DataChambers expands with purchase of Raleigh building

DataChambers, a Winston-Salem-based technology firm, is expanding into the Triangle with the purchase of a 50,000-square-foot facility in Raleigh.

The building and eight-acre property, formerly home of Qwest Communications, will house a new high-availability data center. A variety of outsourced information technology services will be offered  – from hosted and cloud-based infrastructure solutions to data backup and business recovery services.

“We’ve experienced significant growth in recent years as companies have looked for ways to accomplish more with increasingly limited information technology budgets,” says Nicholas Kottyan, CEO of DataChambers. “We find we are able to offer our clients a level of service and support that would be hard for them to replicate on their own.”

The Raleigh location doubles DataChamber’s footprint. The company operates two data centers in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Deputy Sec. of Labor Seth Harris to visit Forsyth Tech

Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris will visit Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem on Thursday, Sept. 27 to tour the college’s state-of-the-art bioscience labs and observe students and faculty in action.

Forsyth Technical Community College is leading a nationwide consortium of schools that has received nearly $15 million in grants through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College to Career Training initiative. The funding will enable the consortium’s bioscience credentialing program to prepare trade-impacted workers and the long-term unemployed for high-quality, high-wage jobs within the bioscience and health care sectors.  Read more.

Triad SQL BI User Group

What:  Triad SQL BI User Group Monthly Meeting

When: September 25 (6:00 p.m. Pizza; 6:30-7:45 p.m. Meeting)

Where: Inmar (2650 Pilgrim Court, Winston-Salem NC, 27106)

Topic:  Business Intelligence panel discussion

Abstract:  A panel discussion is planned with IT representatives from Triad companies implementing Microsoft BI stack tools.

Panelists:  Colin Sobers, Tanger Outlets; David Elam, Hanesbrands; Jess Dyson, Advanced Homecare.  Moderated by Jon Lester, RDA Corp.

Sponsors: Thanks to our sponsors -- Inmar and DataMasters

RSVP: triadsqlbi@gmail.com

11th Tech Briefing Highlights 10 Breakthroughs

Scientists at Camel City Solar have developed a new version of a solar cell using the wonders of nanotechnology to multiply the efficiency of generating energy from the sun.

Researchers at Wake Forest University have found that beet juice can lower blood pressure, increase blood flow in the brain and improve exercise performance, and they’ve now developed a beet juice that actually tastes good. (Samples were available and many attendees agreed that it now tasted good.)

Technology Crops International scientists  have developed a plant they are calling ahiflower that produces enough omega 3 fatty acids that may alleviate critical shortages of those fatty acids in Western human diets.

And a Forsyth Medical Center pediatrician, Dr. Gretchen Hoyle, is leading a company called MD Online Solutions that aims to improve primary care practices by catching diseases early and reducing the need for referral to specialists and expensive admission of patients to the hospital.

These were just four of the ten presenters at the 11^th Annual Tech Briefing, part of the Triad Business and Technology Expo at Benton Convention Center.

Bob Summers, CEO of Camel City Solar, said that flat-panel solar cells are just not efficient enough to meet energy needs. The new form of solar cell using nanotechnology will produce 2-3 times more power over the course of a day. The cylindrical surface of the cell, coated with an ink-like nanotechnology surface, can take advantage of multiple peaks in exposure to the sun.

And to those who argue for energy conservation, Summers told several hundred people at the briefing,  “We cannot save our way out to the need” for increased energy production.

On the beet juice, Dr. Daniel B. Kin-Shapiro, director of WFU’s translational science center said the wonders of beet juice were already recognized by elite athletes. “Thousands of gallons of beet juice were consumed in the Olympic Village.”  

Beet juice works because it is a potent source of nitrate.

Andrew Hebard, president and CEO of Technology Crops International, said the omega 3 fatty acids produced from the ahiflower were the same as the omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil. The ahiflower already is being grown and has the potential to produce substantial quantities in three years that is price-competitive with fish oil and can meet the urgent need for more dietary fatty acids.

Dr. Hoyle said MD Online Solutions might help reduce health care costs by focusing on prevention and other primary care efforts. The online solutions deliver results of tests and other measures quickly to the primary care doctors, enabling them to act quickly on results. 

She noted that Affordable Care Act will strengthen primary care and prevention and perhaps reduce the 17 percent of gross domestic product that is now spent on health care. 

Furthermore, it will help primary care doctors cope with what she called the “silver Tsunami” – the aging  baby boomers, most of whom have at least one chronic condition.  Read more. 

Don't Miss Winston-Salem's 11th Annual Tech Briefing Sept. 20

During the Olympics this summer, you might have read news stories about athletes drinking beet juice to increase their performance, and maybe even describing it as tasting like “sweet dirt.”  Well before the Olympics, Wake Forest University had commissioned the development of a good-tasting beet juice. Daniel Kim-Shapiro, physicist and director of Wake Forest’s Translational Science Center, will offer beet juice samples for tasting after his talk at the 11^th annual Tech Briefing on September 20.

Kim-Shapiro, will share how Wake Forest researchers have shown that drinking beet juice can increase blood flow to the brain in older adults. Such a finding could hold potential for combating the progress of dementia in patients. Plus he has other news about how the main ingredient in beet juice – nitrate – has other good benefits for humans.

“The goal of the Tech Briefing is to inform and excite our community about local companies and institutions that are creating innovative technologies, designs and products here in Winston-Salem,” said Bret Marchant of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce. “The presenters are the entrepreneurs, designers and researchers who are helping to transform our local economy.”

An estimated 300 to 400 people are expected to attend this year’s briefing organized by the Tech Council of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce. Held 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. in the Benton Convention Center, it will open the Chamber’s Business and Innovation Expo. The Briefing is free and open to the public. Read more. 

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in the News

Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, is used to hearing his work described as science fiction.  

Way back in 1999, he and his team grew bladders in a lab and successfully implanted them in patients with spina bifida. Then in 2004, his team grew urethras for five boys in Mexico City. Eight years later, the laboratory-grown tissue looks as natural as the boys' own.

Today, scientists are growing more than 30 types of tissues and organs at the Wake Forest Institute in Winston-Salem, N.C. The hard work of growing vital organs "is a major challenge," Atala says. Although his lab has already grown a set of lungs, so far they're only experimental. "It should be only a matter of time before we create solid organs" such as livers and hearts, he says.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers are also testing a spray-on skin that could greatly reduce the way skin grafts are collected for burn patients.  Read more.

Chamber Tech Council Hosts Tech & Innovation Series

Let’s Go Racing! – Transportation Technology in Winston-Salem


Tuesday, October 2
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Forsyth Tech Transportation Technology Center
4255 North Patterson Avenue, WS

Don’t miss this opportunity to visit and tour Forsyth Tech’s new, state-of-the-art Transportation Technology Center. As one of the premier centers of its kind in the country, the facility offers all of the computer labs, simulators and high-tech equipment needed for today’s highly complex, computer-controlled vehicles. A remarkable example of adaptive reuse, this modern LEED-eligible building is on the site of the former Pinebrook Shopping Center. It houses all of the college's Transportation Technology programs, including the Richard Childress Race Car Technology program. Plan to come early or stay afterwards for coffee and conversation. The event is free, but registration is required. Register here. 

Hosted by: Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce Tech Council
Sponsored by: Cook Medical, B/E Aerospace, Kilpatrick Townsend and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Forsyth Tech SciTech Lecture Series

featuring Doug Drabble, Director of BioNetwork and Life Science Initiatives

“Career Success in Life Science”

4:00 p.m., September 20, 2012
Ardmore Auditorium
Forsyth Tech Main Campus
2100 Silas Creek Parkway
Winston-Salem, NC 27103

To reserve a seat, contact Mona Cofer
at 336.734.7205 or mcofer@forsythtech.edu.

All lectures are free and open to the public.

WFU professors, students show how to add computer science to middle school classes

Students headed back to school at Hanes Magnet School in Winston-Salem will find a whole new subject in some of their English, Spanish, social studies and math classes: computer science.

“Fortune Magazine ranks many computer science careers in their top or fastest-growing lists,” Samuel Cho, assistant professor of physics and computer science at Wake Forest University said. “Even though we are in a rough economy, computer science graduates are in high demand.”

Cho and fellow computer science professor Paúl Pauca created a two-day workshop for Hanes Magnet School teachers, along with graduate and undergraduate students. The goal: to demonstrate how computer science could be worked into lesson plans across their curriculum. The workshop was made possible with a $5,000 grant from Google, matched by Wake Forest and recently highlighted as one of the reasons tech website Mashable listed Wake Forest as one of the “top ten campuses for tech.”

“We need to expose young students at the middle school level to computer science,” Cho said. “It’s fundamentally as important as math, English or science.” Read more.

Winston-Salem Chamber Hosts 11th Annual Tech Briefing

Begin your day at the Chamber’s Business Expo on Sept. 20 by attending the 11th Annual Tech Briefing – a fast-moving event that showcases some of the local companies and inventors that are helping to transform our economy.

Each presenter speaks for just five minutes about their innovative technologies, designs, and products – and they will leave you amazed at what is happening right here in Winston‐Salem. The Tech Briefing is free and open to the public, but we just ask that you register in advance. The Tech Briefing and Expo will be held in the Benton Convention Center. Read more and see our list of presenters!