Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Congratulations to Savvy Software for achieving some much-deserved recognition from the NH Internet Awards earlier this month; two web sites (skinh.com and portsmouthpeacetreaty.org) powered by the Savvy CMS took home the hardware. For the more info on the awards, a full list of winners, and a weird pirate, click here.

Continuing the positive momentum, Savvy and I are pleased to announce the acquisition of several new clients. Here's the press release:

For Immediate Release: March 21, 2006

Municipalities Flocking to Savvy Software

Savvy’s Web Site Content Management Tools are the Talk of the Towns

Portsmouth, NH—Savvy Software, a provider of web content management solutions, is proud to announce the acquisition of the following municipal clients in the first quarter of 2006:

City of Kenyon, MN
City of Moscow, ID
City of Scottsdale, AZ
City of Shakopee, MN
Town of East Hampton, NY
Town of Exeter, NH
Town of Dover, NY
Village of Pawling, NY

Savvy Software President Bill Savoie noted, "Since the advent of the Internet, organizations of all kinds have struggled with the problem of keeping their web sites up to date. Our solution is so easy to use, it’s finally allowing non-technical managers to maintain control of their own areas of information responsibility, without having to go through the IT department. As we’ve seen in just this quarter alone, municipalities in particular have found our solution to be perfectly suited to their needs."

Andy Swanson, IT Director for the Town of Exeter added, "I'm impressed by how easy it is to work with the staff at Savvy and even more impressed by how easy it's been to roll out to my staff. We're on our way to building the finest town web site in New Hampshire."

About Savvy Software

Savvy Software, Inc., is a privately held provider of web content management tools. Strategically located in historic Portsmouth, New Hampshire, one hour north of Boston, Savvy specializes in the business, education, nonprofit, hospitality, and municipal markets. For more information, visit www.besavvy.com


Press Contact: D. Scott Campbell, DSC&A Public Relations
E-mail: news@besavvy.com


Savvy Software, 40 Bridge Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801
Phone: (866) 870-6358; Fax: (603) 427-0938
Web: www.besavvy.com

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Sunday, March 26, 2006

More good news comes for downtown Portsmouth this past week. Due to expansion, DesktopStandard (nee Autoprof) is moving from upper Islington Street and NOT to Pease as had been previously expected. Instead, they will be setting up shop downtown in the old Bottomline building.

Not that I have anything against Pease per se, but it does my soul good to see that downtown is repopulating with technology companies. Back in the day (the e-Coast hey-day donchaknow), a friend of mine often said upon parting that he'd "see me around campus." He meant downtown Portsmouth, and Downtown really was like a campus. You'd pound away on your keyboard for a while, then you'd pop out to have a coffee and a cheese danish (mmmmm... marscapone!) on a bench in the sun, then later out for lunch at any of a dozen delicious eateries, then maybe head down to decks after work for a couple cold ones by the river. And all the while, you'd be bumping into your peers, colleagues, clients, and buddies. It was a real community of like-minded folks, interacting and sharing... cross-pollenating, if you will, like students and professors and hanging out on campus between classes. Good times, good stuff.

Interestingly, P-Herald reporter Adam Leech's hook for this story was that the Portsmouth Economic Development Council (EDC) has proposed a discount in the parking garage for companies leasing 25 spots or more. Apparently, this proposal was spurred entirely on DesktopStandard's interest in moving downtown. As you can tell from the above reminscing, I agree wholeheartedly with Portsmouth City Manager John Bohenko when he says, "That’s 40 people downtown that at lunch time go out and spend money in the downtown and after work, stay downtown to do some shopping." So any of you City Councilors reading, take note... This is an excellent example of a good local goverment doing good for business.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Well, wi-fi continues to be a super-hot story in newspapers both near and far. The Boston Sunday Globe ran this good but basic article (the front page, top of the fold) in the Globe North regional subsection.

Great quotes from my partner in wi-fi crime Erik Crago and Chamber/eCoast liaison Ginny Griffith. The The dead-tree version of the story featured a giant color photo of a wi-fi'd cafe, and there was another photo on the jump.

The reporter did a nice job with it as a sort of "Intro to Wi-Fi" piece, and I note that as per usual, the tone is overwhelmingly positive -- focusing on the coolness and usefulness of free public wireless Internet -- until the last word, which is almost always a negative or cautionary note about security concerns.

The Sunday Portsmouth Herald story, did not run yesterday as scheduled... Apparently it was pushed off until next weekend, so stay tuned for that.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The other day, The Portsmouth Herald ran a story (on the front page, top of the fold no less) on our little eCoast Wi-Fi Project.

First off, no, that guy with the long hair and glasses isn't me! Secondly, it's fairly hilarious that the story is illlustrated by photos of happy wi-fi'ers tap-tap-tapping away on laptops connected to wi-fi that isn't ours; we disconnected our seasonal hotspot several months ago! Finally, it's also funny in that we haven't even met to discuss this with the city yet, so this is all pretty premature.

Then they ran an editorial in support of our efforts (whatever they may be).

Now I've been contacted by another reporter from the Herald about the wi-fi thing, and apparently the Boston Globe has contacted us, as well. Pretty exciting... We certainly appreciate the support and the interest... I just wish we had something to announce!