SwANH’s InfoXchange brings industry together

Even when the software industry was in its infancy, New Hampshire was home to a high concentration of software producers. Today, hundreds of companies of all sizes currently design, develop and release software every year in New Hampshire.

As with the evolution of the industry, the nonprofit Software Association of New Hampshire – or SwANH — has been through many revisions, enhancements and releases since its founding in 1994. Today, it’s an organization with three distinct purposes — educating, promoting and connecting people involved with software production at all levels and in all roles.

Over the last two years, the organization has focused on providing consistent, high-quality educational events. The events, held each quarter, focus on one particular business or technical topic as deemed important by the membership. In addition, SwANH hosts InfoXchange, an annual daylong conference held in October that offers both business and technical educational opportunities that highlight pressing topics in software production.

This year’s InfoXchange will run from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, at SERESC in Bedford.

While there are software producers in all corners of the state, SwANH has found its most successful venue for events to be the Southeastern Regional Education Service Center, or SERESC. The facility also offers videoconferencing capabilities, enabling people in all parts of the state to take advantage of the events, even when being there in person is not an option.

SwANH’s mission is complementary to that of the New Hampshire High Tech Council, said Dave Todaro, chair of the association’s board. “They offer tremendous value to the high-tech industry in New Hampshire overall, and we focus on unique issues that software producers face.”

He said SwANH offers value to a subset of High Tech Council members by focusing on software-specific issues, both technical and business. The organizations have co-hosted several events and often market to the other’s constituency.

SwANH’s membership currently includes approximately 100 companies, and the organization is hoping to double that by the end of 2009, Todaro said. Membership fees vary by company size, based on the number of employees in New Hampshire. There also is an affiliate membership category for organizations interested in connecting with base members.

SwANH’s board members have both a history in the software industry as well as leadership experience with major software organizations in the state. Former or current software employers of board members include PixelMEDIA, BID2WIN, Newmarket International, Bradford Networks, Profit Tools and SyAM Software.

For more information on the InfoXchange, call Brian Widell at 603-659-3822 or visit www.swanh.org.