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washingtonpost.com - The Download -- The Washington Post's Ellen McCarthy on the Washington Region's Technology Sector (washingtonpost.com)

Crisis Mode: Less Ventured	(Mon, 27 Oct 2008)
For many local tech companies, it's feeling a lot like 2000 all over again. The Nasdaq is down, funding has dried up and entrepreneurs are hunkering down for a long winter.
Author: Kim Hart \| Category: Crisis \| More...

NASA Center Reaches Out Across the Miles to Area Firms	(Mon, 13 Oct 2008)
HAMPTON, VA.
Author: Kim Hart \| Category: NASA \| More...

Google Goes to Washington, Gearing Up to Put Its Stamp on Government	(Mon, 29 Sep 2008)
The tall buildings in Reston bear the familiar names of big government contractors: Northrop Grumman, CACI, Raytheon and Accenture. Last month another name appeared, but not one that's typically associated with the federal market.
Author: Kim Hart \| Category: Google \| More...

Riptopia Trades on a Pragmatic Version of 'Digital Bliss'	(Thu, 09 Feb 2006)
R iptopia , a District start-up that landed $3.2 million in angel funding last month, promises no less than to help the world "achieve digital bliss."
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Riptopia \| More...

Entrepreneur Hopes to Make Bored Travelers Log On and Say 'Ooh'	(Thu, 26 Jan 2006)
G ary S. Murray II 's new vision for the WiFi world goes something like this: A twenty-something traveler is in an airport with time to kill. He checks for wireless Internet access, finds it costs $7.95 to log on, refuses to pay the charge and instead logs on to Ooh TV , the free alternative created by Murray's Landover-based company. After wading through an ad or two, the traveler is entertained with short docudramas about emerging rap stars, fashion models and local nightclubs.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Entrepreneur \| More...

Fairfax's Razorsight Goes to 'Aggressive' Calif. Firm for Funds	(Thu, 12 Jan 2006)
R azorsight Inc. today will announce its first round of funding, a $10 million capital infusion from Sierra Ventures, a Menlo Park, Calif., firm that's become one of the most active outside investors in promising Washington start-ups.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Fairfax's \| More...

He's No Technologist, But Moves in Tech Circles	(Thu, 29 Dec 2005)
Virginia's new secretary of technology is not a technologist and has never served in government before.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: He's \| More...

'Internet Illiterate' Mom Sued Over Music Downloads	(Mon, 26 Dec 2005)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- It was Easter Sunday and Patricia Santangelo was in church with her kids when she says the music recording industry peeked into her computer and decided to take her to court.
Author: Jim Fitzgerald \| Category: 'Internet \| More...

Turning a New Page At Homeland Security	(Thu, 08 Dec 2005)
V ince Kelly is spending a lot of time lately trying to convince officials at the Homeland Security Department that he's got the solution, or at least part of it, to their emergency communication problems.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Turning \| More...

Venturing In From Outside	(Thu, 17 Nov 2005)
Today, JackBe Corp ., a three-year-old Bethesda start-up, will announce that it landed a $6.5 million round of funding from a Cincinnati-based venture capital firm.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Venturing \| More...

Capco Draws Firms, and Doubts, to D.C.	(Thu, 27 Oct 2005)
Last month, Adam Goozh , chief executive of CreateHope Inc. , a firm that sells software to manage corporate giving programs, asked his 45 employees to pack up their desks and move their office from Bethesda to the District.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Capco \| More...

Va. Firms Seek Robot Glory -- And $2 Million Prize	(Thu, 06 Oct 2005)
This weekend, 23 robots will line up in a Nevada desert and attempt to race along a 150-mile course rife with sharp turns and steep cliffs.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Va. \| More...

SunRocket Gets a Boost In Crowded Phone Market	(Thu, 22 Sep 2005)
S unRocket Inc. , a year-and-a-half-old Internet phone company based in Vienna, certainly has enough big-time competition. Vonage is out there, and so is Skype Technologies.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: SunRocket \| More...

Outgoing SI Chief Reflects on Success	(Thu, 15 Sep 2005)
Ray J. Oleson started his career in government contracting as an assistant programming manager in 1966, the days "when real men programmed," he says.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Outgoing \| More...

A New Big Name for a Firm With Some New Success	(Thu, 08 Sep 2005)
First he started his own company, and now this political big shot is lending his name to a local tech company. Michael K. Powell , the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has agreed to join the board of directors of Reston-based ObjectVideo Inc .
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: A \| More...

Best and Brightest Teach Basics of Business on Africa Trip	(Thu, 01 Sep 2005)
Just about every tech executive in the Washington area counts April Young among his or her most influential mentors.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Best \| More...

Big Names Endorse 'Blank-Check' Firms	(Thu, 25 Aug 2005)
Close observers of the local dealmaking community will recall that former Maryland congressman C. Thomas McMillen set up a company to make acquisitions in the homeland security sector in March.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Big \| More...

Reston's Ipix Focused On Getting the Big Picture	(Thu, 18 Aug 2005)
Last month's suicide bombings in London wrought heartache and tragedy. They also prompted calls for greater surveillance technologies -- and cast an unexpected spotlight on Reston's tiny Ipix Corp.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Reston's \| More...

Sprint, Nextel Employees Compete to Keep Their Jobs	(Thu, 11 Aug 2005)
While most of Washington's tech sector has sunk into heat-induced sedation, the folks over at Sprint Corp . and Nextel Communications Inc. are frenetically toiling away. As executives of the two companies wrap up a $35 billion merger, rank-and-file employees have been busy with a different task: interviewing for their own jobs.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Sprint, \| More...

In Alexandria, TopGolf Livens Up the Driving Range	(Thu, 04 Aug 2005)
The driving range: a few golf balls, some old clubs and an open field. What more do you need for some good old-fashioned fun?
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: In \| More...

At WebMethods, Two New Hires, Nine Quiet Departures	(Thu, 28 Jul 2005)
Two days ago Fairfax software company WebMethods Inc. put out a news release trumpeting its new executive hires.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: At \| More...

Party Time for Tech Community	(Thu, 21 Jul 2005)
Rain fell in sheets outside Bobbie Kilberg's McLean home last Thursday as the very important people of the local tech community filled her expansive halls. No letup was in sight, but at the stroke of 6:30, when the house couldn't hold another body, the sun broke through and the margarita machine was fired up.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Party \| More...

Reston Online Banking Company Admits It's Not So Good With the Books	(Thu, 14 Jul 2005)
It seems like every publicly traded tech company around the Beltway has spent the past year diligently preparing to meet the requirements of the new Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulations.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Reston \| More...

University of Maryland Gets an 'A' For Its Nanotechnology Research	(Thu, 07 Jul 2005)
If you get them going, the University of Maryland academics who are devoting their days to nanotechnology research will spout off dozens of ways their chosen field could someday change the world.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: University \| More...

X3O Takes Computer Gaming Out of the Basement	(Thu, 30 Jun 2005)
It is Saturday afternoon in Rockville, and the boys are furiously fighting terrorists.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: X3O \| More...

After Helping Other Companies Grow, A Lecturer Launches His Own	(Thu, 23 Jun 2005)
For the past 20 years, Andrew Sherman has been helping Washington area technology companies grow as a regular on the workshop circuit and as a teacher in university MBA programs.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: After \| More...

Getting the Labs Into the Game	(Thu, 16 Jun 2005)
This is the kind of advantage Washington technology companies long for as their geographic right:
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Getting \| More...

GPS Navigating Concept Aids Manufacturing Process	(Thu, 09 Jun 2005)
More than 10 years ago, two professors and a graduate student at Virginia Tech began tinkering with Global Positioning System technology, trying to find out if the navigation tool could guide a drill inside a factory as well as it guides a submarine under the sea.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: GPS \| More...

Young Biotechs, Hungry and Anxious	(Thu, 02 Jun 2005)
Ask folks along the Interstate 270 corridor if there's enough venture capital around to sustain a thriving biotechnology industry in the region, and you'll hear widely divergent responses.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Young \| More...

Techies Ramp Up For Internet's Next Incarnation	(Thu, 26 May 2005)
The 500 technologists hunkered down in the Reston Hyatt this week are plotting the best way to push us onto the new Internet.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Techies \| More...

Georgetown Network Links Cancer Studies	(Thu, 19 May 2005)
Last month, the techies at Georgetown University embarked on a rather ambitious mission: curing cancer.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Georgetown \| More...

A New Medium For Their Text Messages	(Thu, 12 May 2005)
Local executive Neville Street has a firm rule against bringing cell phones to company meetings. He knows how tempting it is to quietly pull out one of the devices and fire off a few friendly text messages while the bosses discuss the business at hand.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: A \| More...

GMU Looking To Raise Profile And $15 Million	(Thu, 05 May 2005)
Each of the 300 technology professionals who attended the annual gala for George Mason University's School of Information Technology and Engineering Friday evening walked away with a compact disc of classical music containing a thinly veiled message from Lloyd Griffiths , dean of the department.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: GMU \| More...

Building Drama Behind 'The Sequence'	(Thu, 28 Apr 2005)
Francis S. Collins arrived a bit late to the theater, so he had to take a seat in the front row -- about two feet from the actor playing Francis S. Collins.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Building \| More...

Xybernaut Hid Gathering Storm In Bright Forecasts	(Thu, 21 Apr 2005)
In December, Xybernaut Corp . issued 12 glowing press releases, each one trumpeting its grand successes in "mobile computing" -- the phrase it uses to describe its line of gadgets built into work clothes for soldiers, stock clerks and others.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Xybernaut \| More...

To Grow What No One Has Grown Before	(Thu, 14 Apr 2005)
Rob McGovern , founder of the online job site CareerBuilder.com , is an entrepreneur at his core. But last June, his job title became "venture partner." For months, McGovern holed up in the Reston office of New Enterprise Associates , looking at business plans, meeting with start-up executives and deliberating the merits of seemingly far-fetched technology schemes.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: To \| More...

Advice for Sale In Battle for Federal Contracts	(Thu, 07 Apr 2005)
By 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, when the crowd at the FOSE trade show was just beginning to swell, Marie L. Hartis had already been visited by a contracting matchmaker, asking if her company, Itronix Corp. , needed help selling to the government.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Advice \| More...

Security Expert Pokes Holes In Their Walls	(Thu, 17 Mar 2005)
In the early afternoon in Severna Park, Ira Winkler sits on his couch, casually moving one hand across the mouse pad of his laptop computer. His three boys come and go, and his puppy, Bandit, plays underfoot. Within 30 minutes, Winkler has gathered identities and home addresses of employees at the company he is attacking. He knows the names of the servers holding the corporation's precious data and he knows which systems are vulnerable.
Author: Ellen McCarthy \| Category: Security \| More...

Media Start-Ups Aim to Build Content Capital	(Thu, 10 Mar 2005)
The future of technology in Washington may well be within the digital operations of some big, old players in our back yard: Discovery , National Geographic , The Washington Post , AOL and Gannett.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Media \| More...

MCI and AT&T Leave Little Guys Behind	(Thu, 03 Mar 2005)
Lobbying against the regional Bells is about to become a lonely cause for XO Communications Inc . of Reston.
Author: Yuki Noguchi \| Category: MCI \| More...

George Mason Defends Its High-Tech Turf	(Thu, 13 Jan 2005)
An outspoken government official and a determined university president are bumping heads over what academic institution can best represent high-tech research in Northern Virginia.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: George \| More...

Local Tech Looks Homeward For '05 Success	(Thu, 30 Dec 2004)
The area's technology executives have again embraced the idea that Washington is a government town. Over the years when government work was not considered fashionable, some tried to develop a separate identity for the region built on ventures in software, telecom, the Internet -- the whole gamut.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Local \| More...

Wireless Abounds; The Focus Now Is on Improving It	(Thu, 16 Dec 2004)
Nextel was the big story in telecommunications yesterday, thanks to the Reston company's mega-merger with Sprint, but the future of wireless may be percolating in dozens of Washington area start-ups.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Wireless \| More...

Prayer Breakfast Draws Strong Tech Turnout	(Thu, 18 Nov 2004)
The guest speakers appearing before a sold-out breakfast of 600 tech executives usually hold forth on such topics as cable communications and early-stage venture funding. But on this morning in the well-appointed ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton at Tysons Corner, Gary T. McCollum, vice president and general manager of Cox Communications Northern Virginia, and April Young, senior vice president of Comerica Bank, have a different topic: their spiritual journeys.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Prayer \| More...

Huang to Push For a Research Institution	(Thu, 04 Nov 2004)
Eugene Huang is an introvert who's on an extended lecture circuit, a high-level government official who dislikes politics and, as of Oct. 1, one of the youngest state Cabinet secretaries in the nation.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Huang \| More...

Getting the Word on Intellectual Theft From the Top	(Thu, 21 Oct 2004)
Many of them had heard the lectures from authority figures before: Don't illegally download songs and games from the Internet because people make their livings selling those products, stealing is a crime, every crime has unseen consequences, and so on.
Author: Monte Reel \| Category: Getting \| More...

Innovators Find Alternative To Venture Capital	(Thu, 21 Oct 2004)
When Paul Brewer, co-founder of high-tech security company ObjectVideo, gave speeches to business school students about how to find funding, he used to focus about 80 percent of his talk on the art of landing venture capital. Now he spends most of his time on how to attract federal government funding, especially through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The managers of the program are more daring than venture capitalists, said Brewer, because they are more likely to fund an idea at its inception, before it has proved anything.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Innovators \| More...

Small Firms Vie for Slice Of Security Pie	(Thu, 07 Oct 2004)
Under mammoth gold chandeliers, Vinod Srikanth, senior director of Synergii, worked a wood-paneled room at the Army Navy Club in downtown Washington. His quarry: government officials and major-league contractors who could award homeland security business to the five-year-old Springfield company that creates complex computer systems.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Small \| More...

More Hunger At Investor Lunches	(Thu, 23 Sep 2004)
Jeff Grass stands in front of 100 potential investors, pitching his Alexandria-based company, BuySafe, a bonding service for people buying products through online retailers or auctions. He has eight minutes to wow the full house as most of those in the audience balance lunchboxes of turkey sandwiches, peaches and brownies from Balducci's on their laps.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: More \| More...

Executives Plan Online Memorial To 9/11 Victims	(Thu, 09 Sep 2004)
For almost three years, a group of Washington area executives has been gathering regularly for lunch at a restaurant in Ballston, brought together by a shared project: an interactive Web portal dedicated to those who lost their lives in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Executives \| More...

Venture Capital's Transparency Trouble	(Thu, 26 Aug 2004)
Among the tables, charts and bottom-line numbers in venture capital firm Grotech Capital Group's quarterly report to its investors is what Managing General Partner Frank A. Adams calls his "heart of hearts," a narrative of his gut feelings about companies that Grotech of Timonium has invested in. The essay includes Adams's candid opinions about the companies' top executives and their chance of succeeding.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Venture \| More...

Warning: Alert Systems Aren't Glitch-Free	(Thu, 12 Aug 2004)
When my cell phone rang at 4:28 a.m. on Aug. 2, I immediately thought it was an emergency. And it was, sort of. The federal government had raised the terrorism threat level to "orange" in Washington, New York and northern New Jersey. Problem was, the news had broken on Aug. 1.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Warning: \| More...

Innovation Still Draws A Crowd	(Thu, 29 Jul 2004)
Late Tuesday night in the dimly lit basement of Arlington's Rhodeside Grill, about 40 technologists drank beer and wrote furiously with big marker pens, some of them using pool tables as their desks, as they worked to invent a better cell phone.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Innovation \| More...

GWU Students Will Get Free Tunes This Fall	(Sat, 17 Jul 2004)
George Washington University this fall will become one of a small number of colleges to attempt a novel solution to the problem of students illegally downloading music from the Internet:
Author: Amy Argetsinger \| Category: GWU \| More...

The Loyal Sons of MicroStrategy	(Thu, 15 Jul 2004)
The offspring of MicroStrategy are coming of age.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: The \| More...

Tech Boom Veterans Return, Quietly	(Thu, 01 Jul 2004)
He's back. Well, sort of, and he doesn't want to talk about it.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Tech \| More...

Sale Replaces IPO As Ultimate Goal For Most Start-Ups	(Thu, 17 Jun 2004)
A collective plea seemed to rise from this month's annual venture capital fair in Washington, where dozens of start-up entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to hundreds of potential funders: "We want your money, but we don't want to run a public company."
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: Sale \| More...

At the Palm, A Gallery of Tech Boom Execs	(Thu, 03 Jun 2004)
Husband and wife entrepreneurs Kathy Clark and Bradley Rosen berg have rarely been in this country the past couple of years; they are still on a sailing trip around the world after Clark sold her software company, Landmark Systems, in 2002. Philanthropist Mario Morino now lives in Cleveland. And just what is former AOL president Bob Pittman doing these days?
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: At \| More...

SBA Examines Booster Group For Women	(Thu, 20 May 2004)
Springboard Enterprises, an organization designed to encourage women entrepreneurs and financiers, is embroiled in a fray with the Small Business Administration, which has accused the group and two of its executives of misusing government money and violating a variety of rules.
Author: Shannon Henry \| Category: SBA \| More...

Lawsuit Threat Cuts Music Downloads	(Mon, 26 Apr 2004)
NEW YORK, April 25 -- Driven largely by fears of copyright lawsuits, more than 17 million Americans, or 14 percent of adult Internet users, have stopped downloading music over the Internet, according to a survey released Sunday.
Author: Anick Jesdanun \| Category: Lawsuit \| More...

Schools Proclaim Video Gaming An Art Form	(Thu, 11 Mar 2004)
Juan Pineda, self-described graffiti artist, sits at a flat-screen computer monitor in a dark room, creating a computerized self-portrait for Animation for Interactive, a class at the Art Institute of Washington. Pineda has created a 3D image of himself in the form of a gray-and-yellow spray can that moves like a human. It's a cool project, but Pineda, 27, is thinking mo