Ann Revell-pechar

The average corporate IT operating expenditure per year is approximately 2.3% of company revenue. In 2015, you’ll see at least that much being spent on technology just from the marketing department, ostensibly doubling technology spending in 2015. So intimated Michael Smith, Vice President of leading industry analyst firm Gartner during a recent interview. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. On January 30th, the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) will host its annual Outlook for IT event in Charlotte, NC. Smith will lead the luncheon with a forecast of technology trends and related spending that will drive the...

Just like the growing technology industry in North Carolina, NCTA stepped it up this year. The North Carolina Technology Awards, aka the Beacons (and formerly known as the NCTA 21 Awards) were held last night in the Raleigh Convention Center. Nearly 800 people attended the gala event, and with 35 winners the crowd all seemed to have something to cheer about. The diversity of the group was apparent everywhere you looked. With representatives from Asheville and small counties in the Appalachian Mountains, Charlotte, the Triad, the Triangle and Wilmington, the entire state was very well represented. The winners, listed...

On the NC State campus Tuesday, hundreds of job seekers got some precious face-time with 22 Triangle area employers who are looking to fill more than 2,000 jobs in technology-focused areas. Big names, like Allscripts and DeutscheBank Global Technology, sat alongside up-and-comers like Ansible, growing companies like Dude Solutions and Bronto, and newcomers like Avalara. All of the companies were vying for talent ranging from developers to marketers, and everything in between. “We’re seeing growth, and in fact this year’s Job Fair has a record number of 2000 jobs available in the Triangle,” said Brooks Raiford, president and CEO...

At the WRAL TechWire Executive Exchange, service provider panelists made impactful announcements about the future of fiber in the Triangle. Not the least of these: Durham’s getting fiber. Details won’t be available until Oct. 23, 2014, but Dennis Bloss, VP and GM for Frontier Communications North Carolina gave us a hint. “As a relatively new entrant into North Carolina, we’re rapidly investing in fiber to the neighborhood,” said Bloss. “This is positioning us to take the next step and up the speeds to Durham. We’re proud of the work we’ve done with Connect America funds, installing broadband for tens...