Participants in the Gala will include Florida House Speaker Designate Dean Cannon; State CIO David Taylor; Dr. Ken Ford, Chair of the NASA Advisory Council and Director of the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition; State Representative Marlene O’Toole; Earnie Franklin, Chair of ITFlorida and President of Incepture; Roger Berry, CIO for Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide; and representatives of numerous small businesses and IT-enabled corporations throughout Florida.

“As an industry, we are proud to announce this slate of remarkable finalists, who represent the forefront of Florida’s knowledge economy,” said Earnie Franklin, Chair of ITFlorida. “For every year of the program, we have set a new record for number of nominations received, which in 2009 was 243. I’m certain that our Gala event at Disney next month will break new ground and continue our shared mission of making Florida a leader in high tech advancement.”

3Cinteractive is proud to be a finalist in the Excellence in Web 2.0 category. For more information about the Gala and Tech Forum, visit www.itflorida.com.

The finalists for 2009 are as follows, by category:

Excellence in IT Leadership-Northwest

• AppRiver - Gulf Breeze
• Bookit.com - Panama City Beach
• Epoch Software - Gulf Breeze
• iSirona, David Dyell - Panama City

Excellence in IT Leadership-Northeast

• Baptist Health - Jacksonville
• Edward Waters College, Bernard Chapple - Jacksonville
• JEA, Wanyonyi J. Kendrick - Jacksonville
• Legal Art Works - Jacksonville

Excellence in IT Leadership-Central

• DiCom Software - Orlando
• Radixx Solutions International - Orlando
• SkillStorm - Orlando
• Wave Software - Orlando

Excellence in IT Leadership-Tampa Bay

• Gevity, Vito Melfi - Bradenton
• Infinity Business System, Terry Hedden - Tampa
• ITS Florida, Sandra Beck - Saint Petersburg
• Mark Abbott, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Technology Alignment, Raymond James - Saint Petersburg

Excellence in IT Leadership-Southwest

• ASG Software Solutions - Naples
• Dan Miller, Neighborhood America / Startup Florida - Sarasota
• Medical Education Technologies Inc., Michael Bernstein - Sarasota
• Surround Technologies, Paul Hoffman - Estero

Excellence in IT Leadership-Southeast

• InternetCoast - Boca Raton
• Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe: OK Connect - Miami
• PHYSICIANS4U, Inc - Miami
• South County Mental Health Center, Inc., Stephen Hogan - West Palm Beach

Excellence in Bridging the Digital Divide

• Angels Helping Hands Foundation - Orlando
• Florida A&M University - Tallahassee
• John S. and James L. Knight Foundation - Miami
• The Institute for School Innovation: Project CHILD - Tallahassee

Excellence in Business Recruitment and Retention

• Collier County: Project Innovation - Naples
• Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission - Orlando
• Technological Research Development Authority - Melbourne
• The Small Business Development Center at UNF - Jacksonville

Excellence in Sustainability through Information Technology

• AirIT - Orlando
• Florida Public Health Institute - Lake Worth
• University of Miami College of Engineering - Coral Gables
• Water Optimizer - Tampa

Excellence in Web 2.0

• 3Cinteractive - Boca Raton
• Find and Convert - Palm Harbor
• Medisyn Systems, Inc., Dr. Evan Earl Dussia - Tallahassee
• Neighborhood America - Naples

Government Technology Leadership-Private

• A Child is Missing Alert - Fort Lauderdale
• ePrescribe Florida
• Interstate Transport, Barbara Ell - Saint Petersburg
• Persystent Software, Mary Maloney - Tampa

Government Technology Leadership-Public

• Florida Agency for Health Care Administration - Tallahassee
• Florida Department of Transportation - Tallahassee
• Florida House of Representatives - Tallahassee
• Miami-Dade County Government Information Center - Miami

High Growth Company of the Year

• eMason - Clearwater
• Launch Pad Online - Odessa
• Motion Point - Coconut Creek
• SGIS - Fort Lauderdale

Innovation and Entrepreneurialism Award

• Audigence Inc. - Melbourne
• Cables Media - Fort Lauderdale
• WiPower Inc. - Gainesville
• XSell - Jacksonville

Small Business of the Year

• Accelogic - Weston
• Asevotech - Tampa
• Blue Dasher Technologies - Miami
• CareCloud - Miami

IT Leader of the Year

• Tony DiBenedetto, President and CEO, Tribridge - Tampa
• Garry Jones, President, Full Sail - Winter Park
• Scott Riley, CEO, Financial Information Technologies (Fintech) - Tampa

As part of this year’s homecoming festivities, Florida Atlantic University (FAU), the first public university in southeast Florida and the first university in the nation to offer only upper-division and graduate level courses, is using 3Cinteractive’s Shoutbox™ text-2-screen in-venue application. 

Shoutbox will be featured at the Annual Freaker’s Ball Concert, held at the Carole & Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium. The show is co-headlined by Pitbull and Fabolous and tickets are still available for the 8:00 PM concert on October 23rd. The show is for ages 16 and up. Student tickets are one per Owl Card, valid at the box office only.

Shoutbox will also make an appearance at the 2009 Homecoming Comedy Show, presented by the Program Board and the Homecoming Committee. The comedy show features Pablo Francisco with Kevin Hart and Christian Finnegan. 

The show will be held at 8:00 PM on October 29th at the Carole & Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium. The show is for ages 16 and older and tickets are available — student tickets are one per Owl Card, valid at the box office only.

3Cinteractive was pleased to offer the Shoutbox application to FAU as part of our November Promotion. The not-for-profit promotion gave FAU a $2,500 savings on bringing our interactive, text-to-screen solution to the Freaker’s Ball and the Homecoming Comedy Show.

The Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) Mobile Marketing Forum (MMF) — Los Angeles, is a unique event for the mobile community. The MMA’s Annual Global Awards Ceremony and Dinner, scheduled to be held at the Sheraton Downtown Los Angeles on November 17th, brings together attendees from agencies, brands, carriers and other members of the global mobile marketing ecosystem.

The annual event features a wide variety of keynotes, panels and presentations discussing the latest technology developments, case studies, and innovative ways of using the mobile channel to extend the reach and effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

3Cinteractive is proud to sponsor the agency discussion. Moderating the Targeting, Creative and Measurement discussion is Jeremy Martin, Vice President of Business Development for 3Cinteractive. Some of the questions on tap for the panel include how are advertisers targeting and where is mobile lacking in targeting capabilities? What are some ad units and formats being used and what is the desire for where they should evolve? How are advertisers measuring mobile programs?

On the agency discussion panel with Jeremy are Maria Mandel, Senior Partner, Executive Director - Digital Innovation, Ogilvy; Richard Ting, Vice President, Executive Creative Director, Mobile & Emerging Platforms, R/GA; John Hadl, CEO, Brand In Hand; and Vladimir Edelman, CMO, IconMobile.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. The more than 700 member companies, representing over forty countries around the globe, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association’s global headquarters are located in the United States and it has regional chapters including North America (NA), Europe, Latin American (LATAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com. For information relating to the MMA’s Mobile Marketing Forum series, please visit www.mobilemarketingforum.com.

October has been a busy month with regard to mobile compliance. While some of these changes were announced earlier this year most went into effect this month. One of the biggest changes came from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and its new guidelines. The MMA revamped the guidelines (please note: you’ll need Adobe Reader in order to view the document) to help ensure a positive user experience for mobile users. Additionally, the version 4.0 guidelines are the first to consolidate the individual mobile marketing guidelines and codes of conduct — known as “carrier playbooks” — of the four largest U.S. wireless service providers: Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), and T-Mobile USA (NYSE:DT).

In addition to incorporating carrier standards, the updated guidelines include revisions and additions to key areas such as:

• Standardizing the messaging language to a universal “Message and Data Rates May Apply” phrase (with Msg&Data Rates May Apply, Msg&data rates may apply, and Msg&data rates may aply [sic] as acceptable variants);
• Allowing for more flexibility with PIN location in message-terminated (MT) messages; and
• Modifying the STOP requirement in Opt-in MT messages.

Also of note was a change at one of the major carriers, Verizon Wireless. Verizon updated its best practices and instituted a new Repeat Offender Policy that became effective Thursday, October 1, 2009. Verizon has also updated its Advertising Disclosure Requirements (these updates are effective Sunday, November 1, 2009) for all new program submissions, on-boarding / certification, and monthly monitoring efforts.

Joining the MMA and the carriers is the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The DMA updated its Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices to incorporate mobile marketing, stressing the need for prior consent to marketing communication that is business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B), the use of appropriate suppression files such as the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry, and for members to abide by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Prior to the start of 3Cinteractive, Mark spent 16 years at MCI. After leaving MCI Mark joined startup iBill (one of the first Internet-based payment processing companies). Mark served as Executive Vice President of Sales and Operations and was instrumental in helping to build the company up to over four hundred employees strong, processing over a half a billion dollars a year in payments.

After the sale of iBill in 2002 to Intercept, a publicly traded company in Atlanta, Mark has been involved in several new ventures, including PayVentures, Governmental Management Services, and 365 Billing.

Something that you may not know about Mark is the fact that, prior to starting 3Cinteractive, he had never before sent a mobile text message. As Mark tells it, “When we started 3Ci, I had never sent a text message in my life. For the first year, most of the people we spoke to about the coming wave of mobile marketing and text messaging looked at us like we were out of our mind. It is really gratifying to see how prevalent and important text messaging and mobile marketing has become.”

Now that he is one of our text messaging experts, Mark has helped lead the charge for 3Cinteractive to affect the direction of the industry itself. 3Ci is an active member of organizations such as the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and CTIA - The Wireless Association. In particular, 3Cinteractive is involved in the Best Practices Committee and the Mobile Commerce Committee with the MMA, demonstrating that mobile marketing is more than things like ringtones and wallpapers and other consumer oriented entertainment products.

Mark is a proud graduate of the University of Texas and while 3Ci is his day, evening, night and weekend job, he is a dedicated husband and father as well as an avid runner and skier.

One of the most exciting aspects of our business is seeing the development of our people and the organization. We’ve had the fortune of witnessing this business grow from “just an idea and a business plan” to a “well-oiled machine” that is now built for scalability. The only reason we’ve been fortunate enough to experience such incredible growth is because our business has great people.

Over the last few years one of those great people, our Creative Director, Jeff Michaud, along with his team, has built a brand and an identity for our company within the industry. As our brand and our solutions continue to grow, Jeff has done an amazing job keeping the communication, message, and materials consistent with our identity and accomplishments. Jeff and his team have also put the framework in place for a scalable and effective corporate communications strategy that continues to give us tremendous marketing publicity. The creative services part of our marketing unit has helped us to win and retain key clients thanks in part to the outstanding work that Jeff and his group have done and continue to do.

Please help us in congratulating Jeff Michaud as he takes on his role here as Vice President of Marketing and Creative. Congratulations, Jeff!

Seattle, WA & Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) – 9/30/2009 – 3Cinteractive, an industry leading mobile marketing and technology firm, has partnered with mobile commerce leader, Billing Revolution, to provide secure credit card transaction processing on mobile phones. This partnership rounds out 3Cinteractive’s robust, enterprise-grade mobile payments platform - which includes Premium SMS (PSMS), direct and WAP billing, as well as 3Ci’s proprietary Loss Prevention System, the industry’s first fraud and risk management system for mobile payments.

Through the partnership with Billing Revolution, 3Cinteractive can now seamlessly process mobile credit card transactions for its clients and tap deeper into a mobile commerce market expected to reach $13 billion globally by 2013.

3Cinteractive’s VP of Business Development, Jeremy Martin, believes this partnership is crucial to the company’s mobile payments strategy. “We’ve experienced tremendous success with our mobile payments offering thus far, mostly around Premium SMS and direct billing,” said Mr. Martin. “As the mobile commerce space matures, there will be more and more instances where PSMS and direct billing will not be feasible to facilitate transactions, and this partnership allows us to service this high growth sector.”

“It’s great to be able to partner with forward-thinking companies that understand the value of integrating a mobile payments platform and complete CRM solution with their existing system,” said Michael Dulong, co-founder and senior vice president of business development at Billing Revolution. “We think we’ve reached a critical time in the industry where mainstream payment methods such as credit and debit cards are now available to mobile consumers. The opportunity is massive, and our solution gives companies like 3Cinteractive a turnkey solution to provide the best possible checkout experience to its clients and end users.”

About 3Cinteractive
Based in Boca Raton, Florida, 3Cinteractive is an industry leading mobile marketing and technology firm. 3Ci provides businesses with the mobile applications and strategies that help them acquire and retain customers, increase sales, and solve business challenges. The 3Ci service portfolio includes SMS, MMS, WAP, and IVR, as well as full service campaign and compliance management. 3Ci is a Mobile Marketing Association and CTIA member and is listed as one of the top Application Service Providers by the Common Short Code Administration. For more information visit www.3cinteractive.com.

About Billing Revolution
Billing Revolution provides technology to the credit card processing industry that enables secure transactions from any web-enabled mobile phone. Mobile users have the ability to conduct “single-click” credit card transactions, manage subscriptions and perform cancellations from the mobile handset. To learn more about Billing Revolution’s mobile commerce payment solutions, products and services, please visit www.billingrevolution.com.

Contacts

3Cinteractive
Jeff Michaud
561.443.5505
jmichaud@3cinteractive.com

Billing Revolution
Eric Gonzalez
415.272.0836
eric@vscconsulting.com

Using your credit card to make purchases over mobile just became safer and easier. 3Cinteractive has partnered with mobile commerce provider Billing Revolution to offer secure credit card transaction processing on mobile phones. With the addition of the award-winning Billing Revolution platform, 3Cinteractive is able to offer a comprehensive enterprise-grade mobile payments platform. Our platform includes Premium SMS (PSMS), direct and WAP billing, as well as our proprietary Loss Prevention System, the industry’s first fraud and risk management system for mobile payments.

By partnering with Billing Revolution, 3Ci can now seamlessly process mobile credit card transactions for our clients and we’re able to reach further into a multi-billion dollar mobile commerce market (it’s expected to reach $13 billion globally by 2013).

Jeremy Martin, 3Cinteractive’s Vice President of Business Development, said, “We’ve experienced tremendous success with our mobile payments offering thus far, mostly around Premium SMS and direct billing. As the mobile commerce space matures, there will be more and more instances where PSMS and direct billing will not be feasible to facilitate transactions, and this partnership allows us to service this high growth sector.”

Reportedly Google is using “multiple signals” based on the “quality of the [Sidewiki] entry,” combined with what they know about the author (presumably derived from the author’s Google profile), as well as user-contributed signals such as voting on an entry and flagging. Apparently the same driving principle behind Google’s search results is at work with Sidewiki. Google is said want to keep only the most relevant entries appearing.

Additionally, Google is reported to be employing methods that measure the entries use of sophisticated language, the user’s reputation, and the user’s history when determining relevancy. Which leads to the question…will wide-spread adoption of Sidewiki lead to development of toolbar-specific entry optimization strategies?

Before joining 3Ci, Robert was employed at Aaxon Holdings as controller and he was responsible for that company’s loan covenant as well as its multi-location operations.

Robert brings a great amount of experience to the 3Ci finance and operations team due to his solid track record in finance at Aaxon Holdings. Robert began his career as a staff / settlement accountant at iBill overseeing client settlements.

Robert is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University and is an avid basketball fan and is particularly a fan of a certain Eastern Conference, Atlantic Division NBA team that he would rather leave unnamed for some reason…