TiE Minnesota Invites you to meet five entrepreneurs from diverse sectors as they, in conjunction with moderator Graeme Thickens, share their start-up experience and the role that mentors played in their [...]]]> The following event is happening in Dakota County one week from today. A great example of innovation among knowledge workers in our area…

TiE Minnesota Invites you to meet five entrepreneurs from diverse sectors as they, in conjunction with moderator Graeme Thickens, share their start-up experience and the role that mentors played in their development. Hear insights about what mentoring approaches work from the coffee shop to the inaugural class of Blueprint Health in New York City!

If you are an entrepreneur, a mentor or someone that believes in the importance of start-up success,  this program is for you!
REGISTERATION and Event Details at www.minnesota.tie.org or (Direct Registration Link with More Info tab: https://www.123signup.com/register?id=svfqv.)

FEATURED ENTREPRNEURS

Arvind Raghavan: Tychon Bioscience
Dr. Arvind Raghavan has co-founded two biotech startups based on technologies discovered & developed by co-founders at the University of Minnesota. As Interim CEO of ApoGen Biotechnologies, a genetic engineering reagents company, he was instrumental in helping secure a $250,000 seed-stage investment from the U of M for prototype development. He is currently VP of Business Development at Tychon Bioscience, a nanobiotech company developing targeted diagnostics and therapeutics for breast and prostate cancer. Dr. Raghavan is a CEO-in-Residence at the University of Minnesota’s Venture Center, and the Judging Committee Chair for the Cleantech Open’s accelerator program in the Midwest. He initiated, developed and managed strategic partnerships for Signum Biosciences, a Princeton University spin-off that is developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease therapeutics. Dr. Raghavan holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology; his research experience and publications span the fields of Immunology, Cancer Biology and Genomics.

Tychon Bioscience is a University of Minnesota startup biotech that is developing a platform technology for the targeted delivery of drugs and next-generation imaging agents for various cancers. Tychon’s unique ‘nanovehicle’ technology is based on research by Dr. Carston Wagner, Endowed Chair in Medicinal Chemistry. Nanovehicles carry drugs and imaging agents to specific tumor cells, deliver their molecular payloads, and are then disassembled for easy excretion from the body. What differentiates Tychon from the crowd? Pharmaceutical development is undergoing major upheavals throughout the world. Lean and smart biotech startups that understand and implement collaborative, risk-sharing strategies, are the new paradigm for success in the highly competitive and rapidly changing field of molecular medicine.

Michael Winikoff: Needl
Needl is a Q&A platform that enables healthcare professionals to ask questions about the drugs they prescribe—within the web and mobile Apps they use every day. Needl collects and routes these questions directly to the best solvers in Pharma, whether it’s the Sales Rep or the Scientific Liaison.

Needl captures those questions in real time and translates them into hard metrics which can be used to predict trends across healthcare. Through the Needl dashboard or API, we provide up-to‐date business intelligence about what healthcare providers want to know and the trends influencing their behavior.

Michael began his career as a technology consultant at Sudler & Hennessey, the healthcare arm of Young & Rubicam. He went on to become managing partner in two companies specializing in technology sales & training for the Advertising & Design industry before starting his own marketing and designing practice. His clients include startup and growth companies in vaccine development, security for cloud infrastructures, and biotech consulting. Michael earned his BA from Tufts University and his MA from Columbia University.

Neal Tovsen: Telemetry Web
TelemetryWeb is an online platform that creates the link between people and the things they care about. Experts predict there will be as many as 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2050. But the vast majority of these will not be PCs, tablets, or mobile phones. They will be industrial devices, consumer appliances, vehicles, factories, and farms. The TelemetryWeb platform enables device manufacturers to bring these kinds of connected devices to market quickly and at low cost, while providing a unique ability to use the information collected in new ways.

Neal Tovsen is an entrepreneur and experienced software architect who loves to bring innovative ideas to market. He has spent the last decade specializing in web-based, software-as-a-service technology for business applications, and his experience spans supply chain, energy, finance, and mobile industries. He is currently Founder and CEO of TelemetryWeb.
Rob Fuglie: Serial Entrepreneur
Rob Fuglie is a founder and entrepreneur focused on integrative innovation. His broad career as a generalist could conventionally be described as Business and Corporate Development. However, his lack of industry specialty and inability to state his experience in 15 seconds or less indicates his desire for the non-conventional. His experience includes: start-up, turn-around, consulting, business development, valuation, and human resources. The industries include: Internet, consumer finance, commercial construction, and corporate art. He has a Bachelor of Science from St. Cloud State University and MBA from University of St. Thomas.

For the last two years Rob has focused on new product and company development, acting as his own incubator. He currently has three projects in various stages of becoming companies. A software-as-a-service to ease family financial friction, a snack food company focused on making “allergen free cool enough to eat”, and a consumer product that is gives end users the tool necessary to fully enjoy a brilliant industrial design. Financing strategies have included full private placement memorandum, revenue share, and straight-up bootstrapping. The results to this point are two patents pending and two operating companies with revenue.

Frank Grazzini: TelemetryWeb
Frank Grazzini is co-founder of TelemetryWeb, Inc. and has been a member of TiE Minnesota for over two years. Frank spent much of his early career in global manufacturing organizations where he worked in several startup business segments, typically in financial roles. This gave him valuable business experience and a taste for entrepreneurship that eventually led to him starting an electronics recycling business in early 2010. He learned of TiE later that year, and quickly found it to be a great fit. TiE exposed him to much of what was going on in the Metro entrepreneurial community. In the months that followed, his entrepreneurial journey made a turn, included the opportunity to meet, through TiE, Neal Tovsen and the decision to join Neal in founding and building TelemetryWeb.

TXT2012: Teens eXperiencing Technical education July 30-August 3, 2012

Girls in grades 5-8

Dakota County Technical College Rosemount, Minnesota

For more information: www.dctc.edu/go/txt

Hands-on Workshops in: - Science - Technology - Design - Business [...]]]> Looks like a great class for area girls interested in technology. A great way to boost our future knowledge workers!

TXT2012: Teens eXperiencing Technical education July 30-August 3, 2012

Girls in grades 5-8

Dakota County Technical College
Rosemount, Minnesota

For more information:
www.dctc.edu/go/txt

Hands-on Workshops in:
- Science
- Technology
- Design
- Business
- Health
- Transportation
- Technical/Industrial

Registration now open – Volunteers needed!

TXT2012@dctc.edu
651.423.8439

In May 2011, an MOU was approved between Dakota County and seven other large MN [...]]]> Dakota County has been working on broadaband for more than a decade now – but last spring they entered a Memorandum of Understanding with seven other metropolitan counties to collaborate on telecommunciations infrastructure. According to the Dakota County website…

In May 2011, an MOU was approved between Dakota County and seven other large MN counties for a cross county collaboration process to incent sharing IT infrastructure and functionality. This bold, new initiative directs IT Leadership to review options for sharing underutilized assets as well as costs to implement new emerging technologies, provide new services and purchase technology.

It’s a great way to build on natural and beneficial partnerships to increase broadband deployment and adoption for the whole Twin Cities region.

For the past 10 years, Dakota County has successfully connected public entities within Dakota County with fiber optic cable through collaborative efforts between the state, cities, schools, and other [...]]]> Ever wonder how Dakota County government connects? It turns out some smart decisions were made starting ten years ago. According to the Dakota County website…

For the past 10 years, Dakota County has successfully connected public entities within Dakota County with fiber optic cable through collaborative efforts between the state, cities, schools, and other public entities within our county (the I-Net).

More than 240 nodes were connected for less than $1,000,000 of county funds, in stark contrast to other counties, who have spent 10’s of millions of dollars to install similar networks. Dakota County achieved these savings, in large part, by leveraging cable franchise agreements and intensive collaborative efforts.

Dakota County has Guiding Principles for Dakota County Broadband Projects that they have shared with other organization.

Just seven months after embarking on a feasibility study to help establish Eagan as a major telecommunications hub in Minnesota, the City of Eagan is proud to announce the planned development of a new 138,000 square foot carrier neutral data center called The Connexion.

The [...]]]> We are pleased to share the following good news…

Just seven months after embarking on a feasibility study to help establish Eagan as a major telecommunications hub in Minnesota, the City of Eagan is proud to announce the planned development of a new 138,000 square foot carrier neutral data center called The Connexion.

The specialized data center, known as a colocation facility, will be open to all telecommunications and internet service providers, as well as local and regional companies needing offsite data storage or disaster recovery options. The facility will be privately owned and operated and located along Yankee Doodle Road west of Pilot Knob, building upon an already fiber optic rich environment in Eagan. The Connexion will be developed and owned by Five 9s Digital, LLC, a North Carolina firm experienced in the site selection and development of mission critical multi-tenant facilities.

“The City of Eagan, MN is a community that gets it,” says Five 9s CEO, Doug Hollidge. “From government to business, Eagan understands the importance and long term benefits of having a highly connected and redundant data center in their city to serve not just the city’s robust business community, but The Connexion will provide a tremendous asset for the Upper Midwest.”

“Customers tell us there is a current lack of high quality data center options in the marketplace,” Hollidge adds. “In our solution, The Connexion will provide high connectivity, private data suites, route redundancy and environmental efficiencies.”

A task force, called the Eagan Technology Working Group made up of top technical and business talent from some of Eagan’s largest companies along with City and Chamber of Commerce staff have been studying Eagan’s broadband needs and challenges since 2005.

“We’re tremendously excited that the hard work of our Eagan companies and the Technology Working Group has led to this important advancement,” said Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire. Eagan’s role, he emphasizes, was not to own or run such a facility, but rather, to act as a tipping point to help bring the technical analysis and market forces together to make investment happen.

Overall private investment in the project is estimated to be between $75-$100M between the initial development of the facility and the subsequent tenant investment and installation of its mission critical equipment.

The Eagan area stands to attract additional data center end-users due to one of the key benefits of the Upper Midwest location of the Connexion—the extended cool climate which allows data centers to utilize “free cooling.” Minnesota also has a relatively low risk of natural disasters, compared with other areas of the country.

The Mission Critical team of Jones, Lang, LaSalle has been assisting on the project, and its study reveals “Minnesota is an excellent and growing data center marketplace,” says JLL’s Senior Associate of Mission Critical Brokerage, Brett Severson. “The Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul region has a relative dearth of viable data center options currently, and because The Connexion Data Center will be the first multi-tenant, LEED-certified, Tier 3 facility of its kind that is purpose-built to accommodate the latest needs of data center users, we think it will drive market demand” says Severson.

The Connexion will also definitively solve what is perceived as a single-point-of-failure issue facing the region. Many high capacity fiber networks in the area offer some route diversity for fiber optic lines and self-healing networks, and yet often funnel through one facility in the region before transmitting to the rest of the country or world. This issue was first recognized in a 2009 report by the Minnesota Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force.

XO Communcations is committing to be one of the fiber service providers in The Connexion offering high capacity connectivity via an alternate Southern long haul fiber route which will connect to a transwestern fiber link. This alternate route will offer other fiber providers and data center end users another level of redundant service to provide to their customers in the region.

“XO Communications has worked very closely with the City of Eagan and the Tech Working Group in developing a solution to address the lack of Internet redundancy in the Twin Cities metro area,” said Mark Feil, general manager for Minnesota at XO Communications. “With our nationwide fiber optic network running directly through Eagan, we are able to provide another major route for Internet traffic into and out of the Upper Midwest for businesses’ IP connectivity needs.”

Due to the current demand for such a facility in the region, and the determination of a strongly suitable data center in Eagan, Five 9s Digital has announced plans to proceed with the development of the project with a scheduled completion of 3rd quarter 2012.

The design and development team for The Connexion includes Five 9s Digital, Jones Lang LaSalle, McGough General Contractors, Pope Architecture, MMC mechanical contractors, and Hunt Electric. All parties on the design and development team possess substantial data center experience. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Mission Critical Division serves as the Project Manager and Leasing Associate for the project.

“McGough is extremely proud to be a part of this exciting partnership with Five 9′s Digital, Jones Lang LaSalle and the City of Eagan for the development of the Connexion. In addition to providing the business community with a Tier III reliable and secure new facility, it will also provide up to 50 construction jobs,” said Tim Nagle of McGough, which will be the general contractor for the data center.

Tier III classification is important, because estimates are that 70% of the U.S. market demand is for Tier III space, and because of the under supply of advanced colocation space, demand is growing. Some analysts put the 2012 colo market in North America at $5 billion.

Contact:
Tom Garrison
Communications Director
City of Eagan
651-675-5008
tgarrison@cityofeagan.com

Doug Hollidge
CEO
Five 9s Digital
Doug@Five9sDigital.com
704-651-2210

TECHNOLOGY SERVICES & CONSULTING AWARD RECIPIENTS

The Established Company recipient was [...]]]> We are pleased to see  couple of Dakota County based businesses received accolades last night at the Tekne Awards. Thomson Reuters was recognized for their leadership in the technology service and consulting; Thomson Reuters was mentioned again with Maverick Software Consulting for their innovative collaboration…

TECHNOLOGY SERVICES & CONSULTING AWARD RECIPIENTS

The Established Company recipient was Eagan-based Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters Checkpoint has been the industry-leader for online information for tax and accounting professionals for more than a decade. Checkpoint blends cutting-edge technology, expert editorial insight, primary source materials, time-saving productivity tools, online learning, and news updates all in an integrated fashion that adds intelligence to what might otherwise be content and software. On June 13, 2011, the latest evolution of Checkpoint was launched. The features include a redesigned user interface and re-factored underlying code as well as new functionality to enhance users’ experience. The new features and superior web design will continue to widen the gap between Checkpoint and the competition.

INNOVATIVE COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR AWARD RECIPIENT

The Innovative Collaboration of the Year Award was presented to Maverick Software Consulting in Lakeville. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU), Maverick Software Consulting, Advance IT Minnesota, Thomson Reuters and Digital River have created a first-of-its-kind academia-meets-corporate America partnership, bringing together top computer science students from campuses across Minnesota with corporations seeking local software development and software testing. The innovative collaboration provides corporate partners with top student talent as a successful, proven option for cost-effective software development and testing services and an experienced workforce after graduation. It also provides students real-world experience working in the field with cutting-edge technology and, typically, a job offer prior to graduation. This collaboration creates a motivated, skilled and productive workforce that sustains and expands Minnesota’s technology-based economy.

MOBILE & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AWARD RECIPIENT
The Mobile & Communication Technologies Award went to GeaCom, Inc. Duluth-based GeaCom was founded in 2007 by Mat Johnson who, after years of studying communication theory and working with high technology innovators, recognized a need for an improved method for communication theory as well as communicating across language barriers. Johnson’s resulting solution, Phrazer, is a handheld, interactive communication system with a touch screen interface that enables the collection and delivery of critical information. After identifying what language a patient speaks, Phrazer collects his/her information, medical history, symptoms and complaints and then summarizes it into the caregiver’s language that can be accessed on the device or through a facility’s electronic health records (EHR) system.

You can get a full list of winners from the Tekne Awards web site.