The Virtual Trip entrepreneurial ecosystem is a proud sponsor of the Info-ComWorld 2010 conference

The Virtual Trip entrepreneurial ecosystem has announced that is a proud sponsor of the 12th International Telecommunications Conference Info-ComWorld. The subject of the conference is “Digital Greece: at the crossroad of broadband development”.

The participation in the conference will be focused on the promotion of the e- Learning platform "eFront", the application of online subscription services "Mobile Social" and the software of Unified Communications "SOLO Gateway".

The Virtual Trip entrepreneurial ecosystem consists of fourteen knowledge-intensive start-up companies, twelve of which are located in Greece, one in Spain and one in USA. It is the evolution of the homonymous company, which was founded in September 2000 at the Science and Technology Park of Crete and was the first successful student start-up. Since the end of 2009 it is a Gold Member of EBAN - The European Business Angels Network as an "Early Stage Venture Capital and Seed Fund".

The 12th Info-ComWorld conference will be held on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at the Divani Caravel Hotel.

A big, sincere and warm "Thank you"

Exactly tean years ago, on Tuesday September 5th 2000, Virtual Trip Ltd was founded in Heraklion, Crete.

The founders of the company were Periklis Akritidis, Miltos Vassilakis, Nikos Ventouras, Charalambos Gikas, Dimitris Tsigos and criticalpublics.com, a company founded by Costis Dallas and Alexandros Kouris.

Virtual Trip was a student start-up in the ICT sector, based in Heraklion, Crete at the Science & Technology Park of Crete. We all know that success was anything but obvious.

On tha occasion of our 10th birthday, I'd like to say a big, sincere and warm "Thank you" to my Virtual Trip founding partners! Without them, our entrepreneurial ecosystem would never have existed. So, Costi & Alexandre, Perikli, Milto, Niko & Chari, thank you very much for taking the risk and starting Virtual Trip! Over all, thank you for setting the culture of technical excellence, "aim high" and extroversion, which have been the success ingridients for our venture.

Virtual Trip has evolved to a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem of hight-tech ICT companies. In our second decade we'll try even harder to materialize our vision for greek high-tech companies competing successfully in the global market.

As far as I am concerned, the main lesson learnt from these ten years is very simple: "It's all about people". Only people can make the difference. So, our objective remains to get people excited with high-technology, both for producing and for using/consuming it.

We're still in the begining, all the best is yet to come :)

Thank you very much,

Dimitris Tsigos

We are hiring s/w engineers specialized in .NET and in PHP

Virtual Trip Ltd, the leading company of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem seeks for Computer Scientists / Engineers for its Services Division located at 40A Katehaki Ave, which undertakes consulting, development and integration services projects for large organizations of the private and the public sector in Greece and the neighbor States.

Virtual Trip Ltd offers consulting, development and integration services in the following fields:

- Network – Centric Information Systems
- Systems & Networks Infrastructure
- Enterprise Security Consultancy
- Voice Portals & Multi – Channel / Multi – Modal Applications
- Spatial Intelligence Systems

- Human Capital Development Information Systems

Currently there is a job opening for Software Engineers specialized in the Microsoft .NET development framework and/or in PHP.

The Canditates should have:
- Degree in Computer Science or Engineering
- Experience in the Microsoft .NET development framework or in PHP
- Experience in Microsoft Sharepoint and generally in HTML / Web Development

The Candidates will integrade in a demanding business environment, with great emphasis in quality and performance. High professionalism and team spirit are demanded. Virtual Trip offers an attractive compesantion package, challeging working environment and advanced career opportunities.

Send your CV at talent@vtripgroup.com

Robert Taub’s MuseAmi Creates Music Software - NYTimes.com

Looks like it is a beautiful software as a service :-)

Robert Taub’s MuseAmi Creates Music Software - NYTimes.com

Schloss Dagstuhl : Seminar Homepage

fyi - an interesting workshop on service value networks

Schloss Dagstuhl : Seminar Homepage

Virtual Trip is a proud sponsor of the EXECOM conference

Virtual Trip announced today that is a proud sponsor of the EXECOM conference, organized by YES - European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs, taking Place in Thessaloniki, Greece from June 24th to June 26th 2010.

The conference subject is "Uncovering the EU Structural weaknesses through the Greek crisis - Start up Entrepreneurship and Investing in Inventiveness and Green Economy is the European Answer" and the program includes an impressive line-up of Key-Note Speakers lead by the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic Mr. George Papandreou and important entrepreneurs, politicians, activists and academics. Precisely, the key-note speakers list is the following:

* George Papandreou, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
* Yiannis Boutaris, Politician, Activist, Founder of the Kir-Yianni Wines
* Marc Dangeard, Founder of the Entrepreneur Commons
* Ferda Kertmelioglu, Chairman of Mobilera
* Henri Malosse, President of the European Economic & Social Committee - Employers Group
* Stefanos Manos, Politician, frm. Minister of Finance
* Claire Munck, Managing Director of European Business Angels Network
* Gregory Prastacos, Rector of the Athens University of Economics & Business
* Marco Veremis, Chairman of Upstream

Moreover, the 2nd Greek Start-up Forum will take place the first day of the EXECOM, on Thursday June 24th from 18:00 to 21:00. Five innovative start-ups will be presented together with the Openfund, the CEE Chips Investment Network and the Science & Technology Park of Crete. Epignosis, a leading company of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, will be one of the five start-ups to be presented.

Dimitris Tsigos, Virtual Trip Founder & CEO, said: "Europe is under a severe financial crisis, the worst since the end of the 2nd World War. The ultimate tragedy of WW2 lead to the birth of the European Idea, the vision of a great single European country. European Union has been the outcome of the efforts towards materializing this vision and the Monetary Union, the Eurozone, doubtlessly is the most important milestone till today.The current financial crisis has made clear though that a number of structural weaknesses have to be overcome for building a truly united Europe on a solid ground. One major part of the weaknesses concerns decision making and economic governance. We are very happy to watch recently the European Council initiating the process of addressing this challenge. However, another set of weaknesses, at least of the same importance with economic governance, has to do with entrepreneurial culture, spirit and investing in inventiveness, domains where Europe has to perform much better in the future for remaining sustainable and keeping its leading position in the global economy."

Please visit the conference program page here and the registration page here.

eFront Contest - Win $400 and a copy of eFront Community++!

The eFront team is very happy to announce the following summer contests as a gesture of goodwill towards their supportive community, Facebook fans and eFront users at large. Four contests will be hosted simultaneously, with the same opening, closing and judging dates. Each entry will be made publicly available and judged by the eFront community and a panel of eFront experts.

The entry to get the most votes in each contest wins $400 in cash and a Community++ version of eFront. In order to participate, just send an email to contest@efrontlearning.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , stating the contest you are participating in, a description and an attachment of your contribution or, depending on its nature, a URL so we can check it online. The voting procedure will be announced as we approach the voting period.

Furthermore, apart from prizes awarding the winning entries, each entry and its creator will benefit from extended exposure to the eFront community and user base. All entries will be judged based on their depth, originality, quality, usefulness and objectivity.

Contest Dates
Opening date for receiving entries – 1st June 2010
Closing date for receiving entries – 31st August 2010
Dates for judging winning entries – 1st-16th September 2010
Announcement of winning entries – 17th September 2010

For more information or any queries regarding these contests, contact us on contest@efrontlearning.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


THE CONTESTS

Theme creation contest
eFront offers an advanced theme functionality which allows users to alter the “look and feel” aspect of eFront. This ensures that the specific needs and tastes of users and organisations are accommodated.
This is where this contest begins. Create a theme for eFront embodying but no limited to: a consistent colour coded background, alternate layouts and a variety of font settings of your choice. Make sure that each theme can be applied to major browsers. The theme to get the most votes wins.

For more information regarding eFront themes please click here.

Module creation contest
Modules are additional programming components that are designed to enhance eFront under various dimensions. Modules can integrate eFront with various third party software systems or extend its functionality. Please check the developers section on how to create a module. This is where this contest begins. Create a module that enhances eFront functionality with a feature that you believe is missing or integrate eFront with a third party system of your choice. The module to get the most votes wins.

More information and a current list of officially supported external modules can be found by clicking here.

Video review contest
This contest will let you utilize your video creating and editing skills while reviewing eFront. Create a video or animation highlighting and describing the eFront software and post it on Youtube, Metacafe or Vimeo. You can create as many videos as you want! The video with the most votes wins.

Blog article contest
This contest will boost you creative skills while writing a blog review about eFront. Create and publish articles that describe and review eFront, compare its functionality with other learning systems, describe usage scenarios or your favorite features. Use your imagination and create something useful and objective. You can create as many blog entries as you want! The blog entry with the most votes wins.

Please submit this announcement anywhere you find fit

Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors' blog: Reinventing the Web

Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors' blog: Reinventing the Web

The Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem participates in the Conference "MSc Computer Science and the Labor Market”

The Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem will participate in the conference "MSc Computer Science and the Labor Market”, organized by the Postgraduate Program of studies in Computer Science of the Athens University of Economics & Business. The conference will be held on Wednesday 19/05/2010 from 12:00am to 15:00am, at the building of the MSc programs- room 802 (47a Evelpidon Str. & 33 Lefkados Str.).

The speakers of the conference will be representatives of the following companies: Intracom, Entersoft, Microsoft, Vodafone Greece. On behalf of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Mr Dimitrios Tsigos, CEO of Virtual Trip, is going to share his opinion and experience in the challenging labor market. Mr Tsigos's speech will start at 14:00am.

The recruitment team of the entrepreneurial ecosystem will be willing to welcome the participants during the interviews’ session.

eFront Enterprise Wins Bronze Brandon Hall Learning Technology Award

Epignosis, a leader in innovative learning, won a coveted Brandon Hall bronze award for technology excellence in the Learning Management Technology for Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses category.

Epignosis’s win was announced on Thursday, April 29. The winners are listed at www.brandon-hall.com.

The award refers to company’s flagship product, eFront Enterprise. Tailored with larger organizations in mind, eFront Enterprise offers solutions for the management of companies most valued asset - the people. Based on a coherent approach to human capital management which keeps the workforce actively engaged, the eFront Enterprise platform offers the means of aligning learning programs with business goals to cultivate employee skills and knowledge associated with business performance.

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Research, one of the leading research firms in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance.

“These outstanding tools and systems propel the learning profession forward,” said Brandon Hall, Ph.D., chairman of the Awards program. “These innovative products let customers make learning faster, better, and easier.”

The entries were evaluated by independent judges around the world.

About Epignosis

Epignosis is a fast growing, dynamic, and technology oriented learning and training company. Based in Athens – Greece, it’s a member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, together with other twelve high-tech companies in Greece, Spain and the US. Epignosis, is the vendor of “eFront” learning and talent management platform and envisages Learning 2.0 as the dominant approach for human capital development, education & training services.

About Brandon Hall Research

Brandon Hall, Ph.D. is the CEO of Brandon Hall Research and author of the ground-breaking “Web-Based Training Cookbook.” Since 1992, Brandon Hall Research (www.brandon-hall.com) has been providing independent research reports and expert advice on using technology in learning. Brandon Hall Research conducts Awards programs each year to recognize the best in innovative learning.

ADL accepts eFront as SCORM adopter

Epignosis, a member of the Virtual Trip entrepreneurial ecosystem and the vendor of the eFront platform, has announced extended support for the latest iteration of SCORM 2004 standard.

eFront is an LMS commited to international standards. Through time it offered support for SCORM 1.2 and IMS Common Catridge and with version 3.6 it offers support for the latest iteration of SCORM 2004, its 4th edition.

Currently, eFront is one out of three systems worldwide that have achieved this level of conformance, according to ADL (http://webapps.adlnet.gov/SCORMAdopters/Adopter.aspx?i=539).

This distinction places eFront in the first class of elearning systems and comes as the result of a long development process. Support for the SCORM 2004 standard is a prerequisite for participating in a large number of international bids.

IT Center participates in dte - digital technology expo 2010

IT Center which is the distributor in Greece and Cyprus for all products of the entrepreneurial ecosystem Virtual Trip has announced its participation to the exhibition dte - digital technology expo 2010.

IT Center which develops rapidly a panhellenic network of certified partners to promote integrated IT solutions specifically for small and medium enterprises, will present at the exhibition three solution families:

1 - Solutions of Technology Infrastructure
There will be a presentation of the product family SOLO Gateway which provides IT infrastructure solutions, Unified Communications, Security και Collaboration.

2 - Business software solutions
IT Center will present in dte2010 its business software solutions Insurance Manager and diagramma.
Insurance Manager is an integrated information system for managing insurance operations for Brokers, Agents and Insurance Consultants, while diagramma is an integrated financial / business management & administration management system for schools of all levels.

3 - On-line services solutions
Based on the extensive experience and expertise of the Virtual Trip Group to internet technologies, IT Center presents e- Learning solutions on the eFront platform and On-line Travel Agency solutions on the platform S4Trips.

IT Center started operating in 2009 creating a national network of partners and operating IT Center stores in selected areas. The company aims to bridge the gap between IT and communication needs of SMEs and various solutions in the market

dte2010 will take place from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 April at Helexpo Palace, Marousi.

The participation of IT Center in Infrapedia 2010 was really successful

IT Center presented in the exhibition Infrapedia 2010 the integrated IT solutions for the management of educational institutions. In particular, IT Center presented Diagramma, the only solution in the market which is based on internet technologies and is addressed to small and medium-sized educational institutions providing integrated financial and sales management and administration management.

Moreover, there was presented the Educational edition of the top platform eFront, which is produced in Greece by Epignosis and it is sold in more than 40 countries with great success. Many of the educational institutions which use so far the platform Moodle have stated that they will change it choosing eFront which is its Greek competitor in the international market. It is worth noting that eFront Educational can be integrated with diagramma creating a unique international environment management of blended learning.

In Infrapedia 2010 was also presented SOLO Gateway as a top solution of communication and computing infrastructure for educational institutions. It is a solution which can can significantly reduce the operating costs of an educational institution by increasing dramatically the level of integration of information technology on its procedures.

IT Center develops a panhellenic network of high value-added partners to promote IT solutions developed by the entrepreneurial ecosystem Virtual Trip, introducing the concept of One-Stop-ICT-Shop for small and medium enterprises. In addition, a working model of IT Center Store operates in the area of Aspropyrgos in which there is a permanent show room to demonstrate the solutions in full operation.

The exhibition 2010 took place on Saturday 20 and Sunday, March 21, 2010 at Zappeio in Athens.

IT Center participates in Infrapedia 2010 presenting eFront, Diagramma and SOLO Gateway platforms

IT Center which is the distributor in Greece and Cyprus for all products of the entrepreneurial ecosystem Virtual Trip has announced its participation to the 2nd Exhibition of Infrastructure and Equipment for Educational Centers- Infrapedia 2010.

IT Center will focus on promoting of the e- Learning platform “eFront”, to the integrated information management system of educational institutions “Diagramma” as well as “SOLO Gateway” software, which is an excellent solution for educational institutions to have computing and communications infrastructure.

In the education sector, the solutions of IT Center, are based on the software platforms eFront, Diagramma and SOLO Gateway, allow the educational institution to use the new technology both to increase dramatically the quality of educational services and to significantly improve the organization, management and productivity.

IT Center started operating in 2009 creating a national network of partners and operating IT Center stores in selected areas. The company aims to bridge the gap between IT and communication needs of SMEs and various solutions in the market. Promoting the concept of "one-stop-shop" for all IT and communication needs becomes a strategic partner to small business and helps them to modernized, develop further and overcome the economic crisis.


Infrapedia 2010 will be held on Saturday 20 and Sunday, March 21 at Zappeion.

Virtual Trip launches the “PANAKEA” Digital Signage Platform in cooperation with Business Information Support

Virtual Trip has completed successfully the pilot phase of the digital signage project “PANAKEA” which is carried out in cooperation with Business Information Support on behalf of the Cooperatives Federation of Greece’s Pharmacists (OSFE).

In particular, the project “PANAKEA” is about the installation of a panhellenic system of Digital Signage which is completed by an e-Learning platform for the Pharmacists as well as a panhellenic management and information network for the emergency pharmacies.

In this context, this system has been installed and now operates in 25 pharmacies while in the forthcoming period it is expected to extend in all of OSFE’s force which overcomes the 5.500 pharmacies.

Among others the platform “PANAKEA” allows the optimal central management of the advertising projection both with geographical and time parameters, adjusted to the peculiarities of each installation point and providing the ability of projecting informational and educational material alongside ads.

Transformation Services Laboratory receives a SERVICE COMPUTATION 2009 Award

A research paper on "Enhancing Service Network Analysis and Service Selection Using Requirements-Based Service Discovery", which had been submitted to the "SERVICE COMPUTATION 2009 - The First International Conferences on Advanced Service Computing" by Konstantinos Zachos, Christos Nikolaou, Pantelis Petridis, George Stratakis, Manolis Voskakis, and Eyaggelos Papathanasiou, has received an award by the reviewers.

The research team is composed by members of the Transformation Services Laboratory at the University of Crete in cooperation with the S-Cube Network of Excellence, lead by Prof. Christos Nikolaou while the paper which received the award is part of the TSL efforts to link requirements engineering to service value networks.

Virtual Trip is a research partner of TSL and proud to support one of its major activities, The Second Service and Software Architectures, Infrastructures and Engineering (SSAIE) Summer School.

Dimitris Tsigos interview on away.gr for the transformation of Virtual Trip to an Angel Investment Fund

[Interview]Dimitris Tsigos' interview on away.gr for the transformation of Virtual Trip to an Angel Investment Fund

Virtual Trip starts Actech LLC, as a new venture in Ohio, US

Virtual Trip Group has announced that Actech’s LLC activity is evolving with great success in Akron, Ohio USA. Actech is a new Virtual Trip venture to act as the distributor of the SOLO Gateway products family Solo Gateway in North America. The company was founded in September 2009 and is developing a rapidly expanding network of Value-Added Reselling Partners. Moreover, it is expected that soon a number of SOLO Telco Gateway deployments will be launched at Internet Service Providers in Ohio and the rest of US.

Actech LLC has a staff of seven professionals with significant experience in the industry of IT and Telecommunications in USA.

At the same time, SOLO Gateway SA, member of Virtual Trip Group and manufacturer of the homonymous product family has announced the expansion of the international VAR Partners network in Argentina, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Poland, along with the addition of IAS Application Systems, IT Works Nigeria, Spike Systems, Weldacy Initiatives, CIRITE Technologies και Danbit Systems.

SOLO Gateway is one of the leading Unified Communications solutions of the international market both for SMEs and SOHO users.

Fujitsu Australia- New Zealand chooses eFront to be their LMS

A recent significant addition to the rapid expansion of Epignosis international customer base is the agreement with Fujitsu Australia- New Zealand. In the context of this project, Fujitsu will use eFront platform for managing its human capital, starting with 2,500 users while it is expected that the total amount of users will have reached the 7,500 users by the end of 2010.

Fujitsu Australia- New Zealand is a provider of integrated information and communications technology solutions. Ranging from strategic consulting to application and infrastructure solutions and services, Fujitsu has earned reputation as the single supplier of choice for leading corporate and government organizations. Therefore, Fujitsu has developed a network of over 10 million customers and 160,000 professional staff in 60 countries around the world. In Australia and New Zealand Fujitsu has 10,000 staff.

EPIGNOSIS Ltd is a fast growing, young, dynamic, and technology oriented ELearning Company. Based in Athens – Greece, it’s a member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, together with other twelve high-tech companies in Greece, Spain and the US. EPIGNOSIS Ltd, is the vendor of “eFront” e-Learning platform, envisages e-Learning 2.0 as the dominant approach for human capital development, education & training services.

Lefteris Trimintzios nominated as "Vtripper of the year 2009"

Lefteris Trimintzios, Senior Software Engineer at Virtual Trip, was nominated as "Vtripper of the Year 2009" at a party which took place at Virtual Trip Group HQ in Athens, Greece on Thursday February 4th 2010.

Being part of the vtrip team from its very early steps, in 2002 at the Science & Technology Park of Crete, Lefteris contribution for materialing the vtrip vision in 2009 has been absolutely great, serving as an outstanding example of appying the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem's corporate values: Entrepreneurship, Usefulness, Innovation, Commitment and Quality.

Lefteris follows Periklis Venakis, Chief Software Engineer of Epignosis Ltd who was the "Vtripper of the Year 2008", and George Dramitinos, Director of Services in Virtual Trip, who was nominated the title of "Vtripper of the Year 2007" in January 2008 when the "Vtripper of the Year" award was introduced for first time.

CIRITE Technologies joins SOLO Gateway VAR Partners community

SOLO Gateway is pleased and honoured to announce that CIRITE Technologies (Pvt) Ltd., www.cirite.com, has joined the SOLO Gateway VAR Partners community as the first partner in Sri Lanka!

CIRITE, based in Sri Lanka and in the UK, is dedicated to providing ICT Infrastructure Management and Application Development Services, to a wide spectrum of international, private as well as corporate clients from SME to large scale.

In SOLO Gateway we are delighted for welcoming CIRITE to our Partners network and committed to exploring opportunities in its very interesting target markets.

Virtual Trip approved as an EBAN Gold Member

Virtual Trip announced today that has been approved to join EBAN as a Gold Member.

EBAN, the European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds, & Early Stage Market Players,is a non-profit association representing the interests of business angels, business angels networks (BANs), seed funds and other entities involved in bridging the equity gap in Europe. EBAN was established with the collaboration of the European Commission in 1999 by a group of pioneer BANs in Europe and EURADA (European Association of Development Agencies).

Virtual Trip recently announced its new strategy for formally operating an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in the sense of providing financing, strategy consulting, business development coordination, human capital development & marketing communication services, financial & accounting management and MIS/IT infrastructure both to its spin-out companies and to other high-tech start-ups to which will invest in the future.