NVTC Fall Fusion Fest Buzz: Not Even Rain Slowed the Small Business Development Action

The Fall Fusion Fest is one of the two events each season that all the NVTC committees meet in one place. The small business development action was nonstop. The Reston Town Center Pavilion has a glass roof and is open on all sides. At the height of the event, participants felt a cooling mist drift into the Pavilion because of the substantial downpour that was taking place outside. Few, if any, stopped their pitches because of the inclement weather.

The general buzz was whipped to a fevered pitch by those members who had attended the NVTC “Meet the Capital Players” event earlier in the day. The topic of this meeting was the investment climate for Voice Over IP (VOIP). However, the event took a very interesting turn when the topic of Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) and Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) came up. SIP enables the integration of advanced phone services over VOIP and BPL could render Wi-Fi and Cable modems obsolete. BPL uses standard indoor power wires to carry data at broadband speeds over the Internet.

Bolstered by the “Meet the Capital Players” buzz, there was a lot of talk about starting the New Media Special Interest Group (SIG). A number of people, who are interested in supporting the New Media SIG, were identified. Some of them had ridden the dotcom bubble and done well. Others have current clients that are involved in new media businesses and still others were interested in modeling/simulation. There was even a delegation from the Fairfax County Computer Club House and the Fairfax County Economic Development Agency talking about the benefits of the New Media SIG. The night ended well and a new technical SIG was born.


PS: I only got elbowed a couple of times. But there was no bruising.