The rain didn't stop the crowds from coming out to the NYSIA Sales and Marketing party on Thursday, August 23rd. About 100 people pushed into the reception lounge on the 24th floor of MediaServ's offices to practice the art of meet and greet. Paul Kontonis of BTL Design, played host and bartender for the night, serving up wine to the masses and bottles of Presidente beer from his private stash to people in the know. Andrea Kallies, CEO of MediaServ, showed me around the company's new offices, which are bedecked in industrial chic while Bruce Bernstein, the president of NYSIA, gushed that the company is one of the best success stories in the Alley.
Emmanuel Savioz, co-founder of PGuardian Technologies was in New York by way of California and stopped in to chat and mingle. His security software is still in development, but he said that no matter what phase a product is in, it's important to get out and market it. That's exactly what Ralph Rizzuto, the VP of MTC Industries was up to. His CD-Rom on Chinese Medicine was just completed this month after five years of development and he was eager to share the news. Ben Weintraub, CEO of Merit Software also had cause to celebrate. His software geared for the education market just garnered an award from Smart Computing Magazine. Justin Zimmerman, who works for the City of Yokohama to bring companies across the Pacific, was also mingling among the crowd, which preferred to stay inside and nibble on the free plates of cheese and pizza rather than venture out for dinner.