A few days ago I got an email from the Sr. Editor of ComputerWorld who was interested to learn what had become of the group of Vermont software companies that had banded together a few years ago. He was referring to the Vermont Software Developer Alliance an organization who's board I have served on since it began over three years ago.

I passed him on to our new Executive Director, Patrick Martell and only days later, this story appeared in Computerworld. Cool!

Green thinking vs. great access: A tale of two high-tech contenders
Ambitious Vermont needs what Westchester County, N. Y., has: broadband

I'm on the board of the Vermont Software Developer Alliance and therefore saw the email which came in from Rick Chapman asking if we'd be interested in having him present at one of our monthly meetings.

It was a few days before I realized that this was Merrill Chapman, who wrote (and then revised) the fabulously entertaining and educational "In Search of Stupidity: In Search of Stupidity:
Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters". Joel Spolsky wrote the forward for the first edition and Eric Sink wrote the forward for the 2nd.

Rick will be presenting at the November 14th VTSDA meeting about his company's findings from an extensive survey on developments in the SaaS market.

Inc's 5000 list was recently released and among the 9 Vermont companies on the list there are two software companies, both based in South Burlington.

 iTechUS ranked 113 on the whole list and #11 in IT companies. In New England it is ranked #1 in the IT Services companies. www.itechus.com

Dealer.com ranked 578 in the full list. While they are a software company, their industry is listed as advertising and marketing. In that category they are #55. www.dealer.com

Once again, we could not have asked for better weather for an evening cruise out on the lake! This was VTSDA's 2nd annual sunset cruise aboard the Spirit of the Ethan Allen from the Burlington waterfront. We had twice as many attendees as last year (60 this time). It was great to see our friends from the state there also, including some of our favorite Vermont Dept of Economic Development reps, James Candido and Mike Quinn as well Christine Werneke (Chief Marketing Officer for Vermont). These folks and others from the state have all become great supporters of VTSDA and it's definitely fun to have them at our social events, as well! A new face for us was Ted Brady, who is Sen. Leahy's field rep in Vermont. Though I've never personally met Sen. Leahy, Ted seems to represent him so well. He has a great presence, is quite affable and laid back, and can probably make sure things happen when push comes to shove.

Another special part of this event was that we got to introduce our new Executive Director, Patrick Martell, who started on Monday. It is a huge step for our organization to have gotten to this point. Read the press release here.

I was happy to have my pal Dave Burke there who I had emailed and said "hey, you are a software business, now, Dave. So you should come to this event!". 

The weather forecast looked iffy during the day but we had a beautiful night, a gorgeous sunset and spectacular views of the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains and the lake.

I didn't see anyone swimming away from the boat, so I think everyone had a great time.

Look for pictures on the VTSDA website coming soon.

IBM is definitely the largest employer in Vermont. I think when I moved here in 1999 they had something like 8000 or 9000 employees.

This news just appeared on the Burlington Free Press website:

IBM announced job cuts today at its Essex Junction facility. A total of 90 workers were notified starting this morning that their jobs will end.

The action is part of 450 job cuts, most of them at IBM’s East Fishkill, N.Y. and Poughkeepsie, N.Y., facilities.

IBM employs 5,700 at Essex Junction. The cuts are related to a reorganization of manufacturing and development within the Systems and Technology Group, which includes Essex Junction, said Glen Thomas, company spokesman at IBM’s offices in Somers, N.Y.

Read the entire article here...

Press Release

March 7th, 2007

Vermont Software Developers' Alliance

http://www.vtsda.org

*** Governor James Douglas will be making a presentation at a Vermont Software Developers' Alliance event on March 21. ***

Governor James Douglas will be making remarks about the Vermont Software Development sector and its role in Vermont's economic future.  We've also been informed that he has plans to make a very special announcement regarding the vtSDA.

This event will be held on Wednesday, March 21st 2007 from 11:30am to 1:30pm at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center.  The governor is scheduled to speak at 12:00pm sharp, for about 20 minutes. 

Mike Quinn, Commissioner of Economic Development and Pat Moulton, Commissioner of Labor, will follow the Governor's remarks with a presentation and Q&A period about the Vermont business environment, specifically relating to the software industry.

Please, accept our invitation to attend this very exciting event for the vtSDA and the future of software development in the state of Vermont. We anticipate having 30-40 owners and executives of local software development firms in attendance, as well as a number of government and media representatives.

The details of the event are still being finalized. Once we have gathered all the appropriate information we will issue a follow-up announcement.

Questions? Please email us at marketing@vtsda.org

After reading this in the Free Press, I had a great idea what we can do with any funds coming to Vermont - support the high tech industry here! How fitting.

Vermont shares in $90 million settlement with Samsung

Published: Wednesday, February 7, 2007
MONTPELIER - Vermont is one of 40 states to settle with electronics manufacturer Samsung in an antitrust lawsuit, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell announced this week.

The $90 million nationwide settlement with Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. arose from a claim of a price-fixing scheme among Samsung and several other of the world's largest computer memory chip manufacturers that began in the 1990s.

The settlement, which is still subject to a court review, does not yet detail how the money will be meted out among the suit's participating states and consumers.

Here's a recent opinion piece in the local paper about the importance of Green businesses in Vermont. I keep harping about how green the software industry is at VTSDA meetings and want to get the state to include us in all of their efforts around promoting green industry here. It's so good for Vermont. I will eventually get my message through!

From the Feb 23 Legislative Report of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce

David Winslow, CEO and President of EpikOne, Inc. was recruited by the Chamber and GBIC to testify from a businessperson’s perspective about what business expects from our educational and workforce development systems.  David’s story of being an underachieving high school student to becoming an entrepreneur who owns a knowledge-based technology business employing 15 people fascinated both the House Commerce and Education committees.  The Committee members peppered him with questions about his experiences and what can be done to foster other entrepreneurial-minded young people. The essence of his testimony was that the education system should expose students to business during high school, encourage skills-based training and internships and better align the curriculum with the business needs and technology of today. He also spoke of the need for businesspersons to become more involved in the educational system to provide these opportunities.

From the Burlington Free Press an interesting look at Vermont's "lopsided" economic evolution:

Vermont is the most entrepreneurial state in the country, according to the study. However, Vermont is last in creating high-wage service jobs; the service industry includes restaurant positions, financial and legal services, publishing and advertising. Connecticut, Delaware and New York lead this category.

Read the full article here

The resumes that these two men sent me to place onto the VTSDA website were astounding. Unfortunately, I had to use only a segment of each, as they were so long. They have each served on the boards of many of Vermont's biggest charitable organizations. They have both started hugely successful I.T. companies in Vermont. They are both incredibly smart, well-versed in matters of politics, economics and busines and both equally generous. I'm very excited that we have them coming to speak at VTSDA!

Managing Your Business for Change and Then for Growth

Bill Schubart
CEO, Resolution, Inc.

Pat Robins
Co-Founder, SymQuest

Bill Schubart and Pat Robins are two of Vermont's most prominent business leaders and are also high-tech pioneers in our state.

Bill and Pat will talk about:

• their vision of the potential of the Software Industry in Vermont
• their experiences growing their companies
• the state of economic development in Vermont and
• what businesses are (and can be) doing to help themselves.

The meeting is Wednesday, Feb 21st from noon-2pm at the Courtyard Marriott in Williston. More info, rsvp & direx here...

Wednesday's Vermont Software Developer Alliance meeting features a panel discussion with representatives of Vermont colleges and universities.  Learn what they're doing to prepare students for software related jobs, and what they're doing now to help employers connect with young talent.

Wednesday Jan 17th

12pm - 2pm

Courtyard Marriott in Williston VT

www.vtsda.org for more info

From the VT Tax website:

"The majority of states with sales tax and the businesses who sell into most of these states developed an agreement to simplify sales tax administration for states and to reduce the burden of tax compliance for businesses. The Agreement primarily focuses on businesses with limited or no connection that sell to the states’ citizens through mail order, catalogs and the Internet."

and...

Will canned software become taxable even when delivered electronically?
Yes, effective January 1, 2007 canned software delivered electronically is subject to the sales tax in the same
manner as software purchased in tangible form (CD-ROM, disk).

Group looks at keeping workers in Vermont

Published: Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Minding Our Own Business
(published 12.06.06)

Ideas for fortifying Vermont work force praised

Published: Sunday, December 17, 2006