<span style="color: #000000;"><a href="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/photo-8.jpg"><span style="color: #000000;"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7535" title="eGroup Booth" src="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/photo-8-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></span></a></span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Welcome to the Carolina Technology Conference. Come visit the eGroup booth, can't miss us as you enter the exhibit hall.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">We'll be live blogging throughout the morning into the early afternoon so check back often. (most recent updates at the top).</span>

Also, don't forget to check out the eGroup <a href="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/about/careers" target="_blank">Career page</a> for the latest openings!

<span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Twitter Hashtag #CTC12</strong></span>

<span style="color: #000000;">*****</span>

Awaiting <a href="http://www.jimstickley.com/" target="_blank">Jim Stickley's</a> keynote on security and identity theft. Should be a good one. You can find him on Twitter @jimstickley (you can find us @eGroup_Inc). Jim talks fast. He admitted it! He also doesn't get caught too often breaking into systems...
<ul>
	<li>"Information is the new currency"</li>
	<li>Advising companies to monitor what employees are saying about the company on their social networks</li>
	<li>Walking us through the lengths thieves take to methodically research and detail their targeted person</li>
	<li>Thieves are always a step ahead of their target, but that doesn't mean you can not take precautions. For example, purchase domain names that are similar to your domain except for one letter. They often change "O" (letter) with "0" (number) so you would never notice</li>
	<li>If you're a business owner and receive a call from your pest control company, be suspicious! Jim loves using them to access facilities, the are left alone, seen as low brow and not a threat and are expected to be snooping around under desks. Makes perfect sense</li>
	<li>Even better, acting as a fire inspector. Who doesn't love a man in uniform? They demand respect, according to Jim, so they get complete and unfettered access to the entire facility</li>
	<li>Jim went into a company to audit their IT 'closet,' a rack server had a sticky note with the username and password on it. Wow</li>
	<li></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #000000;">*****</span>

John Flisher kicking off the first lab of the day - Hands on with vSphere 5.1. If you want to learn more about VMware from Flisher himself, check out his <a href="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/author/jflisher" target="_blank">past posts</a>.

<a href="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/photo-7.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7551" title="photo (7)" src="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/photo-7-300x224.jpg" alt="vSphere 5.1" width="300" height="224" /></a>

<span style="color: #000000;">*****</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Coffee break!</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">*****</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Steven Dryden, CEO, of the <a href="http://themarinergroup.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #000000;">Mariner Group</span></a> kicks things off with the presentation portion of the conference.</span>
<ul>
	<li><span style="color: #000000;">Mariner Group software, <a href="http://themarinergroup.net/commandbridge/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #000000;">CommandBridge</span></a>, helped aid in 1,432 search and rescues.</span></li>
	<li><span style="color: #000000;">Dryden discusses the concept of Situational Awareness (SA) and how it's becoming mainstream.
</span></li>
	<li><span style="color: #000000;">CommandBridge in action was very cool. Zoom into a port (in this case, Dryden used port of Miami), click on an outline of a vessel and learn more about that particular vessel.</span></li>
	<li><span style="color: #000000;">Dryden's final thoughts: 1) Simple is Hard, 2) Innovation comes in many forms, 3) The status quo rarely change from the inside
</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #000000;">*****</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">eGroup has a full day of labs, sign up at registration:</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">9:30-10:10: vSphere 5.1</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">10:20-11:00: ThinApp Factory</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">11:10-11:50: vSphere 5.1</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">12:00-12:40: SharePoint 2013</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">12:45-1:25: vSphere 5.1</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">1:30-2:10: SharePoint 2013</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">2:15-2:55: vSphere 5.1</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">3:10-4:15: Cisco Nexus 1000v</span>