Greenwood Company Takes Top Prize in Venture Idol Competition

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - A Greenwood company's new data storage technology earned the top prize of $10,000 today in the 2008 Indiana Venture Idol competition at the Indiana Historical Society here.

Greenwood-based Scale Computing edged out 20 challengers in the afternoon-long competition that put company executives through a series of company presentations and questions in front of a live audience of more than 200 investors and business owners that voted to select this year's winner.

"Scale Computing's technology has potential to revolutionize the market," said Nathan Feltman, Secretary of Commerce and chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.  "Scale Computing and the other contestants in today's competition offer an exciting look into the future of Indiana's continued economic growth." 

Scale Computing's new enterprise storage solution, the modularSan, secured the company's first place finish today   Based on cloud computing technologies, Scale's modularSAN yields an in-house enterprise-class storage system that reduces costs by 75 percent or more compared to traditional enterprise storage solutions.  The innovation represents a radical shift in the way enterprise storage is handled, but maintains seamless compatibility with the existing systems that utilize storage arrays. 

"This recognition is a big deal for us because it validates our efforts in developing this technology," said Jeff Ready, chief executive officer of Scale Computing.  "We are hoping to do here what we could not do on the west coast.  Indiana is a logistical hub with a business friendly climate and the manufacturing expertise we need to succeed."

Co-hosted by Venture Club of Indiana and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, the Indiana Venture Idol competition also crowned three additional top finishers who took home a purse of $9,000.  

West Lafayette-based Vasc Alert picked up a $3,000 check for "most innovative new product".  Noblesville-based Indy Power won $3,000 for being named the "biggest opportunity," and West Lafayette-based Matrix-Bio picked up a $3,000 check for "let me invest now".

"The quality of the companies is impressive - a number of them could be world-changing," said Keith Krach, one of three judges for the event.  "It's clear that Indiana is home to a set of world-class entrepreneurs."

Krach, a Purdue University trustee and chief executive officer of investment holdings company 3Points Inc., is no stranger to entrepreneurship.  The Ernst & Young 2000 National Entrepreneur of the Year co-founded business-to-business e-commerce company Ariba Inc.

The Indiana Venture Idol competition is part of the state's third annual entrepreneurship week that began Monday.  The week's events continue Wednesday as 30 entrepreneurial businesses and more than 250 Indiana college students participate in the Collegiate Entrepreneur Career Connections event at the Marriott Downtown Indianapolis. 

The event, which begins at 11:30, will allow students to meet with executives of successful Indiana entrepreneurial companies and learn how to build their own company and explore career opportunities with these companies.  Dr. Gary Anderson, senior advisor of national venture capital firm TL Ventures, will keynote the event. 

A panel of experts will focus on how to recognize business growth opportunities, plan and measure marketing efforts, finance a business and small business legal considerations during an event Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Mansion at Oak Hill in Carmel. 

A complete detailed listing of events scheduled for Indiana Entrepreneurship Week are available online at http://www.indianaentrepreneurship.com/entrepreneur_week.aspx.

Source: Indiana Economic Development Corporation