
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Thank you to Processor Magazine for featuring Kansas City data center 1102 GRAND as a “Company to Watch” in the Jan. 13 issue. Three reasons 1102 GRAND was chosen as a Company to Watch are:
All of us at 1102 GRAND truly appreciate the publicity Processor Magazine has given our company.
Read the article: Colocation on a Grand Scale
If location is a defining factor in selecting a colocation provider, 1102 Grand (www.1102grand.com) has a leg up on the competition. Located in Kansas City’s Financial District, the company’s building is a hub for numerous cross-country fiber routes passing through 1102 Grand’s carrier neutral Meet Me Room—a fact that makes 1102 Grand able to provide customers strategic advantages other colocation providers in the region cannot.
“The building serves as a major hub for voice and data traffic in the region by providing a facility with the necessary infrastructure for carriers, service providers, and commercial customers to conduct network-related business together reliably and cost-effectively,” says Greg Elliott, director of business development at 1102 Grand. 1102 Grand is situated directly on Kansas City’s major metropolitan fiber ring, leading top-light telecommunications companies (Level 3, Verizon Business, and AT&T included) and regional carriers, service providers, and enterprise customers to build and operate data centers, nodes, and/or POPs (Points of Presence) at 1102 Grand.
“These tenants then extend their desired connectivity media (fiber, coax, copper, etc.) into our carrier-neutral Meet Me Room to interconnect with one another and provide services to other entities,” Elliott says.
By Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Last Thursday I had the privilege of participating in the KCnext Fall IT Networking Event at the College Basketball Experience. What a great experience it was! Where else could one be involved with conversations about mobile technology trends, good places to find venture capital, the challenges of starting your own business or where to find datacenter space?  The list goes on and on.
 
There were connections being made all over the place, with sponsor provided prizes being given away via drawings. If all of this was too much to handle, people could slip away and participate in one of the many interactive games that the CBE has available.Â
Thank you to everyone (attendees and sponsors) who made the KCnext Fall IT Networking Event a fantastic experience! Â

Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, with Travis Holt, principal of Brush Creek Partners, at the KC Next technology event last Thursday.
Go to www.kcnext.com to learn more about upcoming events with updates to come soon.
I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving!
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
I recently attended an ACCP (Association of Customer Contact Professionals) meeting where Michael Amigoni, COO of Dibon ARO BPO, gave a fascinating presentation on the virtual call center. Over 15 years ago, Michael had the vision to tap the power of the new “distributed workforce” operational model to increase his customers’ service quality and lower delivery cost. He co-auth
ored a book, “Managing the Telecommuting Employee,” sharing best practices to help virtual call centers “maximize profit and productivity.” Michael shared with us excerpts from his book and interesting and sometimes funny real life examples of what to do and what not to do when running a virtual call center. Michael gave a comparison ROI between a regular bricks and mortar call center and the virtual call center. The total savings for the virtual call center was about $1,200,000 annually! He also shared with the group that two of the best things he ever did since getting involved in the contact center industry was moving their datacenter to 1102 GRAND and migrating to the inContact Software Platform. By moving their datacenter to 1102 GRAND and switching to inContact, it freed him and his team to focus on their core business, customer service. Now, on the datacenter side, they don’t have to worry about redundant cooling units, power feeds, battery backups, generator service, etc., they leave all that to us at 1102 GRAND. I was able to purchase Michael’s book at the event. To preview and purchase “Managing the Telecommuting Employee” go to http://bit.ly/rYZmNK. Great stuff, thanks Michael!
I encourage all who currently own or run a contact center, or are interested in the contact center industry, to come and check out an ACCP meeting. ACCP is a professional, non-profit association whose members represent customer contact organizations and the vendors who support them. The membership consists of organizations of all sizes and from a variety of industries. They have first and third-party focused members including telemarketing, call centers, collections, customer service facilities, help desks, client retention, etc. To learn more about ACCP and upcoming events go to http://associationccp.com/Home.aspx or give me a call at 816-213-7731.
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
As some of you may have heard or seen, 1102 GRAND is experiencing considerable growth within our collocation business. We would like to thank our existing and new customers for their ongoing business and support as well as all of our friends in the community that keep sending new companies our way. As a result of the growth, 1102 GRAND has been building out data center spaces non-stop this year, and this will continue for at least six more months. The first phase of the 9th floor is scheduled to open November 1st, and is already fully leased. In addition, the 5th floor that opened October 1st has just three cages remaining. This past week our crews started work on another 8500 square feet of caged collocation space that will be completed Q1 2012.
Greg Elliott, director of business development at 1102 GRAND, said that collocation growth has come from a wide range of industry verticals. “Heavy growth is coming from hosting and cloud providers as well as continued demand from healthcare IT companies. In addition to regional customers, the trend of east and west coast customers looking at Kansas City for more affordable data center solutions is contributing to the expansion,” said Elliott.
If you would like to schedule time to see the new spaces or tour the building, contact Greg Elliott at 816-213-7731 or Greg@1102Grand.com.
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Recently, I helped organize a group called The Right Money at the Right Time at the Right Terms. SITAKS (Regional Software and Information Technology Trade Association) hosted an engaging panel discussion on raising business capital. The
panel shared how growing businesses secure the right money at the right time at the right terms and discussed what the latest trends are in our local business ecosystem.
The panel discussion featured experts in capital-raising and shared their tips on:
What terms & conditions investors & angel groups look for.
Part 1

Part 2

DOs and DON’Ts on what should be included in both a pitch and a presentation.
Part 1

Part 2

One successful entrepreneur-turned-investor’s personal experience on what works and what does not in connecting with investors.
Panelists included: Toby Rush, founder and president of Rush Tracking Systems; Michele Weigand, managing partner of Focused Perspective; and Dr. Joel Wiggins, president and CEO of the Enterprise Center of Johnson County and executive manager of Mid-America Angels Investments. Entrepreneur Davyeon Ross of Digital Sports Ventures moderated the discussion.
To learn more about future SITAKS educational and/or networking events feel free to contact Greg Elliott – SITAKS membership committee chairman or go to www.sitaks.com .
Many thanks to newly opened Regus office space for allowing us to use their impressive facility (fractional office space) on the Plaza. Contact Danielle Torneden (Danielle.torneden@regus.com) or Tara Dyer (tara.dyer@regus.com) for more information on the Regus facility.
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
I ran across this article on CIOInsight.com on the prediction that hardware spending will reach $99 billion this year. At 1102 GRAND we are definitely seeing evidence of this spending on a daily basis. We are watching customers moving gear into newly built out collocation rooms within our building, as well as existing customers adding new or upgrading existing equipment. The growth appears to span many different verticals, but web hosting, managed IT service companies, healthcare IT and call centers are definitely the front-runners this year at 1102 GRAND.
Gartner: Data Center Hardware Spending to Hit $99B in 2011
Who says the future of IT is all in software? All software has to run on some sort of processor, physical or virtual, and all those have to run on something you can see and touch. And with the continuing deluge of data pouring into servers and storage arrays, there is no shortage of processors happening anytime soon.
Thus, IT hardware sales are going nowhere but up and to the right. Gartner has some new numbers that back up this trend.
The industry researcher is projecting that worldwide data center hardware spending will reach $98.9 billion by the end of calendar year 2011, up 12.7 percent from $87.8 billion in 2010, according to a report it published Oct. 13. Data center hardware spending is forecast to total $106.4 billion in 2012 and surpass $126.2 billion in 2015.
Data center hardware spending includes servers, storage and enterprise data center networking equipment.
Back to Pre-Downturn Levels
“Worldwide data center hardware spending will finally reach and surpass 2008 levels,” said Jon Hardcastle, research director at Gartner. “Growth in emerging regions particularly Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC countries) is balanced by continued weakness relative to pre-downturn levels in Japan and Western Europe.”
Storage is the main driver for growth, Hardcastle said. “Although only a quarter of data center hardware spending is on storage, almost half of the growth in spending will be from the storage market,” he said.
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Event Date and Location
2011 Technology Entrepreneur Speakers Program: Testing Your Business Idea- Frequently Overlooked Questions
Tuesday, October 18 from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Polsinelli Shughart PC
Kansas City, MO
$25 Advanced Registration. $30 On-Site Registration
Testing Your Business Idea- Frequently Overlooked Questions
For the final program of the year, hear from featured speaker, Cason Coplin, Chief Executive Officer at EcoFit Lighting, on five key areas to investigate for starting and growing your business.
Attendees will learn about:
• Market validation
• Product viability
• Financial support
• Management talent
• Execution capability
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Apple is everywhere, especially this week with the tragic passing of Steve Jobs and the release of the iPhone 4S. Even our hometown wireless provider, Sprint Nextel, will finally have the iPhone available mid-October. Phil Poje and his new company, Tech Orchard, recently launched into the Apple game as well. Phil has always been a great proponent of 1102 GRAND and we are excited to hear about his new venture. I had a chance to catch up with Phil this week to ask him a few questions about Tech Orchard and why he chose to start a business in the Kansas City Area.
Tell us about your new company.
Tech Orchard purchases and finds new homes for used iPhones and iPads; thus reducing landfills and overflowing desk drawers. Sellers can get cash or can donate the money to their favorite charity with Tech Orchard matching 10% to the same charity. www.techorchard.com
Tech Orchard will also assists organizations with the purchase, leasing, renting, and management of 1-1,000 iPads and/or iPhones. Our services will include, but not limited to implementation, security issues (data encryption), integration, iPad app development, and training.
Who are your clients?
Tech Orchard partners with individuals, businesses, healthcare, and educational institutions in purchasing pre-owned iPads and iPhones; then re-selling them after being refurbished.
What value do you offer your customers?
Tech Orchard buys old iPads and iPhones, and makes sure that any important data is securely erased. We provide cash back in order to purchase new equipment. Customers can feel good that the devices are being re-use or recycled responsibly.
Why are you in Kansas City?
I was born in Kansas City Missouri, raised in Kansas City Kansas, graduated from University of Missouri-Kansas City and have lived on both sides of the state line. The vibrant K.C. region is a great place to live, work and raise a family. The friendly Mid-western culture and variety of intellectual, sports and recreational activities make this a wonderful place to call home and build a business.
What is the best part of doing business in Kansas City?
The friendly culture of Kansas City along with the strong work ethic makes our city great for doing business. In addition, KC has recently been ranked among the best in the nation in terms of its IT work force. We have many innovative companies; and organizations like Google and others are recognizing the value our city and region has for them.
What are the benefits of working in Kansas City?
Smart people! Great educational institutions like KU Medical Center, UMKC, KU, K-State, Avila, Baker, Park College, DeVry and a stellar group of junior colleges. Also, we enjoy having many organizations like KC Next, SITAKS, KCIT Professionals, EDC of KC, ECJC, Kansas Pipeline, KCADC, Kauffman Foundation, Start KC and many others who are helping businesses like ours grow and prosper. At Tech Orchard, we are proud and privileged to be part of the Kansas City region.
What are the financial or economic incentives to living in Kansas City or the metro area?
Low cost of living, great communities, strong workforce, good infrastructure, and ease of transportation are a few of the financial/economic incentives of being based in Kansas City. In addition, we are developing a good community of investors who strive to re-investing back in new area companies.
How does someone get in touch with Tech Orchard to learn more?
Direct inquiries to Phil Poje, CEO, phil@techorchard.com
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
As I read the article, In the Pipeline: A Tidal Wave of Data, I started thinking about how much data I generate on a given day. I send tons of emails and texts, make pandora selections, tweet, post on LinkedIn, make charges on my debit and credit cards, utilize smart phone apps, make calls…well, you get the idea. Then I look at my children, who are better multi-taskers than I am, doing online homework from their laptops while simultaneously texting friends and downloading apps on their iPads. It is obvious that we will continue to generate more data, especially with the availability and affordability of increased internet capacity and speeds.
In the article, James Kobielus of Forrester predicted that storage will continue to increase at a more affordable cost, thus gaining my attention. He said, “By the end of the decade, petabytes of storage will live in the palm of your hand.” A blog post from Mozy.com in 2009 did a great job of illustrating what a petabyte looks like: 1,000,000 gigabytes equals a petabyte, or 13.3 years of HD-TV Video!
It will be interesting to see if Kobielus’ prediction comes true, but one thing is clear, more data is coming and we better be ready.
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Thank you to all the golfers, sponsors and Deer Creek Golf Club for another successful golf tournament and IT networking event. The competition was fierce yet friendly and great connections were made.
Congratulations to the winners:
1st Place- Bluebird Network: Mike Brigman, Steve Crane, Don Gehringer and Scott Brown
2nd Place- K&W Underground: Rex Schick, Bill Reidy, Scott Plumb and Dwight Davis
3rd Place- Gary Kapperman, George Porta, Wayne Walker and Connie Walker
Longest Drive- Wayne Walker
Longest Putt- Bill Reidy
Closest to the Pin- DJ Good
Thank you again to our tournament sponsors: Rockefeller Group Technology Solutions (RGTS), K&W Underground, Stanger Industries, Lantel, Time Warner Business Class, KNK Telecom, Westhues Electric, Boulevard Brewery, Clayman Promotions, and Centriq IT Training. We couldn’t have done it without your generosity!