Yesterday, VISI exhibited at the TwinWest Chamber’s pilot STEM summit - an event that brought together over 75 St. Louis Park ninth-graders with area businesses that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. This smaller event will lead into a larger STEM event in December.

The goal of the program is to stimulate interest in the mention subject areas, and to promote the relevance between these interests and future career choices.  VISI’s exhibit featured members from our hosting services department, including manager, Ralph Awad and had students interacting with the VISI advergame: Interstellar Pizza Express. Ralph’s team was on hand to explain their role in what the game demonstrates.

The students were also asked challenge questions. How many riddles can you answer?

1. What is a computer’s first sign of age?
2. What does a baby computer call it’s father?
3. What is an astronaut’s favorite key on a computer board?
4. What happened when the computer fell on the floor?
5. Why was there a bug in the computer virus?
6. What is a computer virus?
7. How did the mouse get out of the Russian Cathedral?

I wanted to make sure that everyone knew about the resources mentioned in Wednesday’s webinar, What to Look for in a Data Center.

You can download the slides, request the Buyer’s Guide to Colocation or contact us for the Colocation checklist at sales@visi.com or 612.395.9090.

Thanks to everyone that attended.

VISI is proud to sponsor the Twin Cities Entrepreneurs event tonight featuring Scott Litman, the co-founder of the Minnesota Cup and Managing Director of Magnet 360. We’ll be hosting the event in the auditorium located on the first floor of our St. Paul Data Center location.

If you haven’t registered already, it’s not too late. The cost is $10 to register online or $15 at the door.

DATE:  Thursday, April 9th, 2009 @ 5:30 p.m.

WHERE:  In Downtown St. Paul

Jerome Hill Theatre
180 East 5th St
St. Paul, MN 55101
Map:  http://tinyurl.com/c9pf27

TOPIC:  The future of Advertising & Learn About This Year’s Minnesota Cup

DESCRIPTION:  The Minnesota Cup is an annual, statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs and their breakthrough ideas.

They are looking for the next great entrepreneurial success story in our state of Minnesota.

This competition is for all entrepreneurs, whether your breakthrough idea is high tech or no tech, whether you are just putting your ideas into a business plan or if you’ve been out building your venture.  This year’s cash and prizes are worth $130,000.

Join us on this night to find out more about this wonderful program and how you can get involved and possibly be the 2009 Winner.  Meet other business owners, network, have a great time!

In a follow-up to publishing the Colocation Buyer’s Guide, Ray Hagen, product manager at VISI, is presenting a webinar tomorrow on “What to Look for in a Data Center.”  How do you decide whether to host your IT infrastructure yourself or use a colocation provider?  We will review the key features of a data center: power, cooling, security, facility, staffing and provide a cost comparison between using a data center provider or hosting yourself.

The webinar is tomorrow at noon. Reserve your seat here.