StartUp Beat

Company: Dialectic Networks

Website: www.dialecticnet.com

Headquarters: Osprey, Florida

Year Founded: 2005

Founder: Lee Hansen, CEO

Employees: 15

Company Description in 140 characters or less: 

"Dialectic Networks offers public/private commercial cloud computing and virtualized data center environments for mid/enterprise clients."

By Lee Hansen, Founder & CEO 

Businesses in all kinds of industries today are dependent on one common area—technology.  From the simplest ice cream shop all the way up to the most complex, multinational Fortune 100 corporations, all companies have some sort of technological backbone driving operations.

Large companies often have hundreds of thousands of square feet worth of space dedicated to housing massive amounts of technology such as servers and storage.  Some of today’s largest companies even contract with other businesses to house their data in separate places, just in case something goes wrong and they need to access data during or after a disaster.  Smaller companies may not be this complex with their data but still rely on technology to help drive the business.

The need for even larger space to house critical technology and data, as well as the exponentially growing costs to build, house and maintain all of this technology, has forced companies to rethink strategies around how they approach technological solutions for their business operations.  In fact, industry analyst firm Gartner revealed in a recent study that average power consumption per server quadrupled from 2001 to 2006, and that the average number of servers would grow 50 percent by 2010.  Realizing this and also knowing the average size company today may spend an estimated and modest $100,000 each year on technological solutions it is easy to understand how important data and technology will be in the years to come.  This price tag may not even include the costs associated with maintaining the facility that houses all of this technology.

What’s sorely needed is a way to drive down the cost of housing all the data a company uses while increasing the overall performance—now and in the future when your business expands or even contracts.   In addition to the expensive fees in building and maintaining a physical location to house all of your data, it can be very expensive if a disaster were to hit your area and you either lose all your data or are forced to find a new home for it.

What’s more is the fact that many of today’s technology solutions are simply inefficient.  Housing your data and technology in one physical location means your servers are often wasting resources when powered up but using only a percentage of its total compute capacity.

Enter Dialectic Networks, an IBM System x reseller and solutions provider that works with companies of all sizes to better manage and utilize technology and data.  A growing company with 15 people on staff, Dialectic Networks helps companies with a “savings triangle” that optimizes cutting-edge technology that’s ultra reliable. 

This savings triangle is comprised of the latest developments in open source software, modular data center designs, and cloud computing using trusted IBM hardware and software.  With energy costs rising as well as the growing demand for highly available compute and storage capacity that can quickly scale, Dialectic Networks offers a number of virtualized solutions, including a new containerized solution to data housing, also known as a portable modular data center environment.

Dialectic Networks helps implement these environments, which offer reduced up-front capital and on-going operational expenses vs. more traditional ‘brick and mortar’ installations.  Together with virtualized/cloud computing solutions, the company’s total cost of ownership designs result in less front-end construction costs, lower overall costs for power and cooling, and lower costs to manage with time and labor-saving efficiencies.

Hosting your own data on-site is not only a dangerous idea but also an expensive one.  Natural disasters, severe weather-related events and terrorist attacks have unfortunately become a part of our daily lives and even the best planning often can’t prepare for the worst-case scenario.  Because of this, businesses are now turning to what is known as cloud computing.  In a sense, cloud computing means your data resides in a virtual environment on thousands of smaller servers rather than on one supercomputer at your location.

Through cloud computing environments, set up by Dialectic Networks, companies no longer have to self-host their own servers and data.  This means you eliminate the need for expensive facilities to house the equipment, air conditioning costs to cool the facility, a generator for backup power and even a series of batteries to support the data while the generator kicks in.  All of this is on top of the additional need to staff the data center with the best IT professionals needed to manage technical operations.  In a sense, your data becomes hosted “in the clouds” in a “virtual” environment, available to scale up/out or down/in when you need.  Businesses can choose to have their data housed in a private cloud, public cloud or in a hybrid combination of the two environments.

Dialectic Networks is also building its own cloud environment, which will help companies eliminate the worry of experiencing any down time as a result of any situation or catastrophic event your business may face.

Sometimes it’s important to move your physical servers from one location to the next.  For example, companies that have offices or projects that move from time-to-time need servers to run the business operations but live in a mobile environment depending on where the projects are located.  In this situation Dialectic Networks sets up a portable modular data center (PMDC) that can easily be transported from one location to the next.

The new PMDC environments can house up to 2,016 high-end, state-of-the-art servers and compatible storage in many flexible configurations in a single container, and additional containers can be integrated quickly as needed.  They come with options for multiple carrier fiber connectivity, appropriate data center infrastructure including fully redundant power/cooling and environmental insulation and security, and are available in deploy-ready shipping containers of 20, 40, or 53 feet in length to meet the demand of rapidly growing IT infrastructure needs.

Dialectic Networks is poised to tap into this growing need for clustered, cloud computing in a virtual environment.  Combined with the emerging demand for portable data center solutions, the company will continue to expand by working with companies in a variety of industries that realize the significant benefits of hosting data, servers and other IT needs in a virtual environment.  From cruise ships and oil companies to governments around the world, Dialectic Networks will continue to work with today’s established companies, organizations and emerging businesses to ensure a reliable environment for the growing use of data in order to run a successful business operation.

Dialectic Networks – www.dialecticnet.com

Posted by startupbeat at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As a follow-up to the company pitch that ran previously, StartUp Beat conducted a Q&A with Currensee CEO Dave Lemont.  Comments are welcome below!

SUB: Approximately how many users do you now have?  What has your growth been like to this point?

Lemont: We are on track to reach over 12,000 active Forex trader members in our community in 2010.  Our monthly growth has been very strong, especially since our official beta launch in October of 2009.  We have been lucky to have partnered with some of the top players in the industry—brokers like FXCM, IBFX, Forex.com, Alpari, and MB Trading, portal partners such as DailyForex, Informed Trades, and Traders Laboratory, and a variety of partners such as SpotEuro, WinnersEdgeTrading, The Hansen Group, Candlecharts and many more.  We have some exciting new features and programs launching in Q1 and Q2 that will continue the viral growth of membership.

SUB: Sharing trading tips and strategies on a social networking platform seems somewhat counterintuitive, on the surface.  What is it about your site that encourages people to collaborate?

Lemont: Something we continue to hear from traders is how lonely Forex trading can be.  We have a video series that profiles “Life in the Basement” and how Currensee changes that world for Forex traders.  Traders are looking for ways to connect with other traders in a trusted way.  The forums and discussion boards are often plagued with traders talking a big game but it can be tough to know who to trust.  Currensee is all about real traders and real trades in real time, so you have a clear picture of the other traders in the network.  We also hear frequently that Forex traders have a hard time knowing how well they are doing.  It’s easy to burn out when you don’t have a strategy that you can measure over time.  We give traders the ability to set their strategy—actually as many as they’d like—and measure themselves over time.  It’s the best way to see what’s working and what’s not and it’s an excellent way to connect with other like-minded traders.  We are excited to be the place where Forex traders can meet, collaborate and make decisions in real-time.  It’s all about making more informed trading decisions and we are happy to be at the forefront of this new, transparent world.

SUB: Can you explain your revenue model in a bit more detail?

Lemont: Even though Currensee is currently free to traders, we make money in a few different ways.  We offer a number of value-adding products to Forex traders, such as our recently launched Currensee Marketplace, where we offer trusted Forex products and services, and we take a small commission on these.  Soon we will be introducing our Currensee Trade Leader program, where experienced Forex traders can be “followed” by less experienced traders and get paid for successful trading.  We will also be introducing different levels of subscription services for access to advanced social analytics that help traders make more informed trading decisions.  We also act as an Introducing Broker (IB).

SUB: What are some of the challenges you’ve found in running a social networking site that brings together people from 64 different countries?

Lemont: By its very nature, Forex trading is an international business, and since the Forex market never closes, it is very exciting to maintain a global community that is active 24/5.  We are really facilitating communication and transparency between traders from all corners of the world, and I think it’s interesting that a trader in Michigan might find that they share the same trading style as a trader in Okinawa, Japan.  Currensee’s model makes it easy for like-minded traders to connect, regardless of geography, by providing a network where they can chat about their trades in real-time.

SUB: What do you envision for Currensee in a year from now?

Lemont: We started 2009 with a few employees, a great product idea, and our funding from North Bridge.  As we kick off 2010, we have more than 20 employees, have built a robust, trusted Forex platform, including our Currensee Marketplace, and are on track to grow our membership to 12,000 members by year end.  We look forward to many exciting developments, including the recent launch of our Trade Leaders program for experienced Forex traders, several exciting partnership announcements, and the growth of our Marketplace that will help us to continue to support and develop our free platform.  With the tremendous growth we saw in our first year, we are confident that Currensee will be known around the world as the trusted source for real time trade collaboration and as the trusted source for finding excellent Forex products and services.

SUB: What challenges have you experienced over the last year, since you launched (especially considering the down economy)?

Lemont: We began building our business during one of the most difficult times in our economic history.  We continue to be fortunate to have a strong team, excellent funding and a loyal base of members all of which helped get us to where we are today.  The launch of the public beta and our Marketplace were also both great challenges for us in 2009.  Our public beta was launched in direct response to more and more traders wanting to join each month while we were in private beta.  It was difficult to hold back and wait but we wanted to be ready to open the platform and chose to take the time to work out the kinks and add new features we knew traders would want.  Our Marketplace was a huge accomplishment for our team.  We basically built an “Amazon-like” store in under two months, which came with more challenges than you probably have time to hear about!  This included everything from creating our own unique currency for the Marketplace, called Currensee Bucks, and implementing a full payment system for purchases and renewals, not to mention aggregating the products and services from a wide variety of partners.  It was quite an undertaking but we launched in November and the Marketplace has been very successful and has become the place for trusted Forex products and services.

SUB: Finally, what tips do you have for other startups, especially those that are starting out in such a challenging economic climate?

Lemont: Starting a business is tough, even in the best of circumstances, and certainly the prospect of starting out in a difficult economy is downright terrifying.  It’s a competitive marketplace, and funding isn’t as easy to come by as it once was, which is why it’s more important than ever to make sure that your business model stands out from the pack.  And you can’t just assume that things will turn around—it is safer to assume that they will not and be prepared to stand on your own two feet.  Companies that can accomplish this will be positioned for success when things finally balance out.

Currensee – www.currensee.com

Posted by startupbeat at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)