InformationWeek Small Business and bMighty.com Drives More Than 1200 Participants to Data Centers for Growing Companies Virtual Event

TechWeb's InformationWeek Small Business and bMighty.com, the leading authority for delivering practical technology expertise for growing companies, played host on Wednesday, October 21st to 1,200 small and midsized business (SMB) IT professionals with a dynamic virtual event titled, "Data Centers for Growing Companies: Dealing with Data-Centers in Tough Times".

The virtual event, designed by editors from InformationWeek and bMighty.com, connected industry experts and real-world IT professionals with attendees from small and mid-sized businesses in a highly interactive environment that supports peer to peer networking, educational tracks and direct access to solution providers.

SMBs have data centers that range from a couple of servers to state-of-the-art climate controlled facilities but they are facing the same set of challenges in the midst of one of the toughest economic times for IT. By sharing a unique mix of battle-tested best practices, experience-earned tips from the trenches, and new ideas and innovations on how to do more with less, attendees of the interactive event went away with actionable strategies and resources.

"Even in an economic downturn, the demands on IT in small and midsize businesses don't slow down. As demonstrated by their intense interest and passionate participation in this virtual event, smaller companies are hungry for help upgrading their data centers, expanding their storage capacities, and employing virtualization without breaking their budgets," said Fred Paul, Publisher and Editor in Chief of InformationWeek's bMighty.com.

  Key highlights from the event:

  --  Tips on how the right physical design of a data center can save big
      money
  --  Best practices for when virtualization makes sense for smaller
      companies
  --  Best practices for future-proofing your storage investments

  --  How to develop business applications quickly and efficiently

Metrics from the event clearly illustrate the SMB audience's interest and engagement with InformationWeek Small Business and bMighty.com editorial content in a virtual setting. Participation statistics include:

  --  Approximately 2,300 registrants
  --  Approximately 1,200 attendees
  --  Average time spent in show:  1 hour, 33 minutes

  --  Average booth visit time per attendee: 13 minutes

"I found value, got ideas, and it inspired me to get some work done on a few projects that have been backburner but need to go to front very soon based upon topics involved in this virtual event," said Bonnie Goodwin, Engineer at Byte Boutique, commenting on her InformationWeek Virtual Event experience.

When asked to sum up his experience of the InformationWeek SMB and bMighty.com Data Center virtual event, Matt Cochran, CTO of Applied Binary said, "I value the need to keep up with trends for future growth."

Sponsors of the virtual event included Oracle and Thawte.

"Growing companies are facing some unique challenges today, and are looking for ways to improve integration, reduce costs and increase innovation," said Mark Johnson, vice president of marketing and business development, Oracle Accelerate Program for Midsize Companies. "The InformationWeek event presented a unique opportunity to address some of those challenges directly with midsize companies and offer some solutions for solving them via highly targeted and rapidly deployable solutions."

The virtual event is currently accessible on-demand until October 21, 2010 at http://techweb.com/bMighty-virtual. The InformationWeek Business Technology Network hosts regularly scheduled virtual events year-round, providing attendees with:

  --  Complimentary access to a content-driven online destination to help
      business technology executives in their decision-making process
  --  An environment optimized for online participation and learning
  --  Access to featured Webcast presentations, keynotes and panel
      discussions

  --  Opportunity to download presentations, research documents, and add new
      "peer" contacts to their personal online briefcase

For more information about InformationWeek marketing programs and future virtual events, please visit createyournextcustomer.com or contact Martha Schwartz, VP of Sales, at mschwartz@techweb.com.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

About InformationWeek Business Technology Network (http://www.informationweek.com/)

The InformationWeek Business Technology Network provides IT executives with unique analysis and tools that parallel their work flow--from defining and framing objectives through to the evaluation and recommendation of solutions. Anchored by InformationWeek, the multimedia powerhouse that looks across the enterprise, the Network scales across the most critical technology categories with online properties like DarkReading.com (security), IntelligentEnterprise.com (application architecture), NetworkComputing.com (networking and communications) and PlugintotheCloud.com (cloud computing). The Network also provides focused content for key IT targets, such as CIOs, developers and SMBs via InformationWeek Global CIO, Dr. Dobb's and InformationWeek Small Business and bMighty.com, as well as vital vertical industries with InformationWeek Financial Services, Government and Healthcare sites. Content is at the nucleus of our information distribution strategy--IT professionals turn to our experts and communities to stay informed, get advice and research technologies to make strategic business decisions.

About TechWeb (http://www.techweb.com/aboutus)

TechWeb, the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources such as the InformationWeek Business Technology Network, Light Reading, Network Computing, and Insurance & Technology; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, Wall Street & Technology, and Advanced Trading magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation performance marketing to integrated media, market research and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

*13.3 million business decision-makers: based on number of monthly connections across TechWeb brands.

  Contact:  Ellen Asuncion
            Sr. Marketing Manager
            949.223.3622
            easuncion@techweb.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: EAsuncion@cmp.com

SOURCE: TechWeb

CONTACT: Ellen Asuncion, Sr. Marketing Manager, +1-949-223-3622,
easuncion@techweb.com

Web Site: http://www.techweb.com/aboutus