Participants Unveiled for This Year's StartupCamp, Communications Edition

By Beecher Tuttle, TMCnet Web Editor

Over the past few years, technology companies have developed a number of innovative products and services that have forever changed the way that businesses and individuals communicate with each other. Many of these advances have not come from giants in the industry, but rather from small, VC-backed startup companies that followed through on their inspiration and brought their product to market.

For these companies to continue to find success in the communications space, they need the opportunity to network with and receive guidance from established industry veterans. In an effort to provide a venue for early-stage entrepreneurs and innovators to showcase their ideas, Embrase and TMC (News - Alert) will be hosting StartupCamp, Communications Edition on Monday, October 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

At the upcoming event, industry leaders, developers, investors and select members of the media will congregate to network and validate entrepreneur pitches in a very unique setting.

After an exhaustive search, Embrase, in conjunction with TMC and with the support of many industry experts, recently selected the four startup companies that they will feature at the upcoming event. The businesses chosen demonstrated a high level of early innovation in the fields of mobile, healthcare, video and group communications.

Officials with all four companies will be giving brief 5-minute “pitch” presentations to the audience and then will receive questions, comments and suggestions from a panel of expert judges.

This first startup that will be presenting is AdelaVoice, which was founded in January 2010 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs, led by Christopher Hassett, former founder of PointCast. The company’s objective is to blend the power of voice with state-of-the-art recognition technologies to allow consumers to get more out of their smart device.  

Many companies aiming at healthcare technology applied this year. Soon-to-be launched VAL9000, creator of a cloud-based system that enables physicians and nurses to access a patient’s clinical information using natural-language spoken conversations, was selected. Leaders of VAL9000 believe the software will dramatically increase the efficiency of medical practitioners.

Presenting next will be officials with Vokle, a local California startup that has created a revolutionary live video broadcasting platform for hosting interactive events. The new technology allows users to broadcast live events, webinars and speeches to a virtual auditorium. The embeddable platform enables businesses and consumers to take video and text questions from a live audience.  

The final presenter will be GroupMe, an alpha-stage startup company founded just months ago that is creating software that allows anyone with a mobile phone to instantly create and participate in real-time group chats and conference calls.  

StartupCamp, Communications Edition is being sponsored by a number of industry leaders that are pushing communication innovations in their own right. The platinum sponsor for the second straight time is Twilio; this time around both Skype (News - Alert) and Alcatel-Lucent have added their support.

Redg Snodgrass, who heads up Alcatel-Lucent’s Open API Service, said that the decision to take part in this year’s StartupCamp was an easy one to make.

“How could we not participate?” he asked. “If you don't innovate on your technology, it will eventually become obsolete.

“Neither Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) nor our customers think that all innovation belongs to large service providers,” Snodgrass added. “We are always looking to see and hear about the next big thing coming along.”

After taking questions from attendees, executives from all four companies will have their presentation and product judged by an expert panel of industry veterans, including Scott Wharton (News - Alert), CEO of Vidtel, Andy Abramson, industry leading Blogger at VoIPWatch, EVP of Emerging Technology, and Brett Shockey, VP Emerging Products for Avaya (News - Alert).

The event comes on the heels of the immensely popular and successful StartupCamp, which took place earlier this year in Miami.

“What I need to state clearly here is that this was an electric event,” said Dave Michels, blogger with PinDropSoup. “It was a packed…I’m guessing 200 people.”

“The energy in the room was unlike any other IT Expo session,” he added. “It was so nice to feel this innovative startup spirit alive at an industry conference.”

This year’s event will be collocated with ITEXPO West, 2010, the world’s premier IP communications event.  For more information on StartupCamp, Communications Edition and to register to attend, click here.

Beecher Tuttle is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Beecher Tuttle

(source: http://next-generation-communications.tmcnet.com/topics/nextgen-voice/articles/103051-participants-unveiled-this-years-startupcamp-communications-edition.htm)