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******************* AT THE CENTER *****************
************* The electronic newsletter of the ***********
*********** Silicon Valley World Internet Center **********
************ Tuesday, September 12, 2000 *************

The Silicon Valley World Internet Center thanks its Executive Sponsors --

IBM Corporation, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Deutsche Telekom, Hewlett-Packard Company, and Amdocs, Inc.-- for their continuing support.

CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE: http://www.worldinternetcenter.com

Past copies of our newsletters and directions to the Center are available on the website.

ALL PROGRAMS ARE HELD AT THE CENTER UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE.

***SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SUSAN BARICH JOINS THE CENTER AS DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

***THINK TANK SESSION: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2000
"VOICE-DRIVEN ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS"
By invitation only. 8:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

***PUB TALK: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2000
"INTERNET WIRE -- LEVERAGING THE INTERNET TO DISSEMINATE YOUR COMPANY’S NEWS DIRECTLY TO JOURNALISTS, ANALYSTS AND THE CONSUMER"
By Mr. M. Reynolds Morgan, Director of Northwest Region, Internet Wire, Inc.
5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Pub Talk starts at 6:00 p.m.
Open to the public.

***SPECIAL PUB GROUP: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2000
SPECIAL GROUP AT THE CENTER: FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE CENTER

***PUB TALK: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2000
"YEAR 2050: WHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING NOW TO PREPARE?"
By Dr. Charles Geschke, Co-Founder, Adobe Systems Incorporated
5:00-7:00 p.m. Pub Talk starts at 6:00 p.m.
Open to the public

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***SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SUSAN BARICH JOINS THE CENTER AS DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

We are pleased to announce that Susan Barich has joined the Center as its Director of Business Development. Susan will be responsible for developing and managing the Center’s Affiliate Sponsor Program. Susan comes to the Center with 15 years of experience serving businesses in the Silicon Valley area. Most recently, she was the Director of the Regional Environmental Business Resource and Assistance Center at Mission College in Santa Clara. Previously, Susan was the Associate Director of Joint Venture, Silicon Valley Network's environmental initiative from 1994 to 1996. She sits on the advisory boards of the Environmental Business Cluster, the Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center and the Charter Financial Management company. She was also founding chair of the Silicon Valley Industry Education Advisory Board and is a founding member of the Pacific Incubation Network.

Please join us at the Pub this week to welcome Susan on board!

 

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***THINK TANK SESSION: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2000
"VOICE-DRIVEN ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS"
By invitation only. 8:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Speech understanding and speech synthesis have been around as a major research initiative for the last 30 years. Recently, systems have become more accurate, more pleasant to listen to, and less expensive to implement. Speech understanding has been successfully deployed in certain contained applications. In addition, the web and the VoiceXML portion of the W3C committee are promising relatively easy ways to adapt web-based interfaces for voice activation. This is promising a huge expansion in the number of voice-enabled applications.

During this invitation-only Think Tank Session, twenty-five participants will contribute to defining the user experience to date with this technology, as well as the best technology and business approaches to voice-enabling enterprise applications.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

* Which applications are suitable for voice enablement from VoiceXML and other voice and speech technologies?

* What are the characteristics of a "good" voice-enabled interface in contrast to a "poor" interface?

* Is the technology effective enough for usage from remote areas?

* Is voice only for when there is not a computer around, or will there be full time, mission critical applications?

SESSION I: THE STATUS & FUTURE OF VOICE-DRIVEN ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS

This Session begins with two short presentations about the status and future of voice-driven enterprise applications. It continues with a discussion on the status and assessment of current voice-enabled enterprise applications on the market.

Introductory remarks by:
Mr. Sunil Soares
Program Director of Product Management
IBM Voice Systems

Mr. Bruce Grant
Key Practice Director
Advanced Technologies
Luminant Worldwide Corporation

SESSION II: VOICE ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS FOR THE NEXT 12-18 MONTH MARKET

This Session begins with two short presentations on the 'user' experience and strategy with voice-enabled enterprise applications, basically, what works, what doesn't and what's still missing. The Session continues with the group brainstorming about killer voice market applications.

Introductory remarks by:
Ms. Linda Cliff
CAAPS Business Project Manager & Senior Consultant
Enterprise Integration Group
Kaiser-Permanente

Mr. Bryan Mekechuk
Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder
VOCI Corporation

SESSION III: CONCLUSION
Open discussion on the Assessment of future voice enterprise applications.

 

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***PUB TALK: SEPTEMBER 14, 2000
"INTERNET WIRE -- LEVERAGING THE INTERNET TO DISSEMINATE YOUR COMPANY’S NEWS DIRECTLY TO JOURNALISTS, ANALYSTS AND THE CONSUMER"
By Mr. M. Reynolds Morgan, Director of Northwest Region, Internet Wire, Inc.
5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Pub Talk starts at 6:00 p.m.
Open to the public.

Mr. Reynolds will discuss Internet Wire’s innovative approach to the distribution of public relations materials through the Internet. Come learn how your company can leverage exposure through press releases, media alerts, advisories, graphics such as headshots, product shots and charts, audio music, testimonials, sound bites, streaming video, and other innovative Internet-related ways.

ABOUT INTERNET WIRE

Internet Wire, Inc. (http://www.internetwire.com) is the leading Internet-based distributor of direct company news and other business communications materials. Internet Wire distributes direct company news, including press releases, financial announcements, graphics, multimedia files, and other business communications materials to a worldwide audience of news media, analysts and consumers via email, the Web, online syndication and secure modem-to-modem connections.

Internet Wire’s website currently displays up-to-the-minute company news in the content areas of technology, entertainment, business/finance, sports, medical, travel/leisure, health/lifestyle, food, education, government, legal and energy/environment. It also is transmitted to more than 44,000 editors and analysts and 1.6 Million consumers in these content areas via Internet Wire’s proprietary distribution channels.

Internet Wire content is carried on the Bloomberg global terminal system, syndicated online through iSyndicate, Screaming Media, Wavo and COMTEX News Network and is aggregated on 2,000-pus sites around the Web. With offices in Los Angeles, New York and Silicon Valley, the company was incorporated in January 1999, after evolving from gina.com which has been online since 1994.

In February 2000, Internet Wire announced that it closed its first preferred round of venture capital, a total of $17.5 million, led by Sequoia Capital and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Also participating in the Series A round were first-round investors Osprey Ventures, Montreux Equity Partners and Mindful Partners as well as Stanford University’s Daper Fund.

ABOUT M. REYNOLDS MORGAN

As director of the northwest region, Reynolds is responsible for all sales, staffing and journalist relations programs in Northern California, Oregon, Washington and western Canada. He is based in Internet Wire’s Silicon Valley bureau in Menlo Park, California. Reynolds brings more than 15 years experience in the news, communications and wire service industries, including a combined eight years at satellite-based public relations wire service companies, including Business Wire and PR Newswire. Reynolds joined Internet Wire after a successful six-year career at Business Wire, where he managed key accounts and local media relations programs at its Silicon Valley bureau. Reynolds has also worked at Health & You Magazine, Palo Alto Weekly, Peninsula Times Tribune, and the Sunnyvale Valley Journal. He is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) as well as a former board member of the Peninsula Press Club.

For further information:
Internet Wire, Inc.
5757 Century Blvd., Suite 365
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Tel: 800.77.IWIRE
Fax: 310.846.3700
Em: info@internetwire.com

Mr. M. Reynolds Morgan
Director of Northwest Region
Em: rmorgan@internetwire.com
Tel: 650.943.2364

 

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***SPECIAL PUB GROUP: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2000
SPECIAL GROUP AT THE CENTER: FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE CENTER

A group of 30 individuals from the Foreign Service Institute Center will be at the Center this week for a pre-Pub meeting and to attend the Pub. These individuals are taking part in the Senior Seminar, the most advanced professional development program available to senior foreign policy and national security officials of the United States Government. The nine-month program began in 1958 and is held at the Department of State’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center. The purpose of their visit to Silicon Valley and to the Center is to understand developments in the New Economy and to interact with entrepreneurs, executives, and thought-leaders, including at the Center’s Thursday Pub.

Please join us at the Pub to interact with this influential group of high ranking U.S. officials and to share your perspectives on the Internet Economy.

 

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***PUB TALK: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2000
"YEAR 2050: WHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING NOW TO PREPARE?"
By Dr. Charles Geschke, Co-Founder, Adobe Systems Incorporated
5:00-7:00 p.m. Pub Talk starts at 6:00 p.m.
Open to the public

By the middle of the 21st century, the computer industry may have evolved to a state much like the "rustbelt" industries that were the economic engine of the first half of the 20th century. Given the current economic condition of the country and new leadership in the White House, it's time to plan how to invest for the future. Mr. Charles Geschke will provide a brief reflection on how the United States has laid the groundwork for the computer revolution and how it can provide a model for the future.

ABOUT CHARLES GESCHKE

Charles Geschke co-founded Adobe Systems in 1982 with John Warnock. A respected and inspiring leader in the software industry for more than 25 years, Dr. Geschke retired from his position as President of Adobe in 2000 and continues to share the chairmanship of the board with Dr. Warnock.

Prior to co-founding Adobe Systems, Dr. Geschke formed the Imaging Sciences Laboratory at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1980, where he directed research activities in the fields of computer science, graphics, image processing, and optics. Previously, he was a principal scientist and

researcher at Xerox PARC's Computer Sciences Laboratory. Many industry and business leaders have honored Dr. Geschke for his outstanding technical and managerial achievements including the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Carnegie-Mellon University, the National Computer Graphics Association, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2000, Dr. Geschke was ranked the seventh most influential graphics person of the last millennium by Graphic Exchange magazine.

Dr. Geschke actively participates on several boards of high technology companies, educational institutions and arts organizations. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Government-University Industry Research Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Geschke also serves on the computer science advisory boards of Carnegie-Mellon University and Princeton University, the Board of Trustees for the University of San Francisco and the Board of Directors of Rambus, Inc. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie-Mellon University and a M.S. in mathematics and a A.B. in classics, both from Xavier University.

ABOUT ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED

Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems Incorporated (http://www.adobe.com) builds award-winning software solutions for Web and print publishing. Its graphic design, imaging, dynamic media, and authoring tools enable customers to create, publish and deliver visually-rich content for various types of media. The company's products are used by Web and graphic designers, professional publishers, document-intensive organizations, business users, and consumers. Adobe is the third largest PC software company in the U.S., with annual revenues of $1 billion. It employs over 2,600 employees worldwide and has operations in North America, Europe, the Pacific Rim, Japan and Latin America. Adobe's worldwide headquarters are in San Jose, California.

 

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***JOIN US FOR OUR WEEKLY PUB

Come join us for our weekly pub, every Thursday from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

The Pub Talk begins at 6 p.m. The Pub gathers 100-120 mid- to high-level executives every week and, as always, is a great place to come and meet people from the Silicon Valley and all over the world. Representatives from small start-ups and major companies to venture capital and academic join in the exchange at the Center Pub. It's...

"The best reason to take off work early on Thursdays."

For directions, please visit http://www.worldinternetcenter.com

and click on "directions" in the navigation bar.

The dress is casual and there is no fee to attend. Just bring your good ideas!

Companies with an interest in giving a Pub Talk should contact Venilde Jeronimo, the Center's Director of Programs, by email (venilde@worldinternetcenter.com).

 

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For inquiries or to unsubscribe to this newsletter, contact Sara K. Dean, the Center's Program Manager, by email (sdean@worldinternetcenter.com).