10-17-14 | Blog Post
Upon moving into the Indianapolis market with the opening of a new 44,000 square foot data center, one of Online Tech’s first orders of business was to become as ingrained in the Indiana tech community as it is in Michigan’s.
Hello, TechPoint.
Led by president and CEO Mike Langellier, TechPoint is a nonprofit economic development organization leading Indiana’s technology growth initiative. It is successfully doing this by focusing on talent recruitment, entrepreneurship and marketing tech and health information technology (HIT) cluster development in the state.
Impressed by the group’s work, Online Tech signed on as a TechPoint Pillar Partner, joining organizations like Eli Lilly and Company, AT&T Indiana and Comcast Business that contribute $25,000 or more annually to the effort.
TechPoint received a boost two years ago when its board of directors lured Langellier from his fast-rising career as an entrepreneur and software executive and charged him with leading the growth initiative into a next generation economy. Langellier accepted the challenge and the impact of his passion for tech and startups and vision of the future is already rippling through the ecosystem.
Whereas TechPoint had previously been known primarily for its networking events, Langellier ushered in a strategic shift to focus on the challenges and opportunities such as talent attraction and retention, capital investment and media promotion.
Langellier will discuss TechPoint and help welcome Online Tech to the Indiana tech community during the grand opening celebration of its Indiana data center, scheduled for 3 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23.
Brief remarks from Langellier, Online Tech co-CEO Mike Klein, Kelly Services IT Service Manager Richard Anderson, UYH LLP Managing Director David Barton and Baseline Data Services founder and President Lance Thompson are part of the itinerary at the no-pitch, behind-the-scenes look at the secure, multi-compliant, enterprise cloud computing, colocation, off-site backup and disaster recovery data center.
Anderson represents Kelly Services, a longtime client of Online Tech’s Michigan data centers. Barton is an auditor who will speak about the rigors of compliance in data centers. Thompson signed on Baseline as Online Tech’s first Indiana client and the Plainfield, Ind.-based company also became a business partner, extending our disaster recovery solution capabilities.
All the speakers will be available for networking and will, hopefully, join fellow attendees in Online Tech’s request to “eat, drink and be merry” at the event. (Register for the open house here.)
Now, back to TechPoint:
The organization’s talent initiative is comprised of the Xtern (retention) and Xpat (attraction) programs. This summer, 50 Xterns lived together on the downtown Indianapolis campus of IUPUI and worked at various area tech companies as part of “the ultimate tech summer internship experience.” The first Xpat event, IndyXmas, sold out and brought expats and out-of-towners from 14 states, several of whom have taken jobs and moved back to Indiana as a result.
To help catalyze startup growth with capital investment, customers and educational Entrepreneur Bootcamps, TechPoint resurrected its Tailwind Initiative with the support of the state’s Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and in collaboration with Launch Indiana. Last year, angel investors in the HALO Capital Group surpassed $20 million in investment in Indiana startups.
TechPoint’s signature event, the Mira Awards, honors the best of tech in Indiana. Last year’s sell-out attendance of 1,000 was a record. This year set the record for applications, with 170 applications for 14 awards — a 40-percent increase over the previous record — and almost half of those applicants are first-timers. A new media partnership earned Mira participants and winners a half-hour TV special on Inside Indiana with Gerry Dick, and the Mira Awards is now gaining a reputation for being as fun and energized as it is classy and powerful for the industry.
Lastly, to promote the companies and people in Indiana’s tech ecosystem, TechPoint increased its content marketing and media efforts, primarily with a new techpoint.org website and blog, as well as a growing and influential social media presence. This year the team will spotlight 200 stories and amplify them through channels to millions of impressions, helping to raise visibility for Indiana tech companies and people. New digital tools like a job board for tech openings and a “buy local” tech directory are currently in development.
