If you want perspective on how much things change in 20 years, consider these hallmarks of 1993. A gallon of gas cost $1.16. The hot video game of the era was “Doom.” Internet searches were done on the just released Mosaic browser.
But in those 20 years, there has been a constant for the the North Carolina technology community.
In 1993, industry representatives met to form a group to represent and advocate for technology companies and technology issues. They formed what would become the North Carolina Technology Association.
On Wednesday evening, that community gathered at the Angus Barn Pavilion in Raleigh to celebrate the 20th anniversary of NCTA.
The event was short on formality and long on networking. Signposts posted throughout the pavilion marked each of the last 20 years and listed technology, news and cultural highlights of those years. Music hits from the past 20 years was pumped throughout the pavilion (in case you were wondering, the No. 1 song from 1996 was “The Macarena).
NCTA now has more than 600 members companies who employ more than 100,000 North Carolinians. While the economy has been lean, NCTA has managed to grow. Membership has doubled in the last four years.
Brooks Raiford, president of NCTA, attributes the growth to the group’s ability to shake the perception that it serves only technology companies. NCTA does count tech giants like IBM and SAS among its members. But the group has made a concerted effort to include other companies. But Raiford says that traditional tech companies make up only half of NCTA’s membership. And about 73 percent of NCTA’s members are small companies with 50 employees or fewer.
“Technology is pervasive, everybody uses it,” Raiford said. “Whether you are a hospital, sports team or in retail, you use technology.”
Herb Crenshaw of AT&T remembers the early days of NCTA well. He was one of the original board members who put the group together. In the early 1990s, many in the people felt that technology industry had grown in the state. But unlike agriculture and manufacturing, companies in the technology space did not have a group to represent them.
The board members formed what was then called the North Carolina Electronics and Information Technologies Association, or NCEITA. It started with 120 member companies. But the group ran a lean operation. Crenshaw recalls that when NCEITA moved offices in the early days, he enlisted his children as movers.
“Back in those days, this (event) would have been an impossibility,” Crenshaw said, referring to the gala celebration. “We were on a shoestring.”
