Last week the Virtual Earth public sector team participated in the Microsoft CIO Summit hosted by our Public Sector marketing team at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, WA. CIOs from government and education came together to learn how Microsoft technologies can optimize infrastructure and better manage their organizations.

Microsoft 2007 Federal Partner of the Year, Microlink, was showcasing its business intelligence solutions that integrate Virtual Earth to enable faster access to information and for more informed, accountable decision-making. Meanwhile, Orion Technology made their first appearance at a Microsoft event and was demonstrating their OnPoint Virtual Earth Extension that allows customers to overlay GIS database content (ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, OGC WMX/WFS) on Virtual Earth maps with added functional benefits such as advanced security, administration tools for customizing and managing web portals, and the ability to generate reports. Orion's recent successes with OnPoint include a system for Georgia Power, allowing users to access data relating to property, demographics, employment, taxes, labor and wages, etc. They also have recently announced that the City of Torrance has chosen to implement OnPoint™ for use in their Community Development Department.

Virtual Earth was also included in many sessions, all very interesting, but perhaps the coolest was the inclusion of Virtual Earth in the presentation on Microsoft's new Surface surface computer. The demo showed the ability of the Surface to detect and identify an object such as a wine glass when placed on its surface and then provide the user with options for finding information relating to that object. In the case of the wine glass, the demo allowed the user to tie into Virtual Earth to explore regional vineyards. This was impressive but the synergy of the Surface and Virtual Earth that should be of keen interest to Public Sector customers, DoD especially perhaps, is the ability to allow multiple users to collaborate around mapped business intelligence data on the table, through touch. The environment that immediately comes to mind is the war room.

As a final note ... I met with many CIOs from education asking about the application of Virtual Earth for educational institutions. Of course I shared the California Schoolfinder that was recently launched and integrates Virtual Earth but I also discussed Virtual Earth for campus security, a topic that is becoming critical in our country. An example I failed to mention to those delegates is the recent launch of UNH Alert. This is a free service offered by the University of New Hampshire that allows the University  to contact subscribers during an emergency by sending text messages vie E-mail, cell phone, BlackBerry/Treo, or pager. When an emergency occurs, authorized senders will instantly provide real-time updates, instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, who to contact and other important information.