texture magazine - spr/sum08

TEXTUREO R L A N D O ’ S T E C H N O L O G Y L A N D S C A P E

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PROFILE:DOM MEFFE

Our Hometown“Serial Entrepreneur”

GREENPOWERClean energy advancesin Central Florida

LIGHTENUP Orlando leads the way

in optics and photonicsresearch

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Metro Orlando EconomicDevelopment Commission

President & CEOTexture Executive Publisher

Raymond Gilley

Vice President, MarketingTexture Associate Publisher

Maureen Brockman

Vice President, Tech Industry DevelopmentTexture EditorJohn Fremstad

Director, Business DevelopmentTexture Project Support

Amy Edge

Director, Public RelationsTexture Project Support

Jennifer Wakefield

Director, Publications & Web DesignTexture Project Support

Lisa Addy

Orlando/Orange County Convention& Visitors Bureau, Inc.

PresidentTexture Publisher

Gary Sain

Vice President of PublicationsTexture Associate Publisher

Deborah Kicklighter Henrichs

Managing EditorJessica Chapman

Publication ArtistsMichele Mitchell and Ranae Ledebuhr

Production CoordinatorsShelley Hampton and Dennis Lessard

Associate V.P. of Advertising SalesSheryl Taylor 407.354.5568

Contributing WritersJustin Campfield, Michael Candelaria,

Todd Deery, Jackie Kelvington, Scott Leon, Susan Loden, G.K. Sharman

Contributing PhotographersPhelan Ebenhack, Charles Hodges

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TEXTUREO R L A N D O ’ S T E C H N O L O G Y L A N D S C A P E

This publication is sponsored in part by the Orange CountyGovernment’s Economic Stimulus Package 2.0 and theUniversity of Central Florida. Texture magazine is producedby everything ink, a division of the Orlando/Orange CountyConvention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.® (Orlando CVB), for theMetro Orlando Economic Development Commission.Orlando CVB: 6700 Forum Drive, Suite 100, Orlando, FL32821, Phone 407.363.5841, Fax 407.370.5021. Texturemagazine assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, negatives or transparencies. Metro Orlando Economic DevelopmentCommission 301 East Pine Street, Suite 900 Orlando, Fla32801. Phone: 407.422.7159 or 888.TOP.CITY. Fax:407.425.6428. E-mail: [email protected]. Advertisinginformation: 407.354.5512. Copyright 2008 Metro OrlandoEDC. All rights reserved. Any reproduction in whole or inpart without the express written consent of Orlando CVB, onbehalf of the EDC, is prohibited. Printed in the U.S.A.

Departments

FROM THE EDITOR 5

TECH TRENDS 6

TALENT POOL 8

INTERFACE 10

OFF THE WIRE 12

PEAK PERFORMER 18

SPECIAL FX 26

INNOVATION ALLEY 28

NEW COs 34

INTELLIGENT FORMS OF LIFESTYLE 36

Features

POWERING THE GREEN 14ENERGY REVOLUTION Leaders in the energy industry are transforming Central Florida into a green powerhouse.

LASER SHARP FOCUS 20Central Florida zooms in on the top spotfor optics and photonics research.

OPENING DOORS 30Metro Orlando – full of potential forHispanic entrepreneurs.

On the cover: Laser beam and prism generate a spectacular display of “green power” at CREOL, the Collegeof Optics and Photonics at UCF.

TEXTURE SPRING/SUMMER 2008 VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1

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come from all over the world to receivethe latest surgical treatment options, andeach year nearly 7,000 international anddomestic doctors are trained in the mostinnovative procedures and technologiesat Florida Hospital’s Nicholson Center forSurgical Advancement.

Now, along with major simulation andlaser companies, leading research insti-tutions and hospital systems call MetroOrlando “home” for business. It is clearthat the life science and biotechnologysector has gained tremendous momen-tum here. As robotics, simulation andoptics push the “new knowledge”phase, and rapid discoveries lead tocommercialization, the industry is likelyto accelerate rapidly and Metro Orlandowill benefit. We will experience signifi-cant advantages in the coming decade.There is nowhere else on the planet thatcan rival our strength in entertainment,simulation, film production, interactivemedia ... and the life sciences.

This issue of Texture looks at anotherpowerhouse tech industry in our region:optics and photonics This community isa world leader in using light to speedcommunications, detect disease, andmultiple other uses. We also take a lookat numerous innovative people and theircompanies.

Examine our region’s texture, en-gage in this conversation and enjoy the experience.

John S. FremstadMetro Orlando EDC

vice president, Tech Industry Development & Texture editor

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DOCTORSomebody call me a

We scrubbed in ... we were prepared ...the patient was ready ...

Thankfully for the patient, I was justobserving while Dr. Patel, with the helpof the da Vinci® Robot, completedanother successful operation. Althoughthis may seem like a scene from a Sci-Fimovie, it is actually a growing reality herein Central Florida and across the nation.

A new era is dawning in surgical pro-cedures thanks to the cutting-edge technology of the da Vinci® Robot andthe da Vinci® surgery system. This innova-tive robotics tool provides doctors witha minimally invasive application in whichto perform complex operations.

Providing benefits to both patient andsurgeon, the da Vinci® Robot combinesremotely operated robotic arms equipp-ed with minute surgical instruments and

John Fremstad

“You better callme a doctor ...

feelin’ no pain“ — Van Halen

>>3D real-time imaging to allow for anincreased level of precision, versatility,and control in intricate procedures.Advantageous to the patient, thisadvanced medical practice affords ben-efits of reduced pain, diminished scarringand complications, less blood loss, lowerrisk of infection and a faster recovery.

Not only is this happening in operat-ing rooms in Central Florida, but from abusiness perspective it’s headquarteredhere. The Global Robotics Institute (GBI)at Florida Hospital is a world-class, multi-specialty surgical program comprised ofleading urologic, gynecologic, colorec-tal, and cardiac physicians dedicated toproviding superior patient care throughthe use of robot-assisted laparoscopictechnology. GBI is a destination programfor both patients and physicians: Patients

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Some feel that these learning centers fall short because they use generic situations – rather than those specific tothe individual – to teach and rehabilitate.Research currently being conducted byUCF’s Institute for Simulation and Train-ing (IST) and its Media Convergence Labusing mixed reality could change all that.

“Right now the standard procedurefor treating people with brain injuries is to rehabilitate in the hospital, then in a transitional learning center andfinally back home,” says Eileen Smith,Director of Experiential Learning at UCFand one of the leaders of the ‘KitchenProject.’ “Normally patients just re-learn

their way around a generic room at alearning center, but studies show thatwhen the person transitions back to theirown homes things can go very badly.”The project’s basic premise when itbegan in 2005 was that a person wouldlearn faster and more effectively in aspecific, but still highly controlled, set-


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By ScottLeon

REALITYAn Entirely New

Recovering from a traumatic brain injury can be as distressing asthe event that caused it. Often it requires the injuried individual

to re-learn entire aspects of everyday life, from making coffee to tyingshoelaces. It’s a labor-intensive process in which only a few transitionallearning centers around the U.S. specialize, and the current method-ology doesn’t always work well once the he or she returns home.

MIXED REALITY COULD BE A BREAKTHROUGH IN TREATING TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES

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especially with more and more peoplesurviving serious head injuries, whetherindustrial, accidental or combat related,due to better medical care. As a result,UCF’s current focus has become makingthe engine for the mixed-reality programreadily available. With the help of SanDiego-based Virtual Reality MedicalCenters (VRMC), and funding from theAir Force and the National Science Foun-dation (NSF) they are doing just that.

“When we found out about themixed-reality research going on at UCF’sInstitute for Simulation and Training wewanted to be involved,” says Dr. MarkWiederhold, president of VRMC. “Theyare the world leaders in mixed-realitytechnology and we knew that, com-bined with our expertise, we could makethe Mixed Reality Rehabili-tation System(MRRS) possible. It was a natural fit.”VRMC specializes in using virtual realityto help treat phobias, such as the fearof flying, at a number of clinics on theWest Coast. “Smith’s team has theexpertise in the clinical aspects of thetechnology and research; we offer theknow-how for making it practical in aclinical setting. We’ve conducted over6,000 sessions of virtual reality treat-ments and now we want to help makethis new technology available wherever


ting versus a generic one.“We chose a kitchen for our project

because it’s the most dangerous roomin the house,” says Smith. “We wantedto see what would happen if we re-created a patient’s actual kitchen andmoved it into our lab. We thought thatif we could laser scan, photograph andvideo tape a kitchen, by the time the patient was ready to enter a transi-tional learning center, we could have areplica of their kitchen ready for him towork in.”

Obviously researchers and clinicscan’t actually build an exact copy of everypatient’s kitchen, but through the use ofvirtual reality and real objects, a mediumreferred to as mixed reality, the exactroom and its contents are recreated. TheMedia Convergence Lab at UCF excelsat this type of virtual reality.

“We use real cabinetry, cups, platesand such that we can configure as necessary — all initially painted in a uniform color, ‘chromagreen’ — andthen we overlay the specific finishes, colors and textures with virtual images.Patients wear a head-mounted display,but when they move a cup in the simu-lation, they are actually picking up a realcup, moving it, for instance, from a cab-inet to a counter. We make the cabinetsand counter look like those in their ownkitchen, allowing spatial training basedon the person’s home. Just as impor-tantly for our research, however, theheadgear also tracks where and howthe person moves over time, allowingus to quantify the progress.

“For example, with our first testpatient we documented that at DayOne he was all over the place attempt-ing to make coffee, cereal and toast abagel. It was a little like following Jeffyaround the house in the comic stripFamily Circus. By Day Eight, the differ-ence was startling. His time for thesetasks dropped by half and we coulddocument the progress and his patternexactly. Interestingly, we found that hecould not remember the researchers’names or even explain the steps hetook to accomplish the tasks, but hecould do them. The results actually tellus a lot about the cognitive process.”

Smith feels that the need for moretransitional learning centers will increase,

it’s needed, not just at a few centersnationwide. To do this, we are creatingan entirely new company with the helpof UCF’s incubator program and theplan is to open the first clinic in Orlando.

“It’s a dynamic area of research. TheMRRS has tremendous implications fortreating traumatic brain injuries. The next step in this joint project islargely funded by the NSF and has theoretical implications for studyingmixed reality’s effect on neurogenesis, or the growth of new neurons,” saysWiederhold.

Smith also believes that future theoretical applications for this tech-nology could include determining stresslevels under a variety of conditions,including combat or job-related situa-tions and possibly even treating autism.

“We are very excited about theprospects of the MRRS and workingwith the team here at UCF, to build thenew company,” says Angela Salva,President of the start-up company forVRMC, which has yet to be named.“Eventually this may lead to other formsof physical and cognitive therapies, butit will definitely lead to making mixedreality a more accessible and effectivetreatment for all types of brain injuriesin the near future.” x

BREAKTHROUGHS IN AUTISMAdapting technology to benefit people with disabilities is also a specialty of Cnow, Inc., a Mt. Dora-based company that specializes in “telehealth”, or pro-viding training and solutions via interactive video conferencing. Most recently,Cnow has provided technical support for a remarkable project researching ways in which such technology can be used to help families of autistic children.Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the program links families and professionals, providing “live” in-home support from medical andbehavioral experts.

The protocol for the research, administered by the Celeste Foundation, a non-profit organization also based on Mt. Dora, started with families of autisticchildren between 2 and 5 years old. Each family began with individualized program development at the closely-affiliated National Institute of Telehealth(NIT), where they worked directly with a team that included behavior analysts,speech pathologists, special educators and clinical psychologists. The familieslearned strategies and techniques to encourage their child’s behavioral, social,communicative and adaptive skills. They then returned home with a plan for services and a Cnow videoconferencing device that allowed them to connectdirectly to the Central Florida team of professionals whenever they needed help.

To date, results have been impressive. The interactive video medium allowedbetween 8 and 16 hours per week of communication and over 4,000 “telehealth”consultations. Data show a reduction in family stress and improvement in theirperception of their quality of life. Most importantly, significant advances havebeen made by the autistic children involved. Ultimately, these results have impor-tant implications for services that extend into remote training, medical services,behavioral analysis, case management, psychiatric services and education.

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and animate and move the pieces whilemeasuring the impact of the intersectionsand manipulating 3-D objects.

“I’ve worked with students who werehaving trouble in their math classes, butwhile having fun using this program all ofa sudden they have an ‘a-ha’ moment andthey finally get it,” says Tillery.

Tillery learned new ways to engage hisstudents when he and more than 150other Central Florida educators attendedone of the Florida High Tech CorridorCouncil’s (FHTCC) techCAMPs last year.The signature program of FHTCC’s techPATH educational initiative, tech-CAMPs are one- to two-day workshopsthat give middle- and high-school teach-ers a chance to learn the history of specifictechnology industries, talk to experts in thefield and — most importantly — engage

in hands-on, real world experiences thatthey can bring back to their classrooms.

Since 1998, FHTCC has presented 40techCAMPs in the 23-county corridor,involving more than 1,600 math, science,technology and career teachers. ThesetechCAMPs have been held with a focuson several corridor industries, includingmodeling, simulation and training; opticsand photonics; and microelectronics.

“As teachers it is important to keepourselves activated,” says James Jones,an engineering teacher at Timber CreekHigh School. “We ourselves have tochange with the ever-changing technol-ogy environment.”

One benefit of techCAMPs is that theyoffer teachers novel approaches to mathand science lessons. Instead of pointing toa graph in a textbook, teachers can


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WILL WORKIf We Grow Them, They

DEVELOPING A HIGH-TECH WORKFORCE IN CENTRALFLORIDA STARTS BY TEACHING THE TEACHERS.

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By Ashley Pinder

Whether sendingtext messages with

pictures, updating an iPod, or creating elaborateMySpace pages, today’s kids are electronically oriented by nature. Butwhat they don’t know isthat their abilities can putthem in a good positionwhen it’s time to enterthe workforce.

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The question is: how do we get thesekids — already so comfortable with tech-nology — to appreciate the basics?

“Just tell them they are ‘gaming’ andyou can get kids interested in learningalgebra and geometry,” says Phil Tillery,who teaches communications technologycourses at Timber Creek High School.

To get tech-savvy kids to learn mathand science, you have to show them howto do it in their own tech language, and todo that you have to inspire instructors toteach in new ways. Tillery uses a programcalled 3-D Studio Max to simulate the con-struction of real-life objects on the com-puter screen. Using Boolean algebraicintersections, he takes his beginning stu-dents through a lesson on building a vir-tual chess set. The students are able toview the objects from four dimensions,

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engage students by demonstrating withcomputers, using colorful graphics andsimulations to problem-solve. These meth-ods also provide tools for practicing criti-cal thinking.

With a mission to cultivate tomorrow’sworkforce, techCAMPs also highlight thehigh-tech careers available in CentralFlorida by offering tours of local compa-nies and meetings with industry experts.techCAMPs partner with local corpora-tions to describe their day-to-day opera-tions, and to keep teachers in the knowabout what’s happening in the field.

Florida needs to fill a growing high-tech workforce. The AeA, a national tech-nology trade association, ranks Florida asthe second-fastest growing state in thetotal number of new high-tech jobs.

The November 2007 techCAMP onModeling, Simulation and Training deliv-ered a jump-start for teachers. Purdue University professor Dr. Chris Hoffmandemonstrated a simulation of the planescolliding with the World Trade Center towers on 9-11. His presentation, along x

with hands-on activities, opened the eyesof many teachers who had never beentrained to use real-life examples to teachmath and science.

The teachers also learned to use newintegrated software and toured the Inter-service/Industry Training, Simulation andEducation Conference (I/ITSEC) at theOrange County Convention Center.

“I/ITSEC is the simulation industry’smost important meeting,” says Jeff Bindell,Ph.D., director of techPATH EducationalConsortium and lecturer in physics at theUniversity of Central Florida. “Our educa-tors saw first-hand the wide range of com-panies — and potential employers — in theindustry. Now, they can communicatethose opportunities to their students.”

Thomas Tyler, a mathematics coach atEvans High School, says, “Just around thecorner we are training soldiers and creat-ing video games; those are the types ofjobs that will keep students here to work.”

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) strongly advocateshands-on preparation programs.

“They’re a critical part of effective teach-ing,” says NSTA spokesperson KateMeyer. “The Florida High Tech Corridor’stechCAMP programs offer exactly thekind of meaningful lab and simulationactivities that build better classroomexperiences.”

Paul Speitzer, who teaches Introductionto Technology at Discovery Middle School,adds, “Teachers need to be excited withwhat they’re doing; I am constantly updat-ing my curriculum since I went throughtechCAMP. Now I feel like I always havenew things to share.”

Teacher Phil Tillery works with juniorSamara Sahler, while senior Jorge Reyesoperates the Opti Track Calibration Wizardcomputer program.

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A Story


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If a reality-television show were to be done about Kimberly Belcher Cowin’scareer and company, it likely would be been called “Life in the Fast Lane.”

After all, Cowin has gone from 1997 University of Florida grad and MTV intern toowner/executive producer of Pink Sneakers Productions faster than you can say,“Lights, camera, action.”

Her company develops and produces original programming — reality shows and documentaries — for various networks, including VH1, MTV and ABC.Current works include reality shows “My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding” (VH1) and“Hogan Knows Best” (VH1), along with the documentary series, “True Life: I’m InAn Interfaith Relationship” (MTV).

By MichaelCandelaria

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FOR TELEVISIONKIMBERLY BELCHER COWIN, OWNER OFPINK SNEAKERS PRODUCTIONS

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What began as a three-person, home-based hope has grown into a go-to,one-stop, turnkey enterprise, with itsown facility in Apopka, Florida thathouses 10 edit suites, an audio suite,and some 60 to 80 people on the pay-roll in any given week.

And Cowin, who turns 33 in April, is far from ready to call it a wrap. Theplot, she says, is just now thickening.

Texture: What type of vision did you have at the start of PinkSneakers?

Kimberly Belcher Cowin: The ini-tial vision was a little bit smaller thanwhat it has grown into. At the time, Ihad a lot of anxiety and fear about leav-ing New York. In this business, there aremaybe two or three other productioncompanies that don’t exist in New Yorkor L.A., doing the same type of realitytelevision that we do. So, at the time, I was satisfied with just doing one or


two series a year for MTV and some other networks.

How has that vision changed?Each year, we want to feel like we

have grown or done something to chal-lenge ourselves in a different way thanthe year prior. For 2008, it looks likewe’ll be doing an additional series, and last year was our first series foranother new network. Really, the goalis to continue growing and continuedoing projects that are quality and thatget high ratings.

Has any part of the business surprised you in the past sevenyears?

How quickly the company grew.When I was at Universal Studios, rent-ing cubes [after moving the businessout of her home], we kept adding onand, finally, it was like, “Wow, we reallyneed to move and get our space.” Asfar as the projects, it was just a matterof people liking to do business withpeople who are very buttoned up andcross their Ts and dot their Is, anddeliver quality, high-ratings projects.Once you start doing that and peoplestart doing business with you, youdevelop those relationships. Then theywant to do more. I just had no idea itwould be so quick.

You’ve been able to capture thestate of youth and pop culturethrough reality TV. Do you think thepopularity of reality TV will ever die?

It may slow down a little here orthere. But the foundation of reality tele-vision is documentaries, and people arealways going to be intrigued by otherpeople. That’s just the bottom line,whether it’s morphed into more of anentertainment version of the documen-tary style of programming. It’s still thatpeople are curious and intrigued byinteresting people.

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What is the secret to your success?

It’s attitude. If you’re going to bespending the majority of the hours ofyour days at work, people want to enjoywhat they’re doing. The hours are longand grueling and crazy sometimes, butwe’ve tried to build an environmentwhere we’re having fun. One personwith a bad attitude can make everyone’sexperience not so much fun.

What are you most proud of?I guess I’m most proud of our intern

and apprentice program. We work witha lot of the colleges and universitiesthroughout the state of Florida. We’llrecruit and train the college students.I’ve modeled my experience at MTV,which was always about giving youngpeople a lot of opportunity to grow. A lot of our producers started out as interns.

What have been the toughestchallenges?

I would say our biggest challenge isthat when you have young people whowork for you, they think the grass isalways greener. So, they are lured toNew York or L.A., after we spent yearstraining them. I’m convinced that it willcome full circle and that they’ll want tomove back to Florida.

Earlier you mentioned that you had a reluctance to move fromNew York yourself. So, why CentralFlorida?

My family and my roots are in Cen-tral Florida, and my husband and hisentire family are from Florida. I loveFlorida. If I could live anywhere, I’d pickFlorida. Going anywhere but New Yorkand L.A. is a challenge in this business.But everything clicked. We had a lot ofgood luck and good people. That’sreally the biggest asset — the peoplethat I’ve been able to find here.

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NOTENews toHERE’S A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE LATEST HAPPENINGS INMETRO ORLANDO’S THRIVING BUSINESS COMMUNITY.

By Jennifer Wakefield

MAJOR MOVESAirTran Airways announced that it willexpand its corporate headquarters inMetro Orlando, its home since 1998.The company plans to add 121 newjobs to its existing workforce. Similarly,Busch Entertainment Corporation — the parent company of SeaWorld®

Orlando, Discovery Cove®, Aquatica™-SeaWorld’s WaterPark and severalother parks nationwide — is relocatingits headquarters here from St. Louis.

Two international companiesrecently established U.S. operations inMetro Orlando: Aromatech Flavorings,Inc., which develops and markets flavors for the food industry; and Trihedral Engineering, a developer andintegrator of computer software formonitoring and control.

EMERGINGMEDICAL CITY

News about the region‘s evolving“medical city” is spreading quickly.There are a host of new developmentprojects sprouting up around Orlando’sLake Nona, the future home of The

Burnham Institute for Medical Research,University of Central Florida College of Medicine, University of FloridaResearch Facility and proposed Veter-ans Affairs Hospital and Nemours Childrens‘ Clinic.

Adding to the buzz, in recent weeks:Florida Hospital announced plans tocreate the Global Robotics Institute (GRI) — a robotic surgery training site for physicians from around the world —as part of the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement; M.D. AndersonCancer Center‘s Orlando CancerResearch Institute (CRI) unveiled plans to co-locate with the UCF College ofMedicine. This will provide on-site train-ing opportunities for medical school students; and, the U.S. Army‘s local sim-ulation and training command unit (PEOSTRI) announced plans to establish afederally funded Center of Excellence inthe area. This will allow army scientiststo work with the med school to developadvanced training systems in healthcare.

To find out more, plan to attendOrlando’s first Medical Technology,Training and Treatment Conference

(MT3) from June 1-3 at Disney’s Coron-ado Springs Resort. Visit www.mt3.bz formore information.

While there has been an overall slowdown of the econo-my across the country, the Metro Orlando region hasn‘t

felt the effects in terms of new business prospects. In fact, thelocal Economic Development Commission has received moreinterest this year than in 2007. This is partly because of thefact that Metro Orlando maintains a more diverse economythan most people realize, as well as a result of major moveswithin the business community.

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NEWS FROM THEREEL WORLD

Metro Orlando‘s film industry hasbuzzed with back-to-back activity for thelast 18 months.

With the opening of House ofMoves, downtown Orlando is now hometo the only professional motion capturestudio on the east coast. News of thisstate-of-the-art facility; presence inFlorida is generating widespread inter-est among the film and video game pro-ducers throughout the U.S.

Orlando has traditionally been a hotmarket for television commercials due toour variety of scenery and ability tostand-in for any location on the globe, aswell as our year-round greenery. Whilethat segment of the industry remainsstrong, the region has also served as thelocation for several recent independentand feature films.

Films wrapping up this spring includeBait Shop, a feature-length movie shot on location in Central Florida’sKissimmee and Osceola County. StarringBill Engvall of Blue Collar Comedy fame,with a special appearance from Billy Ray Cyrus, the film tells the story of theowner of a small town bait shop who

signs up for a fishing tournament inhopes of using the prize money to savehis store from foreclosure.

Due out in spring 2008, Never BackDown by Summit Entertainment actuallyfeatures Orlando as the location in thestoryline. It‘s about a new-to-town teen-ager who quickly learns that he has to finda way to stand up to the school bully, anexpert in mixed martial arts. World-classactor Djimon Hounsou plays Jake‘s men-tor and owner of the 365 Combat Club,which is actually Best Shot Studios in Sanford, Florida (see Special FX, page 26).

MFV Productions, in association with Universal Pictures, shot Beethoven: The Reel Story almost entirely at Universal Studios Orlando. The featurefilm follows the making of the originalBeethoven movie.

New reality TV series, “Bridal BootCamp” was shot in Lake County. Theseries, which will air on CMT (CountryMusic Television network) in summer2008, follows ten brides as they com-pete to get in shape for their big day. Ultimately, the winner not only ends up looking fabulous for her specialmoment, but also has the wedding ofher dreams ... on the house.

ORLANDO: ANENTREPRENEURIALHOTBED

Recent start-up companies takingadvantage of the region‘s growing reputation for innovation and resources available to entrepreneurs include Planar Energy Devices, which is devel-oping commercial applications foradvanced micro-batteries that can beused in the fields of medicine, alternateenergy and consumer electronics. GreenSkies, Inc. is an aviation consulting com-pany that helps airlines, airports and aviation-related firms become moreenvironmentally friendly. Petra Solar isworking with UCF to develop solarenergy products, and Welnia offers comprehensive software platforms fordisease management and wellness.

These start-ups couldn‘t get off theground without funding ... which typi-cally comes from venture capital firms or groups known as “angel investors.”In Orlando, there are a growing number of resources and organizations avail-able to young businesses. In mid-May,the Florida Venture Forum will presentthe Florida Early Stage Capital Confer-ence in Orlando for companies lookingfor funding.

Several technology incubators arealso based here. The UCF TechnologyIncubator has been rated the best in thenation, and in the past year the universityhas helped establish two new incubatorlocations — the Orlando Business Devel-opment Center located near downtownOrlando, and a Seminole County Incu-bator site in Winter Springs.

METRO ORLANDOGOES GREEN

It seems like everyone‘s goinggreen lately, and Metro Orlando is noexception.

As home to the UCF Florida SolarEnergy Center, Central Florida is no stranger to solar power. But now the Orange County ConventionCenter, one of the largest conventioncenters in the world, has announcedthat it will cover its roof with solarpanels and turn Florida’s sunshineinto energy. This project will be thelarg-est solar project in the Southeastand is a part of Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty‘s push for Orange County to “go green.” (For moreinformation see page 17) In otherlocal environmental news, threenational conferences on the use ofalternate fuels were recently held in

Metro Orlando — the NationalBiodiesel Conference & Expo, theNational Ethanol Conference and the Waste to Fuels Conference.

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Prior to attending Gov. Char-lie Crist’s global climate

change summit last summer inMiami, panelist Dr. James Fentonexpected the conference to bring alot of attention to the issue of globalwarming. After all, governors, actors,actors who became governors, andeven Kennedys and Roosevelts were slated to participate. But whatFenton didn‘t expect was that, in justtwo days, Florida‘s leadership role inthe production of renewable energywould be completely transformed.

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LEADERS IN THE ENERGY INDUSTRY ARE TRANSFORMING CENTRAL FLORIDA INTO A GREEN POWERHOUSE.

By JustinCampfield

POWERING THE GREEN ENERGYREVOLUTION

“The conference took Florida from the back of theparade to the front of the parade in one big step,” saysDr. Fenton, director of the University of Central Florida’sFlorida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and a member of Gov. Crist’s energy and climate change action team. “Itwasn’t just a little conference to put on and say ‘we aregreat and wonderful.’ It exceeded my wildest dreams.”

The ambitious goals announced at the summitinclude: a reduction in emissions that will ultimately reach80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050; a 30 percent cut invehicle emissions by 2016; a 15 percent increase in con-sumer appliance efficiency; and an energy portfolio thatincludes 20 percent renewables by the year 2020.

While the goals received wide praise, they handedthe business sector a big challenge in developing thetechnology capable of drastically transforming the busi-ness of generating and distributing energy. That is a chal-lenge that a cluster of innovative companies in theOrlando region are not only ready to meet, but one thatthey’ve already been working on.

HEADQUARTERED IN EAST ORLANDO,SIEMENS POWERGENERATION IS A LEADING SUPPLIER OF PRODUCTS, SUCH AS THESE WIND TURBINES, TO COMPANIES IN THE ENERGY AND ELECTRIC INDUSTRY.

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CENTRAL FLORIDA’SPOWER PLAYERS ARE SEEING GREEN

Headquartered in east Orlando nearthe UCF campus, Siemens Power Generation is one of the world’s leadingsuppliers of components and systems tocompanies in the energy and electricityindustry. The Orlando operation, a keybusiness unit of Siemens AG, has morethan 40,000 employees world-wide oper-ating under its umbrella and posted morethan $17 billion in sales in fiscal year2006-2007.

Historically the company has been aleader in technological innovations thatdecrease environmental impact, such ashigh-efficient combined-cycle powerplants and coal-fired power plants withCO2 capture. But in the last few yearsSiemens has emerged as a primary forcein a centuries-old renewable energy thatis proving to be one of the most reliableand abundant sources of green power onthe earth.

Beginning with flour-grinding European windmills in the 1st century AD,humans have been harnessing the powerof the wind to produce energy. But it has been in the last decade that this mil-lennia-old technology has experienced asurge in popularity and attention withinthe industry. According to the WorldWind Energy Association, between 2000and 2006, wind power generation world-wide more than quadrupled.

For Siemens, that growth has beengood for business. In 2007, U.S. andCanadian orders for its wind turbines —those gigantic fan-like power generatorsthat are popping up on farmland prairiesand offshore sites across the globe —exceeded $1.1 billion and totaled nearly1,140 megawatts in production power.The megawatt total for 2007’s ordersreflected an increase of 50 percent overthe previous year.

While wind power production is heat-ing up across the globe, Orlando- basedSiemens only has to look across town tofind one of its biggest competitors. With21 recent wind turbine projects in the U.S.,Lake Mary’s Mitsubishi Power SystemsAmericas is among the top-five producersof wind turbines in the world, according toDave Walsh, the company’s senior vicepresident of service and manufacturing.

Already employing more than 360workers in the region, Mitsubishi plansto add another 200 to the local work-force when it opens a new manufactur-ing and service plant in South Orlando.While the plant will manufacture partsfor Mitsubishi’s combustion turbineproducts, the new 110,000-square-footbuilding will serve as an importantdemonstration project for the company’snext big foray into another U.S. renew-able industry sector: solar power.

The $65 million plant will be outfittedwith 2,400 Mitsubishi-designed solar panels. According to Walsh, the panelsare already big sellers in Asia and Europeand will become available in the U.S. in2009. When construction is complete inthe middle of this year, it will deriveapproximately 15 percent of its daytimeelectricity from the photovoltaic solargenerating system.

Mitsubishi’s roof-top panels are goodexamples of the types of installations thatare helping Florida overcome the once-prevailing notion that it wasn’t well-suitedfor solar power.

“People have said that the SunshineState doesn’t work for solar,” says UCF’sDr. Fenton. “What they meant was thatlarge-field solar power plants don’t workin Florida. The real key for large solarpower plants is lots of free real estate.Where is the free real estate in Florida?”

The answer to that, says Dr. Fenton,will be more easily found once the indus-try moves to a distributed generationmodel, or the idea that instead of one

large power plant producing electricity,the grid is fed by many much smallerplants in less traditional locations, such ason the roofs of homes, businesses andcars, and even under power transmissionlines.

Industries moving to distributed gen-eration aren’t without historical prece-dence.

“There was a time when IBM mademainframe computers as well as PCs,”says Dr. Fenton. “But IBM got so busyselling mainframes it didn’t focus on PCs.Now, supercomputers are networks ofPCs. One day, power plants will equalmany smaller plants connected together.”

Taking advantage of abundantspaces to harness the sun’s power isexactly what Orlando start-up Solar Blueis doing. Claiming to be one of thenation’s first and only providers of solarwater heating and solar energy systemsfor large-scale commercial use, the com-pany is looking to Orlando’s plentifulhotels, conference centers and resorts totarget the area’s tourism-related facili-ties. That strategy paid off when itannounced a deal last year to install solarwater and solar electric systems on morethan 50 Hyatt properties.

In addition to the energy cost savings,Solar Blue partner Zach Steele says thatcompanies are becoming increasinglyinterested in solar power because of itspolitical and public benefits.

“Corporations are being mandated to become more energy efficient, and thepublic is becoming more conscious

DIRECTOR OF UCF’S FSEC AND A MEMBER OF GOV. CRIST’S ENERGY ANDCLIMATE CHANGE ACTION TEAM, DR. JAMES FENTON IS ONE OF THEBIGGEST PROPONENTS OF SOLAR ENERGY IN ALL OF FLORIDA.

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of global warming,” says Steele, whoteamed up with prominent Orlando businessman Lee Maher to launch SolarBlue. “This has led to companies wantingsolar for a marketing/branding opportu-nity, to meet compliance, as well as toreduce energy costs within the ever-risingenergy market.”

And while most people associaterenewable energy with naturally occurringresources such as wind and solar rays, one Groveland-based company usessomething decidedly less natural, butnonetheless abundant, to create fuel.

Through a multiple-step processcalled transesterification, Clean Fuel/ Silver Bullet Energy(CFSBE) transformsgrease from restaurants that has beenused to cook food such as french fries andchicken wings to create a biodiesel fuelthat can be used in any diesel engine.

“It is exactly the same as any otherdiesel fuel,” says Dwayne Dundore, theone-and-half-year old company’s chieftechnology officer. “You can put it in your car or truck or anything that runs on diesel.”

Once the fuel has been tested toensure it meets theinternationally rec-ognized ASTM standards, it is then soldto either companies with large fleets ofdiesel cars or to blenders who use it tocreate the widely used B-20. CFSBE’slocal customers include UniversalOrlando and Rosen Center Hotels, whilethe City ofClermont is currently in theprocess of signing on as a client.

BRINGING GREENPOWER TO THEPEOPLE

With all of the success local companies are having producing theproducts and services that create greenpower, someone must be making itavailable to consumers.

In the Metro Orlando region, utilitiesare aggressively adding green power totheir portfolios. Progress Energy Florida— the largest utility provider in CentralFlorida — is involved in projects rang-ing from landfill methane gas and solarpower, to hydrogen power and evenfuel derived from orange peels.

“We believe that investing in thesestrategies and technologies, whose ultimate end is to manage energy

resources wisely, is not only smart economically, it’s a moral and civicobligation,” says Jeffrey Lyash, president and CEO of Progress EnergyFloria. “Besides, a commitment togreen energy is what our customershave told us they want.”

Among Progress Energy’s most innovative green power efforts are

projects that utilize wood waste and biomass. In the last year the utility hasannounced agreements to purchaseelectricity from two waste-wood bio-mass plants to be built in Florida by Atlanta-based Biomass Gas & Electric. The plants will be powered by yard trimmings, tree bark and otherwaste wood, and will generate enough electricity to power 46,000 homes.

In May of 2006, Progress Energyagreed to purchase electricity fromwhat stands to become the nation’slargest biomass plant. E-grass, a giantbamboo-like crop scientifically know asArundo Donax, will be grown on a to-be-determined site and then convertedinto energy in the world’s first commer-cial-scale, closed-loop biomass facility.

According to the 130-megawatt plant’sdeveloper, Biomass Investment Group,once the plant is operational it will pro-duce electricity while contributing zerocarbon emissions to the atmosphere.

Another source of renewable energydistributed by Progress Energy comesfrom a partnership it has with CovantaLake, an Okahumpka-based operationthat turns 170,000 tons of garbage into 14.5 megawatts of electricity eachyear.

Operating 24 hours a day, sevendays a week, the plant incineratesgarbage from Lake County businessesand residents in a non-emissions releas-ing process that powers a steam turbine generator. This also drastically reducesthe amount of garbage that ends up inlandfills and eliminates another sourceof greenhouse gases, the methane thatthe garbage would otherwise create.

“Every ton of garbage that isprocessed through our plant eliminatesone ton of carbon dioxide emissions intothe environment,” says Covanta Lake’sbusiness manager, TeriStaniec. “It is alocal solution to a global problem.

ORANGE COUNTY AND ORLANDO UTILITIES COMMISSION (OUC) HAVETEAMED UP TO COVER A 200,000-SQUARE-FOOT SECTION OF THE ROOFOF THE ORANGE COUNTY CONVENTION CENTER WITH SOLAR PANELS..

“We believe that investing in these strategies andtechnologies, whose ultimate end is to manageenergy resources wisely, is not only smart economi-cally, it's a moral and civic obligation,” says JeffreyLyash, president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida.

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Investor-owned utilities aren’t the onlyones getting into the renewables act;numerous local municipally-owned utili-ties want to offer green energy as well.

The Orlando Utilities Commission(OUC) recently announced a partner-ship with the Orange County Conven-tion Center that will create the largestsolar array in the southeast UnitedStates (see sidebar on this page), andboth the Kissimmee Utility Authorityand Leesburg Electric and Gas have initiated the acquisition or productionof electricity derived from solar power.

The Kissimmee and Leesburg renew-able energy effort is being spearheadedby Florida Municipal Power Agency(FMPA), an Orlando-based wholesalepower company owned by the state’s 30municipal electric utilities. Last year, theagency issued a request for proposals toprovide solar photovoltaic equipment, ora contract to purchase electricity gener-ated with solar technology.

GREEN WITHOUTENVY

While Central Florida’s contributionsto green power innovations are varied,the industry’s leaders are quick to pointout the common denominator to itstechnological successes — how businessis done in the region.

“Central Florida’s entrepreneurialspirit and commitment to business inno-vation have helped us greatly in expand-ing our commitment to green energy,”says Progress Energy Florida’s Lyash.“That kind of optimistic and forward-looking attitude attracts and sustainsthese kinds of cutting-edge projects.”

For Mitsubishi Power Systems, thelocal business environment is a big rea-son the company is putting down evenstronger roots in the area. “We’ve hadhuge support from the community,” saysWalsh. “That’s why we are investing $65million in capital for a new plant … ourexperience here has been great.”

Of course, it isn’t just any $65 millionplant. It is a $65 million plant with 2,400solar panels on top. And if the localgreen power industry has its way, in thenear future constructing a building anyother way may seem like a very un-Orlando thing to do.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S TOM KIMBIS, FLORIDADEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION’S VIVIAN GARFEIN, FLORIDASEN. LEE CONSTANTINE, ORANGE COUNTY MAYOR RICHARD CROTTY, OUCBOARD PRESIDENT KATIE PORTA AND UCF’S DR. DAN HOLSENBACK

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Each year more than a mil l ion people visit the Orange County Con-vention Center to attend tradeshowsshowcasing the newest products inindustries as varied as home improve-ment, comic books and surfing apparel.But once a recently announced solarpower project is completed early nextyear, the most promising technologiesmay no longer be on the conventionfloor, but on the convention’s roof.

The Orlando Utilities Commission(OUC) and Orange County haveteamed up to create the southeasternUnited States’ largest solar power ini-tiative. Large enough to cover 200,000square feet — or about the size of fivefootball f ields — of the center’sNorth/South building in solar panels,the project will produce between 1.3and 1.5 mega-watts per year, which isenough to reduce the convention cen-ter’s annual electricity consumption byabout five percent.

In addition to creating non-pollut-ing energy, the initiative will also serveeducation and research purposes. A climate-change education center willbe set up in the convention center totout the benefits of solar power to conventioneers, and the project itselfwill help scientists study the production

of solar power. Funding is being provided by a $1.8

million grant from the Florida Depart-ment of Environmental Protection, aswell as contributions from OrangeCounty and OUC of $3.8 million and$1.5 million, respectively.

The center has a history of beingenvironmentally progressive. Its recy-cling program led it to be one of thefirst convention center in the U.S. toreceive the International Organizationfor Standardization’s “Green Certifica-tion,” and other environmentallyfriendly initiatives have included usingreclaimed water for landscaping irriga-tion, installing xeriscape plantings, andpurchasing “green” cleaning products.

“Over the last three years, our oper-ations personnel have successfullyimplemented several energy conserva-tion measures,” says Jerry Daigle,OCCC deputy general manager. “Thissolar PV project will take us to the nextlevel in energy management, and it willbe a major step in making our facilitiesgreen.”

This isn’t the first time OUC andOrange County have teamed up to cre-ate green power. Since June of 1998,the two have worked together to har-ness methane gas produced by decom-posing garbage at the Orange Countylandfill. The gas is used to generateelectricity at OUC’s Stanton EnergyCenter.

SHOWCASINGORLANDO’S INNOVATION


particular, Parthenon Capital, remainedpersistent, urging Meffe to accept theposition of CEO at a new business thatwould produce heart-disease and can-cer diagnostic tools.

Dom Meffe, the cancer survivor,wanted to continue working in the fieldthat is so close to his heart. Health careis not just a business for Meffe, it's acalling. His sister died of a brain tumorand both he and his wife have survivedcancer. So, he finally said yes.

The result of that decision is Triad

“I tried taking some time off, but Iwasn't ready to sit home,” says soft-spoken Meffe.

Other people didn’t want Meffe —who has been dubbed “serial entre-preneur” because of all the successfulenterprises he’s established — sittinghome either. He has played a major rolein Orlando’s dominance of the phar-maceutical distribution industry overthe past decade. His phone rang off thehook with offers to step in and run onebusiness or another. One company in


p e a k p e r f o r m e r

WhenHealth

IT’S GOOD TO BE DOM MEFFE, ORLANDO’SOWN “SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR.”

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By G.K.Sharman

MEETS CARE

PHOTO BY CHARLES HODGES

Dom Meffe, the entrepreneur,seemed to have it made in the

spring of 2006. He had just retired fromCurascript, a specialty pharmaceutical distribution company that he founded in2000 and sold for $333 million in 2004,staying on to run it as a division of its newparent company until that merger was wellestablished. He was barely 40 years old and could easily afford to retire — take iteasy, take up golf maybe. Right.

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Isotopes. Based in downtown Orlando,the radiopharmaceutical services com-pany controls a network of pharmaciesacross the Southeast and focuses onthree areas of diagnosis and treatment:the nuclear pharmacy operation com-pounds and distributes radiopharma-ceuticals used in gamma imaging forcancer and cardiac diagnosis; thecyclotron operation produces FDG, orfluorodeoxyglucose, which is used inPET scans for cancer diagnosis; and thebrachytherapy seed division promotesthis advanced cancer treatmentmethod, which involves placing tinyradioactive seeds near the site of thetumor, in turn reducing exposure to thesurrounding healthy tissue.

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Nuclear medicine as a whole is a small but growingsegment of the specialty pharma industry. Meffeexpects his company’s products to treat some 900,000patients in 2008. An estimated 20 cents of every prescription dollar is spent on specialty pharma, andthe total spending is expected to reach $70 billion this year.

Orlando is the place to be if you’re in the specialtypharma business. The city has the largest specialtypharma distribution presence of any metro area in thenation, as well as highly rated hospital systems and astrong life sciences research and development presence.

Meffe, the Orlando businessman, is once againstanding on top of a rising pyramid: Triad is currentlythe fourth- largest company in its industry. It concen-trates its operations in small- and medium-sized mar-kets, such as Fort Myers, Fl., Florence, S.C., Mobile,Ala., and Valdosta and Athens, Ga., where it holds 90to 100 percent of the market share for the industry.Being the big fish in a small pond is “an inherent bar-rier to entry,” Meffe explains. Let the big boys — suchas Cargill and G.E. — fight it out in the cities. Owninga market that’s not big enough for two players is asavvy business strategy. Emphasizing personalized ser-vice is another smart practice. It was his sister’s strug-gle, not just with the disease but with the bureaucracy,that inspired the high-touch business model that hascharacterized each and every one of Meffe’s health-care businesses.

Meffe’s efforts have attracted more than a littlenotice, including a “Crusader of the Year” profile in theDecember 2007 issue of Inc. magazine. He is reluctantto show people a copy, humbled by the Superman-style drawing that accompanies the write-up.

Triad is business number eight for Meffe, who gothis start in the entrepreneurial arena running Chuck E.Cheese franchises with his father in Pennsylvania.While in grad school in Tampa, he started a manage-ment consulting firm. Meffe later sold his share backto his partners to become part owner of Golf-Rite Products, which acquired two golf shoe companies and later was sold to a group of investors. His focusshifted to health care after his sister was diagnosed.

Meffe attributes his success to luck, smart co-workers and employees, and his faith. He is on theboard of Shepherd’s Hope, a not-for-profit group that provides non-emergency health care for those in need.

“I’m supposed to do this,” he says. “Opportunitiesare given to you for a reason. If you listen closeenough, you know what you’re supposed to do.”

“I’M SUPPOSED TO DO THIS. OPPORTUNITIESARE GIVEN TO YOU FOR A REASON. IF YOU LISTEN CLOSE ENOUGH, YOU KNOW WHATYOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO.” — DOM MEFFE

G E N E R AT I N G

R E L I A B L E P O W E RA N D A

R E L I A B L E F U T U R EF O R YO U R B U S I N E S S .

©2007 Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc. and Progress Energy Florida, Inc.

Your business will shine brighter

when you relocate or expand in

the Progress Energy service area.

Where your business can count on:

Clean, reliable, affordable

power for today and tomorrow

A dependable energy future

through our balanced mix of

energy effi ciency, alternative

energy and state-of-the-art

power plants

A strong local economy,

outstanding talent pool and

high quality of life

A dedicated economic

development team to meet

your business’ needs

To learn more about why Progress

Energy is the right business partner

for your future, call 800.622.7562

or visit progress-energy.com/economic.

T H E P R O G R E S S E N E R G YS E R V I C E A R E A

L O O K I N G A T P O W E R

I N A N E W L I G H T.

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CENTRAL FLORIDA ZOOMS IN ON THE TOP SPOT FOR OPTICS AND PHOTONICS RESEARCHBy Scott Leon

LASER SHARP FOCUS

JACQUE BRUND/UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

An augmented reality head-mounteddisplay in Dr. Jannick Rolland’sODALab at CREOL. This cutting-edgedevice projects a “screenless monitor,”a first in the field of augmented reality technology.

020-25 Photonics-V2:014-018 Innovation 3/6/08 10:35 AM

to one of only a handful of educationalinstitutions offering degrees in opticalscience and engineering, and is one ofonly a few research hubs in the U.Sdedicated to this science.

WHAT IS PHOTONICS?Photonics encompasses a large arenaof subfields, but lasers are among themost well-known.

“Today we use lasers not only for cutting and welding, but also for scribing integrated circuits, transmit-ting information down high-bandwidthfiber-optic cables, range finding, imaging, biological material analysis,medical diagnostic and therapeuticapplications, and any number of other

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While the 20th century was the age of electronics, the 21st century is theage of photonics. You might not real-ize that many household devices todayuse particles of light, called photons,to transmit information — somethingthat used to be the sole responsibilityof electrons and electronics, accord-ing to Dr. James Pearson, Director,Research and Administration at theUniversity of Central Florida's Centerfor Research and Education in Opticsand Lasers (CREOL), which is part ofUCF’s prestigious College of Opticsand Photonics. Photonics is generallydefined as the generation, manipula-tion and utilization of light. Light, whichcomes in visible and invisible forms,encompasses types used in familiartechnologies like x-rays, as well as hi-tech lasers.

While not a new science, much of theresearch in photonics and the relatedfield of optics — the study of the

properties of light — has advanced, literally, at the speed of light over the last few decades. CREOL was at the forefront.

Established in 1986 to help Floridagrow a budding industry, CREOL laterbecame the first full-fledged college in optics and photonics at a universityin the United States. Since then theprogram has spawned dozens of busi-nesses and has generated more than260 patent applications, with 110patents issued. Central Florida today ishome to approximately 70 photonicscompanies and 20,000 workers.

Currently over two dozen compa-nies, including 13 in Florida, holdlicenses for technology created atCREOL. These companies manufactureeverything from lasers for industrial and military use, to technology for themedical field, to liquid crystal displays(LCDs) and even zoom lenses for cam-eras. In fact, Orlando currently is home

If you’re like most people, you owe many ofthe things you do on a daily basis to light,

but you might not even know it. Most of us picturelight as little more than the phenomenon that occurswhen we flip a switch, but the reality is that “light”is far more, and its uses are nearly limitless. A vastamount of modern technology is based on themanipulation of light in terms we're not aware of —powering such everyday items as CDs, DVDs, cellphones, LCD TVs and computer monitors, and evenhigh-efficiency light bulbs. And much of the researchadvancing these technologies happens right here inCentral Florida.

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Thomas Kohlgraf-Owens aligns a laserbeam through optical components.


civilian and military uses like nightvision equipment or even land minedetection," says Pearson. “Radial Keratotomy and LASIK surgery, the latest flat panel TVs – including LCD, Plasma and DLP – high-speedInternet and even long-distance landline service owe their existence tothe manipulation of light using tech-nologies developed at CREOL or otherinstitutes like it.

“While many companies formedaround cutting-edge technology can'tafford the facilities or equipment necessary to carry out the researchrequired, we have been able todevelop them at CREOL and formeffective partnerships within the indus-try. In fact, while technology is oftenborn here, the ideas usually end uplicensed out to a company to developand sell. Sometimes the technologycan even spawn a company all untoitself,” says Pearson.

AT THE SPEED OF LIGHTPerhaps the most intriguing thingabout working with light is that it’s thefastest thing we know. Manipulating itto carry information by sending it inpulses means that information can betransferred at the speed of light. Andthat’s good news for a generation thatdemands ever-faster and more avail-able communication.

“The idea of an optical computer isnothing new. The train of light pulses

becomes the digital 1s and 0s. We’vebeen working on it for years, but thereare inherent problems. Because theinformation travels so fast we get bottlenecks when we need to manipulate it,” says Pearson. “Butbecause laser light is very spatially confined, it’s ideal for sending signalscross-country over fiber optic lines.Plus, where electrical signals can interfere with one another, photonic

signals at different wavelengths remainindependent, so we can send multiplesignals at the same time.”

Dr. Peter Delfyett, Trustee Chair Pro-fessor of Optics at CREOL, is a renownedpioneer in developing “ultra fast” pho-tonics with multiple applications. One ofhis primary areas of research involves thedevelopment of optical clocks. Don’tthink of “optical” in terms of somethingvisual. It’s a clock based on timing thingsusing the speed of light. “The differencein accuracy between optical clocks andthe atomic clock that most people arefamiliar with is significant. Optical clocksare up to 1,000,000 times more precise,”says Delfyett.

Don’t worry, this isn’t somethingdesigned to tell exactly how late you’rerunning — it’s actually used to createthings that require incredible accuracy,such as Phased Array Telescopes.


“Phased Array” means coordinatingmultiple objects to magnify their power.In this case it creates a much larger tele-scope area using several separate tele-scopes in different locations, say on twosatellites, but it’s only possible by precisesynchronization.

Delfyett continues, “In order toachieve this, you have to know exactlywhere the telescopes are. Since we knowthe speed of light and we can measure

the time it takes for a beam of light generated by a laser to bounce off asatellite, we can determine its positionin space exactly because distance is themathematical product of rate and time.This will eventually allow us to createtelescopes that are functionally far largerthan anything we could actually sendinto space. And if we turn that technol-ogy back on the Earth, you can imaginehow accurate the images could be formilitary or mapping purposes.”

LASER SHARPThe other area of interest for

Delfyett — ultra short pulse lasers(USP) — actually spawned Orlando-based company Raydiance, Inc., whichnow licenses about half of his patents.These lasers stand in contrast to con-tinuous-wave lasers, which are whattypically comes to mind when we hearthe word ‘laser.’ In addition to what itscontinuous-wave counterparts do, USPlasers allow for a myriad of additionalapplications, including, perhaps mostimportantly, medical uses.

Delfyett explains: “A continuous-wave laser cuts by causing the mo-lecular bonds to heat and vibrate so violently that they ultimately break.Unfortunately, this usually damagessome of the surrounding material.What we found with USP lasers wasthat by bombarding the molecule withvery short but powerful pulses in rapidsuccession, we could achieve the sameseparation much more accurately —

“But because laser light is very spatially confined, it’sideal for sending signals cross-country over fiber opticlines” says Dr. James Pearson, at UCF CREOL.


23t e x t u r e S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 8

and without the heat — by blastingelectrons further and further away fromthe nucleus to the point that they nolonger affect the molecule. This losschanges the polarity of the moleculeand, since like charges repel eachother, they separate without generat-ing heat because it’s done so fast.”

Think of it as creating a hole in a wallby firing a small caliber machine gunrather than a cannon. The relative dif-ference in precision and collateraleffects is considerable. The ability toeliminate the resultant heat allowsnumerous additional uses, especially inmedicine. USP lasers make a variety ofcosmetic and laser-based eye surgeries(such as RK and LASIK) possible, andare also used to clean teeth. There haveeven been studies on the use of USPsin the detection of explosive devices.

One experimental area of photonicmedical research is Optical CoherenceTomography (OCT) as a high-accuracyand minimally invasive diagnostic tool.Imagine inserting a small camera intothe body through a blood vessel via atiny fiber-optic cable. The cameracould scan very precisely from theinside out to examine tissue. Laserscan also be used to determine whatalmost any material is made up of viaa process called fluorescence. Put sim-ply, this means that as the laser shineson the material, the material emits certain wavelengths of measurablelight that are characteristic of that specific material. Combining these two capabilities could instantly deter-mine the presence of cancerous cells,and al low doctors to selectively destroy those cells at the same time. It'snot that far-fetched. Florida-basedOcean Optics already has developed amachine capable of detecting precan-cerous cells very accurately.

Until recently, one drawback with theequipment used to create and controlUSP lasers was its size and complexity.That’s where Delfyett’s technology, now at Raydiance, comes in. Based on his research and with his help, thecompany developed and produced the world’s first compact, cost-effectiveand fully software-controlled USP laser system, ultimately increasing the

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Scientists in Leon Glebov’s CREOL lab use holographic optical elements. Glebov’sbreakthrough research in this area led to the ‘spin-off’ business: Optigrate. (Optigrate.com)



accessibility of this technology forwider use, such as by local LASIK clinics. And that’s just the beginning.

A LOOK AHEADDelfyett’s research is simply one area ofa large body of work being done atCREOL by 39 faculty members, 54researchers and 160 graduate students.Research topics currently include novelcamera designs; virtual reality; holographics; display technologies; newlasers; very small, “nano” optical andlaser devices; and a host of theoreticaltopics far too complex to detail. CREOL’s

annual budget is approximately $20 mil-lion, with over a quarter coming fromindustry partners and half from the federal government. Even though it wasestablished at UCF, CREOL began as aconcerted effort on many levels. Today,funding comes through numerous channels, both national and local (includ-ing CREOL's initial $1.5 million from theState of Florida), a vibrant Industrial Affiliates Program with more than 60members, and numerous licensingagreements. CREOL’s ties to Orlando’scontinually growing photonics industryare fundamental.

To further bolster the growing industry in Central Florida, UCF established the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence in 2003 with a$10 million grant from the Florida Legislature to create partnershipsbetween researchers and companies.To date, it has resulted in more than$35 million in funding, and the newTownes Laser Institute (established lastyear with a $4.5 million grant fromFlorida) is expected to create aresearch hub for new laser devices.

The corporate relationships fosteredand built through the Affi l iates Program and the UCF Technology

Incubator (which was rated No. 1 in thenation in 2004) generated more than$5.5 million in the 2005-2006 fiscalyear. With a rapidly growing photonicsand optics industry in Metro Orlandoand the surrounding area, CREOL pro-vides a key foundation and support forthe Florida Photonics Cluster (FPC), anonprofit industry association of thestate's photonic companies. Throughthe FPC and with the support of orga-nizations like the Metro Orlando EDC,CREOL helps promote the interests ofits members and Central Florida as amajor center for photonics technologyand research around the world.

Indeed, with the addition of the College of Medicine at UCF, even more opportunity arises — advancedresearch into medical applications for photonics and other segments of biophotonics, which is one of the focus areas for the new TownesLaser Institute. Development of newimaging techniques, new diagnosticand treatment tools, and new surgical procedures using lasers wil l be possible and much more practical with the establishment of a “medical city” at Orlando’s LakeNona. Right now the groundwork for apartnership between professors andphysicians is being laid, and it willallow them to work together to solveproblems utilizing the resources ofboth worlds.

Perhaps the most impressive thingis that all of this research, happeningright in Orlando’s back yard, hascemented the area’s position as a hubfor optic and photonic researchthroughout the world. While the workitself may not make much sense tothose of us without a Ph.D., the resultscertainly are illuminating. And forthose of us with an LCD TV, they'rekind of cool, too.

Laser-induced fluorescence viewed byUCF graduate research assistant, Trenton Ensley.

Development of new imaging techniques, new diagnostic and treatment tools, and new surgical procedures using lasers will be possible and muchmore practical with the estblishment of a “medicalcity” at Lake Nona.

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A ZOOM WITH A VIEWPerhaps the research at CREOL youcan most relate to involves the cam-era on your cell phone. More thanlikely it has a digital zoom lens, butthe inherent problem with this kind ofzoom is that resolution decreases asthe distance from your subjectincreases. Enter Drs. Shin Tson Wuand Hongwen Ren of the UCF College of Optics and Photonics, whospecialize in liquid crystal (LC) lensesand liquid lenses that have zoomcapabilities.

Liquid crystal displays (LCD) – usedin cell phones, computer monitors andTVs – and Dr. Wu’s liquid lenses aremade up of a particular type of liquidsandwiched between two clear sheets

of glass. Liquid crystals are liquids thatexhibit crystalline properties. Whenthese are used to create a lens, its focuscan be changed by passing it througha non-uniform electric field. The advantage is that you can change thefocus of the lens depending on themagnitude of the applied electric field.

“While LC lenses are a mature technology, reliable and easy to manufacture, most of the devicesrequire a polarizer to reduce the lightallowed in. They have a relatively longfocal length, and are slow to focus.This led us to begin researching non-liquid crystal lenses, which focusmuch faster, are very reliable, have ahuge dynamic range and are up to1/10th the thickness of LC lenses.They also don’t require a polarizer,”says Dr. Wu.

With these lenses, a liquid is injectedbetween two clear flexible sheets; thiscreates a sort of bubble. As the flexiblemembrane is manipulated and the bubble changes, the focus changes. Of course this technology has its limitations, too, such as problems withextreme temperatures.

Wu's group is also working on a project in biophotonics from whichanyone who has ever looked at anLCD screen in the sun will benefit.Whether it's on a cell phone, a computer monitor or a depth finderon a boat, most LCD screens requiretwo polarizers to function, and theambient light that strikes them canaffect viewablity tremendously. Anti-Reflection (AR) coatings are keyto being able to use the device undera variety of light conditions. Wu andhis UCF colleague, Prof. Lei Zhai, areresearching this for LCDs based on amoth’s eye, which has a perfect natural AR coating.

Dr. Wu is renowned for his award-winning workat CREOL in the field of photonics.

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Loden

Sanford Studio Gets a StarringCENTRAL FLORIDA GIVES THE FILM INDUSTRY ITS BEST SHOT

Kyle and Tami Kilger aren’t actors, pro-ducers, directors, writers or even gripsor lighting techs. However, they claimownership to the action feature filmNever Back Down, as they watch thetrailer for the March 2008 release.

“It’s our movie,” says Tami, whonever dreamed of working in the filmindustry and never got close enoughto the Never Back Down actors to askfor autographs.

“That’s our warehouse! That’s ourwarehouse!” Kyle boasts several timesas interior and exterior shots on hiscomputer screen offer glimpses of the Kilgers’ business, Best Shot Studios,on North Elm Street in downtown Sanford. For eight weeks last year, thecast and crew of Summit Entertain-ment’s Never Back Down transformedthe Kilgers’ 1920s-era brick citrus pack-inghouse into a boxing gym.

“There really isn’t anything in thearea like Best Shot Studios,” says Kyle,“especially for downtown Sanford. Thelocal economy saw a surge of dollarsfrom the film. I don’t know that any oneperson made a killing, but it was nice.We own three businesses, so we’rebeyond being afraid of trying some-thing new.”

Tami and Kyle didn’t want the20,000-square-foot, vacant warehouse

For eight weeks last year, the cast andcrew of Summit Entertainment’s Never

Back Down turned Sanford, Florida, into littleHollywood, and transformed a 1920s-era brickcitrus packinghouse into a boxing gym.

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when they bought office space nextdoor in 2001. But it was a packagedeal, and a good one at that. The pay-off came when their realtor brought amovie location scout to the ware-house. Best Shot Studios was born onthe spot.

The cast and crew of Never BackDown, hundreds of people whoneeded food, lodging and other ser-vices, quickly followed the scout andhelped nudge Sanford another step up the ladder as a film-friendly city.Since My Girl was filmed there in 1991, about half a dozen large pro-ductions have followed. Almost everymonth, commercials and industrial f i lms are produced in this quiet, clean, friendly riverfront city in north Seminole County.

“Sanford has an advantage of hav-ing a variety of neighborhoods in anumber of architectural styles,” saysRobert Tunis, economic developmentdirector for the city. “It’s easily acces-sible with few congestion problems.The city is not jaded to filmmaking. Wehave turned around film permits, ofteninvolving multiple city departments, inas little as a day.”

Tami says, “It’s almost like cities are bidding for films, with perks andtax incentives. It’s a hot industry andeveryone wants to be involved.” Kyleexplains that Big Shot Studios is pro-

active: He’s letting filmmakers knowthey offer a huge, secure space thatcan be transformed into any type ofinterior movie set in a city that welcomes the industry.

The success of Best Shot Studiosinspired city officials to make Sanforda “Center of Excellence” for Floridafilmmaking, Tunis says. “We are goingto attract permanent production com-panies, film technology companiesand an education infrastructure serv-ing the industry. Impact on the city isusually minor, while the economicadvantages can be substantial. Thereis also the intangible benefit ofnational exposure.”

Tunis praises the Kilgers’ foresightand courage. “The film industry can becyclical and it probably will be a fewmonths before the studio becomesoccupied on a daily basis. I trulybelieve Best Shot Studios is the har-binger of Sanford as a substantial filmcenter,” he says.

Tami says, “It’s something we stum-bled upon. It took no effort on our part.When you come to Sanford you couldbe any where in the U.S. There are a lotof options here for filmmakers. Sanfordhas all the amenities needed for pro-duction of any type. Yet it still has asmall-town feel. Sanford is unpreten-tious. It’s not really a Florida feel, unlessthat’s what you’re looking for.”


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When it comes to goinggreen in the entertainmentindustry, Florida is leadingthe charge by ensuring thatfilm and television produc-tions make environmentallywise choices both on the setand in scripts. The Governor’sOffice of Film and Entertain-ment has even establishedguidelines for the industry,known as the Florida GreenProduction Plan. Key ele-ments of the plan includerecycling everything possibleand appropriately handlinghazardous materials.

Niki Welge, spokespersonfor the state initiative, says,“Filmmakers and decisionmakers on crews are sup-portive of the idea of goinggreen. Some environmentallyfriendly ideas can be imple-mented on set with little orno effort.”

Movie and video makershave the power to encouragegreen practices by writingexamples into scripts thatshow characters recycling,walking or using alternativetransportation, turning offlights and computers whenthey aren’t in use, volunteer-ing for environmental andsocial causes and much more.

Here in Central Florida,warehouse-turned-set BestShot Studios is a great exam-ple of an environmentallyfriendly business within thefilm industry.

“Best Shot Studios, inwhat was an under-usedwarehouse in Sanford, reallyis the ultimate in recycling,”says Sanford EconomicDevelopment DirectorRobert Tunis. “Filmmakingprobably has one of thesmallest carbon footprints ofany commercial or industrialactivity that could have beenenvisioned for the site.”

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Never Back Down, which could be described as Fight Club for teenagers, was filmed in part at Best Shot Studios in Sanford. The movie is scheduled to be released in March 2008.

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UCF’S TECHNOLOGY INCUBATORIS GROUND ZERO FOR CENTRALFLORIDA’S HIGH-TECH CORRIDOR.

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Because most universities specialize incertain areas of research and haveaccess to rare equipment and vital labspace, they are the birthplace of mosttechnological breakthroughs. Theseinnovative developments often providethe sustainable competitive advantagescritical to success in the marketplace.

Imagine if the university also had aprogram in place to work with a start-up companies based on theseinnovations, helping them grow byestablishing goals and a strategy. Thisis exactly what a technology incubatordoes, and it was precisely the goal thatDr. Tom O’Neal had when he began theTechnology Incubator program at UCFin 1999. Imagne no longer! O’Neal’sprogram is now one of the top tech-nology incubators in the country andone of the most respected in the world.

“Right now we have 53 companiesinvolved in the incubator with a success rate of 90 percent, which isexcellent for a program like this,” says O’Neal. Indeed, UCF’s incubator won the National Business IncubationAssociation’s Top Incubator of the Year in 2004.

True to i ts name, the UCF Technology Incubator (UCFTI) providesan environment where its clients haveaccess to people and organizationswith the experience necessary to puttogether a successful tech-based company, even those not based ontechnology developed at UCF. I t provides mentoring on all aspects ofbuilding a new company, from the initial business plan to marketing andpublic relations tactics. Because of thesize and number of the partner organi-zations involved with the Incubator,each business accepted into the program is provided peer support. Thisensures that assistance comes fromwithin the most relevant fields. Everyclient is also offered support services

(like staffing and secretarial) and officespace on campus, allowing convenientaccess to relevant labs, l ibrar ies and personnel.

While 70 percent of the Incubator’sclients come into the program with theirown concepts and technology, 30 percent of the companies are basedaround technology licensed from a program at UCF. “At a university thathas such a productive research agendain so many fields, the development ofinnovat ive technologies and new businesses to market those technolo-gies goes hand-in-hand. Professorswho create the technology rarely havethe time or interest in developing it, soit’s licensed to a group that does,” saysO’Neal. “The UCFTI helps companieson either path.”

According to O’Neal, the formalincubation process takes place through a series of strategic workingsessions over a period of up to 4 years. “Companies finally graduate when theyachieve a level of fiscal and commercialgrowththat allows them to move out ontheir own. Many companies go public,but some choose to remain privatelyheld. Either way, over 90 percent of thecompanies that graduate from theincubator succeed.”

Because of its initial ties to UCF’s Center for Research and Education inOptics and Lasers (CREOL), almost 20 percent of the companies involved withthe UCFTI are optics based. However,the program includes businesses in virtual ly every technological f ield imaginable, f rom biomedical to educational and training technology toenvironmental products and services.

Graduates include such companies as DiSTI, which specializes in advancedgraphic software that provides servicesto businesses, governments and militaries worldwide. One of the found-ing partners and its president, JoeSwinski, credits the UCF TechnologyIncubator for laying the groundwork forits success. “As engineers, we had thetechnological capabilities to makeDiSTI and GL Studio® a reality. Fortu-nately, as part of the UCF TechnologyIncubator, we also had assistance withour business plan, pricing, marketing x

and other areas where we weren’t asexperienced,” says Swinski.

Current clients include The VirtualReality Medical Center (VRMC), which ispartnering with the UCF Institute for Simulation and Training to develop aMixed Reality Rehabilitation System(MRRS) for people with traumatic braininjuries (see Tech Trends on p. 6). “As aSan Diego-based company, we were initially attracted to UCF because of theworld-class research being conductedin mixed reality, but the Incubator program proved to be an asset wecouldn’t pass up,” says Angela Salva ofVRMC. “The help we have received hasbeen invaluable. I’m certain that thenew company will be far stronger thanwe could have done on our own.”

To date, the Incubator has servedmore than 100 emerging technologycompanies, which in turn have gener-ated more than $200 million in annualrevenues and over 800 new jobs. Highlytrained individuals educated at UCFoften fill those positions.

“As the company develops in the program, its work force is being taught.In many cases the graduate studentswho end up working for these compa-nies helped research and develop the technologies it licensed while in thelab,” says O’Neal. “It’s a cycle thatkeeps many of these companies righthere in Central Florida after they com-plete the program. This in turn helpsUCF, the Incubator program, its numer-ous partners and the local economy.”And that’s growth worth incubating.

While the majorfunct ion of any

university is education,research follows closelybehind.

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By Jackie Kelvington

ORLANDOMETRO

OPENING DOORS FOR HISPANIC ENTREPRENEURS

030-33 Hispanic BIZ 3:014-018 Innovation 3/5/08 11:49 AM


Smart organizations have already pre-pared for the cultural, demographic andeconomic shifts that are taking place bytransforming their marketing strategies,integrating bilingual approaches,implementing diversity initiatives andretooling their hiring plans – all with aneye on the growing Hispanic popula-tion and workforce.

NUMBERS DON’T LIEThe nation’s fast-growing Hispanic

population and workforce have otherimplications, too. Experts predict anongoing surge in the number of His-panic business leaders and entrepre-neurs. And trends and data show thatOrlando will continue to emerge as ahotspot for Hispanic-owned businesses.According to the Census Bureau, theHispanic population in the UnitedStates increased by 58 percent, from22.4 million in 1990 to 35 million in2000 (most current data available).Experts predict that by the year 2050nearly one-quarter of the nation’s population will be Hispanic and willcontinue to live in five primary states –California, Texas, New York, Illinois andFlorida. With a current Hispanic popu-lation of more than 427,000 (more than 22 percent of our total population),Orlando ranks as the 13th-largest U.S.metro for Hispanics by total percent-age of population for metros over one million.

From a business perspective, thisstory gets even stronger. The U.S.added more than 373,000 Hispanic-owned businesses between 1997 and2002, representing a 31 percent growthrate. Florida had the third-highest num-ber of these businesses. Orlando hasemerged as a top location in two areas:as an attractive place for Hispanic busi-ness leaders and entrepreneurs toestablish their operations, and as aleading metro in the state for doingbusiness with countries like Mexico,Brazil and Chile.

Consider the first point: Orlando’sstarting line-up of Hispanic businessleaders and entrepreneurs includes the

Across the country and certainly right here inMetro Orlando, not only is the business land-

scape changing, but so is the language of business. >>

The Latino population, already the

nation's largest minority group, will

triple in size and will account for most

of the nation's population growth

from 2005 through 2050.

Nearly one in five Americans (19%)

will be an immigrant in 2050, compared

with one in eight (12%) in 2005 —

the current number for Orlando is

one in six.

Hispanics will make up 29% of the

U.S. population in 2050, compared

with 14% in 2005.

77% of Orlando’s growth is from

minority groups.

From 2000 – 2004 the Hispanic

population in Central Florida grew

nearly twice as fast as in the rest

of the state.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center



heads of simulation companies, a bank,a custom home builder, a biometrics company and a major network televi-sion station.

“One thing that sets this regionapart is the proactive role that govern-ment and community leaders havetaken to welcome and encourage

Hispanics to be part of ourever-expanding businesscenter,” says Jim E. Jardon II, president andCEO of JHT Incorporated,

a leader in interactivemultimedia trainingsystems. “Orange County MayorRichard Crotty, Cityof Orlando MayorBuddy Dyer, the

Metro Orlando EDC,the Orlando Regional

Chamber of Com-merce, the HispanicChamber of Com-merce, the HispanicBusiness InitiativeFund — all have promoted and cham-pioned the influx ofHispanics to ourregion with a myriadof business initia-tives, programs andassistance.”

Ricardo Aguilar, founder and presi-dent of biometrics start-up companyBiotraits, wholeheartedly agrees.“There are two more unbelievableresources here for start-up companies,and that is the Disney Entrepreneur

Center and the University of CentralFlorida’s Technology Incubator, wheremy company currently resides. Theyand a host of other community partnershelped my dreams come true,” Aguilarsays. “Believe me, others outside of this region are envious as to how hardMetro Orlando works to help start-upssucceed and thrive.”

REACHING BEYONDCENTRAL FLORIDA

Orlando’s Hispanic business con-nections go beyond the leaders andentrepreneurs who call the regionhome. In 2007, delegations from Cen-tral Florida traveled to Spain, Panamaand Brazil to pursue cooperative busi-ness opportunities. And business devel-opment missions to these countries willagain be made in 2008 to continuebuilding on the interest and opportuni-

ties for trade and investment. TheMetro Orlando EDC, in fact, has workedwith more than a dozen companiessince officials met with them in 2007,hoping to secure their interest in estab-lishing an office or facility here.

Whether here locally or in SouthAmerica or Spain, business leaders andentrepreneurs identify Orlando as aplace where dreams come true.

“One thing is for sure – Orlando hasbecome fertile ground for Hispanic businesses to build and grow,” saidMercedes F. McCall, Central Floridaregion executive of Banco PopularNorth America. “I believe that a com-munity that opens doors to diversity andinnovative ideas will experience endless economic growth. Orlando is a primeexample of a dynamic community thatwelcomes contributions from all, creat-ing opportunity and solid economicgrowth. Orlando is a great location forHispanics, but it is also a great city foranyone willing to contribute and getinvolved. The doors of the Orlando oftoday are always open to new ideas andthe dreams of so many.”

JIM E. JARDON, IIPresident & CEO, JHT Incorporated

MERCEDES F. McCALLRegional Executive, BancoPopular North America

RICARDO AGUILARFounder & President, Biotraits

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“I BELIEVE THAT A COMMUNITY THAT OPENS DOORS TO DIVERSITY ANDINNOVATIVE IDEAS WILL EXPERIENCE ENDLESS ECONOMIC GROWTH.ORLANDO IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF A DYNAMIC COMMUNITY THAT WELCOMES CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALL, CREATING OPPORTUNITY ANDSOLID ECONOMIC GROWTH ...” — MERCEDES F. MCCALL


Imagination + Technology

Call 407.422.7159

www.orlandoedc.com



n e w c o s

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DEALOPTRIA MEETS THE NEEDS OF FINANCIALSERVICE COMPANIES BY PROVIDINGINNOVATIVE SOFTWARE THAT OFFERSPERSONALIZED SOLUTIONS.

By Todd Deery

Suite

If necessity is the mother of invention, then you mightsay that necessity helped create Optria.

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calls and asks for the payoff amount onhis car loan, the bank might concludethat he wants to close that account orsell the vehicle. This software can beprogrammed so that the person’s nameis then sent to the customer servicecenter, which could contact him withoffers to refinance. Kinetique also gives banks the ability to offer fraudprotection by enabling them to sendtext messages to their customers’ cell

phones right after they’ve made anATM withdrawal.

Optria’s success has garnered themlocal and national clients, including theUnited Nations Federal Credit Union inNew York City. Vannoy says that one ofthe real advantages of their products isthat they can be integrated into a com-pany’s core business software quicklyand relatively easily. He also cites hisand Stoughton’s more than 34 years ofcombined experience in the financialservices sector as a real benefit.

While Optria has enjoyed early suc-cess, going from two employees to itscurrent 14, there are always challengesto be met.

“Our biggest challenges are man-aging growth and getting our nameout,” says Vannoy. “We’ve been suc-cessful to date because of our years inthe business and our networking. Butwe’ve got more to do than we have

people or money. We have the samepains as everyone.”

So what does the future hold forOptria? They expect to grow and per-fect their current business model fornational and international clients. Butwill they take their business model toother industries?

“We’re going to stay in financial services right now because there’s stilla lot of growth.” And, Vannoy says,there’s no better place to grow thanCentral Florida. He points out that theI-4 corridor from South Orlando toLake Mary has become a hub for finan-cial service companies in the UnitedStates. In fact, employment in the localfinancial industry sector has grown 50 percent since 1995, to more than66,000 people.

“We haven’t had to go outside thisarea to hire people as we’ve grown,”Vannoy says. “There are enough talented people right here. The bigcompanies today bring people into thisarea. Once they’re here, they look atother opportunities. And we hopewe’re one of those opportunities.”

It’s those challenges and opportuni-ties that keep Vannoy and Optria competing every day, trying to improvetheir customer-relations products.

“One of the most exciting things for us to say to prospective clients isthat our three leading products arearguably the best out there,” Vannoysays. “It’s enjoyable to compete againstother solutions and have peoplechoose ours.”


In 2005 Terrance Vannoy and PeteStoughton were working for a largeglobal financial services company inCentral Florida. While working on a project that required them to find bet-ter customer-relations software, theyrealized that nothing like that existed.

“It was evident there was a real need for good customer-relations soft-ware for the financial services sector.And we thought we could create that,” says Vannoy.

So in August of that year, Vannoyand Stoughton left that company andfounded Optria in Lake Mary.

They knew from the beginning thattheir main clients would be banks andcredit unions struggling to retain cus-tomers as credit card companies andbrokerage houses started offeringbanking-related services.

“Places like brokerage houses wereused to providing rich content to high-end customers,” says Vannoy, nowOptria’s chief operating officer. “Theyapplied that same approach to this market and outdid some of the banksand credit unions.”

So he and Stoughton set out todevelop a suite of products that wouldequip banks, credit unions and otherfinancial service providers with bettercommunication tools and processes.

The first product they developedwas Optria Communiqué, a softwaresuite that allows banks to provide rich,interactive bank statements, noticesand other messages to their customers.The software helps its users providemore personalized, better-brandedcommunication pieces that canstrengthen their relationships with theircustomers. Bank statements are nowmuch more interactive and intuitive,which benefits the client as well as the company.

The second product Optria releasedwas Kinetique, an event-managementalert solution that allows banks to better track and respond to customerinteractions. For example, if a customer x

“ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING THINGS FOR US TO SAY TO PROSPECTIVECLIENTS IS THAT OUR THREE LEADING PRODUCTS ARE ARGUABLY THEBEST OUT THERE ...” — TERRANCE VANNOY

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ATTRACTIONForces of

ORLANDO-AREA THEME PARKS KEEP IN STEP WITH THE TECHNOLOGY BOOM.

SPACE CADETSEvery year more than 1.4 million people tour the Kennedy Space CenterVisitor Complex. It’s one of CentralFlorida’s most popular destinations, andthe focus of its tours, exhibits and ridesis to bring visitors face-to-face with thetechnology and milestones of NASA.

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Opened in the spring of last year,“Shuttle Launch Experience” at theKennedy Space Center Visitor Complexis the culmination of three years ofdevelopment by veteran space shuttleastronauts, renowned attraction expertsand a design team under the guidanceof NASA. The attraction takes visitors

From touring the launch pads to meet-ing an astronaut, the Visitor Centeroffers rare opportunities for people toget behind-the-scenes insight into whatit takes to make space exploration areality, and what it’s like to be a spaceexplorer. One of its newest rides is doingjust that in a pretty spectacular way.

Technology is all around us in Central Florida. From cutting-edge researchfacilities to top-notch medical centers, Orlando is home to some of the

greatest technological advances being made today. The region, best known for its visitor appeal, also happens to lead the way when it comes to innovative attractions. Several local theme parks have recently completed exciting projects or have something underway. Here’s a glimpse at the latest and greatest.

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through a simulated launch into Earth’sorbit from Kennedy Space Center, thebirthplace of American space explor-ation. Through sophisticated motion technology, special effect seats and high-fidelity visual and audio presentations,visitors are immersed in the sensations of launching into space – complete withgoing fully vertical in the process.

The attraction can accommodate 44“crew members,” who begin their jour-ney by entering the shuttle launch simulation facility, a massive structurethat’s architecturally consistent with thespace shuttle facilities at KennedySpace Center. Astronaut testimonialsgreet the crew. Veteran shuttle com-mander Charlie Bolden delivers the pre-launch briefing, explaining the launchsequence step by step. Now it’s time toenter the crew cabin, sit back and strapin for launch — an extremely realisticsimulation of the space shuttle’s eight-and-a-half minute ascent into orbit.Custom-designed crew cabins, high-definition audiovisual effects and high-tech seating maximize the realism of theexperience, which was designed andengineered to be the most realisticlaunch simulation ever created. After anadventure like this, you’ll never look atspace travel in the same way again.

MODERNIZING THE FUTURESince Disney’s Epcot® center — anacronym for Experimental PrototypeCommunity of Tomorrow — opened in1982, its icon has been the gigantic silver geosphere. The park reflects

Walt Disney’s desire to showcase newtechnologies emerging in Americanindustries. If the park is iconic of Disney’s view of the future, then the ridewithin the geosphere, “SpaceshipEarth,” is iconic of Epcot® itself.

In 2007 and early 2008, SpaceshipEarth was closed for seven months of detail ing and reconstructiondesigned to modernize and enhancethe park’s focal point. Presented bySiemens, the attraction now boasts anumber of updated elements: newscenes, costumes and sets; new light-ing and special effects; a new musicalscore and narration; and a completelyre-themed interactive post-ride show.

The ride takes guests on a tripthrough time to learn how each gener-ation has shaped the future for the nextone, and how the spirit of innovationhas helped move people “from thecaves to the cosmos.”

New scenes depict a family in the1960s watching the moon landing onTV; a garage in the early 70s where thepersonal computer is born; and a “techtunnel” where guests become part of adigital data stream.

In order to make the audio-Anima-tronics figures more realistic, theyreceived makeovers to their hair, cos-tumes, and even their movements. Thenarration got an upgrade too, and guestsnow can choose one of six languages inwhich to listen.

Perhaps the most impressive newupgrade happens near the end of theride. Interactive touch screens in theride vehicles light up with a series ofquestions about the guests’ prefer-ences concerning the future and wherethey would like to live and work. Theythen receive a personalized view ofthemselves in their idyllic future.

After disembarking, guests are invitedto visit “Project Tomorrow” presented by Siemens, in which interactive exhibitsbring to life the technologies the company is developing. There are gamesand displays that showcase innovativetechnologies, such as “Innervision” — a look into the future of medical diag-nostics in the home — and “BodyBuilder,” a 3D game that enables playersto assemble a digital human body,

simulating the Siemens technologydeveloped to perform remote surgeries.

HEAD FOR SEAWORLD‘S AQUATICASeaWorld® Orlando will open its ownwater park just in time for spring. Billedas a “whimsical, one-of-a-kind waterpark,” SeaWorld’s AquaticaTM offers a lazy river and numerous waterslides, butit’s the way its designers fold animalencounters into the usual rides that separates it from other area water parks.

The signature places to get up-closeand personal with marine life include a300-foot-long enclosed waterslide thatplunges riders down a 42-foot drop andthrough a lagoon populated by black-and-white Commerson’s dolphins. “Log-gerhead Lane,” a relaxing lazy river ridethat winds through the colorful park,takes guests past waterfalls, exotic birdsand the single aquarium of fish on displayin Aquatica™. In addition, the 59-acreattraction boasts one of the world’slargest interactive water play areas, whichincludes a 60-foot-tall “rain fortress” anda 15,000-square-foot pool, as well as several smaller slides and water cannons.

Clearly a great deal of work went intothe design and construction of the park,which is the only one of its kind that offerssuch close contact with flora and fauna,and exotic species to boot. Aquatica isthe first new park in Orlando to opensince SeaWorld created Discovery Cove®

in 2000.

©Disney



Orlando: 407-841-2330

Melbourne: 321-725-4760

Jacksonville: 904-470-0002

www.addmg.com

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UNIVERSAL’S NEW UNIVERSE The Harry Potter series of books has become a globalphenomenon that spawned five films, and now a mini theme park in Orlando. The books by author J.K. Rowling have been translated into 65 languagesand have sold more than 325 million copies in over 200 territories around the world. Universal Studioshopes to bring that kind of success to Central Florida.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and UniversalOrlando® Resort are teaming up to create the world’sfirst fully immersive, Harry Potter-themed environment,based on the bestselling books and blockbuster filmsfrom Warner Bros. Described as “a theme park withina theme park,” this new environment will be called “TheWizarding World of Harry Potter” and will be built withinUniversal’s Islands of Adventure® theme park.

Plans remain secretive, but one thing that’s widelyknown is that these companies are going all out in orderto transport guests into the world of Harry Potter andhis friends in a way true to that depicted in the movies.In fact, Academy Award®-winning production designerStuart Craig, who worked on all of the Harry Potter tomovies to date, leads the creative design for the areato ensure that it remains faithful to the look and feel ofthe films.

“The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” will be a fully immersive, themed land where guests can visitsome of the most iconic locations found in the booksand films, including the village of Hogsmeade, the mysterious Forbidden Forest, and even Hogwarts Castle. Expected to open in late 2009, the area will feature rides and interactive attractions, as well as experiential shops and restaurants that will enableguests to sample fare from the wizard world’s best-known establishments.

Also debuting will be a state-of-the-art attractiondesigned to bring the magic, characters and stories of Harry Potter to life in an exciting way that guests havenever before experienced. They might not be reveal-ing what’s up their sleeves yet, but with Universal andWarner Bros. involved in the project, it will no doubt be yet another successful addition to Orlando’s un-paralleled and tech-savvy experiential parks.


With the first fully integrated pediatric health care system

in Central Florida, Nemours will bring a new level of

advanced services to our children. So that as a community,

we can give all of our children the opportunities they

deserve. Learn more at orlandokids.org.

The promise of healthier children.

©2008. The Nemours Foundation

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