IT Center presents Small Business Gateway

IT Center presents the complete solution Small Business Gateway which is designed specifically for the communication and networking needs of small and medium enterprises in Greece. This ICT software has been developed entirely in Greece by Virtual Trip and ensures high quality, performance and lower costs in everyday communication, while streamlining the internal operations of the company.

Small Business Gateway is built on SOLO Technology and can be easily installed on any server selected, while the management and configuration to specific needs can be easily accomplished through a Web browser.

In the standard version, Small Business Gateway manages all the traditional telephony connectivity of the company, additionally supporting Voice-over-IP (VoIP) lines. It also provides a Fax Server for managing all fax communication through computers, significantly reducing operating costs, since there is no need for unnecessary printing, photocopying, supplies and fax equipment maintenance.

Furthermore, a set of services which Internet providers charge as premium, are immediately available:  Web/Email Server, VPN, Antispam, Antivirus, Firewall and more!

Small Business Gateway is a solution that addresses a range of needs. Each company selects which of its features will use. However, the features provided by Solo Small Business Gateway are so many that the cost of a corresponding integrated solution consisting of many different systems would be much higher and any function would not be as tightly interconnected to each other.

Characteristics of the solution
* Supports up to 50 users: Small Business Gateway follows the growth of the business and literally grows with her.
* Flexibility: Easily add new users and activate the required equipment and services at the touch of a button.
* Security: Designed to fortify any business against digital threats and to provide maximum security to the computer network and data, using digital security features (Back-up, Proxy, VPN, Firewall, Anti-spam & Anti-virus) as well as physical security with a private A/V monitoring system (CCTV/DVR).
* Reduced utility costs: An important contribution to reducing the operating costs of any type of company, as no large investments are needed for the infrastructure operation or upgrade.


About IT Center
IT Center, a member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, is a new, dynamically developing ICT enterprise aiming to fill the gap in the provision of horizontal high-tech solutions for Small and Medium Enterprises.

Established in 2007 to provide solutions that allow all Greek businesses, regardless of their size, to make the most of modern Information Technologies and Telecommunications.

IT Center is in the process of deploying a network of strategic partners all over Greece, soon to be extending its reach to Cyprus.

For more information you can contact:
Mr. Giannis P. Triantafillou (ytriantafyllou@itcenter.gr)

 

Thanassis Parathyras presenting Virtual Trip Ltd to the members of the Ecosystem

Thanassis Parathyras presentation of Virtual Trip Ltd, with emphasis on services, to the team of Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, talking about the past, present and future of Virtual Trip, explaining in detail how his team works and is being organized:







You can also find the presentation slides here:

Virtual Trip LTD

View more presentations from Virtual Trip Group

Dimitris Tsigos participates at the Conference of BGS for Start up- Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Dimitris Tsigos, CEO of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and President of YES (European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs) participates as a speaker at the Conference with subject “Start up- Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, organized by the British Graduate Society (BGS).

Established in 1958 and under the patronage of the British Ambassador, the BGS is the ‘umbrella’ organization in Greece which is open to all those who have graduated from a British university or college (irrespective of nationality). The Society is an independent non-profit making organization (with no financial support from any institution or organization) and is run by professionals working on a voluntary basis.

In this context, the BGS Economics Group conducted a survey among entrepreneurs of different sectors and activities, who started a new business activity in Greece in recent years, thus organizing a conference for the presentation of the survey’s results and the conduct of a public debate on entrepreneurship and innovation. 

The Conference is been held on Thursday 24 May 2012 at 17:30- 20:00, at the amphitheater of the National Research Foundation (48, B. Konstantinou, Athens).

For more information and biographies of the moderator and participants you can visit: www.bgs.gr.

Dimitris Tsigos presenting to the members of the ecosystem

Dimitris Tsigos presentation to the team of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem talking about the background, history, current positioning and future plans of the organization which is the evolution of the first student startup in Greece:

Video streaming by Ustream

Here you can also find the presentation slides:

Virtual Trip The Story

View more presentations from Dimitris G.E. Tsigos

From information to knowledge and the democratization of learning

The original post can be found at http://blog.efrontlearning.net/2012/05/from-information-to-knowledge-and-the-democratization-of-learning.html

A changing world!

We live in a changing world. We live in the era of the ‘Information Revolution’. For the first time in history billions of people around the globe have access to tons of information digitally stored in what we already call “the cloud”. One could reasonably expect unprecedented growth and prosperity for the global economy!

So, what about the global financial crisis? What about recession and poverty in the most developed economies of the planet, the US and the EU? What went wrong?

Metanoia: The Fifth Discipline

A good explanation can be found at the amazing book “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization ” by MIT’s Peter M. Senge  where the Greek word “Metanoia” is introduced to describe the “shift of mind” happening when a piece of information becomes to knowledge. What Senge describes is something that most of us have actually experienced – we know that a ‘bad habit’ may harm us; however having this information does not stop us from doing it. The “shift of mind” has not yet happened – the information has not yet become “knowledge” – and often we don’t quit the bad habit before it has harmed us. Over-borrowing in the developed nations in the first decade of the 21st Century represents an amazing example of how bad it can get when you have the information but you don’t have the knowledge.

What about businesses and learning technology?

We at eFrontLearning aim to provide solutions that help turn information to knowledge – not only at the individual level but also at the workgroup level, which is even more ambitious. Since the very beginning (2003) we have been pursuing Tacit Knowledge  in small- and medium-sized organizations. We try to make this informal knowledge searchable and transferable. We try to actually turn meta-information (that it “John is the person who knows how to deal with this situation“) to really useful information (that is “when this event happened in the past, John successfully faced it in that specific way“). It may sound simple, however it actually is a revolution in terms of organizational management and efficiency!

Why a “Revolution”?

For a very simple reason – small- and medium-sized organizations do not have the resources necessary to turn this tacit knowledge to Explicit Knowledge . They simply do not have the time and budget to do so. They need a lean, real-time approach to grab tacit knowledge and make it accessible to the team. This way organizations are able avoid having the same mistakes repeated over and over again. Why does this happen? Because the information was there but it was never transferred into “knowledge”, it never changed the team’s behavior. With modern, personalized, lean learning technologies for workgroups this can be achieved!

But what does this have to do with the democratization of learning?

The answer is very simple and obvious – learning technologies have been around for almost two decades, however it has been a luxury product, both in terms of capital expenditure and in terms of operational expenses. The total cost of ownership for a complete, state-of-the-art eLearning solution has been so high that only large corporations could afford it. Because of this situation, hundreds of thousands of companies around the globe have been excluded from the ability to turn information readily available on the Web into really useful knowledge. Because of this situation, the vast majority of businesses cannot really take advantage of the ‘Information Revolution’. This is where eFront comes in and disrupts the market – making a huge step towards the democratization of learning technologies, and so the actual democratization of learning.

The need for efficient, lean, accessible and easy-to-use learning technologies has never been higher. We at the eFront team bet that this need will grow over the next year at a fast pace. There is a plethora of arguments to support this:

The economy is changing, getting more and more knowledge intensive
Employee turn-over, meaning the frequency that employees change jobs, increases at a high pace
Because of the economic crisis resources are lacking
Because of globalization, competition gets more intensive
Multimedia content, which used to represent a significant part of an eLearning project TCO, now is gradually turning to a commodity


So, what is the eFront vision for democratizing learning?

The eFront team envisions every single business having the right to access quality, affordable, easy-to-use, lean learning technology tools that offer support in taking advantage of the information revolution and actually increasing its organizational knowledge both from a qualitative and quantitative perspective.

We aim to materialize all of this in developing value-for-money, cloud-based, mobile-enabled technology solutions targeting the huge market of small- and medium-sized organizations around the globe. No matter if your business is based in a global metropolis like NYC, London, Sydney, Ontario, or Moscow, or a rural village in Montana, Andalusia or Toscana, you can very simply access a technology platform from your browser, tablet or smartphone and experience “metanoia”, shift of mind for you and your team while taking advantage of the tons of information out there, turning that information into useful knowledge for sustaining and developing your business!

Greece's most dynamic mobile games start-up raises seed financing from UK

AbZorba Games, the Athens based mobile games company,  is excited to announce it has attract first-round, six-figure seed investment from the UK.

Lawrence Howe, a UK private investor, has seen past the obvious obstacles of investing in Greece and recognized AbZorba's strategy, model and achievements worthy of his investment.

AbZorba Games creates live multiplayer casino themed games for Android and iOS mobile phones and has achieved great success since its launch in September 2011 and is now attracting significant interest from other larger investors to capitalize on the hottest category for mobile gaming sector in 2012 - mobile casinos.

Andrew Hughes, Co-founder & CEO, says: "We are extremely excited to raise this round which will enable AbZorba to execute on its aggressive expansion and growth plans by launching more titles such as live roulette and live poker and, importantly, recruit talented young developers here in Athens".

AbZorba Games is a spin-out of mVision Network Solutions, a successful member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, a start-up accelerator based in Athens, Greece.

Dimitris Tsigos, Founder & CEO at Virtual Trip says: "Our mission is to create dynamic companies that compete in a global market with Greek talent. In addition, having an international investor and a co-founder further promotes the expertise that such an alliance can achieve."

The Colliding Worlds of Virtual and Real Currency Gambling

[Originally posted on http://www.socialgamesobserver.com/guest-post-virtual-and-real-currency-gambling-12660]

[Editor's note: Real money gambling could turn into a main revenue driver for social games – if it is going to happen. In the first few weeks of 2012 this seems to have become increasingly likely; both Facebook and Zynga have been reported to be in talks with potential partners, and slot machine company IGT bought social casino game publisher DoubleDown Interactive for $500M in January. We are covering this topic from different perspectives (see the first articleon gambling law).
This is a guest post by Andrew Hughes, fourth-time mobile entrepreneur and Co-Founder & CEO of AbZorba Games (founded in summer 2011) whose Games Social Casino recreate the live casino game experience for Android. Currently AbZorba is expanding to multiple platforms and channels, including online and IPTV.
In this guest post, Andrew shares his views on opportunities and risks of real money social gambling.]

My father once said “Everything in life is a gamble son, just know the odds”.

Sound advice and timely for those of us who thrive off casino app games as decisions will soon have to be made to align or decline real money gambling alliances.

Social gamers’ growing appetite for casino apps

Whilst Virtual Casino app games may not be the next ‘throw a cabbage at a pig’ blockbuster – and how many try that tough route? – but they are trending, and will continue to trend, for the very fact they are perennial ‘evergreen’ fun that gamers come back to time and time again. Games such as Blackjack, Poker, Bingo to name a few.

The mobile format in particular offers the ‘perfect storm’ of smartphone penetration, network reliability and app popularity. Throw in live multi-players, like we did with AbZorba’s Live Blackjack21, and it’s seriously a compelling format.

Its proper, grown-up gaming with proper in-app spending power; AMRPU in double digits and lifespan that only cartoon characters can dream of. But take a look more closely and what can we see going on?

Online gambling is a $30B market, but what are the risks?

Casino apps sit right in the cross-hairs of the moral and legal debate between just-for-fun and real gambling – virtual chip play or real dollar risks. The outcome could be the biggest opportunity yet or the biggest threat. By offering links to gamble real money runs a considerable risk the high rollers, or ‘whales’, could turn away in droves.

Even without the chance to win real money some players spend up to $3000 for virtual chips.

So, why should a perfectly good app generating revenues from virtual goods take risks to court controversy and potential gamer backlash by offering real money gambling? And, in the online world, why should Facebook and Zynga for example, the most successful social games partnership yet, separate their strategies to contemplate launching disparate real gaming?

Simple: money. Serious money. Some say Facebook could be worth as much as $100 billion revenue when, and not if, online gambling in the US opens up again.
Even so, data shows a total global value of online gambling in 2011 approaching $30 billion of which casinos, including poker and blackjack, contributed 46%. Bingo wasn’t too bad at $1.6 billion though and marks a strong increase and presence. Let’s understand that’s a 12% increase on 2010 and in recessionary times.

Serious questions arise though. How will gamers themselves take to being invited to move from entertainment to gambling for real? Where is their risk tolerance line drawn and do we dare entice them over? Or, if we don’t, will they just go elsewhere to play? And anyway, is it even up to us to police them? Hard choices indeed.

At AbZorba, we believe most gamers have made a conscious decision not to gamble, or can’t, whilst still loving our casino game format. We know our gamers specifically enjoy the live multiplayer element we provide, where their skills are tested against others not their wallets, moreover it’s key to their loyalty. That’s not to say they don’t spend real money, some spent as much as $3000. But that whole social element of chatting up the person on the same table and buying them a ‘cocktail’ is pure fun, not risk.

However, we have noticed a fascinating change. There is a sharp rise of interest for real money gambling. Perhaps there is an untapped appetite for social gamers to morph in to real gamblers after all, empirical evidence suggests so.

Real and virtual casino gaming industry – a clash of titans

As the games industry debates the real battleground will not be between the likes of Facebook and Zynga but between the real and virtual gaming industry. Each titan is eying each other’s territory. To the real casinos social sites and apps provide a massively untapped opportunity but why should Facebook, arguably the best gatekeeper, leave ‘chips’ on the table? Why not just enter the game itself?

We too have been inundated with request from real gambling companies to reach our gamers. Why? Our gamers play live in an authentic casino environment and it’s that competitive element that encourages greater spend compared with say a single player format and they get that.

The question remains for us all though. Should we rush to bridge the divide between virtual and real money? Can the two worlds co-exist, indeed should they? Its undecided but one thing is for sure, the risks if we do or don’t are real, the stakes are high and my father’s advice has never rung truer.

Live BlackJack 21 Pro by AbZorba Games is the second best Casino Game in the Android platform!

AbZorba Games SA, member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem has done one of the most dynamic entries in the mobile gaming industry. Live BlackJack 21 Pro was selected among all casino games to participate in the contest for the best Android Casino Game. In the contest there were selected 10 casino games and Live BlackJack 21 Pro ranked 2nd. The total votes of the competition exceeded 1.5M of which 1.1M were unique voters. 

Live BlackJack 21 has been developed on the innovative mobile social gaming platform of MVNS which provides infrastructure for real-time, social-aware, multi-player games while supporting in-app micro-payments and mobile advertising. 

AbZorba Games SA is a new member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem which was created by MVNS with the sole purpose of developing mobile, casual games. More than 500.000 downloads have already been reached and in February  the first round of investment funding by a British investor will be announced. It should be noted that CEO of AbZorba Games is Mr. Andrew Hughes, a distinguished member of the international market of Mobile Services & Applications and founder of the Mobile Marketing Association.

Dimitris Tsigos was key-note speaker at the event Entrepreneurship at the AUEB

Dimitris Tsigos, CEO of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and President of YES (European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs), as founder of the Hellenic Startup Association, was key-note speaker at the event "Entrepreneurship at the Athens University of Economics and Business" organized by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit at AUEB.

During his speech, Dimitris Tsigos mentioned the young entrepreneurship as a main factor through which Greece could exit the crisis, with emphasis on the aspect of the "Joy of Creation".

The "Entrepreneurship at the Athens University of Economics and Business took place in November 8, 2011.

Here you can see Mr. Tsigos presentation at the event:

Dimitris Tsigos participated at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit 2011

Dimitris Tsigos, CEO of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and President of YES (European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs) participated at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit 2011 in France.

Mr. Tsigos, as representative of the European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs was the only Greek young entrepreneur among 400 young entrepreneurs from around the world proposed practical ideas to the G20 Leaders to help address the current economic crisis. Dimitris Tsigos mentioned the young entrepreneurship as a main factor through which Europe could exit the financial crisis, with emphasis on the aspects of innovative technologies and "green" growth.

Virtual Trip Group sponsor of the 13th International Telecom Conference InfoCom World.

Virtual Trip Group Entrepreneurial Ecosystem participated at the 13th International Telecom Conference InfoCom World with the chosen subject "Digital Greece: the post-crisis era".

The participation focused on promoting the learning management system "eFront", the mobile social gaming of the "AbZorba Games", and the unified communications of the "Solo Gateway".

Virtual Trip sponsor of the Serious Games Showcase & Best Practices 2011

Virtual Trip Ltd, member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, was media sponsor of the Serious Games Showcase & Best Practices 2011 that was held in the Hellenic American Union, on Saturday, October 20, 2011.

The Serious Games Showcase & Best Practices 2011 was part of the 5th European Conference on Games-Based Learning (ECGBL 2011) which was under the auspices of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

Dimitris Tsigos participated at the G-20Y Summit 2011

Dimitris Tsigos, CEO of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and President of YES (European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs) participated at the G-20Y Summit 2011.

Mr. Tsigos seeks to promote and strengthen the European and Greek youth Entrepreneurship in this global financial crisis period. During his speech, Dimitris Tsigos mentioned the young entrepreneurship as a main factor through which Europe could exit the financial crisis, with emphasis on the aspects of innovative technologies and "green" growth.

eFront LMS Announced as Honoree for The Best of ELearning! 2011 Awards

ELearning! Media Group announced eFront as a finalist for The Best of ELearning! 2011 Awards. Nominated as:
1) Best Learning Management System (eFront Enterprise), and
2) Best Open Source Solution (eFront Open Source).

 eFront was selected by worldwide readers and professionals from both the private and public sector involved in the eLearning industry.

Dimitris Tsigos was key-note speaker at the Forum which was co-organized by SEV and Eurobank EFG

Dimitris Tsigos, CEO of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and President of YES (European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs) participated as a speaker at the Forum with subject “Modern Finance Tools & Framework for Development of New Innovative Companies” in the 76^th TIF, which was co-organized by SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises) and Eurobank EFG.

Virtual Trip sponsor of the 1st APP CAMP and ACM SIGMOD / PODS annual conference

Virtual Trip Ltd, member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, is a proud sponsor of the 1st App Camp that will take place at selected App Campuses between 4 and 19 July 2011.

The 1st App Camp focuses exclusively on the development of mobile apps or tablet PC apps. It is worth mentioning that MVNS S.A. which is an active member of HAMAC- Hellenic Association of Mobile Application Companies, for the past two years has been implementing an ambitious plan of research & development on mobile social gaming, having early foreseen the explosive growth of this market.

Synthex S.A. is an official distributor of eFront and Solo Gateway in Greece.

The Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem has announced that Synthex S.A. is the official distributor in Greece of eFront, an easy to use, visually attractive, SCORM certified, eLearning and human development platform, and Solo Gateway, an all-in-one Unified Communications software for SMEs.

Synthex S.A. has experience and international presence for more than 20 years in the areas of consulting, transfer of knowledge, and technology expertise both in America and Europe. The company is responsible for designing, developing and implementing organizational and operational tools to improve the overall quality and efficiency of infrastructure, products, and services for companies and organizations.

Collaboration between MVNS and Tapjoy

mVision Network Solutions SA, member of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, announced that the 1^st of June was the beginning of the collaboration with Tapjoy, a leader in monetization and distribution of services in official markets of Android (Google) and iOS (Apple). Just four days after the publication of the updated application of Live BlackJack 21, MVNS doubled its revenues.

Virtual Trip Group at the 11th EBAN Annual Congress of EBAN

Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem participated at the 11th Annual Congress of EBAN - The Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and other Early Stage Market Players that took place in Warsaw on May 12th and 13th 2011. Early stage investors from over 30 European countries, USA, Canada, and other developing markets attended the conference.

At the 11th EBAN Annual Congress was analyzed the progress of the early stage investments in Europe, which is important (4 billions per year). However, is not corresponding to the USA progress (19 billions per year). It worths mentioning that several South European countries participated at the 11th EBAN Annual Congress like Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Also, 10 people from Turkey participated. Overall, 350 early-stage investors participated at the 11th EBAN Annual Congress

It worths mentioning that several South European countries participated at the 11th EBAN Annual Congress like Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Also, 10 early-stage investors from Turkey participated. Overall 350 early-stage investors participated at the 11th EBAN Annual Congress

The First Commercial Business Angels Network in Greece

Virtual Trip Group at the 8th Student Conference of Management Science and Technology

Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem participated at the 8th Student Conference of Management Science and Technology organized by the Department of Management Science and Technology of Athens University of Economics and Business.



On Thursday, May 12, 2011, Virtual Trip Group presented "The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem as an approach for boosting high-growth and Innovative Entrepreneurship".

The Live BlackJack 21 is ranked in the Top 10 of the Android Market

The mVision Network Solutions S.A., a member of the Virtual Trip's business ecosystem, has done one of the most dynamic entries in the mobile gaming industry. MVNS' Live BlackJack 21 is currently ranked 9th in the American Android Market, Cards and Casino section, while Zygna's popular poker game is in the 20th place.

Dimitris Tsigos speaker at the 11th International Venture Capital and Private Equity Forum

Dimitris Tsigos, CEO of the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and President of YES - European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs participated in the 11th International Venture Capital and Private Equity Forum.
 

MVNS successfully presented their “Mobile Social Games” suite on Android technology at the InfoComApps Conference

Manos Moschous, Co-founder & CTO of MVMS, was declared «VTripper οf the year 2010»


The participation of M-Vision Network Solutions SA- member of the Virtual Trip entrepreneurial ecosystem- at the InfoComApps 2011 was of great success, while presenting their suite “Mobile Social Games”.

Mobile Social Games, a pioneer in the international market, provide real-time, multi-player, social-aware- games features with built-in micro- payments both via SMS and paypal, as well as the connection with international advertising content networks. Mobile Social Games are already available on Android and J2ME technology while soon they will be released in an i-phone edition.

MVNS, at the forefront of their field within Greece, claims a leadership position in the international market of value added services for mobile phones, focusing strategically on the development of real-time, multi-player, cross-platform and social-aware applications for smart phones and tablet- PCs.

At the same time, the Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem held the annual “VTripper οf the Year” award, on Thursday February 3rd, which refers to the team member that contributed the most during the previous year. This contribution refers to the realization of Virtual Trip’s vision, coming at the same time closer to the five principles of the ecosystem: entrepreneurship, innovation, quality, relevance and commitment.

For the year 2010, the title was awarded to the Co- Founder and CTO of MVNS, Mr. Manos Moschous, as a small recognition of his outstanding contribution and the impressive performance of his team in the field of value added services and device applications for mobile phones.

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