VC3 News & Events

Benchmark Process Helps Local Governments Make Clearer IT Decisions

System Account — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:07:12 GMT

Body:

Source: NCLM's Southern City
February, 2011
By Brenda Rockwell-Porter

Each new technology promises more cost-savings and better ways of communicating. As a result, local governments are inundated with offers said to improve the way their IT department functions.

“One of the key challenges that all organizations face with technology is that it is very difficult to both keep up with all of the changes and … to establish a crisp understanding of the cost to utilize the technology,” explained Dale Graver, Director of Business Development for North Carolina for VC3, a Columbia, S.C., firm (with offices in Raleigh) that implements IT projects and services to enhance productivity and lower technology ownership costs.VC3, endorsed by the N.C. League of Municipalities as a service provider for municipalities, now offers a complimentary IT Benchmark Process designed to help cities and towns make crucial decisions about their technology during the 2011-2012 budget process and beyond.

The Benchmark Process cuts through the confusion of IT decisions and provides the municipality with a clear understanding of when and where it can benefit from traditional versus newer, cloud-based technologies as well as offer competitive benchmark data around the expected cost-to-service and maintain the technology. (Cloud refers to location-independent, on-demand computing platforms.)

“We firmly believe that there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to the above dilemma. Rather, it takes a consultative approach to understand the nuances of each organization such that a clear view of the options can be understood and acted upon by the decision makers,” said Graver.

The City of Belmont, for example, recently completed VC3’s Benchmark Process. Barry Webb, Belmont’s Town Manager and a member of NCLM’s Risk Management Services (RMS) Board of Trustees, heard about the process at an RMS meeting last fall and invited the company in for a second opinion on assessing the City’s IT needs. At the time, Belmont had been working with another IT consultant that recommended a plan heavily focused on hardware replacement.

“This carried a fairly high-dollar tag with it [and] was not focused on service provisions or service needs,” said Webb. Through the IT Benchmark Process, VC3 gathered data regarding the municipality’s budgeting process, expenditures committed to all areas of the City’s current IT department and the particulars that make up the current IT environment.

The IT firm returned a proposal where the primary concern is not on hardware. In fact, the recommendation is just the opposite. “The focus is on the provision of information and the operation of the system that we have.”

Webb noted the benefits of this technology will be more stable and predictable pricing for IT services. “Ultimately, I would expect to generate some savings based on the elimination of hardware expenses.” Webb has supplied his city council with a summary of the report and a recommendation to consider moving forward using VC3’s hosted cloud-based technology services. Added Graver: “For those using a delivery approach that is most cost effective for their organization, [the review] gives them the peace of mind that all is well. The delivery approach could be using all traditional forms of technology or all-cloud based technology or it could be a mix of both.”

For others, like Belmont, this presents an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how cloud services may benefit them from a financial or feature perspective.

The IT Benchmark Process is complimentary to all qualifying NCLM members. Please contact Dale Graver at 919-246-9185 or email dale.graver@vc3.com for more information.

Category: News

VC3's Ryan Gallier Talks About CitrixIRC with Brian Madden

System Account — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:57:44 GMT

Body:

July 11, 2011
By: Gabe Knuth
BrianMadden.com

You know IRC, right? The IRC. The one you used to access via FreeNet in 1990, Prodigy in 1992, and AOL (we all know you had it) in the 1995? As it turns out, people still use it regularly, and for good instead of evil. One such "good" use is CitrixIRC, an IRC server set up by Ryan Gallier (of VC3) to provide realtime, group-driven support for desktop virtualization administrators (not just Citrix, as the name might imply). I had a chance to interview Ryan recently via webcam, and here's what he had to say:

To try out CitrixIRC yourself, you don't need anything more than a browser. Just browse tohttp://join.citrixirc.com, which gets you into the chat room via an IRC web client. You don't even need to sign up for an account.

Ryan wanted me to point out some of the CitrixIRC All-Stars that help provide great support and around-the-clock coverage:

Blake Burgess (gladier)
Kirill Davydychev (kdavy)
Jarian Gibson (JarianGibson)
Shane Kleinert (makson)
Patrick Reynolds (splatone)

Ryan wasn't joking about around-the-clock, either. As I write this at 10:30 Eastern on Sunday night, there's at least a handful of live people in the channel just waiting to be of assistance! So, thanks to Ryan, and to Blake, Kirill, Jarian, Shane, Patrick, and everyone else that participates on CitrixIRC for a great service!

Category: News

Enrich RTI product receives a Palmetto Pillar award in the “Licensed IT Product” category.

System Account — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:13:20 GMT

Body:

For over a decade the Palmetto Pillar Awards program has been awarding the area’s top leaders in technology innovation. This year VC3 was selected as a finalist in two categories and won the award for “Licensed IT Product” for the Enrich Response To Intervention product.

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a proven strategy for improving student outcomes through ongoing evaluation of student performance and prescription of research-based interventions.

Enrich RTI was developed in partnership with Excent, makers of the Excent Online system for managing Individualized Education Plans for special needs students. School districts use Enrich RTI to identify students for interventions based on flexible criteria, including any assessment data, grades or other indicators. Teachers at any technical skill level can enter, extract and analyze student data.

VC3 was also a finalist in the category of “Custom Application Development” for the Ward Enrollment Services (WES) software developed for Ward Services, Inc.

For more information on RTI and TestView please visit www.VC3.com.

Click here for a full list of Palmetto Pillar Award recipients and finalists.

Category: News

The South Carolina Department of Education Signs Statewide License Agreement for VC3's Enrich Assess Software

System Account — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:16:03 GMT

Body:

August 18, 2011

Columbia, SC- The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) and VC3 recently announced the signing of a

statewide license agreement for VC3’s Enrich Assess software. The software, which allows districts to centrally store, report on, and analyze student assessment information such as standardized tests, is currently in use by over 50 South Carolina school districts. The agreement will provide the product to the remaining South Carolina school districts.

A centralized version of the product, Enrich Assess Central, will also be used by the SCDE to provide a consolidated view of assessment information for all students in South Carolina, as well as integrate with the Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) that has been developed by the SCDE. The two systems will enable educators and analysts, at the district and state level, to perform multi-year longitudinal analysis of student performance indicators, correlate this information with other critical information like demographics, and get valuable insight into which factors have the most impact on student performance so that educational resources can be applied more effectively across the state.

According to Tom Olson, Interim Director of External Technology for the SCDE, “The combination of Enrich Central and the SLDS will provide educators and administrators in South Carolina unprecedented access to data and analytic capabilities that we can use to improve student performance. We expect to have the full system up and running in all districts and a centralized view of this data by July of next year. “

“South Carolina is in a unique position. In recent years the SCDE has laid a foundation by consolidating all districts onto one Student Information System (SIS) platform, creating a unique student ID for every student, and developing the SLDS. These efforts, combined with VC3’s 15 years of experience working with South Carolina school districts and student assessment data, such as South Carolina’s PASS standardized assessment and almost all national tests such as the SAT and ACT, put South Carolina years ahead of other states,” said David Dunn, VC3’s CEO.

“What VC3 and the SCDE are doing represents a complex process of integrating and cleansing data from a variety of information sources. VC3’s Enrich Assess technology and demonstrated expertise working with this data both inside and outside of South Carolina allow us to efficiently integrate assessment and SIS data with other data sources. Our existing customers’ data is already prepped and ready for the statewide database. Having a common tool for educators and administrators at the classroom, district and state levels will enhance their ability to work together on improving education for all South Carolina students.”

About VC3

For over 17 years, VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology providing a full range of IT services to the private and public sectors across South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. With customers of all backgrounds and sizes, VC3 has the depth and experience to provide a broad range of technology services to optimize your IT budget. Enrich Assess is a part of the Enrich Suite of products which is the result of a partnership between VC3 and Excent Corporation. The Enrich Suite is used by school districts and State Departments of Education throughout the country. More information on VC3 can be found at www.VC3.com and Enrich at http://www.excent.com.

About the SCDE

More information about the South Carolina State Department of Education can be found at http://ed.sc.gov

Category: News

VC3 Named to Inaugural CRN Tech Elite 250

System Account — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:18:24 GMT

Body:

List recognizes VARs with deep technical expertise and premier certifications in North America

Columbia, SC, February 23, 2011 – VC3 has been named to the inaugural CRN Tech Elite 250. The Tech Elite 250 serves as the industry’s definitive list of VARs with both deep technical expertise and premier certifications. VC3 has been recognized as a best-of-breed integrator who has invested in technical know-how and earned premier certifications in the areas of infrastructure for North American customers. To view the complete list of winners visit www.crn.com.

CRN Editors worked with solution providers and outside experts to define the most important technical certifications in the market today. By mapping certifications against the key technology opportunities as defined by CRN’s State of the Market, and Midmarket study, the Tech Elite 250 recognizes the VARs most committed to helping customers innovate while reducing costs.

“The Tech Elite 250 recognizes an elite group of VARs who are successfully navigating the dynamic IT channel market,” said Kelley Damore, Vice President, Editorial Director at Everything Channel. “By adapting to new customer purchasing patterns and redefining best practices, these solution providers are delivering the strategies and value customers demand to compete in today’s competitive economic environment.”

In addition, VC3 will join its Tech Elite peers at Everything Channel’s XChange Solution Provider event next month to help define the future of the IT channel.

About VC3

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to both the private and public sectors in SC, NC, and GA. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, VC3 was named one of South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008 and named one of the Best Places to Work in S.C. 2010. With customers ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small-mediums sized companies, VC3 has the depth and experience to provide a broad range of technology services to optimize your IT budget. More information on VC3 is available at www.vc3.com

About Everything Channel

Everything Channel is the premier provider of IT channel-focused events, media, research, consulting, and sales and marketing services. With over 30 years of experience and engagement, Everything Channel has the unmatched channel expertise to execute integrated solutions for technology executives managing partner recruitment, enablement and go-to-market strategy in order to accelerate technology sales. Everything Channel is a UBM company. To learn more about Everything Channel, visit us at http://www.everythingchannel.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/everythingchnl.

About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities -- from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists -- with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.ubm.com.

Category: News

Case Study: How the Town of Butner, N.C. was able to focus on their citizens, not their IT, with Virtual Office Advantage

System Account — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:21:28 GMT

Body:

Situation

The Town of Butner, North Carolina is a beautiful, rural town located just north of the capital city of Raleigh, with a population of over 6,400. Butner was recently incorporated as a town in November of 2007 and is proudly served by a small, dedicated staff. Since their incorporation they have outgrown their accounting system and were in need of a financial package that would grow with them.

After researching their options, the Town determined that software from New World Systems (NWS), a provider of a completely integrated suite of solutions for local government administration, would be a great fit for their growing town. In order to implement the NWS solution, the Town realized that the traditional implementation strategy made a premise based solution seem like a necessity that also comes at a hefty cost and requires continuous maintenance. Not having an information technology professional on their staff they needed an IT partner who could implement the software and provide on-going technology support in line with their growth…and their budget constraints.

Solution

With guidance from NWS, the Town reached out to VC3, the strategic technology partner of the North Carolina League of Municipalities, for help with their IT dilemma.

With VC3’s hosted solution, Virtual Office Advantage, the Town of Butner was able to implement the NWS solution they desired while also realizing the benefits of a hosted environment. Not only does VC3 host the Town’s NWS applications, they also host all of their other applications, such as Microsoft Office. With this solution the Town of Butner uses VC3’s servers that are located in VC3’s PCI Compliant secure data center. With a full hosted environment, this eliminates the need for the Town to own and house any servers on premise.

“As we are beginning the implementation of our new software, we haven’t had to worry about the installation process. All of it has been handled by VC3 and NWS. We can focus on the applications of the software and let VC3 take care of the technical aspects of it.” Susan Hiscocks, Finance Director, Town of Butner

With Virtual Office Advantage, the Town does not have to budget for IT equipment (servers, PCs, etc.) and it never has to purchase another desktop again. With this solution, every employee is equipped with a Thin Client to access their desktop (includes a monitor, keyboard and mouse) that VC3 maintains and replaces when necessary. Some employees are using recently purchased PCs and will continue to do so until they need to be replaced. The goal is to, over time, move all employees over to a Thin Client. The solution includes a 24x7 Service Desk that maintains and monitors the Town’s entire IT environment to ensure maximum productivity of their systems. Now the Town of Butner no longer has to deal with mundane, time consuming IT issues.

Results

The Town of Butner is now able to focus on serving their citizens instead of focusing on their technology. The Town’s Virtual Office Advantage users tout the mobility of the solution as one of its greatest benefits. “The mobility of this solution offers a great deal of flexibility to our staff.” Hiscocks explains. “Since we have so few employees, having one person out of the office can have a huge impact. With hosted desktop, if there is an emergency and a key employee is out of the office, all they need is a computer with an internet connection and they have full access to their work environment and all of their data.”

Another benefit of this solution is that backups are taken care of. On a daily basis, VC3 backs up the Town’s data to an offsite location and keeps that data for 30 days. Then the data is archived for up to 3 years in VC3’s
secure data center.

Within days of switching to the new hosted desktop solution the Town had an issue that VC3 was prepared to handle. “Windows did an update that was incompatible with two of our PCs and those PCs were no longer functional. One of the affected employees was switched over to a
Virtual Office Advantage Thin Client and was back to work in a matter of minutes. No loss of data and no waiting for a technician. The second employee began using her laptop and kept working seamlessly.” explains Hiscocks.

Also, Microsoft Office updates are included in the monthly fee so the Town of Butner gets the latest version at no extra cost.

Due to their growth, the Town of Butner is moving to a new Town Hall within the next 10 months, construction began July, 2010. This move will not be a problem for Virtual Office Advantage because of its mobility.

“Our move to the new Town Hall location will be so simple. All we have to do is unplug our computers from the network in this building, take them a block down the street to the new site, plug them in to the network there and we will be up and running. No down time for relocating a server or risk of loss of data. If there is a delay between the time we have to pack up at the old location and when we are moved in at the new building, all we need is an internet connection and we can still function from anywhere.” Susan Hiscocks, Finance Director for the Town of Butner

The Town of Butner is a classic example of issues being faced by small to medium sized municipalities that want to take advantage of new technologies but cannot afford to maintain the infrastructure. With a hosted solution, like VC3’s Virtual Office Advantage, that has little to no up-front capital expense, municipalities are now able to overcome this obstacle.

Category: News

Afterthought - Open Source Library

System Account — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:42:41 GMT

Sub Title: by Jamie Thomas on April 8th, 2011

Body:

VC3 just released version 1.0 of Afterthought, an open source library designed to allow software developers to manipulate .NET-based applications after they are compiled. This is VC3’s first released open source library, and it paves the way for a number of additional releases in the coming weeks. We have been working hard over the past few years to transition from closed source intellectual property towards the development of open source solutions for use with our customers. This allows us to innovate around a common platform while also extending access to the source for these libraries to our customers and the development community.

Development of Afterthought actually started just a few weeks ago, born out of the necessity to eliminate our dependence on PostSharp, which is a previously free product that has gone commercial in a big way. We had been using PostSharp as part of our open source development efforts and thus were disappointed to see this product no longer available for use without hefty license fees. Fortunately, Microsoft Research released CCI Metadata as an open source project a couple of years ago, which while quite complex for us to use, made it possible for us to provide PostSharp-like capabilities rather quickly with a much better overall developer experience.

In order to make it easy for developers to get started using Afterthought, we published the first version as a NuGet package, which is new open source deployment solution that Microsoft developed last year to allow developers to easily share and quickly consume open source solutions. Developers using Visual Studio 2010 can simply select to add a package reference, search for Afterthought, click install, and immediately start using this library and toolset in their projects.

We are hosting the source for Afterthought on GitHub, and directly using this (free for open source) online source control system to manage our code-base, provide end-user documentation, and track issues, bugs, and feature requests. We are excited to finally get moving with revealing our open source work and look forward to interactions with other developers and community involvement as a result of our labors.

Category: News

VC3 Ranked In Top Three Best Places to Work in South Carolina

System Account — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:50:10 GMT

Body:

VC3 ranked third for the Best Paces to Work in South Carolina during an awards banquet Tuesday, October 4th. This is VC3's second consecutive year on this list; we ranked sixth in 2010. Best Places to Work in South Carolina is presented by the SC Chamber of Commerce and SC Business Publications.

Category: News

Jill Menhart, SPHR, elected Workforce Readiness Chair

System Account — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:38:36 GMT

Body:

Jill Menhart, SPHR, Human Resources Director for VC3, has been elected to the 2012 Columbia Society for Human Resource Management Board of Directors in the position of Workforce Readiness Chair. Jill has 14 years of HR experience in manufacturing and technology. She has been the Human Resources Director for the information technology solutions provider VC3 since 2005, handling all HR functions. During her tenure, VC3 was named one of South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and 2008, and was ranked in the Best Places to Work in South Carolina in 2010 (#6) and 2011 (#3).

Previously she worked for steel fabricators, beginning her career at Kline Iron & Steel. Jill received her bachelor’s degree in management and marketing from The Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. She currently serves on the USC Career Center Employer Advisory Board, the Midlands Technical College Telecommunications Systems Management Advisory Committee and the Midlands Education Business Alliance (MEBA) – IT Alliance.

Category: News

VC3 Implements Employee Stock Ownership Plan

System Account — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:20:31 GMT

Body:

Columbia, S.C. – VC3, an IT Solutions provider headquartered in Columbia, SC, today announced the formation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for its employees. David Dunn and Sandy Reeser will retain their positions as CEO and President respectively. The ESOP formalizes the Company’s existing corporate culture of openness, and employee participation and collaboration.

David Dunn, CEO noted, “We feel very fortunate that the last 17 years have been a period of growth and excellent performance company wide. The ESOP is the ultimate way to reward our employees for their contributions to the company’s success. From now on VC3 will be sending an owner to provide IT services to our customers.”

Sandy Reeser, president stated, “The overriding benefit of an ESOP is that it allows employees to participate in the company’s growth and success. I am confident that the ESOP will be instrumental in retaining and attracting the best employees available and continue to allow VC3 to be one of the Best Places to Work in South Carolina.”

About VC3

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to both the private and public sectors in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, VC3 was named one of SC’s Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008; and ranked 3^rd for the Best Places to Work in SC 2011, in 2010 VC3 ranked 6^th. VC3 is an Enterprise level partner of IT-oLogy (it-ology.org/) and manages the day-to-day operation of the IT-oLogy Data Center located at its headquarters, The Tower at 1301 Gervais. Please visit VC3.com to learn more.

Category: News

VC3's CEO, David Dunn, featured in Columbia Metropolitan Magazine

System Account — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:37:47 GMT

Body:

Those who choose a career field in technology need to buckle their seat belts and hold tight for a rapid ride. The products, services and advances are ever changing – sometimes by the minute – and those who step onto this fast track must be prepared to put on their running shoes to keep up.

David Dunn, founder and president of VC3, has done just that.

Read this article in its entirety in the December 2011 issue of Columbia Metropolitan Magazine.

Category: News

VC3 Adds Cisco's Advanced Unified Communications and Advanced Wireless Specializations to its List of Partner Certifications

System Account — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:56:21 GMT

Sub Title: Columbia, SC - March 27, 2007

Body:

VC3, Inc. and Cisco announced today that VC3 has met the technical requirements for the Advanced Communications and Advanced Wireless Specializations. This means that VC3 is qualified to deploy and support Cisco's most advanced line of Communications and Wireless products. These specializations are a great addition to VC3's Premier Level partnership with Cisco and Advanced Security specialization.

In a prepared statement to the company Cisco expressed that it values the commitment and expertise that VC3 has demonstrated and looks forward to continuing their partnership. David Dunn, CEO of VC3, added “VC3 continues to deploy leading edge technology solutions to our customers and Cisco is a big part of these solutions.”

VC3 has been providing Communications, Wireless, and Security solutions for its Clients for the last 3+ years. By continuing to get trained and certified on the latest technology available, VC3 strengthens its position as a leader in network system integration services throughout the Carolinas and Georgia.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, celebrates 20 years of commitment to technology innovation, industry leadership, and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco Systems logo, are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries.

Category: News

VC3 Expands: Moves Office From Conyers to Decatur/Atlanta, G.A.

System Account — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:01:28 GMT

Sub Title: Columbia, SC - June 8, 2007

Body:

VC3, an IT solutions integrator for both private and public sector clients, today announced it has opened a new office in Decatur, GA to support the increasing sales and growing customer base in and around the Decatur area. The new office is located in the Fidelity Bank building at 160 Clairmont Avenue.

The Decatur office, similar to VC3's Charlotte, Raleigh and Columbia metro region offices, allows VC3 to better serve their customer base in the eastern Atlanta metro region and positions the company for future growth. VC3 provides all IT services and support for the City of Decatur, and is designing and implementing a 4 square mile city-wide outdoor wireless mesh network for the City. As one of the most densely populated cities in Georgia, the City of Decatur is excited about offering public internet access to its citizens.

“We are excited to move to another office in Georgia,” said David Dunn, Chairman and CEO of VC3. “This move makes us even closer to Atlanta, and Atlanta and Decatur are very energetic and growing markets. We are making this commitment to expand our service and support to our clients.”

Category: News

VC3 Selected as One of the Top 25 Fastest Growing Companies in South Carolina

System Account — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:03:50 GMT

Sub Title: Columbia, SC - November 20, 2007

Body:

VC3, an IT solutions integrator, was honored at the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce Annual Summit in Myrtle Beach,SC, as part of the State’s fastest-growing companies in 2007. VC3 is ranked 19th in the State.

South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies 2007 competition, co-sponsored by Elliott Davis and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, recognized 25 companies statewide for exceptional performance in both revenue and employment growth. This year’s 25 top performers cover a broad spectrum in terms of size, industry sector, and geographic locations.

Category: News

VC3 Named One of South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies 2008

System Account — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:04:58 GMT

Body:

VC3 was honored as one of the Palmetto state's top-performing companies during the presentation of the South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies 2008 program's Top 25 winners. The winners were announced during the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce's Annual Summit luncheon held at the Wild Dunes Resort near Charleston, S.C. on Nov. 13, 2008.

The South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies program, co-sponsored by Elliott Davis, LLC and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, recognizes an exceptional and diverse assembly of businesses from across the state. This year's winners represent a cross section of industries and business categories, including: financial services, construction, manufacturing, professional services, and technology among others.

VC3 is celebrating its 14th year of providing high quality information technology services. Businesses, school districts and local governments rely on VC3 to assess, improve, and manage their information technology. VC3 provides the following services: Technology Assessments, Managed Support Services, Application Development, Website Design, Telephony, Wireless Networks, Disaster Recovery, Network Security, K12 Student Performance Systems, Data Center Services, E-Government and Technology Consulting. VC3 is headquartered in Columbia, SC, and has offices in Atlanta and Raleigh. For more information on VC3 visit www.VC3.com, or call (800) 787-1160.

Accepting the award on behalf of VC3 was David Dunn, Chairman and CEO. “We are honored to be recognized for this achievement two years in a row. It's a great testament to the hard work and effort of all of our employees and their dedication to our customers.”

Otis Rawl, president and chief executive officer of program co-sponsor South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, thinks this success in the midst of somewhat troubling times is encouraging.

“It is so important to the growth of our state that we continue to have companies that persevere through all kinds of economic weather,” Rawl said. “I'm proud to be a part of a program that celebrates such an outstanding group of entrepreneurs and business owners, who continue to rise to the top.”

For the past seven years, Elliott Davis and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce have named a list of 25 entities as South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies, chosen for percentage increases in both gross revenue (or assets) and full-time employment over the previous fiscal year.

But as the landscape of South Carolina business evolves, so should the contest, according to Buster Kennedy, Elliott Davis marketing manager and director of the competition.

South Carolina's local companies continue to thrive, but the Palmetto State is also a top destination for national and even international corporations. With fledgling ventures, multi-million-dollar conglomerates and those in between, in the 2008 list the dollar revenue growth and number of jobs added, in addition to percentage growth, was considered. Elliott Davis determined the new method better compares small and large companies, and more accurately represents the diverse stories of South Carolina business.

“I'm thrilled to see this year's honorees come from multiple sectors; small companies and large,” Kennedy said. “It says great things about the future of our economy that we have such growth in companies of the Midlands, Upstate and Coastal regions, and in companies of varying sizes.”

To learn more about the methodology or to see a list of previous years' winners, visit www.ElliottDavis.com or contact Buster Kennedy at fastest@elliottdavis.com.

Category: News

Joseph J. Foster, Jr. Graduates from the UNC CIO Certification Program

System Account — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:06:23 GMT

Sub Title: Chapel Hill, NC - June 5, 2009

Body:

Joseph J. Foster, employed with VC3 and serving as IT Site Director in Florence and Beaufort, has successfully graduated from the 2009 Certified Government Chief Information Officers Program offered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government. Mr. Foster is part of the inaugural South Carolina-based cohort offered in conjunction with the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

The CGCIO program is the first local government specific program for CIOs in the nation and began in 2004. The program is designed for local government Information Technology Directors and Chief Information Officers whose responsibilities require a broad understanding of management, leadership, and enterprise topics. The course is approximately 240 hours in length. Course instruction covers enterprise issues, strategic technology planning, communication, project management, emerging trends, risk assessment and management, acquisition management, change management, leadership, security, and financial trends.

Joseph Foster is one of the 19 South Carolina public sector employees who successfully completed the course this year. Over the course of its five-year existence, the CGCIO program has graduated over 250 public sector IT professionals.

Category: News

Barnwell Approves VC3 Phone System Upgrade

System Account — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:29:23 GMT

Sub Title: January 18, 2012

Body:

By Kaelyn Pfenning
The People Sentinel

Barnwell City Council moved forward with the telephone upgrade and employee recommendations first mentioned in 2011.

After looking into the need to bid out the telephone upgrade, Lynn Cox, director of tourism and community development, said VC3 is the only company in South Carolina which does this type of networking.

“This is a hometown company,” Cox said.

At the regular Jan. 9 meeting, council unanimously approved the VC3 telephone upgrade proposal.

Council also unanimously approved the recommendations to provide direct deposit as an option to full-time city employees.

The recommendations will also calculate leave time in hours instead of days with some additional adjustments, including the provision of three weeks of vacation after 10 years of service instead of after 15 years.

In comparison, Williston provides three weeks of vacation after 10 years, and Blackville provides three weeks of vacation after nine years, Cox said in an e-mail.

In other business:

-City Administrator John Zawacki said the 2011 financial audit is “in full swing” and should be complete in a couple more weeks.

“We expect to begin our audit in December and issue our report no later than February 15, 2012,” C. C. McGregor, certified public accountant, said in a memo to the council.

-The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is conducting a three-day, unannounced inspection, but “we don’t anticipate any problems from that,” Zawacki said.

-Emily Randell, parks and recreation director, set forth a tentative tournament schedule for 2012 to begin Feb. 11-12 at Lemon Park.

-Council unanimously approved to haul the trash after a rundown building located on Perry St. is torn down by a resident with permission from the owners.

“It’s kind of a unique situation,” Mayor Lemon said, since the resident came to the city and offered to tear down the building.

-Cox said the city received the Palmetto Pride grant again this year for a total of $4,000, which will be used to replace plants at the entrance signs to the city, to place pet waste containers at Fuller Park, Kilkenny Park and Darnell Park and to put trash containers at Fuller Park.

-Although council met in a closed session to discuss a personnel matter, no action was taken.

Category: News

VC3 Named to CRN's 2012 List of Tech Elite 250 for Second Consecutive Year

System Account — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:16:21 GMT

Sub Title: Second Annual List recognizes IT Solution Providers with deep technical expertise and premier certifications in North America

Body:

Columbia, SC, February 23, 2012 – VC3 announced today it has been named to CRN’s annual list of the Tech Elite 250, for the second consecutive year. Companies on the 2012 Tech Elite 250 list represent an elite group of IT Solution Providers that have invested in the training and education needed to earn the most technical certifications in the IT Channel. VC3 is one of only two companies in South Carolina to earn this distinction.

In compiling the list, CRN editors worked with the UBM Channel research group and a team outside experts to define the most customer-beneficial technical certifications in the IT channel. These technical certifications have enabled solution providers to deliver the most premium products, service and support to their North American customers.

“The 2012 Tech Elite 250 list recognizes an exclusive group of Solution Providers that have shown a dedication to helping customers innovate while reducing costs,” said Kelley Damore, Vice President, Editorial Director at UBM Channel. “By identifying and adapting to the skills and training needed to best serve today’s customers, members of the Tech Elite 250 have proven their commitment to delivering the products and services that today’s end-users value most.”

A sample of CRN’s 2012 “Tech Elite 250” list is featured in the February issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.crn.com.

About UBM Channel: (www.ubmchannel.com)

UBM Channel is the premier provider of IT channel-focused events, media, research, consulting, and sales and marketing services. With over 30 years of experience and engagement, UBM Channel has the unmatched channel expertise to execute integrated solutions for technology executives managing partner recruitment, enablement and go-to-market strategy in order to accelerate technology sales. UBM Channel is a UBM company. To learn more about UBM Channel, visit us at www.ubmchannel.com.

UBM plc (www.ubm.com)

UBM plc is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print and provide them with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,000 staff in more than 30 countries is organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.ubm.com

Contacts
Scott Regan
UBM Channel
508 416 1186
Scott.Regan@ubm.com

Angie Murto
VC3
803-978-2693
Angie.Murto@vc3.com

Category: News

VC3’s CEO, David Dunn, interviewed on Carolina Business Edge radio show

System Account — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:06:47 GMT

Body:

Join hosts Bill McCrary and Josh Seibert for their weekly internet radio show. Every Friday, Josh and Bill interview the Carolinas’ top executives—business owners, CEOs and Presidents—who have found success.

Listen as VC3's CEO, David Dunn, talks about how VC3 started and where it is now. He also offers insight into starting and owning a small business.

Carolina Business Edge Podcast

Category: News

VC3 Achieves a Microsoft Gold Web Development Competency

System Account — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:59:21 GMT

Sub Title: VC3 earns distinction through demonstrated technology success and customer commitment.

Body:

Columbia, SC — May, 24, 2012 VC3, today announced it has achieved a Gold Web Development competency, demonstrating its ability to meet Microsoft Corp. customers’ evolving needs in today’s dynamic business environment. To earn a Microsoft gold competency, partners must successfully demonstrate expertise through rigorous exams, culminating in Microsoft certifications. And to ensure the highest quality of services, Microsoft requires customer references for successful implementation and customer satisfaction. VC3 is the only Microsoft Partner in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia to earn this distinction.

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to both the private and public sectors. VC3’s Application Development group consists of 23 team members certified in a variety of Microsoft products including .NET, SQL Server and SharePoint. Their developers have extensive software development and system integration experience in a variety of industries, including K-12 education, municipal government, professional associations, manufacturing and insurance. They specialize in web application and database development through the entire software development lifecycle. VC3’s portfolio is a mixture of custom consulting projects along with a number of robust products which allows for the development rigor of a product company alongside the innovative fluidness of a consulting company.

“This Microsoft Gold Web Development competency showcases our expertise in today’s technology market and demonstrates our knowledge of Microsoft and its products,” said David Dunn, CEO. “We consult extensively with our customers and use Microsoft technologies to implement solutions that accelerate their success and business performance.”

“By achieving a gold competency, organizations have proven their expertise in specific technology areas, placing them among the top 5 percent of Microsoft partners worldwide,” said Jon Roskill, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft Corp. “When customers look for an IT partner to meet their business challenges, choosing a company that has attained Microsoft competencies is a smart move. These are highly qualified professionals with access to Microsoft technical support and product teams.”

The Microsoft Partner Network helps partners strengthen their capabilities to showcase leadership in the marketplace on the latest technology, to better serve customers and, with 640,000 Microsoft partners in their ecosystem, to easily connect with one of the most active, diverse networks in the world.

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to the private and public sectors in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, VC3 was named one of South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008 and ranked 3rd Best Place to Work in SC 2011, climbing from 6th place in 2010. Our company's professionals implement IT projects and services that provide above average returns on investment, significantly enhance productivity, and lower technology ownership costs.

For more information:

Angie Murto, VC3, (803) 978-2693, angie.murto@vc3.com

Category: News

Columbia Student on the Rise

System Account — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:28:16 GMT

Sub Title: econnect, Spring 2012

Body:

Four years ago, Raul Ricano completed his AS in Computer Technology from a South Carolina technical college which
provided him with the skills to land a position with South Carolina Electric & Gas as a Field Technician. He had hoped
this would be the stepping stone that would launch his IT Career. Two years later, he found himself in the same job
with no advancement in responsibility or technical skills.

Looking for more out of his career, Raul enrolled in the BS in Computer and Information Science program at ECPI
University’s Campus in Columbia. With a 3.8 GPA, he will soon be completing his externship and has already landed
an outstanding and highly sought-after position as a Systems Engineer with VC3 in Columbia.

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to
the private and public sectors in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Headquartered in Columbia, VC3 was
named one of South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008 and ranked the 3rd Best Place to Work in South Carolina in 2011, climbing from 6th place in 2010.

VC3 Selected as one of the 2012 Best Places to Work in SC for the Third Consecutive Year

System Account — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:02:00 GMT

Sub Title: August 15, 2012

Body:

VC3 was recently named as one of the 2012 Best Places to Work in South Carolina. The annual list of the Best Places to Work in South Carolina is brought to you by SCBIZ magazine, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and Best Companies Group.

This state wide survey and awards program is designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in South Carolina, benefiting the state's economy, workforce and businesses. The 2012 Best Places to Work in South Carolina list is made up of 40 companies. The rankings of the Best Places to Work in South Carolina will be unveiled at an awards ceremony on October 4^th and published in the December issue of SCBIZ magazine.

To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:

- Be a publicly or privately held business

- Be a for-profit, not-for-profit business or government entity

- Have a facility in South Carolina

- Have a minimum of 15 full-time or part-time employees working in South Carolina

- Must be in business a minimum of one year

Companies from across the state entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in South Carolina. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final rankings. Best Companies Group evaluated the data collected from the participating companies and used its expertise to determine the final rankings.

For more information on the Best Places to Work in South Carolina program, visit www.BestPlacesToWorkSC.com.

Category: News

VC3 Ranks Top Three Best Places to Work in SC for Second Consecutive Year

System Account — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:16:56 GMT

Sub Title: October 9, 2012

Body:

COLUMBIA, SC – VC3 maintained its ranking in the top three Best Places to Work in SC during an awards banquet Thursday, October 4th.

This statewide survey and awards program is designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in South Carolina, benefiting the state's economy, workforce and businesses.

“It’s a great accomplishment to be named one of the Best Places to Work in SC three years in a row. Our goal is to reward employees for their contributions to the company’s success through benefits like our Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) and foster an innovative environment that contributes to a positive work/life balance.” says VC3 CEO David Dunn. He also notes that “VC3 is the highest ranked small to medium sized company in the Columbia area.”

Companies from across the state entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in South Carolina. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final rankings. Best Companies Group evaluated the data collected from the participating companies and used its expertise to determine the final rankings.

The annual list of the Best Places to Work in South Carolina is brought to you by SCBIZ magazine, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and Best Companies Group. For more information on the Best Places to Work in South Carolina program, visit www.BestPlacesToWorkSC.com.

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to the private and public sectors in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. To learn more, visit www.vc3.com

Category: News

VC3 Achieves Advanced Unified Communications Specialization from Cisco

System Account — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:31:00 GMT

Body:

Columbia, SC – December 3, 2012 – VC3 announced today that it has achieved the Advanced Unified Communications Specialization from Cisco®. This specialization recognizes VC3 as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support comprehensive Cisco Unified Communications solutions.

“As a Cisco Advanced Unified Communications Specialized Partner, VC3’s investment in the training required to provide integrated, collaborative and adaptive unified communications solutions rank them among the industry’s most qualified,” said Richard McLeod, director of unified communications for worldwide channels at Cisco.

The Cisco Advanced Unified Communications Specialization is designed to help Cisco resale channel partners—whether small to medium-sized businesses or enterprise-scale organizations—meet a wide range of customer needs. It allows partners to focus on unified communications market opportunities that require advanced product knowledge and the ability to deploy solutions over multiple sites and geographies. Cisco Advanced Unified Communications Specialized Partners are specialists in building solutions based on the industry-leading Cisco Unified Communications portfolio. These products include Cisco Unified CallManager, Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Unity voice messaging and unified messaging, and Cisco Unity Express, Cisco Unified Contact Center Express, Cisco Unified Videoconferencing and Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Express.

The Cisco Resale Channel Program provides partners with the training required to build sales, technical and Cisco Lifecycle Services skills, and then validates their skills through a third-party audit. Cisco resale partner certifications—Select, Premier, Silver and Gold—represent an increasing breadth of skills across key technologies and a partner’s ability to deliver integrated networking solutions. Cisco resale partner specializations—SMB, Express, Advanced and Master—reflect an increasing depth of sales, technical and service expertise in particular technologies. Achieving Cisco Advanced Unified Communications Specialization also provides VC3 access to comprehensive sales, technical, and lifecycle services training and support available from Cisco.

About VC3

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to both the private and public sectors in SC, NC, and GA. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, VC3 was named one of South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008 and named one of the Best Places to Work in SC 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems and MeetingPlace are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems Inc. in the United States and certain other countries.

Category: News

VC3 Achieves Advanced Wireless LAN Specialization

System Account — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:06:11 GMT

Sub Title: Columbia, SC

Body:

January 2, 2013 – VC3 announced today that it has achieved the Advanced Wireless LAN Specialization from Cisco®. This specialization recognizes VC3 as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support advanced Cisco Wireless LAN solutions.

“As a Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Specialized Partner, VC3's training investment ranks them among the industry’s most-qualified in providing wireless LAN solutions,” said Wenceslao Lada, vice president of worldwide channels borderless network architectures at Cisco.

The Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Specialization is designed to help the company’s channel partners deliver the wireless solutions their customers need to increase their productivity and responsiveness, extend applications beyond the wired network, and overcome obstacles encountered with traditional wired communications. Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Specialized Partners are able to build solutions based on the entire suite of Cisco wireless LAN products, including Cisco access points, Cisco Unified Wireless LAN Management solutions, Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers, Cisco wireless bridge solutions, Cisco wireless LAN client adapters and Cisco Unified IP Phone 7900 Series handsets.

The Cisco Resale Channel Program provides partners with the training required to build sales, technical and Cisco Lifecycle Services skills, and then validates their skills through a third-party audit. Cisco resale partner certifications—Select, Premier, Silver and Gold—represent an increasing breadth of skills across key technologies and a partner’s ability to deliver integrated networking solutions. Cisco resale partner specializations—SMB, Express, Advanced and Master—reflect an increasing depth of sales, technical and service expertise in particular technologies. Achieving Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Specialization also provides VC3vaccess to comprehensive sales, technical, and lifecycle services training and support available from Cisco.

About VC3
VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to both the private and public sectors in SC, NC, and GA. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, VC3 was named one of South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008 and named one of the Best Places to Work in SC 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems Inc. in the United States and certain other countries.

Category: News

VC3 Achieves Cisco Express Foundation Specialization

System Account — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:23:04 GMT

Sub Title: January 7, 2013

Body:

Columbia, SC - VC3 announced today that it has achieved the Cisco® Express Foundation Specialization. This specialization recognizes VC3 as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support integrated Cisco network solutions. The Express Foundation Specialization brings together key solutions for Cisco routing, switching, wireless and security products.

“As a Cisco Express Foundation Specialized Partner, VC3’s investment in the training required to provide integrated network solutions ranks it among the industry’s most qualified,” said Edison Peres, senior vice president of worldwide channels at Cisco.

Designed to focus on a customer’s network infrastructure and to support new network capabilities, the Cisco Express Foundation Specialization is a prerequisite for Cisco Premier Certification.

The Cisco Resale Channel Program provides a framework for partners to build the sales, technical and Cisco Lifecycle Services skills required to deliver Cisco solutions to end customers. Through the program's specializations and certifications, Cisco recognizes a partner's expertise in deploying solutions based on Cisco advanced technologies and services. Using a third-party audit process, the program validates a partner’s qualifications technology skills, business practices, customer satisfaction, presales and postsales support capabilities, and other critical factors customers consider when choosing a trusted partner.

About VC3

VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to the private and public sectors in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, VC3 was named one of South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008 and ranked 3rd Best Place to Work in SC in 2011 and again in 2012, climbing from 6th place in 2010.
[Add Partner Boilerplate]

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries.

Category: News

VC3 attends Microsoft SharePoint Conference to boost collaboration skills

System Account — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:15:44 GMT

Body:

In November, we sent two of our SharePoint experts to the 2012 SharePoint Conference to learn about the exciting new features for the latest release of Microsoft’s collaboration platform SharePoint 2013. Kevin Benson and Jennifer Dellacroce attended 32 information-packed sessions while scoping out the exhibitor hall and mingling with other IT professionals that also love SharePoint.

They learned that on top of general platform improvements, including faster page loading, Microsoft has greatly increased SharePoint’s social networking capabilities and has made many improvements to workflows, search, and task management.

Jennifer and Kevin brought back some great information from the conference and as a Microsoft Certified SharePoint Services partner, this knowledge will allow VC3 to continue to assist organizations with utilizing SharePoint to meet business goals and increase productivity.

To read more about the new capabilities of SharePoint 2013, click here.

Category: News

River Bend nominated for innovative technology award for implementing VC3's Virtual Office Advantage

System Account — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:28:19 GMT

Body:

The University of North Carolina's Government Innovation Grant Awards (GIGa) program provides competitive funding to local government entities based on innovative projects implemented within the organization. The goal of the program is to spur and reward technology-based innovation across governments in North Carolina by offering incentives to those governments engaged in innovative, repeatable endeavors which help improve citizen services by increasing efficiencies, effectiveness, and possibly creating cost savings. More importantly, the grant program elevates the importance of technology in the public sector and results in increased managerial and elected official interest in governmental technology investments.

The Town of River Bend, North Carolina was nominated for a Government Innovation Grant Award for their implementation of VC3's Virtual Office Advantage hosted desktop solution. The Town of River Bend's submission is as follows:

The Town of River Bend, in an effort to make better use of Information Technology (IT) expenses and enhance our IT capabilities, began to explore alternatives to the traditional premises-based system. The desire for a change in approach was based upon a need to be more proactive in retaining electronic communications as public records and to enhance our ability to recover business operations after a natural disaster. Being in a coastal region, we need to ensure our systems would allow us to be ready to serve our residents as soon after a storm as possible.

The timing of this change was fueled, in part, by our desire to adhere to our plan to be proactive in the replacement of our IT hardware. We had, and still have, a Capital Improvement Plan line item for IT hardware replacement. However, with the addition of a need to maintain electronic communications, we were faced a with a significant capital expense for hardware related to this need and additional recurring expenses.

The decision to move to a virtual environment for all our desktop computers and move all our server capacity to a remote data center allowed us to meet all of our needs related to our regular business processes, our additional records retention need, and our need to be assured of IT operability as we recover from disaster events. The project allowed us to realize significant savings in capital acquisition costs, and in other IT related expenses, all while maintaining a state of the art IT system with no internal IT staff.

The program allowed us to become better positioned to maintain operations and to be more flexible in terms of some employees work assignments. Management level staff has the ability to work from home or from other remote locations as the need arises, and other employees now can move to other workstations without the need to transfer files or settings to their temporary location. We were also able to avoid having to make provisions for IT space (server room) as we plan for changes to our administrative facilities.

Since 2007, the Town of River Bend has worked with an outside vendor, VC3, for all our IT needs. Prior to this change, the town used a local IT company who lacked the depth and breadth of knowledge to make needed changes to an antiquated IT system. Changes made in 2007 included acquiring new hardware, new financial software, and establishing a relationship with VC3 for both proactive and reactive service needs.

As we identified an unmet need, that of properly retaining electronic communications, we met with consultants from VC3 to determine the best way to meet this and other emerging needs. We examined costs associated with making changes to our premises-based system, and those associated with moving to a virtual environment. We had some familiarity with virtualization, having moved to a voice over internet phone system in the prior year.

Once a contract was signed, we worked with the vendor to establish a timeline that would produce the least amount of disruption to our workflow. Working with our staff, VC3’s project team spent two days on-site examining all the dimensions of our existing system including desktop specific applications and hardware. After their preliminary work was done, we established a go-live date and training schedule.

Start up costs: $2,353.75 On-Going costs: $2,353.75 per month. The project is funded in FY2011-12 General and Enterprise Fund budgets.

This project allows us the flexibility to work from any workstation or any internet connected computer, and have access to all our electronic documents and settings. It has allowed us to upgrade to new hardware and get the latest version of Office software. We now all have the same hardware and the same version of software, so our interoperability has been improved.

Although mentioned previously, the ability of management level personnel to work from home allows those who take advantage of this function to improve their work-life balance by not commuting to work on weekends or staying at the office late in the evening.

The largest benefit, and one we hope to never utilize, is the ability to rapidly recover from a disaster. Knowing that we can, without intervention on our part, be assured that all our data and applications are securely maintained off-site, will give us the ability to focus on other aspects of our community’s recovery.

We saved $9,941 in FY2012 versus using a premises-based approach. On-going fees increased by $3,587 per year, but capital costs decreased by $13,528. Our estimated eight year savings is $29,943.

We have been able to reduce contributions to our capital improvement fund and capital spending on IT hardware. We have discovered that having everyone on the same hardware and using the same software allows for the more efficient sharing of information and the sharing of learning regarding how best to use the technological advancements acquired in this project. The scale and scope of the project has not changed since inception.

We have been an advocate of outsourced IT services for small and medium-sized localities for several years. Not only have we realized cost savings, our systems maintenance and reactive support is, in our mind, superior to what we could ever hope to have if we used in-house IT staff. Essentially, we are leasing not only our equipment and server space, but we are also getting an IT staff that is proactively monitoring our system 24-hours per day, seven days per week. Add to this that we now have a “virtual CIO” who works with us to think strategically about our IT needs, and we have a package that would not be financially feasible for most small and medium-sized cities if the services were replicated in-house. As long as other jurisdictions have high-speed internet access, this project can be easily tailored to fit any size organization. Whether this is an entire city or a department in a city or county, the low up-front costs and the reasonable on-going costs makes this approach worthy of comparison to current IT programs. Employing this approach allows us, and would allow other jurisdictions, to get out of the IT business, and concentrate on the business of providing service to our residents.

Town Contact: Drew Havens, Town Manager manager@riverbendnc.org

Category: News

VC3 Named to CRN’s 2013 List of Tech Elite 250 for third consecutive year

System Account — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:29:10 GMT

Sub Title: Third Annual List recognizes IT Solution Providers with deep technical expertise and premier certifications in North America

Body:

Columbia, SC - February 25, 2013 – VC3 today announced it has been named to CRN’s third annual list of the Tech Elite 250. Companies on the 2013 Tech Elite 250 list represent an elite group of IT solution providers that have invested in the training and education needed to earn the most advanced technical certifications in the IT Channel for data center or cloud.

In compiling the list, CRN editors worked with the UBM Tech Channel research group and a team of outside experts to define the most customer-beneficial technical certifications in the IT channel. These technical certifications have enabled solution providers to deliver the most premium products, service and support to their North American customers.

“The 2013 Tech Elite 250 list recognizes an exclusive group of solution providers that have invested in training and technical know-how to help their customers understand the benefits of some of the most sophisticated technology deployments in the market – and have shown a dedication to helping customers innovate while reducing costs,” said Kelley Damore, Senior Vice President, Editorial Director at UBM Tech Channel. “By identifying and adapting to the skills and training needed to best serve today’s customers, members of the Tech Elite 250 have proven their commitment to delivering the products and services that today’s customers value most.”

To view a sample list of winners visit www.CRN.com or view the February issue of the print magazine. View the full list in the CRN Tech News app, available for the iPad at http://go.crn.com/TE250-13 and for Windows 8 devices at http://go.crn.com/CRNWin8.

About VC3
VC3 has been on the leading edge of Information Technology since 1994, providing a full range of IT services to the private and public sectors in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, VC3 was named one of South Carolina's Fastest-Growing Companies in 2007 and again in 2008 and ranked 3rd Best Place to Work in SC in 2011 and again in 2012, climbing from 6th place in 2010.

About UBM Tech Channel
UBM Tech Channel is the premier provider of IT channel-focused events, media, research, consulting, and sales and marketing services. With more than 30 years of experience and engagement, UBM Tech Channel has the unmatched channel expertise to execute integrated solutions for technology executives, managing partner recruitment, enablement and go-to-market strategy in order to accelerate technology sales. UBM Tech Channel is a UBM company. To learn more about UBM Tech Channel, visit us at http://www.ubmchannel.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ubmtechchannel.

Category: News

VC3's Amy McKeown obtains Project Management Professional Credential

System Account — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:07:01 GMT

Body:

Columbia, SC - Amy McKeown, Director of Service Delivery with VC3, has obtained the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential from the Project Management Institute. Prerequisites for being able to take this exam are a four-year college degree and at least three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.

According to the PMI Website: “PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP)® credential is the most important industry-recognized certification for project managers. Globally recognized and demanded, the PMP® demonstrates that you have the experience, education and competency to successfully lead and direct projects.”

Amy joined VC3 in 2004, she received her Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from the University of South Carolina and has more than 10 years of project management experience.

Category: News