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Standard I-O Introduces E-Marketing Software, NLComposer - December 6, 2002 —Standard I-O, Inc. has released version 2.0 of NLComposer, a web-based E-Marketing communications tool that makes e-mail marketing and publishing in HTML accessible to anyone from small businesses to large corporations with limited design and marketing resources. Leveraging the low cost of distribution via the Internet, e-mail marketers can send professional, targeted communications to their customers at a lower cost than by mail.

"As the University of Southern Maine School of Business considered tackling its mission-related charge to establish deeper relationships with its existing students, alumni, and business community, we realized that this robust e-newsletter marketing tool was one very effective answer for us," says Michael Donahue, U.S.M. Director of External Linkages and Partnerships. "NLCompser makes HTML email development a reality for people who have limited experience or resources needed to reap the rewards that can be derived from a truly effective electronic newsletter."

NLComposer helps publishers manage their email lists, organize and archive content and measure a program’s success. The software eliminates the need to learn HTML or spend time adjusting emails for multiple formats. And, because the publisher’s content library is stored and served by Standard I-O, there are no bandwidth considerations.

NLComposer’s key differentiator is that Standard I-O custom designs a branded template for each customer. Another core feature is the ability to report on click-throughs, subscribers, mail distribution and more. Some additional features include: Profile management, List Management, and Scheduled Deployment.

“NLComposer 2.0 is a major upgrade to an already popular product,” said Jesse Chunn, President of Standard I-O, Inc. “With version 2.0, we did a total re-write, from the ground up, so we could incorporate the features our customers were asking for without the artificial limitations introduced when working with an existing code-base. The result was a feature-rich product that is intuitive and powerful. Our initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and license upgrades have been almost universal since the version 2.0 release was privately announced to our existing client base.”

New clients of NLComposer include Pierce Atwood, the largest law practice north of Boston, DeLorme and the University of Southern Maine. NLComposer version 2.0 was previewed at the ICST E-Business conference in Portland, Maine on September 25, 2002. Standard I-O provides one-on-one demonstrations to interested clients by calling 207-541-4746, extension 207 or email, nlcomposer@standardio.com.

CNBrown.com selected as Best of the Web Awards finalist - CNBrown.com (http://www.cnbrown.com), a website designed and developed by Standard I-O, has been selected as a finalist in the Best of the Web Awards. Awards will be presented by Interface Tech News at the 5th Annual OPTC Business & Technology Celebration, happening Thursday from 4:30 to 7:30 pm at 164 Middle Street in Portland, ME.

C.N.Brown owns such familiar brands as Big Apple Food Stores and Red Shield Heating Oil, and has been serving New England since 1948.

Standard I-O client Parco Merged Media Announces License Agreement - Parco Merged Media has secured an exclusive license agreement with Mulitspectral Solutions Inc. (MSSI) for the use of Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology in healthcare and safety markets.

Standard I-O President Awarded Volunteer of the Year And Elected as Vice President at MESDA Technology Awards. - Jesse Chunn, President and founder of Standard I-O, Inc. should not have been surprised when his endless support and dedication to small business initiatives and MESDA projects was acknowledged at the first annual MESDA Technology Awards on July 12, 2002. This honor recognizes the “after hours” assistance that Jesse and his staff at Standard I-O provide to Maine-based organizations that do not have the resources or capital to make their technology-constrained vision a reality.

“If you put a sign out on Congress Street looking for volunteers, Jesse Chunn would be the first one there,” said David Fernald of Terralink Software Systems who presented the award.

Standard I-O worked with MESDA to build a highly advanced site with functionality usually reserved for well-funded corporations. MESDA wanted the site to support handheld devices, newsfeeds, secure automated administration, a job board, a discussion board, and many other features that are typically unattainable without significant financial investment. Standard I-O incorporated these features and more into the site enabling MESDA to move forward with several initiatives that would have been otherwise impossible.

“Standard I-O, like any company, has excess capacity from time to time,” said Chunn. “We apply that capacity toward projects that help non-profit organizations aligned with our corporate beliefs and that are beneficial to the community.”
At the awards, Chunn was elected to the post of Vice President of MESDA. Chunn was also nominated for CEO of the Year along with two other candidates. Although Chunn did not win this award, he considered it an honor to be nominated. “I have already won,” Chunn said about the nomination. “To be a finalist beside Kirk Pond and A. Leigh Powell is quite an accomplishment in itself as far as I am concerned.”

Standard I-O President Codes Prize Winning "Bug" - Standard I-O President Jesse Chunn has earned the right to be called one of the best .Net programmers in the United States. Microsoft recently held a national competition, called the U.S. Ecosystem Challenge, in which programmers were asked to write an Intelligent "Insect" that could live in a simulated "terrarium" where it would have to compete against other entrants for food and space. Chunn’s bug was one of more than 5,000 that were entered into the ecosystem to compete. The goal of the competition was to have your bugs reproduce in order to propagate the species and achieve the highest possible population by the close of the contest on April 11, 2002. Starvation or other bugs would eventually kill off the weaker bugs, while the strongest would propagate throughout the "ecosystem", which was a peer-to-peer network of contestants playing across the Internet. The bugs were randomly "teleported" from one peer to another, allowing a stronger species to be introduced and thrive on other contestants’ terrariums. These bugs had to find virtual plants to eat if they were "herbivores", or kill and eat other bugs if they were "carnivores". It was up to the contestant to choose which to be. Chunn was one of only 10 top prizewinners. Details can be found at http://www.gotdotnet.com/terrarium/uschallenge/.

Standard I-O Does DirectX - Standard I-O has begun work on a new top-secret project that will use Microsoft’s DirectX technology to generate real-time 3D simulations. While the project's purpose is not being revealed at this time, it will be the most advanced application of its kind according to Jesse Chunn, Standard I-O's President. The system will simulate 3D space using a combination of techniques similar to those used in advanced game engines such as "DOOM" and Microsoft’s "Ages of Empires". Systems of this kind are very rare outside of the gaming industry, mostly because of the many complex disciplines involved and the lack of individuals with a mastery of all of them. Programming 3D systems requires a high degree of mathematical analysis, programming expertise, and an understanding of the hardware systems that the software will run on. Standard I-O hopes to release the new software some time late in 2003, but is planning to officially announce it in the first quarter.

Standard I-O sends key staff to VSLive in Orlando - Standard I-O sent several key members of our programming team to Orlando for the VSLive event. VSLive (Visual Studio Live) is held in Orlando and other cities around the world, and is an opportunity for developers to see what the latest Microsoft development tools are capable of. This year, as expected, was highly focused on the .Net Framework, a methodology for building software applications. The latest version of Visual Studio, "Visual Studio.Net", is designed specifically to exploit the capabilities of the .Net Framework.
Our staff is focusing on the .Net Framework as the technolgy of the future, and we intend to be the premier New England providers of systems that leverage .Net.
.Net is built from the ground up to support XML, Web-Services, and traditional Microsoft Windows application development, a cornerstone of Standard I-O from the beginning. For more information on the .Net Framework, visit the Microsoft website, or visit Standardio.org for the latest articles on the subject.

Standard I-O Rocks the MESDA NetPM - On September 6th, 2001, Standard I-O hosted the MESDA NetPM event. According to all accounts it was, simply put, a huge success. Standard I-O launched several new websites, including the new MESDA site (http://www.mesda.com), which was built by Standard I-O on a pro-bono basis in support of the industry association. When asked about the site, Jesse Chunn (President of Standard I-O) said, "MESDA has done great things for the tech industry here in Maine, we support them 110%, and this is just our way of giving something back."

Standard I-O also launched three new sites of their own. They announced their new corporate site at http://www.standardio.com, their new design site at http://www.standardio.net, and a very ambitious new site for developers and designers to find resources at http://www.standardio.org. All four sites were built using Microsoft’s upcoming "dotNet" technology, allowing Standard I-O to claim a leadership role for Microsoft based software development in Maine and Northern New England.

The monthly NetPM event, organized by MESDA's Executive Director Joseph Kumiszcza, is a networking opportunity for business executives from all over the state of Maine to connect and find ways to work together on the technical front. Software development companies as well as other tech-savvy organizations were represented. John Rogers (CEO of iCoreSystems) was at the event as well. iCoreSystems is providing Data services for the new MESDA site as well as Standard I-O. "When Standard I-O approached us about providing infrastructure for the new MESDA site, we jumped at the offer. Standard I-O and MESDA are both cornerstones of our growth plans, and we are honored to work with them." Rogers' company is also donating hardware and services to the MESDA Java Users Group, and supporting an initiative to build a large Linux-based server farm in the state.
Another notable attendee was David Delorme, founder of the Maine-based Delorme Mapping Company. "Mr. Delorme is a legend here in Maine, and I was very excited to see him here Thursday night. His story is an inspiration to me and every other person in Maine," stated Chunn.

Standard I-O held several contests during the event, including putting and dart contests with the winners taking home movie passes, and a $100 drawing, won by Dan Brunelle of Advantage Public Relations. Of course, the real prize was the coveted "MESDA Putter", which was won by Rachel Lyn Rumson of iCoreSystems. Rachel Lyn was quoted as saying “Yippee!”

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