A Public/PrivateCollaboration Promoting

Maine Businesses

Best of the Web .............................................. 1Dept. of Agriculture Brings Dog Licensing On-line .. 1A Public/Private Collaboration Promoting Maine Businesses . 1Nexus Management Evaluating Data Center .. 3PC Genie ........................................................ 3Work Smarter Using the Power of the Desktop ...... 4Challenge ............................................................ 4Managing Antivirus Software Across the Enterprise .... 5Security Experts Ready to Help You ............... 5Knitters Needed .............................................. 5On-line Aircraft Registration Renewal Service .... 6Growing the Info. Tech. Sector in Rural Areas .... 8

IN THIS ISSUE:

VOLUME 6 • Issue 11 November 2003

TechnologyISA publication featuring the Information Services technology of Maine State Government

Maine

BY PHILIP HELGERSON

The Department of Agriculture, in partnership with InforME, is pleased to introduce aservice, On-line Dog Licensing. The system permits citizens to license their dogs on theweb, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Users also have the option to make a contribution tofight animal abuse in the State of Maine. The system is designed to protect individualprivacy. All payment information is transmitted over secure lines and no confidentialinformation is stored by the system. The system uses “secure socket layer software” toencrypt personal and financial information such as credit card number, or name, andaddress during transmission to the server.

Department of Agriculture BringsDog Licensing On-line

BY NORMA WORLEY & TIFFANY GLIDDEN

In 2001, the State of Maine appropri-ated 6.4 million dollars to establish theApplied Technology Development Centerprogram, offering establishment grants ofbetween $400,000 and $950,000 for infra-structure development.

Currently, in order for a citizen to license a dog they need to go to their munici-pal office with a current rabies certificate, spay or neuter certificate (if the dog isaltered), and cash or a check. Many citizens often overlook licensing their dogs, orfind it inconvenient to appear in person during limited municipal office hours.The 130,000 dogs licensed in the state is only 50-60% of the total canine popula-tion. The Department of Agriculture hopes that by offering the convenience oflicensing dogs via the Internet that more dogs will be licensed in the state, whileshortening lines and lightening workloads at municipal offices.

Municipal participation in the On-line Dog Licensing program is optional, andparticipating municipalities receive their full licensing fees. Citizens will need tohave the same information that they would in order to license their dog at theirmunicipality but they will be able to pay with their credit card. They will be ableto license multiple dogs in one transaction with this service.

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The seven Applied Technology De-velopment Centers (ATDC) operate asindependent non-profit organizations,but are unified to leverage resourcesand enhance opportunities for their cli-ents1 . The Centers are the “go-to”source of information, training, and re-sources where client firms get connectedwith Maine’s strong array of businesssupport services, and networked withappropriate private sector resources.

In the recently approved economicdevelopment “Jobs Bond”, four centersreceived a total of $2 million in addi-tional funding to complete essential in-frastructure work. The Department ofEconomic and Community Develop-ment (DECD) also administers an an-nual grant program that offers modestfinancial support for center manage-ment and administration.

BEST of the WEB

Two of Maine’s official Web sites have been singled out by the Center for Digital Govern-ment in their 2003 Best of the Web national competition for eGovernment excellence. Thestate’s official portal (www.Maine.gov) was ranked second among a field of more than 260public sector Web sites, and the on-line government services offered by Secretary of StateDan Gwadosky (www.Maine.gov/sos) were also recognized in the constitutional officer cat-egory.

“Maine continues to find new ways to use the Internet to help our citizens and businessessave time, and our commitment to excellence is again reflected in this year’s Best of theWeb rankings,” said Governor John E. Baldacci. “The services offered by Maine.gov andthe Secretary of State continue to raise the bar for all states, and I’m very proud of Maine’saccomplishments.” IS

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Dog Licensing On-line, cont.

Collaboration PromotingMaine Businesses, cont.

It costs citizens $7.00 to license analtered dog and $11.00 for an unaltereddog. The dog licensing application willdebut in November and can be found atwww.onlinedoglicensing.com.

Tiffany L. Glidden is an eGovernmentSpecialist at InforME (the InformationResource of Maine http://www.state.me.us/informe/). She may be reached bycalling 621-2600 ext. 31 or e-mailingtiffany@informe.org.

Norma Worley of Brewer was namedChief of the Animal Welfare Program ofthe Maine Department of Agriculture inFebruary 2003. Previously she was asupervising animal control officer inVentura County, California, for 21 years.Contact her by e-mailing norma.j.worley@maine.gov.

The ATDC system (http://www.atdcmaine.org/) is coordinatedby DECD, with the assistance of anadvisory board that includes repre-sentatives from several Maine govern-ment offices, (e.g. University of MaineSystem, the Maine Community Col-lege System, MTI, and Maine MEP),and private sector representationfrom banking, legal, and entrepre-neurial sectors. Appointed represen-tatives currently fill these private sec-tor positions from Bernstein ShurSawyer and Nelson, Bangor SavingsInstitution, and Alden Rowing Shells.

In this second year of operation,the ATDC program is helping morethan 20 residential tenant firms, andover 50 affiliate firms. Firms stay asclients for about three to five years,and then move on to appropriate fa-cilities in the region. Three compa-nies have graduated from ATDC pro-grams so far.

Each center has a primary focusin one of the seven targeted technol-ogy sectors strategically identified fordevelopment in Maine’s economic de-velopment plan.

Partnerships In addition eachcenter has local and regional partner-ships with colleges/university

branches, technology and businessassociations, and business and pro-fessional partners. College and uni-versity links provide opportunities forstudent internships, work-study pro-grams, and faculty support for tech-nical and research support. In addi-tion, all the centers benefit from astatewide partnership with theMaine Technology Institute, whichprovides early stage fi-nancing as grants andother awards for tech-nology firms.

All centers are alsopartnered with theMaine InternationalTrade Center, offeringinsights into global mar-kets. Through thesepartnerships, all ATDCclient firms have accessto professional market-ing survey, and other internationalcommerce advice. Through this part-nership, two ATDC firms and oneATDC director were assisted in par-ticipating in the recent trade missionto Ireland and Northern Ireland.

All ATDC directors are trained asassociated counselors in Maine’sSmall Business Development Center(SBDC) program. This center offersdirect business counseling servicesand connections to other SBDC coun-seling and business support informa-tion, training, and referral resources.Maine’s Manufacturing ExtensionPartnership also offers support ser-vices by linking ATDC firms withtechnical assistance in product devel-opment, production design, and

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manufacturing, and other federal re-sources.

ATDCs are also served by theMaine Procurement Assistance Cen-ter and its Market Development Cen-ter. It provides information aboutfederal procurement opportunities,such as the important Small BusinessInnovative Research Program,sources of early stage funding, and

technical assistance. Ad-ditionally, all ATDC’sand their client firmsare also provided fullmembership status inthe Maine State Cham-ber of Commerce, gain-ing access to businessinformation and ser-vices through that pri-vate sector business as-sociation.

Maine’s Jobs Counciland local Workforce InvestmentBoards, through their Career Centersand Training Resource Centers alsohave a strong partnership with theATDCs connecting new firms withskill development resources.

Stay tuned for an upcoming articleon Intelligent Spatial Technologies –a new Maine information technologycompany, located at the Target Tech-nology Center in Orono.

Questions? Contact the author bye-mailing philip.helgerson@maine.gov.

1 Clients may include residential tenants that operatefrom offices and manufacturing or laboratory spacein the centers themselves, and “affiliate” clients thattake part in programs without being facility occupants.

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Nexus Management Evaluating Data Center

BY MARK KEMMERLE

Background When BIS movedto its current site in January, 1999,approximately twenty servers weremoved from the old State OfficeBuilding location. Since then, over200 additional servers have been in-stalled, including the Department ofHuman Services’ (DHS) servers fromtheir old Western Avenue location,and major new installations forDHS’s Automated Claims Eligibilitysystem (ACES) and the Departmentof Educations MEDMS project (NoChild Left Behind). These new serv-ers have caused dramatic changes inthe computer room. Long, straightaisles have disappeared. Old hard-ware has been relocated and reposi-tioned, and new hardware placed informerly empty spaces. Recently,BIS has become concerned that theexisting cooling, humidification andelectrical power distribution systemsin the data center may not be ad-equate to continue to support growthat the current rate.

Sometime before the end of 2004,the BULL mainframe will finally exitthe data center. The State has runapplications on BULL hardware forover thirty years, but when the Mo-tor Vehicle Registration system, theDHS financial systems, and the In-land Fisheries and Wildlife applica-tions are migrated to new platforms,the BULL will be retired. When theBULL mainframe and the BULL tapelibraries are removed from the com-puter room floor, about a third of thedata center floor space will be re-claimed, and will become available tohouse additional servers.

To insure that BIS can provide anideal climate for state government’scomputing hardware, BIS Production

In October, the Bureau of Information Services (BIS) contracted with Nexus Man-agement of Brunswick, ME to evaluate the current BIS data center’s physical layout withthe intention of improving air flow, cooling, and electrical capacity.

Services has commissioned a studyof the data center’s floor space de-sign and utilization, heating andventilation systems, fire protectionand other alert systems. The Envi-ronmental Configuration and Capac-ity Study will identify and define indetail the current environmentalsystems utilization and floor planlayout. The study will include anevaluation of the overall building de-sign, current floor plan, and hard-ware and rack design.

It is understood that the hard-ware currently located in the datacenter will change over time. Nexuswill not recommend that existingsystems be replaced or modified, butit may recommend changes to thefloor plan or configuring systems dif-ferently within their existing racksystems. Nexus will also review andevaluate the electrical, HVAC (Heat-ing, Ventilation, Air Conditioning),and fire suppression systems againstindustry standards and currentlyavailable technology, so that BIS canplan maintenance and migration forcomputer room infrastructure.

BIS expects to learn about thecurrent state of its computer roominfrastructure and about whatchanges need to be made to make itsuitable to support continuedgrowth. Nexus will identify indus-try “best practices” that will allowBIS to plan for the future to offer asafe, secure, and economical environ-ment to house critical computer ap-plications.

Questions? Comments? Contactauthor Mark Kemmerle, Director ofBIS’ Production Services by e-mail-ing mark.kemmerle@maine.gov.

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PCGenie

What is a VPN (Vir-tual Private Net-work)? How is it used?

Many State of Maineemployees requirecomputer access from

locations outside the State’s WAN(Wide Area Network). These mayinclude field workers (wildlife biolo-gists or highway engineers), employ-ees conducting state business from anout of state location, or those whoneed access to the State’s computerresources from their home. Manyhave asked the Customer SupportCenter what WAN access methodsare available to them and more im-portantly, which method best fitstheir needs.

The State offers two options for itsemployees to remotely access theiron-line files: VPN (Virtual PrivateNetwork) and IPRS (Internet Proto-col Routing Services). Both productsenable users to access state computerdata and resources which are securedby the State’s firewall1 . The differ-ence lies in who provides this service.

With IPRS, the Bureau of Infor-mation Services acts as the ISP(Internet Service Provider). IPRSoffers a direct connection to theState’s Wide Area Network, allowingusers to tap into computer resourcesthrough a dial up networking connec-tion using a phone line. Alterna-tively, VPN is for those who alreadyhave a contracted ISP (for exampleAmerica On-line) for use on their pri-vately owned PC’s. VPN allows ahigh speed connection to the State’sWAN, which is only limited by thetype of connection that your ISP pro-vides. If the ISP only offers a “dialup” connection, users are faced withthe same speed limitations (usually56K) that IPRS offers. Usually, ISPsoffer high speed cable connectionswhich are much faster to connect, andpresent data.

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BY LESTER DICKEY

Challenge

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Work Smarter Using the Power of the Desktop . . .BY CHERYL RING

…is the motto of the Computer Training Lab in room 104 of the Cross Office Building!

In the first year, participants in the Lab’s courses have affirmed that we’reon the right track, routinely reporting that they are pleased to get more workand productivity out of their computers.

For example:“Excellent course – enjoyed the entire day!”“All these courses are great and needed by all State staff!”“Pace was excellent”“Excellent instructor who adjusted her teaching to makesure all the students learned despite varying levels ofknowledge”“… very worthwhile”

Courses The Lab offers classes in the use of the Microsoft Office Suite, includ-ing MS Word, Outlook, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Publisher. Courses onDreamweaver MX, HTML 4.0, and Visual Basic are also available.

In the last quarter, 15 new courses were developedand scheduled to help meet the needs of State employ-ees. The Lab’s website now shows courses available inthe current quarter (through December 2003). Nextquarter’s classes (January through March 2004) will beup on the website within the month. Details on all thesecourses are listed on the Lab’s website at http://www.maine.gov/bhr/statetng/comptng/index.html.Please check out the range of courses offered in Novem-ber and December – we’d love to have you participate inany class of your choosing. Course fees to cover the costsof keeping the Lab up and running are also available onthe website.

Enrollment The enrollment form on the website maybe filled out and faxed, or participants with access to theMFASIS Training Management System may enroll fullyon-line.

Leasing and Charters The Lab is available to leaseby others for a day-rate of $300, or after-hours @ $125. Weare also happy to arrange for special “charters” of the roomwhereby we deliver a standard course to 12 students, for afee equivalent to 11 students, in order to assist depart-ments in getting training for whole staffs.

Questions? Contact Cheryl Ring, Computer Training Managerby calling (207) 624-7367 or e-mailing cheryl.e.ring@maine.gov.

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Regardless of the access method (IPRSor VPN), State users cannot access theirdata unless they are assigned a Securidcard. The Securid card has a six digit dis-play that changes its code every sixty sec-onds. This code, along with the four digitpin number that is assigned to the card isthe vehicle into the States’ networked com-puter system.

In order to obtain a Securid card, employ-ees need to contact their agency’s IT man-ager, because each agency is billed monthlyfor Securid cards. After agency approval,requests for new Securid cards should bemade by calling BIS Security Card coordi-nator, Ron Grimard at 624-8876.1 See also two article printed in this publication by Chad Perkins:Firewalls What They Are and Why We Need Them http://www.state.me.us/newsletter/oct99/internet_firewalls.htm andAn Internet Firewall Update http://www.state.me.us/newslet-ter/mar2003/an_internet_firewall_update.htm.

PC Genie, cont.

At my favorite fruit stand, an orange costs 18cents, a pineapple costs 27 cents, and a grape costs15 cents. How much does a pear cost? For a moredifficult challenge, but no chance at a pizza, how muchdoes a plum cost if an orange costs 15 cents, a pine-apple costs 20 cents, and a grape costs 10 cents?

Please e-mail Lester Dickey with your answerand your name, phone number, and the organization for which youwork. Or call Barbara Buck at 624-9501. The winner will be drawnfrom all the correct entries and will receive a FREE donated pizza,either from CJ’s Pizza or from the EDOC Cafeteria. All answersmust be in no later than the 14th of the month.

Last month’s challenge brought 47 submissions, with 32 being cor-rect answers. The winner, chosen by random drawing, is PeterKonieczko of MRS.

The answers to last month’s Challenge: 16 pieces of chalk will last21 days, with 1/4 piece left over. 30 pieces of chalk will last for 39days, with 3/4 piece left over. For those of you who expressed an inter-est in getting chalk glue (also used for mending wands), I think it isavailable at Ollivander’s in Daigon Alley.

Plans for the annual Head Start Holiday party are getting underway. This year’s party will be held at the Augusta Armory on Wednes-day, December 10. Santa has been alerted and has put the date onhis busy schedule. The tree has been ordered and will be deliveredin time to be decorated with lots of mittens for the children. TheState Troopers Association will also be joining us to give each childa teddy bear. The cooks at the Blaine House are busy making fancydecorated cookies for the event.

However, as always, before this event can happen we need knit-ters to help make mittens to fit 3-5 year old children, or if you donot knit and you wish to donate yarn for mittens, we will gladlyaccept it. Also, we need monetary donations to cover the cost of thegifts for the children. Any yarn, mittens or monetary donations maybe sent to Barbara Buck at 145 State House Station or call 624-9501. We can make arrangements to pick up the donations. Pleaseput December 10 on your calendar and join us at the Armory to seefor yourselves what happiness and delight you have helped bring tothese less fortunate children in our area.

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Managing Antivirus SoftwareAcross the Enterprise

BY ROBERT WITHAM

Traditionally, antivirus software installation and de-ployment has been on a machine-by-machine basis. If Iwanted to install my antivirus software on 10 worksta-tions and four servers, I would have to visit 14 machines.This isn’t too bad, but when you have 100 or 1,000 ormore machines, it can be a bit time consuming to initiallyinstall the software. Moreover, you need to visit each ma-chine again if you ever want to change any of the scansettings or if you want to update the software to a newversion.

This is where McAfee Software’s ePO (Enter-prise Policy Orchestrator) product comes into play.ePO allows control and management of antivirussoftware on thousands of individual machinesacross an enterprise. If it is necessary to changeany scan settings like scanning all files with anextension type of .xyz, a simple change under ePOwill distribute that change to all managed ma-chines within minutes. A task that used to be per-formed manually, and could take days, now onlytakes a few minutes.

Similarly, when BIS decided to upgrade all SLA(service level agreement) customer machines fromversion 4.5.1 of McAfee antivirus to the newer ver-sion 7.0, one change under ePO caused the changeto happen on almost all of the 1,300 SLA comput-ers within 24 hours. The few that were missedwere because those computers were not turned on.As soon as those last few computers were pow-ered up again, they had the new software in lessthan an hour after connecting to the network.

ePO also gives us centralized reporting capa-bilities. We can see how many machines are pro-tected by antivirus software, if their data files areup to date, and if any viruses have been detected.By knowing how well we are doing, and knowingwhat percentage of our computers are up to date,we can make an informed risk assessment whennew vulnerabilities or new viruses are detected.ePO provides us with an additional tool to helpmanage the security of our network.

BIS provides ePO to all agencies as part of thebasic WAN rate. Agencies who are currently nottaking advantage of ePO are not getting every-thing they are paying for. Even if agencies onlyuse ePO to report on the status of their comput-ers and servers, it is well worth the minimal ef-fort they need to invest in it.

If you would like to use ePO within your agency,contact Bob Witham at BIS through the State Out-look e-mail system.

Security Experts Ready to Help You!

SearchSecurity.com, a leading IT security Web portal, now of-fers a host of experts ready to take your questions on concerns,issues and problems specific to your business. According toSearchSecurity.com, the experts include some of the leading fig-ures in the security field. “Our experts have been chosen by oureditorial team for their knowledge of specific technology areas,” saysources with SearchSecurity.com.

Industry professionals are invited to log on and pose a question(as clearly and specifically as possible). Within a week, your an-swer should appear on the site. While you wait for your response,browse the questions left by other professionals in your field andsee their answers. Topic areas include: Web services security;infosec training and certification; infrastructure and network secu-rity; platform and system security; security policy and user aware-ness; viruses, worms and Trojan Horses; and e-mail, e-commerceand encryption.

The site also has an open forum for questions in these areas orany other can be posed. Visit www.searchsecurity.com and look forthe link “Ask the Experts” to check out this interactive and infor-mative resource.

Knitters Needed

BY BARBARA BUCK

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On-line Aircraft Registration Renewal ServiceComing Soon

BY KRISTINA PAULHUS & RENEE LORING

Did you know there are approximately 1100 aircraft registered in Maine? As an owner,starting January 1, 2004, you may use the Internet, to renew your municipal aircraftregistration in one quick and easy transaction. This new on-line service, may enable youto print your registration certificate on your own printer, (decals will arrive in the mailwithin 7 to 10 business days), and payment will be made by electronic check.

The Maine Department of Transpor-tation, in partnership with InforME1 , re-cently announced that it plans to offerMaine aircraft owners a convenient on-line service alternative called, “AircraftRegistration Renewal ” from January toJune 30, 2004. Accessible at the follow-ing website: www.meaircraftreg.com/,and via the Maine State Portal at:www.maine.gov, this service will be avail-able throughout the 2004 renewal period.A “walk-through” demonstration is avail-able on the website to assist registrants.

This new service, affords Maine air-craft owners the benefits of“eGovernment”2 service and delivery. Byinputting identifying information on-line,an aircraft owner’s registration record isquickly retrieved, and a payment screenprovided. Electronic check payment isaccepted through a system that assuressecurity and privacy of personal informa-tion. With instant access and payment,the renewal process is quick and easy.

The on-line Aircraft Registration Re-newal service will be available during theregular renewal season, starting in Janu-ary. Municipal participation in the pro-gram is voluntary and there are currentlyfifteen towns and cities participating. Citi-zens interested in bringing Aircraft Reg-istration Renewal to their municipalities

should contact their local officials.

For more information, contactKristina.Paulhus@maine.gov , or call624-3127. Ms. Paulhus has worked atthe Maine Department ofTransportation’s Aircraft RegistrationDivision for two years. When not work-ing, she likes to spend time with friends,and scrapbook. She also cares for twopet rats.

Since September, 1999 Renee Loring,has worked at InforME, facilitatingmarketing initiatives by promoting newand existing on-line services. In addi-tion to her marketing efforts, Renee man-ages eGovernment application develop-ment, including Business Answers, On-line Aircraft Registration Renewal, andAnnual Reports On-line. In her sparetime, Renee enjoys attending musicevents, theatrical productions, traveling,and reading.

1 InforME is a public entity created by the State of Maineto operate the State’s web portal, www.maine.gov.InforME is managed by New England Interactive, Inc., awholly owned subsidiary of NIC, the world’s largesteGovernment solutions provider.

2 eGovernment is the use of information and communi-cation technologies to improve the activities of publicsector organizations.

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The Natural Resources Conserva-tion Service (NRCS) is partneringwith the state of Maine in the acqui-sition of updated imagery and the de-velopment of digital orthoimagery.NRCS contributed $400,000 towardsthe federal match and transferred thefunds to the US Geological Service inSeptember. NRCS uses for the imag-ery will cover several programs includ-ing the National Cooperative Soil Sur-vey program, soils digitizing, GIS useat the Field Service Centers withinArcView and for the Customer ServiceToolkit and the National Resources In-ventory.

gis News

NewLegislationThis fall, some new Maine laws

became effective. For example, unso-licited commercial Internet e-mail -“spam” - must include the designation“ADV” in the subject line showing it’san advertisement, and “ADV ADLT”if it’s adult material. The ads mustinclude return e-mail addresses sorecipients can write back to block ad-ditional unsolicited e-mail from thesame source. The sponsor of the bill,Rep. Albion Goodwin, D-Pembroke,said he wants Mainers to be able toreport violators on the state’s Web site.

Since September Mainers candownload a form from the Internet torequest free copies of their credit re-port once a year (http://w w w. s t a t e . m e . u s / p f r / p r e s s /ccr_creditreport.htm). Reports arealso available by calling 1-800-DEBT-LAW. “This new law is a valuable toolin the fight to reduce identity theft,mixed credit files and erroneous creditdenials,” say Will Lund, Director theMaine Office of Consumer CreditRegulation.

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Growing the IT Sector in Rural Areas, cont. from page 8

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Ability to Attract and RetainSkilled & Educated WorkforceAttracting and retaining skilled andeducated employees in rural areas isparticularly challenging to the IT sec-tor. Rural areas, lack “thick” local la-bor markets from which to attract em-ployees. As a result, companies inrural areas must often rely on recruit-ment of talent from other labor mar-ket areas. Experienced IT workers areoften reluctant to relocate to rural ar-eas fearing that if their positiondoesn’t pan out they will again haveto relocate, as additional local job op-tions may be limited. Attracting tal-ent to rural regions requires the abil-ity to sell the small-town, rurallifestyle. For some professionals thislifestyle is desirable, for others it isnot. Institutes of higher education areimportant resources for creatinggreater access to a skilled and edu-cated workforce.

Research and DevelopmentResearch and development, R&D, ac-tivity can spur innovation for the de-velopment of new products or pro-cesses leading to industry growth.Information technology companies areoften engaged in research and devel-opment to create new products andservices to compete in highly competi-tive national and international mar-kets. Often this R&D is done in-houseand built over-time on a project basis.Therefore, worldwide in this industry,a great deal of R&D occurs at thestreet level within the businesses of-fering products and services, as op-posed to occurring within research in-stitutions. Part of the reason for thisis the demand to get new productsdeveloped and to market as quickly aspossible in a rapidly changing market.Although the IT sector performs muchof its R&D “in-house”, access to re-search institutions within the ruralregions can provide significant com-

petitive advantage for local firms.Industry Networks and

Trade Associations Areas expe-riencing industry growth are char-acterized by strong networkingamong businesses and professionalsto share resources, discuss industrytrends and issues, problem solve,and to represent the industry out-side the sector to business and gov-ernment leaders. These functionsare typically performed by industryor professional associations. Twosuch resources for Maine’s IT indus-try are MESDA, Maine’s associationfor the software and informationtechnology industry and The TargetTechnology Center in Orono.MESDA provides the IT industrywith professional networking, train-ing, user groups, technical assis-tance and access to market data-bases and Web resources. The Tar-get Technology Center is an IT busi-ness incubator that is supported bythe State and the University ofMaine. In addition to providing of-fice space for start-up companies,the Target Center provides businessassistance and training services toIT business throughout the State.In rural areas, routine networkingis challenging due to distances be-tween businesses and professionals.Statewide and regional industrysupport entities are critical for fos-tering the linkages that spur indus-try-wide learning and professional-ism.

Leadership OrganizationsIndustry sector growth and devel-opment is often spurred by leader-ship organization(s). Examples ofhow leadership companies can per-form this function include the cre-ation of spin-offs, or new companies,which drive investment in new in-frastructure that benefits not onlythe leadership company, but other

companies in the sector, and foster-ing partnerships with education insti-tutions to increase offerings.

Market Potential - Local andExport Demand Because of therelatively small number of businesseswithin rural areas, local demand forIT services is often not strong enoughto generate sufficient activity for sig-nificant industry growth. Therefore togrow, firms must compete in othergeographic areas. IT firms can de-velop regional and national nichesbased on experience gained in the lo-cal markets. For example, several ofthe firms interviewed for theAroostook study have developed ex-pertise in providing IT services to theforestry and agriculture sectors,which have traditionally been impor-tant within Aroostook County. Thishas helped the companies compete forbusiness outside of the US.Partnering with companies outside ofthe region is also an effective meansfor increasing market share outsideof the region.

By examining a region’s capacityand performance for each of the abovefactors, leaders within rural areas canbegin to develop strategies to supportfurther growth and development ofthe IT sector. Eventually such strat-egies will lead to increased job oppor-tunities and incomes.

Jim Damicis is an independentconsultant from Scarborough, Maineproviding research and analysis in theareas of economic and community de-velopment and public policy. Jim canbe reached at jdamicis@maine.rr.com.

1 Source: 2001 Maine Occupational Wages, MaineDepartment of Labor, Division of Labor Market In-formation Services, March 2003.

2 Maine Development Foundation, 1995-2001 Surveyof Maine Businesses, Maine Development Foundation.

PRINTED BY IDEAL PRINTING SERVICE, AUGUSTA, MAINE

UNDER APPROPRIATION 038-18B-1000-0128

Growing the Information Technology Sector in Rural Areas

Mary N. Cloutier (BIS), Editor Karen Knox (BIS), On-line Editor

Members:Janey Barton (BIS)M.D. Bowman (BIS)David H. Ellis (BIS)Melicent Versteeg (Maine Revenue Services)Robert Witham (BIS)Colleen Gesualdo (MDOT)Jeffrey W. Cotnoir (BIS)Susan Spinell (Maine Conservation Corps.)

Send your comments or suggestions to us at:neb.newsletter@maine.gov or via our newsletter Web site on the Internet at:

http://www.maine.gov/newsletter/index.htm

Challenge:Lester Dickey (Maine RevenueServices)

Proofreaders:Ann Salverson-Seales (BIS)Dale Blake (BIS)Anji Brockmann (MEGIS)

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EDITORIAL BOARD

BY JIM DAMICIS

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TECHNOLOGY PERSONNEL CHANGES IN YOUR AGENCY?SEND NOTICES TO mary.cloutier@maine.gov TO HAVE THEM POSTED HERE.

TRANSITIONS

Information technology companies are some of the fastest growing businesses inMaine and will likely play a leading role in job growth in the years ahead.

While currently a relatively small sector in Maine,growth in the IT sector is important to economic devel-opment. IT-intensive jobs typically pay considerablyhigher wages than those that are not IT-intensive (seeChart 11 ). By growing and attracting IT and IT relatedbusinesses, rural areas can directly benefit throughincreased income levels.

Recently the Northern Maine Development Commis-sion, NMDC, supported a study of the potential for in-dustry cluster development in Aroostook County. Fiveindustry sectors were examined including agriculture,forest products, tourism, precision manufacturing, andinformation technology. This article presents an over-view of factors used to assess the growth potential ofthe county’s IT sector. It is designed to be useful forstate and local business and economic developmentprofessionals interested in strategies to grow this in-creasingly important sector in rural areas.

IT Infrastructure Maine business use of the Internethas dramatically increased since 1995, when only 17percent of Maine businesses reported using the Internet2

(see Chart 2). By 2001, 86% of businesses used theInternet. However, for today’s businesses, simply hav-ing Internet connectivity is not enough. Two additionalIT infrastructure factors are essential for supporting theIT industry. They are “high-speed” or broadband accessand service redundancy. Businesses are increasinglyin need of high-speed Internet connections to supportcore business functions and E-commerce strategies. Ad-ditionally, several industries and businesses provide thekinds of products and services which require little to noconnectivity “downtime” over the course of the year. Forthese industries and businesses, it is important that theIT infrastructure connecting rural areas to the rest ofthe world contain sufficient redundancy, or alternativebroadband pathways, should a key digital cable or ITinfrastructure component be disrupted. Rural areastypically lag non-rural areas in the deployment of ITinfrastructure. The Aroostook study revealed that in-vestments in IT infrastructure has positioned that ru-ral area well for future IT growth.

Don Hildebrand, Public Service Coordinator II with the Chief In-formation Officer’s Office, left State government service effective Oc-tober 10, 2003. Best wishes Don in your future endeavors! Don’t forgetto keep in touch with us Mainers.

Mark Toulouse, Bureau of Information Services’ (BIS) Staff Ac-countant, working in the Department of Administrative and FinancialServices’ Division of Financial and Personnel Services’ last day wasOctober 10, 2003. Mark has accepted a promotion at the Department ofHuman Services.

Karen Knox has been promoted to a Programmer Analyst positionin BIS’ Development Services’ RAD group effective October 13, 2003.