In an effort to stimulate Chicagoland’s private and public sectors, create jobs and increase general knowledge of leading-edge technologies, a Technology Innovation (TI) Summit was held on October 23, 2012, at the Northern Trust Bank in downtown Chicago. Organized by the Illinois Institute of Technology and Iyka Enterprises Inc., the TI Summit featured a number of thought-leadership dignitaries, including Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board, and Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister of India. Attendees included management from various public-sector agencies as well as individuals representing local businesses. A panel of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), including Biff Myre, solution director of Worknet, Inc., presented highly valuable information that is shaping today’s technology landscape.

The conclave highlighted best practices for deploying technological frameworks of benchmarking and economic revitalization. Technology focus areas included Mobility, Data Center Consolidation, Security and Cloud Computing.

During SME panel discussion, Worknet’s Mr. Myre provided practical tips for organizations interested in entering the Cloud, as well as the transformational benefits of Burstable Cloud Disaster Recovery. Regarding entering the Cloud, Mr. Myre articulated the value of using long-term planning to influence changes in short-term budgeting; of road-mapping what is possible versus what is logical; of carefully assessing current IT infrastructure and resources; and of developing an accountability/responsibility matrix with Cloud providers. Mr. Myre also imparted his considerable knowledge in the increasingly important solution segment of Burstable Cloud Disaster Recovery. He noted that communities seek and expect leadership from government at a time of crisis and expect public workers to be prepared to provide continuity of services, especially emergency services, and protection of important community data. He outlined the significant benefits of a “burstable” disaster recovery solution, which leverages advanced cloud/virtualization technology to mitigate risk, yet enables flexible “on-demand” activation of a backup environment and thus helps to dramatically lower cost of ownership and cost of compliance.

Noted Mr. Myre: “Worknet was exceedingly pleased to participate in this first TI Summit. We had the opportunity to connect technology to the community, which really boils down to connecting technology to the everyday lives of people. This gives solution-based thinking a more concrete scope and underscores the importance of what we do.”

About Worknet, Inc.

Worknet, Inc., (www.worknetinc.com) is an information technology services company providing organizations with highly reliable IT infrastructure delivered in a manner that complies with regulatory requirements and the mandates of the companies and customers with which they do business. Having more than 16 years of experience, and strengthened by two audited SSAE 16/SOC-2 certified managed hosting facilities, Worknet has a proven track record of delivering outstanding value to partner clients each day — helping them design, implement and manage IT infrastructures they can depend upon 24x7x365. The company’s headquarters are located in Naperville, IL, with data centers in suburban Chicago and Indianapolis.