LIMITLESS.”ROLAND GROENEVELD, CEO AND PRESIDENT OF LOGIC SUPPLY

Members of Code for BTV and the Civic Cloud Collaborative at the Big Heavy World offi ce in Burlington

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INFRASTRUCTURE

FAIRPOINT COMMUNICATIONS, COMCAST, SOVERNET, EC FIBER, VTEL, GREEN MOUNTAIN ACCESS, BURLINGTON TELECOM: These are among the leading companies providing broadband service to residential and business customers in Vermont.

FIRSTLIGHT FIBER: This Albany, N.Y.-based company acquired Vermont-based TelJet in 2012. It owns a fi ber network that provides high-speed data, internet, colocation and voice services to many Vermont businesses and institutions.

WINDSTREAM COMMUNICATIONS: This Arkansas-based company is leading provider of advanced network communications to Vermont businesses, including broadband, cloud computing, data center and managed services.

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

BROADBANDVT.ORG: This online resource is a cooperative effort of the Vermont Center for Geographic Information, the Vermont Telecommunications Authority, the Vermont Department of Public Service and the Center for Rural Studies at UVM. It’s an online source for information on Vermont broadband services and initiatives.

BTV IGNITE: A national partnership between the city of Burlington and US Ignite promotes the creation of new apps that take advantage of Burlington Telecom’s unique gigabit-per-second capacity.

CODE FOR BTV: Affi liated with the National Code for America, this group of volunteer “civic hackers,” captained by Bradley Holt and Jason Pelletier, builds digital tools for municipalities and nonprofi ts. Its Civic Cloud Collaborative project recently won a grant from the Knight Foundation.

INVENTVERMONT: This inventor-led organization provides information and resources about everything from product development and patenting to marketing.

STARTUPVT: Part of the Startup America Partnership, this organization seeks to strengthen Vermont’s start-up ecosystem by bringing entrepreneurs together and helping them fi nd the resources they need.

VERMONT DIGITAL ECONOMY PROJECT: This initiative, part of the Vermont Center for Rural Development, helps rural communities build their digital infrastructure by hosting digital training programs for employees of municipalities, small businesses and nonprofi ts.

VERMONT OFFICE OF THE CREATIVE ECONOMY: Software, gaming and design are among the tech industries the OCE promotes through its regular email newsletters and video profi les.

VERMONT TECH JAM WEBSITE: Seven Days maintains techjamvt.com and compiles a weekly email newsletter featuring tech news, jobs and local events.

VERMONT TECHNOLOGY ALLIANCE: The vtTA connects its members through a monthly email newsletter, as well as mixers and Lunch and Learns. Topics have included “Women in STEM” and “Vermont’s Economic Development Plan.”

VERMONT TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL: The Council serves as the statewide board for the National Science Foundation-sponsored Vermont EPSCoR program, and runs vermont.internships.com, which matches employers and student interns.


keeping Vermont Companies CompetitiVe

Keeping up with technology is a challenge for ev-ery organization that employs it. Choosing the right software vendors, e-commerce platforms and cloud computing options requires a level of

expertise that’s increasingly diffi cult to fi nd.That’s why many Vermont businesses and institutions

turn to C2 for help. Founded in 1993 by four Vermonters who met while working for Digital Equipment Corporation, C2 uses top-of-the-line technologies to help its clients become more competitive.

Its 78 employees attain and renew their industry certifi ca-tions to stay up to date with the latest tools. They work closely with leading ven-dors such as Microsoft, Dell, VMware and Sitecore to craft digital solutions for some of Vermont’s best-known multi-channel retailers, including Orvis, Seventh Generation and Keurig Green Mountain.

But as cofounder and vice president of engineer-ing Melissa Dever points out, the C2 team doesn’t just talk about tech. They start by

discussing the clients’ business goals. “We want to know: What are you trying to achieve?” she says.

For example, she offers, Massachusetts-based station-ary company Crane & Co. wanted to produce wedding invitation proofs more quickly so that couples and their parents wouldn’t have to wait six to eight weeks to see a sample invitation. A conversation with Crane’s lead-ership led C2 to develop the company’s Personalized Design Studio.

Its easy-to-use interface connects directly with the company’s back-end production

management systems and al-lows salespeople at Tiffany & Co., Cartier and Macy’s to en-ter invitation information and produce proofs immediately. The couple can test different fonts, colors, themes and styles right there in the store.

The system, fi rst designed in 1997, saves Crane time and helps close sales more quickly. “It’s more rocket science than you’d think,” quips Dever.

When Keurig Green Mountain was looking for a way to double web sales and

COMPANYC2

LOCATIONColchester

WEBSITEcompetitive.com

C2 founding partners: President & CEO Carolyn Edwards, VP of Engineering Melissa Dever, VP of Managed Support Todd Kelley, VP of Enterprise Infrastructure Martin Thieret

making the net Work

Shelburne’s Ascension Technology Corporation makes 3-D tracking devices that guide medical instruments inside a patient’s body. But when the company needs IT guidance and support, it relies on Network

Performance, Inc. The South Burlington company helped Ascension design its IT network, which NPI supports with re-mote monitoring and management.

The technology management fi rm has been working as an advisor to Vermont companies for 25 years. Cofounders John Burton and Eric Hart have built information infrastructure in a variety of businesses around the Northeast. Burton says he and Hart quickly realized that there was a business opportunity in helping smaller companies nav-igate technological challenges. “They really need somebody on their side,” he explains.

Today, the two manage a 14-person team that provides technical, administrative and consulting expertise to small companies with 10 to 100 em-ployees. NPI’s diverse client list includes other tech compa-nies, such as Ascension and Revision Military, as well as Darn Tough, Bond Auto Parts and Wake Robin.

NPI’s staff work inside the company’s secure facility, nestled on a road behind the GE Healthcare complex; its lobby is sep-arated from the offi ces by a door with a computerized lock. Visitors must sign in and don badges — Burton explains that NPI needs to abide by the same security protocols that govern its military and medical-industry clients.

To serve their needs, NPI offers what it calls its “Canopy” service, which provides: 24/7 emergency response; repairs guaranteed 365 days a year; license and warranty tracking; stocking of spare equipment; disaster recovery; and regular IT review and strategy check-ins. NPI’s staff also provides tech-nology management guidance and advises clients on ways to increase returns on their technology investments.

“It’s not the fun stuff, really,” Burton observes. It’s just the stuff that keeps in-house IT people too busy to do proactive work on the company’s behalf. Eliminating that burden is what NPI does best — so that its clients can focus on what they do best.

COMPANYNetwork

Performance, Inc.

LOCATIONSouth Burlington

WEBSITEnpi.net

increase membership in its coffee clubs, C2 built the company a new e-commerce site using Sitecore Content Management and Commerce Server from Microsoft. This plat-form supported multiple sites, resulting in a dramatic increase in web sales. It became a major cornerstone for the company’s digi-tal marketing campaigns and new product introductions.

Once C2 builds these systems, it can con-tinue to support and overhaul them when new tools become available, says cofounder and CEO Carolyn Edwards. “It’s our job to understand how to leverage new technology,” she explains. “We use it to help our clients keep their businesses current.”

In addition to architecting front-end solu-tions, C2 also helps clients streamline inter-nal operations. For Saint Michael’s College, that meant updating the school’s email plat-form using a Microsoft Exchange Server. For Renewable NRG Systems, it meant a signifi -cant upgrade to internal infrastructure, a new SharePoint intranet for internal information sharing, as well as an external website sup-porting customers worldwide.

C2 also provides infrastructure and mis-sion-critical support services. When a custom-er’s Vermont-based data center fl ooded during Tropical Storm Irene, Martin Thieret – C2 co-founder and vice president of enterprise in-frastructure solutions – headed to Waterbury.

“I was handed a plastic bag with a mud-dy server in it,” he recalls. The replacement equipment was no longer available commer-cially, but Thieret was able to leverage C2’s client relationships to fi nd the parts to get a crucial database back online. “You can’t build these relationships when you need them,” he says. “You have to have them already.”

C2 is also building relationships with the next generation of tech talent. The company runs a highly developed internship program and typically hires up to 10 college students each summer, some of whom become full-time employees after graduation.

In 2013, C2 took on a pro bono gig — help-ing the Vermont Technology Council de-velop a new internship portal for the state. The Tech Council’s new, free-to-use site, vermont.internships.com allows other Vermont companies to connect with students seeking internships.

C2 also supports a variety of other projects that foster the state’s burgeoning tech scene. The company has been a sponsor of Hack VT and the Vermont Tech Jam, as well as Girl Develop It, which offers low-cost coding class-es to professionals working in other fi elds. C2 employees have spoken to students at the STEM Academy at Essex High School and are involved in launching the Coder Dojo BTV, a volunteer-led coding club for kids ages 7 to 17.

Those investments share the goal of devel-oping C2’s — and Vermont’s — future work-force, ensuring that Vermont companies can keep competing.

Standing: Chris Hill, Eric Hart and Matt Beckert of NPI; seated: Trish Scott and Chuck Stevens of Ascension Technology Corporation

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The U.S. IT indus-try makes up 28% of the U.S. econ-omy, and 88% of the nation’s IT in-dustry is made up of businesses with between 1-19 workers.— CompTIA, the IT industry association

The IT industry pro-vides highersalaries than most other industries, with technical workers earning an average of $81,000 per year.— CompTIA, the IT industry association

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Here are some of the

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Technology Alliance.

FIND AND OFFER INTERNSHIPS THROUGH VERMONT.INTERNSHIPS.COMStudents know that internships lead to jobs and Vermont companies realize the value of internships as a recruitment tool — about 70 percent of students who complete an internship receive a job offer following their internship placement.

That’s why the Vermont Technology Council helps connect in-state businesses with motivated, capable students for tech internships. Businesses provide the opportunities, students provide the talent, and the online Vermont Internships platform brings the two together.

VERMONT.INTERNSHIPS.COM is free for both students and employers. Students can search, view and apply for internships and fi nd career resources. Employers can post internship positions, search for qualifi ed students, and fi nd information about starting and building an internship program.

Check it out at vermont.internships.com and visit the Vermont Technology Council’s website at VTTECHCOUNCIL.ORG.

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JOIN THE vtTA The Vermont Technology Alliance is the voice for the state’s thriving tech sector, focused on: • Promoting the growth of technology businesses and technology jobs • Creating opportunities for collaboration and networking• Sponsoring technology programs, events and special projects • Sharing technology news, information and resources• Advocating on behalf of Vermont’s technology business sector• Providing outreach, information and support to government, business and education leaders • Encouraging STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)-based education and careers

vtTA members are crucial to helping accomplish the goals of the Vermont Technology Alliance, and benefi t from its many networking opportunities. Become a member, or support the vtTA as a sponsor. Find out how at VERMONTTECHNOLOGYALLIANCE.ORG.

PARTICIPATE IN OUR PROGRAMSThe vtTA offers programs and initiatives in support of Vermont’s tech community, including: • Vermont Tech Jam: an annual job fair and tech expo that showcases

Vermont technology companies, careers and opportunities • Tech Jam Awards: vtTA’s annual awards program recognizing

innovative Vermont technology products and people• Lunch & Learn: monthly information and networking sessions

featuring guest speakers addressing a range of tech-focused topics• Social Events: the vtTA hosts social and networking events, such as the

summer dinner cruise and a year-end social gathering• Tech Community Outreach: the vtTA promotes and supports technology

organizations and events

CONNECT WITH THE vtTAVisit us at vermonttechnologyalliance.org and SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

Connect with us on social media:

and present:

and present:

Get Tech Jam updates at TECHJAMVT.COM

Join us on Facebook: facebook.com/VermontTechAlliance

Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/VermontTechAlliance

LinkedIn: linkedin/VermontTechAlliance



Vermont’s tech economy continues to grow, but the vtTA believes there are more opportunities for the state to truly tap the tech sector and maximize its potential.

By working together to make Vermont a home for tech companies and entrepreneurs, we can keep these high-paying jobs in the state, and attract even more in the years to come.

• 1105 Media/MSDN Magazine Colchester

3W Promotions Hyde Park

6 Degrees Software Burlington and Consulting, Inc.

7th Pixel Montpelier

AADCO Medical Randolph

Accelerated Outsourcing Bristol

Accolade Group Waterville

Accutrace Design, LLC Williston

Acute Technology Morrisville

Advanced Illumination Rochester

Agilion Burlington

• Aerie Consulting Winooski

Ai Squared Manchester Center

Aiki Creative Woodstock

• AJ Rossman Burlington

Albany College of Pharmacy Colchester & Health Sciences

• Alfred James Brignull Essex Jct

All-Access Infotech, LLC Fairlee

All Earth Renewables Williston

Allscripts South Burlington

Alpine Web Media Shelburne

American Healthcare Software South Burlington

Anything Graphic Pittsford

• Appleseed Solutions Essex Jct

Art Services, Hartland Graphic Design & Advertising

Art Seventy, Inc. Newport

Ascendant Data Hartland Technologies, Inc.

Ascension Technology Corp. Shelburne

ASIC North, Inc. Williston

Ask-int Tag Essex Jct

Astute Computing, LLC Waterbury Center

Audio-Video Corporation Shelburne

Aurora North Software Burlington

Availability Online Rutland

AvantLogic Corporation Waitsfield

Avocado Design Williamsville

Basic Eparts Charlotte

• Bear Code Montpelier

Bear Pond Productions Cambridge

Bia Diagnostics Burlington

BioMosaics, Inc. Burlington

BioTek Instruments Winooski

Birnam Wood Games Burlington

BK’s Computing Barre

Blu-Bin Burlington

Blue Morpho Technologies, Burlington, LLC

• Bluehouse Group Richmond

BLZ Services, Inc. Essex Jct

• Brandthropology, Inc. Burlington

Breen Systems Management Vergennes

Brighter Planet Shelburne

Brown Computer Solutions Bennington

Burlington Bytes Burlington

Button Systems Castleton

Cadenza Systems Middlebury

Caleidoscope Burlington Communications Company

Cambium Group St. Johnsbury

Capacitor Design Network Hinesburg

• Care.com Moretown

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VERMONT COMPANIES THAT ARE “TAPPING TECH”


continued next page

Vermont Technology Alliance Members

Cartographic Technologies, Inc. Putney

• Casenet, LLC Charlotte

Catamount Research St. Albans and Development, Inc.

• Champlain College Burlington

• Chroma Technology Group Bellows Falls

ClearBearing Burlington

• Coldwell Banker - BurlingtonHickok & Boardman Realty

• Coler and Colantonio Burlington

Comcast Cable South Burlington

Commerce Generation Burlington

Community College of Vermont Montpelier

• C2-Competitive Computing Colchester

Comport Consulting Vermont South Burlington

Computational Geology, Inc. Weybridge

Computer EZ Mendon

Concept Engineering Middlesex

Concepts NREC White River Jct

Conix Systems Manchester Center

Control Technologies Williston

Cottage Industries Ltd Jeffersonville

Creative Microsystems Waitsfi eld

• CSL Software Solutions, Inc. Burlington

• Cyprian Labs West Hartford, CT

Data Innovations, LLC South Burlington

Data Systems, Inc. Burlington

Datamann, Inc. Wilder

• David Jenkins Waterbury Center

• Davis & Hodgdon WillistonAssociaties CPAs

• Dealer.com Burlington

• Desai Management Consulting Williston

Digital Aurora, Inc. Manchester

Digital Frontier Stowe

Digital Media Creations Burlington

Digitumbra St. Albans

• Dinse Knapp & McAndrew Burlington

Dinwiddie Software Brattleboro

Direct Design, Inc. Burlington

Divergent Technology Group, Inc. Perkinsville

Diversifi ed Technology Springfi eld

Dog River Business Solutions, LLC Springfi eld

Dominion Tech Colchester

Dot Four Shaftsbury

Draker Burlington

Dreamlike Pictures Burlington

Duelmark Aerospace Corp Cambridge

• Dunkiel Saunders BurlingtonElliott Raubvogel & Hand, PLLC

DYMPOL, Inc. Waitsfi eld

Dynamic Business South Burlington Solutions, Inc.

Eagle Network Solutions Burlington

Earthlogic, Inc. Colchester

East Street Information Ltd Essex Jct

Eastern Systems Group Waitsfi eld

• Eastman Benz Winooski

EC Fiber Royalton

Ecopixel, LLC Essex Jct

Edgeworks, Inc. Williston

E-Enable, Inc. Bennington

Electronic Connection Services Williston

• Empower Mobility, LLC Essex

Enhanced Designs Jericho

EQ2, Inc. Burlington

Exetechs Cornwall

Exterus Shelburne

• FairPoint Communications South Burlington

Fenner Consulting North Clarendon & Software Development, Inc.

• FirstLight Williston

Found Line, Inc. Burlington

Four Nine Design Burlington

• FreshTracks Capital Shelburne

Whether you are a client looking to fi ll a technical position or a candidate looking to advance your career, look no

further than the Technical Connection. In 2013, Technical Connection placed more than 100 technical candidates

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Front Porch Forum Burlington

Galaxyplace, Inc. Fairlee

Galen Healthcare Solutions Burlington

• Gallagher, Flynn Burlington & Company, LLP

GBIC Burlington

GE Healthcare South Burlington

General Dynamics Burlington

Gerard T LaVarnway Northfield

• Girl Develop It Winooski

• Girl Zone Corp. South Burlington

GIS Consulting Services, LLC Burlington

Global Classroom Essex Jct

Globalnet Internet Services Essex Jct

• Global-Z International Bennington

• Google White River Jct

Gorilla Web Studio LInc.oln

Green Mountain Access Waitsfield

• Green Mountain Burlington Antibodies, Inc.

Green Mountain Digital Woodstock

Green Mountain Innovations Williston

Green Mountain Network Burlington

• Green Mountain Burlington Software Corp

Green Mountain Solutions, Inc. Alburgh

Green River Software Brattleboro

Greensea Systems, Inc. Richmond

• Greg Hendrix Essex Jct

Grenon Consulting, Inc. Colchester

Gruber Technologies, LLC Burlington

GS Precision Brattleboro

Hark Digital Burlington

Hawks Mountain Consulting Chester

HC Sharp Software, Inc. Thetford Center

Haematologic Essex Jct Technologies, Inc.

• Hen House Media, LLC Williston

Henninge-Industrial Design Burlington and Product Development

Hesfield Enterprises, Inc. Colchester

High Design Creative Group Proctor

High Design, Inc. Proctor

Howard Printing, Inc. Brattleboro

HP Enterprise Services Williston

Husky Injection Molding Milton

IBM Essex Jct

• Ido Lanuel Hinesburg

IGG Software Putney

Image Softworks Fairlee

• Infinity Software Design Middlebury

Injenics Consulting Colchester

• Innovation Hub Jericho

Inside Edge Software Huntington

• InSpo, Inc. Burlington

Instrumart South Burlington

Interlock Software Burlington

Interrobang Design Richmond Collaborative, Inc.

Ion Design Burlington

iSystems, LLC Colchester

IT Services, LLC Milton

iTech US, Inc. South Burlington

Ivy Computer, Inc. Waterbury Center

IWD InnovationsYES Winooski

• J. Rosenblum Calais

JAG Software, LLC Shelburne

Jamison Computer Services St. Albans Bay

• jbt production services Burlington

J.E.G. design, Inc. Rutland

Jennifer Boyer Web Design East Montpelier

JG Communications Barre

Jim Winter Consulting Hinesburg

• John Fodero Jericho

• John Pile Burlington

John Valance, Consultant South BurlingtonLogicSupply-TappingTect-Ad-2014.pdf 1 3/13/2014 11:43:29 AM

VERMONT COMPANIES THAT ARE “TAPPING TECH” continued


continued next page

• Judith Mueller Burlington

Kaman Composites Bennington

• Karen Abrahamovich South Burlington

Keep Kids Safe Montpelier

• Ken Horseman Montpelier

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. Waterbury

Key Communications, Inc. White River Jct

Kilawatt Technologies Shelburne

KnowledgeWave South Burlington

• KSE Montpelier

Lab Partners Associates, Inc. South Burlington

Lake Champlain Productions, Inc. South Burlington

Laureate Learning Systems, Inc. Winooski

Learning Objects Network, Inc. Waitsfi eld

LED Dynamics Randolph

Lee River Software, LLC Jericho

Level 3 Communications South Burlington

Level 9 Barre

Life Elephant Colchester

• Logic Supply, Inc. South Burlington

LORD MicroStrain Williston

LPA Design South Burlington

Mach 7 Technologies Burlington

MacInsight Wallingford

Mack Moulding Arlington

MacWorks Winooski

Mad River Web Waitsfi eld

Manock Comprehensive Burlington Design, LLC

Mantissa Technologies Corp Williston

Manufacturing Woodstock Information Systems

Maponics White River Jct

• Marian Lawlor Essex Jct

• Mary Evslin Stowe

• Mary Anne Sjoblom Essex Jct

Materials Management Thetford Center Systems, Inc.

Maven Peal Instruments East Montpelier

Max IT Burlington

MBF Bioscience Williston

McHughston, Inc. Williston

MED Associates, Inc. St. Albans

• Melissa DeBlois Winooski

• Merritt & Merritt & Moulton Burlington

MicroBrightField, Inc. Williston

Micro-CAD Designs, Inc. Waterbury

MicroData GIS, Inc. St. Johnsbury

• Microdesign Consulting, Inc. Colchester

Microprocessor Designs, Inc. Shelburne

• Michael Szumski Montclair, NJ

• Middlebury MiddleburyInteractive Languages

MInc.ar Consulting Richmond

MISys Manufacturing Woodstock

MLF Computer Services Stowe

Morgan Stanley Burlington

Moscow Mills, Inc./Vibration StoweSolutions North

Moss Computer Consulting Burlington

• MSD Consulting Montpelier

Mylan Technologies St. Albans

• MyWebGrocer Winooski

Natworks, Inc.orporated Northfi eld

NEHP, Inc. Williston

Nemia Medical NewportTechnology, LLC

Net Source of Vermont, Inc. Grand Isle

Network Performance, Inc. South Burlington

• NeuEon, Inc. Burlington

New Breed Marketing Winooski

• Newgrange IT Consulting, LLC Shelburne

Newspeak Communications Charlotte

N Hawley Business Solutions Milton



VERMONT COMPANIES THAT ARE “TAPPING TECH” continued

North Country Communications Newport

Northeast Computer Systems Lyndonville

Northeast Kingdom Glover Information Associates

Northern Lights Weathersfield Business Communications

Northern Skies Observatory Peacham

• Norwich University Northfield Applied Research Institutes

Nowirz Moretown

• NPI South Burlington

NSK Steering Systems-America Bennington

• Nunki, LLC New Haven

OCR Solutions Burlington

One Communication Williston

OpenTempo Williston

Original Gravity Media Burlington

Ormsby’s Computer Store Barre

P&C Software Services, LLC Jericho

Panther Interactive Burlington

• Par Springer-Miller Systems Stowe

Paradigm Consulting Company Bethel

Patient Engagement Systems Burlington

PC Med Newport

• PerfectJob, LLC Essex Jct

Peter Wolf Photo-Graphics Jericho

Pfizer Montpelier

Phil Tenenbaum Rutland Computer Assistance, Inc.

Phoenix Chemistry Services North Ferrisburg

PhRMA Washington, DC

• Physician’s Winooski Computer Company

• PIEmatrix Burlington

Pine Computers South Burlington

PKC Corp Burlington

Polhemus Colchester

Pragmatic Technologies, Inc. Burlington

• Precision Bioassay, Inc. Burlington

Precision Contract Springfield Manufacturing

Prompt, Inc.orporated Alburgh

• Propeller Media Works, LLC Burlington

Prosoft Technologies, Inc. South Burlington

Publishers’ Assistant Jericho

• Pwnie Express Berlin

Quechee Software Quechee

QuorumSoft Winooski

Qvault, Inc. Essex Jct

Radius Network, LLC Monkton

RainWorx Software South Burlington

Ram Design Marshfield

rb Technologies, LLC East Montpelier

RCx Rules Burlington

• Reading Plus Winooski

Realpage, Inc. Williston

• Red Leaf Software, LLC Colchester

Renaissance Digital Hartland

• Renaissance Jericho Information Systems, Inc.

Rent-a-Geek Burlington

• Renewable NRG Systems Hinesburg

Research Proteins, Inc. Essex Jct

Results, Inc. Essex Jct

Revision Essex Jct

• RingMaster Burlington Software Corporation

• Robert Snapp Essex Jct

• Roger Tubby Stowe

Ronco Communications Williston & Electronics, Inc.

Rose Computer South Burlington Technology Services, Inc.

• Route 802 Williston

ROV Technology Brattleboro

Sacco Company Williston

Saxe Communication Burlington

SBE, Inc. Barre

Second Law Burlington

• SecurShred South Burlington

Segar Consulting Marlboro

SemiProbe Winooski

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Senix Corporation Hinesburg

Seven Days Burlington

Shad, Inc. East Montpelier

ShareCare Burlington

Small Dog Electronics South Burlington

Smallrock Software, Inc. Colchester

Softstart Services, Inc. Middlebury

Solbakken St. JohnsburyTechnology Partners

• SoRo Systems, Inc. South Royalton

Sound Innovation White River Jct

• Sound Toys Burlington

Southern Vermont Manchester CenterComputer Systems

Sovernet Communications Bellows Falls

Standards Technology Group Williston

Spectrum Design Bennington

Stanley Technical Services Hinesburg

Sterling Hill Productions Waterbury

• Sterling Valley Systems, Inc. Stowe

• Stone Environmental Montpelier

Straight Forward Software, Inc. Burlington

• Stromatec, Inc. Burlington

Summit Technologies Williston

Surplus Traders Alburgh

• Susan Skalka Burlington

• SymQuest Group, Inc. South Burlington

Synecology Randolph

Synergy Now Harmony Essex JctInformation Systems

Systems & Software, Inc. Williston

Systems Ideas, Inc. Montgomery Center

• Teamswork, LLC Shelburne

Tech Group South Burlington

• Tech Marketing Hinesburg

Tech Vault, Inc. South Burlington

• Technical Connection, Inc. Burlington

Technology Consultants, Inc. South Burlington

Teconic Computer Services, Inc. Rutland

TeleMedTest, LLC Stowe

Teligence Partners Shelburne

• Tertl Studos, LLC Montpelier

Tesi Innovations Colchester

The Data Farm Huntington

The Kingdom Connection St. Johnsbury

The Mac Doctor, Inc. New Haven

The MIS Group Essex

• The Silverbeard Corp. East Fairfi eld

The Top Floor Middlebury

Third Branch Technologies Montpelier

Tippson, LLC Burlington

• Tom Cook Essex Jct

• Tom Larsen Monkton

Toonuva Games Burlington

TransParent Computers Milton

Triad Design Service, Inc. Williston

Triangulus Burlington

TwinState Technologies Colchester

• Union Street Media Burlington

Universal Micro Systems, Inc. Waitsfi eld

University of Vermont Burlington

Upper Access Hinesburg

Utility Risk Management Stowe

UTC Aerospace Vergennes

• UX Design Edge St. Albans Bay

ValleyNet, Inc. Royalton

• Vantage Point Recruiting Westbrook, ME

vbGraphics Burlington

Vector New England, Inc. South Burlington

Verizon Wireless South Burlington

• Vermont Biosciences Alliance South Burlington

Vermont Business South BurlingtonManufacturing

Vermont Center Burlington for Emerging Technologies

Vermont Center Waterburyfor Geographic Information

Vermont Chamber Barreof Commerce

Vermont Circuits Brattleboro

Vermont Database Corp Stowe

• Vermont Design Works Winooski

Vermont EPSCoR Burlington

Vermont Films Brattleboro

• Vermont HITEC, Inc. Williston

Vermont Information MontpelierConsortium, LLC

Vermont Information ColchesterProcessing, Inc.

Vermont Internet South NewfaneMarketing Consultants

Vermont Manufacturing Randolph Center Extension Center

Vermont Panurgy, Inc. South Burlington

Vermont PC Solutions Jericho

• Vermont Small Business Development Center White River Jct

Vermont Systems, Inc. Essex Jct

• Vermont Tech Guy Colchester

Vermont Telephone Co, Inc. Springfi eld

Vermont Transformer, Inc. St. Albans

Vertek Corp Colchester

Viewboost Townshend

Vishay Tansitor, Inc. Bennington

Vivid Technologies Burlington

Vtel Internet Springfi eld

VTweb Internet Services Rutland

WH Group Richmond

Weidman Electrical St. JohnsburyTechnology, Inc.

• Windstream Burlington

Wolpin & Associates Bristol

Woodward Design Brattleboro

Yizri, LLC Burlington

Zandar Corp Essex Jct




SPONSORS

MyWebGrocer

First Light

C2Champlain College

Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs Dinse Knapp

& McAndrew

DINSE / KNAPP / McANDREW

Gallagher, Flynn & Company LLP Keep Kids Safe

Logic Supply

INDUSTRIAL & EMBEDDED COMPUTING

Merchants Bank

PROUDLY SUPPORTING THIS EDITION OF TAPPING TECH

Community College of Vermont

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Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman

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SymQuest Group, Inc.

• NeuEon Inc.Par Springer-Miller

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Physician’s Computer Company

Pwnie Express

Vermont Technology Council

Stone Environmental

Windstream Communications

Vermont Biosciences Alliance

Technical Connection, Inc.

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T H E V O I C E F O R T E C H N O L O G Y I N V E R M O N T

FIND OUT MORE AND ADD YOUR VOICE — BECOME A VTTA MEMBER OR SPONSOR AT

VERMONTTECHNOLOGYALLIANCE.ORG

» We bring people together for networking, collaboration and action

» We sponsor Vermont technology programs and events

» We advocate on behalf of Vermont’s technology business sector

» We provide tech outreach, information and support

» We tell the tech story

Tapping Tech 3

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Transcript of Tapping Tech 3