What IT Can Mean To Small Business
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Kathleen McGinn Spring & Bart Jackson were prepared for the July 16, 2003 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Tour of Downtown Tech
There’s been lots of palaver about the need to forge
stronger ties between commerce and academe. And all along, companies
located in the shadow of Princeton University’s gates have been doing
just that. Willing to pay the high rents of downtown, they employ
undergraduates as interns and try to tap faculty expertise.
With these goals in mind, the New Jersey Technology Council has scheduled
“Beyond the University Gates: A Walking Technology Tour of Downtown
Princeton,” set for Friday, July 18, at 8:30 a.m. It starts with
breakfast at the Nassau Club and continues with visits to each of
three businesses that are a short walk away.
Todd Lincoln, vice president of Glenmede Trust Company of New
Jersey, moderates a panel that includes David Handelman of American
Android Corporation (R&D for robotics); Joe Montemarano, technology
liaison from Princeton University; Rick Weiss of Viocare Technologies
(the health and nutrition software firm); and Osbourne Shaw
of ICG Inc. Cost: Free to members, $20 for others. At least 50 people
are expected to attend. Call: 856-787-9700.
The firms to be visited include an aviation software firm, and aviation
hardware firm, and an information security company. Who would have
thought these companies would live on Nassau Street?
Internet Crimes Group
Even as companies pour money into information security,
losses due to lack of information security could grow to an estimated
$77 billion by next year. As for the people most likely to steal your
company blind — you might meet them at the water cooler. Yes,
over 75 percent of the security problems for IT departments come from
inside the company, not from an external hacker or the much-discussed
“script kiddies,” says the mission statement of ICG Inc. (short
for Internet Crimes Group).
ICG Inc. bills itself as “the premier provider of information
security threat management solutions for senior leadership to Global
2500 companies.” Located at Nassau and Witherspoon streets above
Hamilton Jewelers, ICG is a sister company to International Business
Research and was incorporated as a separate company in January, 2000.
With 25 full-time employees, it occupies part of two floors on Nassau
Street and has expanded to 6,500 square feet at 100 Canal Point.
“We help companies identify and understand how individuals can
use the anonymity of the Internet to damage or inflict harm on their
reputation, their financials, and their technology,” says Osbourne
Shaw, vice president of investigation and litigation support solutions
(see photo, page 5).
A molecular biology major at Princeton University, Class of 1997,
Shaw started out working for International Business Research, ICG’s
parent company, doing research for IPOs, mergers & acquisitions, private
placements, asset & liability tracing, and insurance fraud. He has
managed over one thousand information security threat response investigations
and consulting projects, including investigative assessment of multi-million
dollar on-line stock manipulation schemes, on-line transaction-based
fraud, and information systems fraud vulnerabilities. Often Shaw consults
to lawyers representing companies in such industries as financial,
pharmaceutical, insurance, and E-commerce.
Traditionally focused on physical security issues, corporate security
departments often have difficulty dealing with information security
threats. It falls to IT departments to install firewalls, intrusion
detection systems and other perimeter monitoring systems. But traditionally
IT experts focus on preventing intrusion and pay little attention
to threats that employees might bring. ICG, in contrast, takes a holistic
view. Among its products:
e-Discovery does computer forensics for litigation support— tracking erasures, concealment of an illicit act or E-mail,or stolen corporate secrets. “We discover what transpired andprovide a better understanding of what exactly did transpire,”says Shaw.I-threat intelligence helps clients understand and rectifytheir victimization potential in the areas of trademark law, IP theft,piracy of proprietary software, and protection of sensitive customerinformation.iThreat-Knowledge Base identifies, anticipates, and communicatesthreats to its clients — such threat vectors as hackers, virus,malicious attack, and non malicious action.Shaw says that one of ICG’s strengths is its cross experience.”Companies are often faced with problems that may appear general,but are actually very specific and do not allow for a cookie cuttersolution.”When it comes to security, it’s not just the welfare of the companythat’s at stake, it’s also the personal fortunes of the company’sofficers and directors. They can be sued.ICG Inc., 92 Nassau Street, Princeton 08542. Also100 Canal Pointe. Kevin E. Leininger, president. 609-683-1490; fax,609-683-4037. Home page: www.icginc.comAerospace Hardware: AereonFounded in 1959 to develop lifting body airships, AereonCorporation develops innovative aircraft. It is named after “theAereon,” flown in 1863 over New York City, and it was made famousin John McPhee’s 1973 book “The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed.”William McElwee Miller Jr., the president, was born in Iranto Presbyterian missionary parents. He flew carrier-based aircraftfrom 1944 to 1949, then went to Princeton University, Class of 1953.He attended what is now New York Theological Seminary, embarked ona ministry to international students, and earned a graduate degreeat Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1967, seven years after Aereonwas founded, he joined that company and became president.He says the company finds itself going in three directions:The lifting body air ship . McPhee’s book told of proof-of-conceptflight tests for this. “Our patents have all expired on that,and now the very logic that the company was propounding is recognizedto be worthy,” says Miller.During the Gulf and Iraq wars, when large cargoes needed to be transportedquickly, Miller says, the defense gurus began to look for an aircraftthat could land on water or unprepared sites. “Something thatcan combine buoyant and aerodynamic lift — which is the very thingAereon promoted from the 1960s to the 1980s. We were 30 years aheadof our time.”Unmanned air vehicles such as the Wide Aperture SurveillancePlatform (WASP) for anti-missile detection. A manned version of thiscraft had early support from SBIR grants.The VectoRotor hybrid vertical lift system would do thekind of work usually assigned to heavy lift helicopters — butwould be safer, because in the event of an engine failure, it couldfloat down.Aereon Corporation, 20 Nassau Street, Suite 223,Princeton 08542. William Miller Jr., president. 609-921-2131. Www.aereon.comAerospace Software: PSSPrinceton Satellite Systems, an 11-year-old high techcompany that designs software for the aerospace industry, shares spacein a downtown building with Gloria Nilson Real Estate and the MoondoggieCafe. With six full-time employees, it has software tools for spacecraftcontrol and design that are used by space agencies, defense contractors,and aerospace researchers worldwide.Founder Michael Paluszek went to Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (Class of 1976), from which he also has a graduate degree.At GE Astro Space in East Windsor, he designed one of the first applicationsof active vibration control on a satellite, among other accomplishments.In 1992, prior to its acquisition by Martin Marietta, he founded hisown firm and moved it downtown in 1996 (U.S. 1, October 23, 1996).Last year it won its third Phase II SBIR contract from the Air ForcePhillips Laboratory for developing new intelligent agent-based real-timesoftware architecture to automate satellite systems. It has begunto market an aviation-based software, ObjectAgent, in other industriessuch as robotics. The firm’s latest spacecraft product is an autonomousguidance, navigation, and control system.Paluszek cites advantages of his 800 square-foot office being so closeto the university: use of the libraries, easy access to student interns,and feedback on software (he provides end-of-term projects for somecourses). “Every once in a while we look around for another space,but it’s hard to find spaces this small,” says Paluszek. “Andwe don’t need a coffee machine when we have so many coffee placeswithin a block.”Princeton Satellite Systems, 33 Witherspoon Street,Princeton 08542. Michael Paluszek, president. 609-279-9605; fax, 609-279-9607.E-mail: info@psatellite.comHome page: www.psatellite.comAmerican AndroidAmerican Android Corp. aims to create useful and affordablerobots that improve the quality of life for the people who use them.Its founder, David Handelman, is a graduate of the Universityof Virginia (Class of 1982) and Princeton University. He was a co-founderof Robicon Systems (a commercial robotics firm), Katrix Inc. (roboticstechnology applied to interactive entertainment such as games andvirtual reality), and Millennium Rush (the content division of Katrix).The latter two companies closed in 1999.”My heart has been in robotics for a long time, and that’s whatI’m finally doing,” says Handelman. Since 1999 he has devotedhimself to operating systems for humanoid robots — biped walkingmachines.At the panel he will speak about the potential for collaborationswith academic institutions such as Princeton University. His officeis a half block from the engineering school library. “I hope tofind ways of leveraging those resources.”Handelman is also an evangelist for the Small Business InnovationResearch program. Last July his company won a Phase II SBIR grantfrom NASA to develop ways for human operators to customize the behaviorof humanoid robots: “Our current NASA funding is to enable someonein the field (astronauts) to customize the behavior of a robot. Wethink it will also have other uses as education, entertainment, andpossibly aiding the disabled.””While the Internet storm raged, I went into my cave and extendedour robotics technology. Now we have some funding, lots of opportunity,and I am very excited about the way things are going,” says Handelman.Of the high downtown rent, he says, “I am willing to pay a littlemore to stay where I am.”Barbara FoxAmerican Android Corp., 9 Charlton Street, Princeton08542. David Handelman, president. 609-924-4490; fax, 609-924-2905.E-mail: info@americanandroid.comHome page: www.americanandroid.comTop Of PageWhat IT Can Mean To Small BusinessCindy was a quiet little clerk who for nearly 20 yearshad spent her working days encrypting legal notes into various dataformats. Then she was fired. Six months later, the University of NorthCarolina awarded a $1.2 million contract to one of the nation’s majorencrypting firms — or so it thought. It wasn’t until Cindy, whohad quickly turned herself into an entrepreneur, showed up to startwork on the job that the university’s administrators realized thatthey were paying a one-person expert who operated from her kitchentable. Cindy’s website and other technological communications hadbeen so polished that they assumed they were hiring the biggest; insteadthey got only the best.The specific methods and tools that turn new entrepreneurs into majorplayers are the subject of “Technology and Small Business: Softwareand Network Options,” a seminar taking place on Wednesday, July23, at 7:30 p.m. at Mercer County Community College. Cost: $45. Call609-586-9446 to register. Leading the seminar is Anthony Baldino,who has 30 years of experience in business, finance, and applied technology.”I’m really an analog person,” confesses Baldino, “therefore,while I’m impressed with all the high-tech glitter, I’m always eyingthings for their practical business value.” Raised and still livingin the Mercer County area, Baldino earned a political science degreefrom Brown University, followed by six years in the Navy studyingfinance and transportation. For the following 27 years he worked atthe First National Bank of Princeton (what is now part of Fleet Bank),where he learned exactly which business tools proved their worth,and which were just attractive sales items. Baldino is now a consultantfor the Small Business Administration and the Small Business DevelopmentCenter.”You see it in the under-30 generation,” says Baldino. “It’sa new way of thinking — like spokes out of a wheel.”Most of the older generations face a problem squarely, solve it, andthen move on to the next. But the younger, computer generation hastotally changed their mode of thought in light of the swifter informationaccess. When his son is faced with a problem, he says, he sends spokesout to all his friends, to pieces of the ‘Net, and to a host of cross-disciplinarysources. Each tosses his little piece of knowledge into the Mulligan-stewsolution, and the problem gets fixed at the hub.All of these sources of information, counsel, and help mean that eventhe owner of the smallest business has an impressive range of toolsright on his desktop and in his pockets to help him keep pace withthe big boys.Intranet. Originally designed to allow larger companiesto communicate among several distant branches, the cost of such dedicatedbusiness linking has now become practical for connecting within asingle office. Most providers now offer an intranet option with eachoffice computer. Very few tools today answer the quest for speed andaccessibility so well as intranet mail and download systems. Establishingsmaller, multiple websites within your firm can provide retail breakdownsfor the sales force and payroll files for the human resource folkswithout the need to wade through a lot of document detritus.Keeping hard copies in the picture, simultaneous faxes are now possibleduring teleconferencing or for other time-important deliveries. Severalproviders now assure instant sending and delivery of faxes to alllinked parties, allowing parties to a telephone conference to examineand discuss the same documents at once. This has proved a godsendfor law firms trying to communicate with partners taking out-of-towndepositions.Web power. Cindy’s name has been changed, but her storyis true. In fact, she began her web building as a student in one ofBaldino’s recent classes. While Cindy’s results may not be typical,the website has become the great equalizer in the realm of businesspresentation. Now, for a minimum investment, everyone can be a professional.Baldino insists that small companies make this investment ample andadequate. “These days, your website is like your regional salesperson — each is the initial view a client has of your business.It is your firm. Because of that, every amount of training is worthit,” he says.In addition to investing money in their websites, Baldino also advisesfirms to invest the time and gray matter. The major, and all too common,blunder made in commercial websites is failure to keep current. Changesnot only in content, but also in format, are required to convinceviewers that when they log on for a second time something new andinteresting has been added.Second on the blunders list is over complexity. Conduct this test.Gather two individuals from outside your field of business. Have onemake a list of items to search for, and have the other find them onyour site. How easy is the surfing in your waters?Peer-to-peer. E-mail is fine, but compared with the newpeer-to-peer technologies, it remains both sluggish and byte costly.E-mail frequently requires lavish formatting and an enormous amountof memory for information transfer. Conversely, peer-to-peer is Napster-styletechnology put to legal use. Swiftly and with minimal memory, yourstaff can download vast amounts of text, files, and training videosfrom a central cache, and can share them with co-workers.Helping the hinterlands. As the trusted old telephonegoes cellular and wireless and gets linked with a pocket PC, it becomesthe prime tool of the traveling executive who needs to keep his tieswith the office. Options change daily, and can be expensive. Hereis one electronic tool whose prices are not likely to drop soon. “Mostcompanies, currently, are getting lured into becoming too fancy,”says Baldino. In such areas as phone messaging options, it is easyto get carried away and burden your system with a whole lot of gadgetryyou will never use.The basic tool for the sales person or any representative dealingwith clients, Baldino says, will remain the sophisticated, lightweightlaptop PC. For presenting information to a client, accessing realinventory, showing the client possibilities, and even assembling imagesof a customized product, nothing makes so clear and flexible a presentation.The pocket PC has the obvious advantage of size, but its presentationcapabilities remain limited, unless you can plug it into a client’swork station. Currently, the laptops PCs also offer more power. Butdon’t count on that advantage lasting very long, notes Baldino. Veryshortly in our wireless world, the two will be equal in all ways butsize.Video conferencing. It is impossible to escape all thoseads depicting folks chatting and viewing scenery in real time. Theyare clever ads showcasing a very clever technology. But an equallyimpressive part of this picture is the quickly-dropping costs whichnow have made video conference calling affordable for even small companies.Baldino foresees video conferencing changing the lifestyle of business.”Suppose your sales manager now calls in his entire crew everyweek for a meeting. By gathering on video, the sales force can meetdaily and reduce the face-to-face meetings to once a month.”All these high-tech tools and toys won’t do much if you cannot findthe right expert to install, program, and maintain them. In this market,with over 14,000 computer consulting firms listed nationwide, it iseasy to find someone who claims they can handle all your needs. Tofind the right tech expert for your small business, Baldino suggeststhat you first define your own needs. This does not mean a wish listof gadgets, but rather it entails an examination of all of your dailybusiness processes that could use an electronic hand.After scanning your operations for candidates for a productivity upgrade,consider turning implementation over to an expert with deep knowledgeof your industry. What computer firms go to your trade shows or advertisein your trade magazines?In the past, many businesses enjoyed success with no more technologythan the quill pen and a swift horse. But all were directed by individualswho assembled the best tools and took the effort to painstakinglytrain their staffs in their use. Some rules always apply.— Bart JacksonNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
