As we pass the two year birthday of Vineyard Networks as a company, there are many exciting changes happening.  I think first and foremost is we are moving into new office space!  It is a great feeling when the company grows so much that we don't fit into our current office anymore.  We will miss our current space though, being in a tech incubator has provided numerous benefits (see more about the benefits of tech incubators here!) that have gotten us to where we are today.  The start up incubators are a great middle step from setting up in the basement to renting your own facility.  With shared meeting, reception, and common space, costs are significantly reduced, and there is a predetermined monthly rent, preventing fluctuating monthly payments when cash is tight.  While we will miss the brainstorming and collaboration that comes with being surrounded by 10 other start ups, it is a giant leap forward for us to claim new space.  We look forward to the move, and invite everyone to stop on by and say hi.

On Thursday the Minister of Technology, Small Business, and Economic Development, Iain Black, visited the offices of Vineyard Networks in Kelowna, BC.  BC currently boasts many provincial and federal technology based economic support programs that make it great to be a tech company in BC.  In addition to the direct programs, Canada is also putting a lot of support into post secondary education and research, which provides many more direct and indirect benefits to tech companies (for example check out our joint UBC research program).

With the support of folks like Iain Black, Canada will continue to grow into one of the leading countries for technology development in the world and we're proud to be part of that growth.

With July came the 1 year anniversary of our first customer.  A lot has changed in the last year, our product focus, our employee count (we have hired 8 people in the last 8 months alone!) and our customer list.  A technology partnership with Blue Coat and numerous MSP alliances have given us more exposure and visibility then we could have hoped for.  One thing that hasn't changed is our desire to provide industry leading network monitoring and classification solutions, and we are proud of how far these have come.

We are pretty excited about this, and think its pretty cool to see a whole years worth of data on one page.  This is the first of many, and we look forward to growing with our customers in the future!  The next year should bring many more exciting things.

I've been reading a lot lately about Patent trolling and violation, specifically regarding the new wireless email lawsuits and SCO's continued appeals.  As an innovative company, I am in support of the concept of Patent Law and the ability to protect intellectual property.  After all, it seems fair to reward companies who invest in the creation of our next generation of technologies, but, as a company building a business I think we need to understand that invention is only one part of the process of building a successful venture.  There is also the investment in building a business plan, marketing, sales, distribution, and support.  All of these are needed to successfully get most inventions to market and to capitalize on the invention.

With so many patent applications, and so little understanding of what we will create tomorrow, it seems we're losing focus of the whole reason behind patents.  They're supposed to make it safe to invent and create, not inhibit it or increase the risk.  I'm not sure what the solution is, perhaps a claim should be a multiple of what the inventor invested into commercializing the technology, not based on what someone else (who probably inadvertently violated the patent in the first place) has managed to do with it.

It's a big issue to tackle but I think it's going to be fundamental to maintaining the innovative culture.