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The Shenandoah Valley Connection top 
May 18,  2018
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SVTC Luncheon | Annual Meeting | Featuring Raincrow Studios (5/18)
Spirit Communications and Lumos Networks Announce Network Expansion of Express Cloud Access Service
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Businesses Open House (5/22)
Code and Coffee Study Group (5/23)
CBIC's 20th Annual Awards Gala: Celebrating #CvilleTech Innovation (5/24)
The Junior Academy | STEM Program for Students (application deadline June 30)
SAVE THE DATE: Valley TechCon (9/28)
Job Opening | Software Engineer, Jenzabar in Harrisonburg
Job Opening | Director of Information Technology, Lexington City Schools
Job Opening | Application Developer, Shen Valley Electric Coop
Rocktown Tech Slack Channel Link


May 18, 2018 | 11:30 am - 1:00 | Wood Grill Buffet, Harrisonburg


Featured speakers | Raincrow Studios
Raincrow Studios will discuss competing with giants in the world of augmented reality and their commitment to creating a world-class entertainment brand in the Shenandoah Valley. Their mobile game, Covens, is a unique player on the growing augmented reality landscape as it shares the same real-world map as Google Maps. and their commitment to creating a world-class entertainment brand. "The first time I saw a Google map on a smartphone, I saw a field-of-play for a world of gamers," said Travis Fox, Co-founder of Raincrow Studios. Covens, a location-based augmented reality game of magic and witchcraft, is the realization of that vision, taking full advantage of device-mobility and real-world awareness. "We wanted to build a game that was in rhythm with nature; the phases of the moon, the change of seasons, even weather affect the player and the behavior of NPCs in the game. We really challenged ourselves to reach beyond elder-game concepts and design something that changes with every launch, something beautiful, social and perpetual."

Covens is a unique player on the growing augmented reality landscape as it shares the same real-world map with several forthcoming titles from Raincrow. The original narrative is interwoven among the games, and the witches of Covens will soon find themselves confronting vampires of Vampire Tribunals and Van Helsing-types in Sons of Enoch.

About Raincrow
Raincrow Studios have been in the augmented reality sandbox since 2011 and are a team of 6 full-timers. They are an interactive digital media and tech company that produces augmented and virtual reality mobile games, apps and content. 

Add'l reading: Travis Fox, for VentureBeat.  ( Pokemon Go shows it's time for real-world games)

[They also just won the  SVTC's Innovation in Emerging Business award on May 2]

Open to SVTC members and the public. Registration is encouraged to receive a pre-printed nametag. Dutch treat.


Thank you to our luncheon sponsors!




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May 15, 2018 (Waynesboro, VA, and Columbia, SC)

The combination of Spirit Communications and Lumos Networks, a super-regional provider of fiber-bandwidth in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, announced that Express Cloud Access service is now available across Spirit's footprint in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Express Cloud Access provides carrier-class, direct access to multiple Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). The service was launched on Lumos' Mid-Atlantic network in 2016 and now operates across the combined company's   nine-state footprint .

Express Cloud Access allows a customer to bypass the public Internet and connect to a CSP directly, with speed, reliability and security superior to the public Internet. With Express Cloud Access, the CSP becomes a virtual endpoint on the customer's WAN that users can access with the same network performance and security as any other endpoint on the WAN.

A 2017 MacAfee report on the state of cloud adoption and security found that 93% of businesses are using cloud services and cloud spending is expected to consume 80% of all IT budgets by 2019. "These trends underscore the importance of carrier-class, network access to CSPs. Without it, cloud services may not have acceptable response times, which can negatively affect a business," said Dan Watts, head of Product Management for the combined company. "If a company doesn't use the public Internet for their corporate WAN, why would they rely on it for connectivity to a key CSP? Express Cloud Access helps maximize the performance of cloud resources. The bigger a company's investment in the cloud, the more important this performance becomes."

"Expanding the reach of Express Cloud Access will help businesses in the Southeast protect the response time of their cloud resources from potential congestion, latency, and data exposure on the public Internet," said Greg Guerra, Chief Operating Officer of the combination of Lumos Networks and Spirit Communications. "Now, we can bring the Express Cloud Access service directly to the doors of these organizations via our fiber network. There are a significant number of enterprises that will benefit from the combination of carrier-class access to CSPs, delivered over a super-regional fiber network. "Express Cloud Access supports a wide variety of speeds. CSPs accessible through the service include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Google Cloud Platform, SoftLayer, Oracle Cloud, and others. To learn more, visit the Spirit Communications or Lumos Networks website.

Media Contact:
Will Davis
Senior Vice President of Marketing
Chief of Staff
(917) 519-6994 
[email protected]

About the Combination of Spirit Communications and Lumos Networks
The combination of Spirit Communications and Lumos Networks creates a super-regional fiber bandwidth network with over 21,000 miles of fiber and more than 9,000 on-net locations across nine states in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States. The new entity offers a full range of Ethernet, MPLS, dark fiber, advanced voice and cloud services to thousands of carrier, enterprise, data center and government customers. The entity also connects 44 total data centers, including 12 co-location and data centers.


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May 22, 2018 | 5 pm - 6 pm | Fauquier Campus, Warrenton

Could your business benefit from the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)? From construction and real estate to agriculture and transportation, UAVs are universal in all areas of business. Join us for an Open House to learn just what UAVs can do for you and your business.


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May 23, 2018 | 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm | Shenandoah Joe, Harrisonburg

Join us for Code & Coffee Study Group! Whether you're looking to keep practicing what you learned in your last class or are in the midst of a project, your community is here to help!

This will be an informal event where members can meet each other and collaborate. TAs will be there to help troubleshoot and brainstorm ideas with you!

Have a project idea and some skills, but haven't attended a GDI event yet? Want to focus on helping others with their projects? You're welcome too!

This is also a great event for first time attendees who just want to socialize and learn more about GDI.

As a group, everyone will hold each other accountable for completing their projects, and provide on-going support and feedback.

Bring a laptop and something to work on. It's okay if you don't have a project! Feel free to come by for the whole thing or drop in when you have time.

 

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May 24, 2018 | 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm
The Paramount Theater,  Charlottesville

This year's reimagined event for the first time will be held at the beautiful and historic Paramount Theater in downtown Charlottesville. And that's not all! 

The event has been completely redesigned with a new format and additional improvements and will feature: 
  • A short reception with cash bar and hors d'oeuvres
  • A celebratory seated awards ceremony in the theater with beverages/snacks
  • An energized reception featuring Innovators Row - a showcase of startups
  • Multiple and plentiful food stations
  • An after-party featuring dual entertainment like never before!
  • New sponsorship options with perks for early action (snag yours early!
Each all-access ticket includes: a complimentary cocktail, pre and post ceremony receptions with food, the highly anticipated seated awards ceremony with food and beverages, innovators row showcase, the inaugural gala after party + complimentary downtown parking! 
 
You, your team, and colleagues won't want to miss this smashing new gala with anticipated attendance of more than 400 of the region's tech and innovation community. 

Program Overview (times approximate; some portions may overlap slightly):
  • 5:00 - 5:45 p.m. Registration opens. Reception with cocktails and light hors d'oeuvres. One drink ticket provided per guest. Cash bars available. 
  • 5:45 - 7:30 p.m. Seated ceremony in the theater.
  • 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. Following the ceremony, guests will be invited into all areas of the venue (hallways, lounges, bar rooms) to enjoy networking and innovators row -a showcase of select innovation-based startups-  while partaking in a variety of foods stationed throughout venue 
  • 9:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. After party kicks off (TURN UP!) with options to either let your hair down with music and dancing or mix and mingle in a relaxing atmosphere while continuing conversations. Something for everyone... and more great food and drinks!
Attire: Cocktail and business dressy attire. 

Register for May 24, 2018 awards gala

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The Junior Academy | STEM Program for Students
(application deadline June 30)

 

Each year, students ages 13-18 are invited to join The Junior Academy (it is FREE). Successful applicants gain lifelong access to exclusive educational opportunities and a remarkable global STEM network through Launchpad, a virtual collaboration platform.  Students develop advanced research, innovation, and collaboration skills with best-in-class learning resources and leverage these skills to compete in challenges sponsored by industry-leading companies.

The ideal student is an enthusiastic learner and problem solver with a passion for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). He or she has a desire to learn more about the universe, and aspires to help address the world's most pressing challenges through research and collaboration.

The program is virtual and open to students anywhere in the world. All participants must have access to a computer and a reliable internet connection.

Note: students must receive a positive endorsement from an educator to participate.

For more information and to apply, visit thejunioracademy.org

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Job Opening: Software Engineer

Jenzabar is looking for a talented and experienced Software Engineer to join our team of passionate people in designing and developing a high quality, end user focused administrative web application for higher education. This individual should be highly proficient with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript/jQuery and have a passion for web development as well as a keen eye for well-designed UX and UI. The Software Engineer should have solid experience with Responsive Web Design techniques to build interfaces which will adapt to the many devices in which our end users will use to access our application. Solid experience with developing .Net MVC web applications and the .Net framework is highly preferred. If you enjoy working in a team environment to develop an application that will not just let users do their work but help them do their work, then please consider joining the Jenzabar team.

 
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Job Opening: 
Director of Information Technology 

Lexington City Schools | Lexington

The Director of Information Technology is responsible for the design, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of all server, network, and computing technology for Lexington City Schools and the City of Lexington. This position also assists with networking and server support at the Rockbridge ECC. The position reports to the Superintendent of Lexington City Schools and the City Manager. Given oversight of the city's varied technology infrastructure, the Director of Information Technology must be self - driven, organized, and possess a keen attention to detail. As primary support for faculty, staff, and students, the Director of Information Technology must also be collaborative and committed to customer service. 


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Job Opening: Application Developer
Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative | Mount Crawford

SVEC is looking for an Application Developer to design, develop, test, and implement software applications and interfaces to meet the needs of the Cooperative. Applicants should visit  www.svec.coop  (Your Cooperative > Employment) and print an application, which can then be mailed or delivered to an SVEC office (P.O. Box 236), or emailed to  [email protected] .  

View pdf for more information

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Participate in the local tech conversation: Rocktown Tech (Slack)

Currently there are 18 channels and over 250 members. Please join in! 
Sign-up link:  https://rocktowntech.herokuapp.com/

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