Looking for 2010's most promising high-tech (social media included!) ideas and venture capital investing opportunities? In this Southeast US, Washington DC and Northern Virginia region? 2010 is shaping up to be a huge year for investing potential, especially in new media technologies, and the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area is a hotspot for this facet of regional economic development... The upcoming 2010 Southeast Venture Conference will host some of the most dynamic high-growth companies in the Southeast US, Feb 24-25, 2010 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Northern Virginia . The 2010 (4th annual) Southeast Venture Conference SEVC will feature 60 high growth companies presenting their new ideas and opportunities for investment, representing the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic US regions. The expected audience of 700+ VCs, PE Investors, Ibankers, high growth executives and entrepreneurs will make for unparalleled networking among the region’s top technology and investment le...

I’ve been asked from time to time by businesses about how to educate employees on using Social Media – from two perspectives. One perspective is simply as part of a broader Internet use policy, to help employees stay safe and protect information assets. Another perspective is to encourage employees to support their business in their daily online activities, should they choose to do so. This is essentially giving employees as “social media enthusiasts” the tools and guidance they should get, to help them positively contribute to the overall online marketing efforts of their employer. Following is some template guidance that can be used and shared with employees. Let us know how this can be improved or updated. Additional consulting regarding planning and implementing social media programs for businesses and organizations is available via KME Internet Marketing in DC . Use of Personal Social Media to Support ABC (Employer) This non-legal memo contains straightforward, general advice rega...

It remains true that the most valuable aspect of the Business Process Management ( BPM ) discipline is its ability to help an organization govern rather than just manage, but this ability requires a comprehensive view of the technologies and methods that truly make up enterprise class BPM. It also requires real time, collaborative information sharing from both the governance and participant perspectives. Executing to such a view can help deliver IT Governance Process Integration benefits, in real time. Read more here about this Blackstone Technology Group Enterprise BPM Consulting Services Point of View - by Clay Almy , Directory of Enterprise Integration, Blackstone Technology Group.

Attendance at today's Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Bethesda Chapter Breakfast Series entitled "Federal Cloud Computing Environments – Modernizing IT Systems" was very heavy, as viewed from the Blackstone Technology Group sponsored table. The panel discussion and DC Federal IT community networking conversation revolved around the push to promote and adopt cloud computing as part of the Obama administration’s effort to modernize the government’s information technology systems, and to help reduce the $75 billion annual budget for Federal IT in the process. The event panelists held an informative and rigorous discussion about how cloud computing is enabling IT professionals (government and industry) to rethink the packaging, delivery and operation of government services, and is changing the landscape of government IT infrastructure management and streamlining system, network and storage management. Panelists included Casey Coleman (Moderat...

Important DC and Northern Virginia Regional Business and Marketing Networking Announcement: by KME Internet Marketing Learn Integrated Online Marketing /Advertising, Branding, Web Design, SEO, Social Media, Analytics and Internet Video - in Northern Virginia, DC metro area. As 2009 draws to a close, it’s become very apparent that 2010 will continue to be an extremely challenging year for businesses seeking new customers, and new ways to market and advertise their brand and services. As well, the ability of Northern Virginia and DC-area professionals to effectively learn and leverage new Online Marketing and Internet New Media/Web 2.0 skills is hampered by the current lack of expert yet cost-effective, local and hands-on Internet Marketing/SEO training. Add to this the dizzying proliferation of Social Media publishing and analytic tools, the rapid change in the search engine technologies and video media industries, and the quickly-growing competition for eyeballs and click-throughs from...

Data.gov is a fairly recent Federal initiative with respect to data and information sharing and transparency; i.e. encouraging and facilitating the exposure (by all Government agencies) of verifiable, raw government data/geodata and data tools/visualization techniques to the public. Data can be accessed and downloaded in many formats, for any purpose - including datasets in XML, CSV, Text, KML, KMZ, or ESRI Shapefile formats. Recently the Data.gov CONOPS was released by the Federal CIO Council, together with OMB, along with a very interesting method and means to encourage public dialogue and input. To help stakeholders "join the dialogue", per se, the " http://www.datagov.ideascale.com " site was developed - essentially a blog with social media hooks (i.e. facebook, twitter, RSS). I went ahead and submitted an idea recently (to be moderated); as follows - be sure to review and submit your own, and/or comment on mine! "The Data.gov CONOPS provides a great deal...

Here's a very good article concerning the various types of strong identity management, multifactor and two-factor authentication solutions that are necessary for healthcare system and process identity enforcement - recently written by John D. Halamka MD, a self-described Healthcare CIO. Strong Identity Management In this article, Dr. Halamka states that he's had a wide range of experience with many of these token-based and tokenless two-factor authentication methods, including security tokens, smart cards, biometrics, certificates, soft tokens, and cell phone-based approaches. His summarized findings include: Security Tokens - many challenges and prohibitive expenses. Smart cards - a good consideration, though requires installation of many readers. Biometrics - great results, but still requires major technology upgrade for existing PC/LAN infrastructure (this is especially challenging in government and healthcare institutions with extremely diverse and aged personal computer...