ValueRich Magazine Fall 2006 | Ronnie Wood by GLX.com

Small-cap Market Exposure Small companies could do better, analysts, fund managers and IR pros say page 76

PSNet, Inc. Anew convergence device page 66

GeoPharma Inc. (GORX) SmarTire Systems Inc. (SMTR) Edgewater Foods International, Inc. (EDWT) Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (ASTI) etrials Worldwide, Inc. (ETWC)

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Communique Web 2.0 for Wall Street As we push further and further ahead with the ValueRich business model of helping Wall Street professionals and public company executives connect with each other, we find that our ambitious plan to change the way Wall Street does business is working . ValueRich is constantly flooded with inquires from companies seeking investment banking services, banks looking for financial opportunities, and professionals in need of more clients. It seems natural for us to broaden our media approach, connecting these inquires and doing more business in the process. It still amazes me that you can turn on your computer and, with a couple of keystrokes or mouse clicks, find practically any product or service on Planet Earth . But wheeling and dealing on Wall Street is still done the old-fashioned way: formal presentations, the never-ending meetings, the long lunch pitches, and of course flying halfway around the world to give a presentation- only to find out that you wasted precious time and money because the meeting could have been accomplished with a conference call in 15 minutes. My question to you is this: If online dating works, if eBay works, if millions of people on thousands of Web sites conduct billions of dollars' worth of business every day, then why can't Wall Street tap into this opportunity? In my assessment, if the proper functionality were given to Wall Street professionals online, then it's a natural evolution for the business to utilize the Web. Currently, what would you do if your company needed to raise capital? First you would write a business plan outlining your planned expansion . Then you would circulate the business plan to investment banks with follow-up phone calls, hoping to get a face -to -face meeting with a junior banker at a firm . This process is time-consuming and expensive and often yields no results. I owned a firm for ten years. The ratio of deals we financed versus deals we saw was something like 500 to 1. I am not kidding. And most of those deals came through a trusted source. You can search the Web and find some good leads and professionals who handle investment banking, but you are usually forced to sift through verbose advertising language to determine whether a firm specializes in the type of transaction you're looking to finance. There is currently no central location where one can shop banks to find a match for a particular deal. There also is no place where one can submit business plans, financial s and investment banking objectives to have deals sourced to multiple pre-qualified investment bankers who are ready, willing and expecting the deal proposal. Here is an idea: Web 2.0 for investment banking. Now is the time to tap the power of Web 2.0 to go public, raise capital, merge, acquire, partner or just get more clients. This new technology has so many feature s that will help us evolve beyond our present banking inefficiencies. Investment banking firms are very competitive, but forming a coalition to create better efficiencies between Wall Street and the small-cap community would be good for everyone's bu siness. It would also make sen se for small research firms to join together to become more influential and marketable by providing a small -cap "Research Central." In fact, all of business and finance, public and private, is connected at some level. Which brings me back to ValueRich and those investment banking inquires that keep flooding in. We started ValueRich magazine to create a community around small-caps, and we succeeded . We began hosting the ValueRich Small-cap Financial Expos so that companies could meet multiple investment bankers on Bankers' Row. So, what about Web 2.0 for investment banking, an online Bankers' Row, a Research Central, the ability for IR to build interest online rather than resorting to spam, the ability for Wall Street professionals and company officers to meet new partners, advisers, board members and friends the way they do at our Expos, only being able to do so 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and globally? We're working on it. Stay tuned .

/l~(;t;'J Joseph C. Vi sconti President and CEO, ValueRich, Inc.

4 I VALUERICH

MAGAZIN E

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Communique The Wave on the Horizon In 1988 I owned a full-service graphic design studio. In those days, design was focused primarily on display advertising and print design. My business was very collaborative. Aside from hiring photographers and writers, each job required the services of a typographer and photo technician to create the various elements that went into producing the mechanical art boards. Every rev ision meant going back to the vendor- pickup and delivery. The typical ad took a week or more; the typical brochure took weeks to prepare for press. Things got even more interesting at press. My art boards would be handed over to strippers. There was nothing erotic about these strippers. These were usually crusty old guys with 20 or 30 years under their belts. They would burn negatives from my mechanical art and overlays, and strip them into pin-registered flats. A lush full-color brochure could easily require composing 30 separate flats to expose the printing plates. It was all done by hand -pure craftsmanship. The process was so arcane that I always told job applicants fresh out of art school to go work for a printer for a few years before I would consider hiring them . One day a commercial printer I used showed off their new Kodak photo composing station to me. The station, for a single operator, was connected to a mini-mainframe computer that was specially housed in an adjacent cold room . The whole setup cost a little over a million dollars. The printer proudly told me, "This is the wave of the future. With this, we can compose photographs digitally and save on stripping time." But another wave that he couldn't foresee was looming on the horizon. Apple Computers and Adobe Software had introduced evolving technology which would change the design and print industries so completely that entire trades would disappear and many companies would go out of business. About a year later, I saw that same million-dollar piece of equipment sitting out in the rain behind the print warehouse. When I asked what happened, the printer showed me four employees working on Macintosh desktop computers lined up along the wall. "The Kodak machine was a production bottleneck," he said. "We now get four times as much work done and the whole network only cost about $40,000:' Over the next ten years, digitization caused massive layoffs and consolidation throughout the print graphics industry. There is no such thing as a stripper in the print industry anymore. Those of us who adopted digital technology had to quickly evolve a whole new set of procedures. Hierarchical project management didn't fit the process. As more and more functions converged to the desktop environment, designers like myself became design editors and ultimately the arbiters of the project. Among other things, this brought a dramatic change to the culture of journalism. The digital design revolution ultimately created outstanding efficiencies for publishing, design and print. It brought vitality and creative innovation, paving the way for later online and multimedia convergence. It also prepared the American graphics industry to meet the rising challenges of global competition. There is a moral to this story. I see a very similar set of circumstances brewing on the horizon today. But this time, instead of just one manufacturing sector being affected, it looks as if the entire business world could be in for sweeping changes. Web 2.0 brings stronger bottom-up influences to business development. That's not necessarily a bad thing . If ever there was a business sector that could use the efficiencies and culture shift that Web 2.0 portends, it is that of micro- and small-cap public companies. In this issue, we introduce you to Web 2.0 and some ideas about how it might affect business. We also have a special report about how some small-cap, on-demand software companies challenged basic assumptions of product and service to great effect. I've really enjoyed working on this issue because it is fun to speculate what may be coming over the horizon. I hope you enjoy reading it just as much.

David A. Willson Editor, ValueRich magazine

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

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PRODUCT OF ENGLAND

IMPORTED

Fall2006: The companies listed below appear in the editorial pages of this issue. PSNet, Inc. SmarTire Systems Inc. (OTCBB: SMTR) Edgewater Foods Internationa l, Inc. (OTCBB: EDWT)

The staff of ValueRich wants to know: What's at the top of your playlist? Joseph C. Visconti Radiohead "There There (The Boney King of Nowhere!" President & CEO joseph@vrexpo.net David A. Willson Jane's Addiction "To Match the Sun" Editor-in-chief dwillson@valuerichonline.com

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASTI) eti ral s Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq: ETWC) Geopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: GORX) Adams Golf (OTCBB: ADGO) Summit Environmental Corporation, Inc. (OTCBB: SEVT) Bravo! Foods International Corp. (OTCBB: BRVO) Clearly Ca nad ian Beverage (OTCBB: CCBEF)

liza Grant Smith The Shins "New Slang" Managing Editor liza @valuerichonline.com

Access Integrated Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AIXD)

J.C. Spradley Kasabian "Stuntman" Art Director jcs@valuerichonline.com

Medifast Inc. (NYSE: MED)

New York Contributing Editor Thomas Werner

Fountain Powerboat Industries, Inc. (AMEX: FPB)

Contributing Editors Kayla Willson Rolling Stones "Rain Fall Down" Rita Samols Israel Kamakawiwo'ole "Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" Denelle Swaim James Blunt "Tears and Rain" Stephen Feller TV On The Radio " Wolf Like Me" Kristina Henneberg Christina Aguilera "Back in the Day" Contributors Will Andrews War "Low Rider"

Click Com merce, Inc. (Nasdaq: CKCM) 1-trax, Inc. (AMEX: DMX)

Nci, Inc. (Nasdaq: NCIT) Synchronoss Technolog ies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNCR)

CyberOptics Corp. (Nasdaq: CYBE) Raser Tech Inc. (NYSE: RZ) WiderThan Co., Inc. (Nasdaq: WTHN) Leading Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq : LBI X) AXT, Inc. (Nasdaq: AXTI) Boston Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLSI) lnfoCrossing, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFOX) Mobius Management Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: MOBI) NeoPharm, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEOL)

Advertising & Convention Sales Gregg Lowenstein Pat Metheny Group ':4re You Going With Me?" Vice-President of Sales greggl@valuerichonline.com Adriana Guardia Marc Anthony "Tu Amor Me Hace Bien" Accounting and Bookeeping adriana@valuerichonline.com Ashley Sosner Frank Sinatra "Fly Me to the Moon" Director of Corporate Development ashley@valuerichonline.com Dave Roeder Director of Business Development droeder@va luerichonline.com Pabla Ayala Gnarls Barkley "The Last Time" Sales/Marketing Assistant pabla@valuerichonline.com Maki Ayala Justin Timberlake "Sexy Back" Convention Coordinator pabla@valuerichonline.com Lance McCoy Radiohead "ldiotegue" Account Executive lance@valuericho nline.com Beni Tsurumi Men Without Hats "Safety Dance" Account Executive beni@va luerichon\ine .com

Reed Smith Depeche Mode "Enjoy the Silence" ChiefTechnology Officer reed@valuerichonline.com Copyright 2006 byValueRich, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher and editors are not responsible for unsolicited material. Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, photographs and drawings. Every effort has been made to assure that all information presented in this issue is accurate, and neither ValueRich magazine or any of its staff or authors is responsible for omissions or information that has been misrepresented to the magazine.

ValueRich magazine, Issue 9 Fall 2006, is published quarterly by ValueRich, Inc., 1804 N. Dixie Highway, Suite A, West Palm Beach, FL 33407. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ValueRich, 1804 N. Dixie Highway, Suite A, West Palm Beach, FL 33407. Phone: 561-832-8878, Fax: 561-841-1524, www.valuerichonline.com

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Nathan's Famous, Inc. (Nasdaq: NATH) Trinity Financing Investments Tesla Motors Descartes Systems Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DSGX) RightNowTechnologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNOW) Taleo Corp. (Nasdaq: TLEO) Vocus, Inc. (Nasdaq: VOCS) Workstream, Inc. (Nasdaq: WSTM) WebSideStory, Inc. (Nasdaq: WSSI) Satuit Capital Management, LLC Perritt Capital Management, Inc. Roth Capital Partners, LLC Jefferies & Company, Inc. Capita l Group Communications, Inc. Big Apple Consulting USA, Inc.

41 exhibiting companies at the ValueRich Sma ll-cap Financial Expo. See page 22 for that list. ValueRich, Inc. publishes this magazine as a service to our customers. Our editorial goal is to provide a forum to promote communication of information and business objectives. Our articles, columns, advertisements and other features should not be construed as investment or legal advice, nor does their appearance imply an endorsement by ValueRich of any specific investment, security, transaction or strategy. The articles we publish contain the views solely of their respective authors and our publication. There is not a claim, promise or guarantee about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information and neither ValueRich or its authors are responsible or liable for any trading or investment decisions made based on such information. Our affi liates, officers, directors and employees may have purchased or may buy shares discussed in ValueRich from time to time. We may also receive compensation from parties who utilize our publication seNices and engage in future transactions as a result of our services or publication. WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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America Distributor: FINE Writing Inc. 300-2C Route 17 South - Lodi , New Jersey 07644 Tel. 1-800 Visconti 001 .973.7739 - Fax 001.973.7739091 Visconti info: www.vlsconti.it

l.Contents

Fall 2006

VAL

RICH THIN K SMALL路 CAP

Cover Photo by Jenny Hand

x. Ped itions

i .Wont.l

Feed your passion for everything from golf to cigars to high-tech innovations with

this issue's collection of unique items.

By Kayla Wil lson

VolueRich Expo

n.Ovotions

Vegas Never Sleeps, But It's Always Dreaming Adozen of the hottest shows in town

up in a star-crossed conjunction to change

ATG Javelin Putting the Xin eXecutive Jet

Finding Covergence in Business An interview with Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT

Hard Charger The Tesla Roadster By Will Andrews

By David Will son

IPO Overview: SPACs Pick Up Speed n.Motion

New technology, a shift in culture and a

everything ... again .

Scoop By John E. Fitzgibb on, Jr.

The Next Big Web Boom programming revolution appear to be lining

By Ka yla Wi llson

El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa Eco-elegance in Taos

By David Wil lson

PSNet, Inc. Inventing the 'Future of the Internet' By Denelle Swa im

By Will Andrews

n. Dustry Cover Story

Fortunate Son The Art of Ronnie Wood By David Will son

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

The Software Coup d'Etat How on-demand players outthought and outplayed the traditional software giants. By Liza Grant Smith WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

•

Powerful Formation . Introducing I•Metrix from EDGAR Online Because you spend too much time hunting for financial information and too little time analyzing the data, we've introduced I·Metrix, a suite of data and analytica l tools. I·Metrix was designed to provide greater structure and transparency to fundamental and market data . With I·Metrix, users realize the power of XBRL, a global data standard, to deliver unparalleled advantages over the status quo . In add ition to enhanced depth and breadth of financial information , I·Metrix delivers data faster and more cost-effectively than anything else. Regardless of whether you analyze data using Excel or a proprietary application, I•Metrix delivers immediate ROI through increased productivity. Call Corporat e Sales at 888-870-2316 or vi sit us online at www.edgar-online.com to see how I•Metrix can improve the speed,

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2.Contents

------

Fall 2006

VAL

RICH THINK SMALL· CAP

~--~~----------~ ~------

w.Street

GeoPharma: The Right Formula for Growth Market Dating Dos and Don'ts 100 76 Small-Cap GeoPhormo, Inc. (GORX) Lesson l: Getting Noticed By Liza Grant Smith

By Stephen Feller

Company >< Connect

n. Business

Edgewater Foods: The Art 82 and Science of Seafood

The ValueRich Marketplace: 107 Where Small-cop Public Companies State Their Financial Objectives

Edgewater Foods International, Inc. (EDWT) By Liza Grant Smith

a. Toast

Solar Technologies: Power by the 86 Ascent Roll

California Pinot Noir 124 World-doss wines come of age among the giant redwoods

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (ASTI)

By Greg Allikas

By Kristin a Henneberg

etrials Worldwide: Clinical Trials without the Paper Tribulations etriols Worldwide, Inc. (ETWC)

n.Ciosing

128

By St ephen Feller

SmarTire Systems: Playing It SmarT on the Road to Fuel Efficiency SmorTire Systems, Inc. (SMTR) By Den elle Swa im

12 I

VALUERICH MAGAZINE

It's A Small-cap World After All ••• By St eve Crow ley

n . Every Issue

Communique

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Little Big Shot About the same size and only slightly thicker than a cell phone, the Canon 1 080 HV1 0 camcorder is a pocket powerhouse- packing sharp and colorful full-resolution digital video on your HD TV. And better yet, you won 't have to fumble around for a digital still camera to get some amazing snaps at the same time, because the HV1 0 also shoots Canon-sharp 3.1 megapi xel stills. This mighty mite gets the "best of" technology award for all the super popular, professional quality features it borrows from Canon's EOS digital SLR cameras and best-selling broadcast television lenses. That means world-class HD optics, super-range optical image stabilization, a 1OX optical I 200X digital HD Canon zoom lens, a DIGIC DV II image processor, Canon's own full HD video resolution (1920 x 1080) CMOS senso r and new auto-focus capabilities. This is a first for CMOS in an HDV camcorder, adding speed and versatility, lower power consumption and higher resolution HD video -even in dimly lit situations. The sensor also sports RGB primary co lor filtration for vibrant and accurate HD color. Now, if it wou ld just text message ... $1,299 www.usa.canon.com

Unchained Melodies The problem with digital convergence is that most people still don't have any. If you're one of the millions of people with a killer collection of music files on your PC and your stereo or bedroom speakers aren't connected, this one's for you .

You can stream music throughout your home using Music Anywhere TM wire less technology without an existing wireless network. Just plug the Logitech Wireless DJ Music System transmitter into a USB port on your Windows PC and then connect up to four Music Receiver/ Docks to your stereo system or powered speakers using standard connectors. It's easy to browse your entire collection or play Internet radio using the DJ Music System's remote LCD display and mechanical scro ll wheel. Logitech 's StreamPoint"M software plays friendly with iTunes, Windows Media" Player and Musicmatch " Jukebox. It even offers an active playlist feature, so you can add songs or albums anytime without stopp ing the music. Now that 's plug and play. $249.99 Additional receivers $79.99 ea . www.logitech.com

WWW.VREXPO .NET

FAl l 2006

Looking for all the world like a super-sofa from the Space Station Hilton in 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, Luna Project by CKR- Marten Claesson , Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune- is a childlike modernist romp that would turn anyone's very large party room into a veritable theme park. Born in the U.S. by way of Sweden for the Dune Collection in 2005, Luna measures 17'3" x 14'7" and is upholstered with 100 percent wool felt. It is functional and yet offers a playroom-like

experience for up to 30 friends . The upholstery can be customized with whatever fabric the customer prefers. You can purchase Luna by special commission from DuneNY. Then climb into your smoking robe and slippers, invite over all your friends and say, "Eat your heart out, Hef." $125,000 www.dune-ny.com www.claesson-koivisto-rune.se

Off the

Cuff Get that monkey off your back and start wearing your heart on your sleeve. Robin Rotenier's line of novelty cufflinks is the perfect way to impart a little whimsy and lifestyle into your corporate uniform. Born and raised in Paris, Rotenier launched his eponymous collection in 1993 after longing for more creativity than his job at a major advertising agency afforded him. His sterling silver cufflinks have since become a staple at high-end retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. A third-generation

I VALUERICH MAGAZIN E

designer, Rotenier personally carves all models and finishes them by hand in his New York studio. In keeping with the idea that style should be a reflection of personality, Rotenier offers a variety of themed sets including everything from animals (lobsters, Labradors, rhinos) to sports and hobbies (golf balls, dice, yachts) . It's time your French cuffs met with some attitude. $235 www.robinrotenier.com WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

Cigar Savior Since hiring a full-time cigar roller may be neither practical nor economical, consider celebrating your affinity for cigars with a humidor by EuroCave. The Company, best known for its wine cellars, offers the perfect solution for keeping your cigar selection in an ideal condition over a period of time. With a capacity of 1,000 cigars, or 40 boxes, EuroCave's cigar humidor re-creates the climate of a Cuban cigar factory through automatic humidity and temperature regulation. Optional leather finishes, including crocodile grain, ostrich grain and long grain, mean the humidor is as at home in your office or library as it is in your kitchen. Now you can keep your cigars in the ultimate condition and less than an arm's length away ... perfect for after-dinner enjoyment with a snifter of $5,000 L'Esprit de Courvoisier cognac. Prices for the humidor with leather finish start at $6,495 , to which can be added the recommended sliding display tray ($249) and two cigar drawers ($169 each) . White-glove delivery runs $395 . Lead time is 12 to 14 weeks, so order now to get one in time for the New Year. For purchase information, contact a Wine Enthusiast Cellar Specialist at 1-800-377-3330. www.wineenthusiast.com

Splendor in the Grass During the workweek, stylish executives turn to renowned designers such as Kiton and Borelli for custom-fitted suits and shirts. With such exacting taste, why accept a one-size-fits-all mentality when the weekend finally rolls around? Next time you hit the links, leave your standard size 1Os at home and lace up a pair of custom-made E. Vogel golf shoes. Located in New York a block north of Canal on Howard Street, E. Vogel was founded in 1879 and is now managed by fourth-generation Dean Vogel and his cousin Jack Lynch. With the ability to adapt

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any of their shoe styles to a golf shoe, visitors to the shop can choose from over 100 types of leather, as well as select their desired sole material and thickness . The shoes are then custom made to measure from a handmade cast-model of your feet. Customization is neither quick nor inexpensive. The first pair of golf shoes runs $1 ,100 and takes approximately 12 weeks to produce. Subsequent pairs can be purchased for a more modest $750. Don't discount the importance of both style and comfort when you're driving for show and putting for dough. www.vogelboots.com (212) 925-2460

FA LL 2006

UERICH

Small-cap Financial Expo Wynn Las Vegas, October 25-26, 2006

Join small-cap company CEOs and their executive teams for two full days of networking at the beautiful new $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas resort. Connect with top Wall Street investment bankers,

money/fund managers, institutional investors, research analysts, qualified investors, attorneys and accountants.

Where Money & Ideas Connect 41 Exhibiting Companies* 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1 1. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21 . 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41.

Sage Global Solutions, Inc. Enxnet, Inc. Union Dental Holdings, Inc. Stronghold Industries Inc. Immersion Corporation Human BioSystems EnDevCo, Inc. TraceGuard Technologies Inc. lncrediMaillnc. SANZ Inc. Biophan Technologies, Inc. Hybrid Technologies, Inc. Continental Energy Corporation Epicus Communications Group, Inc. QPC La sers, Inc. Raptor Networks Technology Inc. SoftNet Techonology Corporation SmarTire Systems Inc. Better Biodiesel World AM, Inc. Triton Di stribution Systems, Inc. Genoil, Inc. etrials Worldwide, Inc. Palomar Enterpri ses, Inc. Park City Group, Inc. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. Universal Guardian Holding s, Inc. Teknik Digital Arts Inc. AMS Hea lth Sciences, Inc. International Stem Cell Corporation Netstairs.com Cyber Defense Systems, In c. PSNet Communications, Inc. lnnofon e.com Inc. Global Payment Technologies, Inc. Pro-Stars Inc. East Delta Resources Corporation US Dry Cleaning Corporation Imaging 3 Inc. Viral Shield Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Saflink Corporation

Exhibiting Service Providers* 1. Big Apple Consulting USA 2. MJMM Investment, LLC 3. Belmont Partners, LLC

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1O:OOam-11 :30am: Registration, Good morning brunch buffet, Sunset Terrace

Thursday, October 26, 2006 8:00am: Regi stration 8:00am-10:00am: Continental Breakfast,

10:00am-11:30pm: Sponsors & Exhibitors check-in and set-up 11 :30pm-5:00pm: Exhibition Hall Opens 12:05pm-12:20pm: ValueRich CEO Joseph Visconti Welcomes All 12:30pm-5:00pm: Lightning Round, 5-minute company presentations. Webcasted by Webex 2:00pm: Snacks and refreshments: iValueRich Cafe Lounge 5:00pm-7:30pm: Viva Las ValueRich ! Food, cocktails and entertainment, iValueRich Cafe Lounge

iValueRich Cafe Lounge

8:00am-5:00pm: CEO Open Access, Latour Ballroom opens

1O:OOam-5:1Opm: Public company 25minute presentation s, Breakout Rooms, Webcasted by Webex 12:00pm-1 :1 5pm: Banquet lunch, Speaker: Alex Lightman, CEO of lnnofone.com, Inc., The Latour Ballroom 1:15pm-5:1Opm: Public company presentations resume 5:15pm: Closing cocktail reception, iValueRich Cafe Lounge

Keynote Speaker Alex Lightman, CEO of lnnofone.com Inc. (OTC BB: INFN), is considered a leading authority on the new internet and the author of Brave New Unwired World: The Digital Big Bang and the Infinite Internet. Mr. Lightman's experti se centers on the massive upgrade of the The New Internet .

EXHIBITION HALL· LATOUR BALLROOM

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Images courtesy of Wynn Las Vegas and from previous ValueRich Small-cap Financial Expos Platinum Sponsors:

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^ Harbinger Research InHononHont AnalvslQ ndependent im/pstmont Investment Analysis VISCONTI

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Partial List of Registered Attendees'Companies* ACS Specialist Partners American Stock Exchange Ameriprise Financial Ashford Capital Management August Law Group, P.C. Caltius Capital Management Carmco Investments, LLC Cash Technologies, Inc. China Water Affairs Citigroup/ Smith barney Cohen Independent Research Group Cornell Capital Craig-Hallum Capital Crescent Fund Dickson Media Inc. Divine Capital Markets LLC EH Associates Empire financial group Endexx Corporation Equity Alliance International Equity Global Communications Essentia Private Equity, Ltd. Fairfield Research Corp. Farrand Investment Bankers First Republic Group Front Street Capital GBM Associates GCND, INC

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Genesis Fianancial Technologies Global Enterprises, Inc. Guestinvestusa LLC Herman, Alexis & Co., Inc. Intervest International Equities, Corp Investor Awareness, Inc. JCF Consulting, LLC JPCAREY JW Roth & Company, Inc. Knowledge Market, Inc. Magna advisors Mammoth Corporation Marino Capital Partners Material Events MCF Asset Management McNab LLB Mergermarket Milbank Roy Securities Morgan Stanley MyDaily Corporation Nate Bernstein & Associates, Attorneys and Counsel New Medium Enterprises Nile Capital LP North Pacific Corporation NY Global Ocean Avenue Advisors, LLC Oswalds Yap

OTCReporter.com Pacific Summit Securities Pacific Wealth Management Group Inc. Pali Capital, Inc. Paulson Investment Company PMG Capital, LLC PR Financial Marketing, LLC Profit Investment Management Public Display Quadragon Group Inc. Quintessence Photonics Corp. Radiant Logistics, Inc. Rainmaker systems RAM Capital Resources, LLC Rapin -Pillagin RBC Capital Markets RCC Holdings Corp RCO Ventures Corp Redstone Investment Group Relaunch venture capital Ridgestone Small Cap Value Fund Rimon Ventures LLC Roth Capital Partners SC Capital Partners, LLC Scottsdale Capital Advisors Seeking Alpha SeizureGuard, LLC Seventh Circle Consulting

Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference, LLP Sirenza Microdevices Small Cap Advisors Standard & Poors Stock Guru/TalkingStocks Taglich Brothers, Inc. Terra Nova The ComVest Group The Condor Group The Edge Boarding Industries The Global private client groupo merril lynch The NASDAQ Stock Market Thomas asset management Trinity international Turel Asset Mgmt. Group VentureNet Capital Group Vision Capital Advisors Waddell & Reed Wall Street Management & Capital, Inc. Waterford capital Whalehaven Funds William Blair & Company Winkler Securities World capital market Inc. Zawitz Investment Management Company

VALUE RICH Small-cap Financial Expo in

Hot, Hot Miami March 27-28, 2007 Join thousands of small-cap public company CEOs and CFOs, investment bankers, money/fund managers, institutional investors, brokers, research analysts, and qualified investors at the Hotel InterContinental Miami for two full days of public company exposition, financial presentations and business development. Once again , the ValueRich Small-cap Financial Expo will feature a nonstop expostyle showcase of American small-cap public company products and services. It is the only financial event in America designed to allow public company officers to make financial presentations and then be available for unlimited one-on-one meetings at their executive suites on the expo floor for two solid days.

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The ValueRich Small-cap Financial Expo at the Hotel InterContinental in Miami, March 8-9, 2006 was an outstanding success.

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Never Sleeps, But It's Always Dreaming

by Kayla Willson

A dozen of the hottest tickets in town

Five-ring Cirque It would be hard to leave town without seeing at least one offive incredible Cirque du Solei I shows now in Vegas. Since it was founded in 1984, Cirque du Soleil has thrilled over 42 million spectators in more than 130 cities on four continents. Enter their dream and your world will never be the same again! www.cirquedusoleil.com

11011速

at Bellagio

"Welcome to a place where all the world is water and the stage is all the world:' Cirque du Solei I weaves an aquatic tapestry of artistry, surrealism and theatrical romance in this breathtaking production. Phonetically speaking, "0" is the French word for water (spelled eau) . The international cast of world-class acrobats, synchronized swimmers, divers and characters perform in, on, and above a 1.5-million-gallon pool. Resembling a 14th-century European opera house, the "O"Theatre seats 1,800 guests and was custom designed to meet the unique demands of the show.

Mystere速 at Treasure Island Mystere is a vibrant kaleidoscope of powerful athleticism, high-energy acrobatics and inspiring imagery. The vivid sets are punctuated by colorful costumes and signature Cirque du Solei I acts such as the Taiko (Japanese drums), Chinese poles, hand-tohand balancing, aerial high bar, bungee and Korean plank acts. You will be entranced and thrilled by a cast of 7S artists from around the world in this 90-minute production at the 1,629-seat Mystere Theatre - the first permanent Cirque du Soleil theatre to be custom-built to exact show specifications.

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Vegas Expo

ZUMANITY™ at New York-New York This more intimate Cirque du Soleil cabaret of the erotic is on the cutting edge of contemporary Las Vegas entertainment. The adult-themed 90-minute production blends playful innuendo with daring eroticism, exploring the full spectrum of human sexuality and intimacy to create a mosaic of love in all forms and from all perspectives. Your seduction will take place in the 1,259-seat ZUMANITY Theatre, a cozy, customdesigned space featuring seating options ranging from a romantic duo sofa for two to a solitary cabaret stool or a traditional theatre seat.

at the MGM Grand

KA combines martial arts, acrobatics, puppetry,

interactive video projections and pyrotechnics to tell the epic saga of Imperial Twins- a boy and a girl -who embark on an adventurous journey to fulfill their destinies. The show's title, KA, is inspired by the ancient Egyptian belief in the "ka," an invisible spiritual duplicate of the body that accompanies every human being throughout this life and into the next.

The Beatles™ LOVE™ at the Mirage LOVE is a timeless three-dimensional evocation of the music of The Beatles . An international cast of 60 channels the exuberant mania that was The Beatles with aerial performances, extreme sports and urban freestyle dance. You will experience the Fab Four as never before amidst advanced high-definition video projections, with 100-foot digital moving images and a panoramic surround sound system. LOVE, the product of a friendship between the late George Harrison and Cirque founder Guy Laliberte, will take you on a magical mystery tour! FA LL 2006

Le Reveâ&#x201E;˘ at the Wynn "A small collection of imperfect dreams:' Le Reve is the latest achievement of Franco Dragone, the internationally acclaimed creator and director. Dragone was the creative force behind many of the Cirque du Soleil productions, including "0 " and Mystere, as well as Celine Dion, A New Day. Le Reve is housed in a theatre-inthe -round - a rarity for Las Vegas -with no seat more than 42 feet from the performers. More than 70 performers move in and out of a set alive with sp ectacular water effects. Expect to get wet if you are seated in the front rows!

www.wynnlasvegas.com

Blue Man Group

at The Venetian

It 's a wildly outrageou s theatre experience. Thi s fun show is bizarre to the extreme -created by the famous blue geniu ses who think so far outside the entertainment bo x that you marvel at their childlike ingenuity. If you 've neve r seen the Blue Man Group , chec k out thi s amazing production at the state-of-the-art Venetian theatre for a night you won 't forget!

www.blueman.com

Image courtesy of Blue Man Gro up

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Folies Bergere at Tropicana This timeless musical extravaganza embodies the very essence of a classic sexy Las Vegas spectacle. Folies Bergere has fabulous singing and dancing, gorgeous Las Vegas showgirls in barely-there costumes, dazzling scenery, comedy and sheer sizzle! From its original award-winning can -can to steamy new Latin mambo numbers, Folies Bergere takes the traditional French-style revue to intoxicating new heights of excitement.

www.tropicanalv.com

The Red Piano. Elton John at Caesar's Palace

See Elton John, singer, songwriter, superstar in the intimate setting of The Colosseum at Caesar's Palace. Vibrant visual imagery blended with Elton John's music creates a unique spectacular unlike any other Elton John concert. Together with photographer David LaChapelle, Elton John has created The Red Piano -a career overview performance featuring a dream scape dripping with the rich imagery of Hollywood and Las Vegas icons. Please note that The Red Piano is designed with a Vegas theme and mature audiences

www.caesarspalace.com

Jubilee!

at Bally's

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Donn Arden 's lavish stage spectacular, a seven-act classic Las Vegas pro duction featuring million-dollar sets and costumes by Bob Mackie. Nearly 100 performers including 50 stunning topless Jubilee! dancers- voted "Best Showgirls " by the Las Vegas ReviewJournal's " Best of Las Vegas " readers poll.

www.ballys.com

WWW. VREXPO .NET

The Fashionistas at KRAVE Aladdin

Desert Passage -

the

Porn mogul John Stagliano has rein vented himself for the moment as a Vegas impresario with this dazzling, arty and erotic show. New to the Vegas Strip, the gender-blending extravaganza has been an immediate hit and critical favorite. With what critics ca ll "muscular and aggressive" staging technique, a hard-driving soundtrack, imaginative and unique costumes, and a humorous and sly story line, the Fashioni stas dishes the human form (with no nudity), fashion and spectacle in extreme style. www.fashionistastheshow.com

Stripper 101

attheAiaddin

Image: istockphoto.com, Kirsty Pargeter

David Saxe's participatory striptease dance studio in side the Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin gives women attendees the opportunity to burn calories and be sexy with striptease cardio and pole dancing. Stripper 101 teaches actual exotic dance moves used in Las Vega s gentlemen's clubs, as we ll as choreography with boas, chairs and poles. At the completion of the class each student receives a certificate establishing her as a "genuine Las Vegas stripper" and a souvenir photo. Students don't get naked, but they're encouraged to lose their inhibitions while having fun! R "Stripper 101" tickets are available through a variety of online Vegas ticket Web sites.

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Scoop

IPO Overview:

SPACs Pick Up Speed

By John E. Fitzgibbon, Jr. When EarlyBirdCapital priced the IPO Millstream Acquisition, a specified purpose acquisition company, on August 23, 2003, the financial world took little notice. After all, it was a small-cap deal of 3.5 million units priced at $6 each that raised $21 million . And the units were traded on the OTC Bulletin Board . Also, it was only one of 841POs priced in 2003, according to available reports. That was three years ago. Things have changed. Today, investors are taking notice of the specified purpose acquisition com panies, also known as SPACs or "blank check" companies. By Labor Day 2006, the IPO calendar had produced almost as many SPACs as all of2005, and the dollar volume was larger. Here's how SPACs traffic has unfolded since 2003: • 2003 : 1 SPAC raised $21 million . • 2004: 12 SPACs raised $425 million . • 2005: 28 SPACs raised $1.98 billion. • 2006: 27 SPACs raised $2.52 billion (by September 1) And there is more. On August 31, 2006, there were 42 SPACs in registration looking to rai se $3 .69 billion . Needless to say, the popularity of SPACs didn 't happen overnight . But the numbers show that their day has arrived . Risk Management Mr. Richard Matty, the syndicate manager of Laden burg Thalmann, an underwriter of many SPACs, told Va/ueRich, "SPAC s started becoming much more widely recognized and acceptable as a useful product for not only institutions, but for individuals as well. "Also, they offer reduced risk to investors," he added .

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

Matty said that about 97 percent of SPAC proceeds are placed in escrow

On June 29, 2005 , Services Acquisition Corp. International priced

pending an acquisition or merger. The SPAC usually has 18 months to complete a deal. If that doesn't happen , the money is refunded . In the meantime, the proceeds earn interest in escrow since the money is invested in U.S. Treasuries. When the SPAC has a merger target, shareholders can approve - or opt out and get their money back. He pointed out that all the SPACs are offered as units, common stock and warrants. If an investor chooses to be conservative, he or she could sell the warrants and lock in a profit. Here's how it works: Should a deal go the whole 18 months, on a purchase of an $8 unit, the investor would get back about $8 .02 . Matty said that about 97 percent of the money is in trust and

15 million units at $8 each to raise$ 120 million . The units were listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol of SVI-U. That was a first. Matty said that a company can save about $50,000 in state registration fees by listing on the AMEX (or on the New York Stock Exchange or the National Global Market Exchange) . When a company lists on any one of the three, it is granted an exemption from state registration requirements. With 50 states to contend with, that is a costly affair. As SPAC traffic started building and fees began rolling in, it caught the eye of several of Wall Street's major investment banking firms. Predictably, they jumped into the arena. The first was Deutsche Bank Securities . On November 1 1, 2005 , it priced 20 million units of Cold Spring Capital at $6 each to raise $120 million . The deal was traded on the AMEX under the symbol CDS-U. Other major names have joined the underwriting ranks to take SPACs public, such as Bane of America Securities, Citigroup , Merrill Lynch and UBS Investment Bank. The last two IPOs of summer were

collects interest. The profit would come from the earlier sale of the warrants.

A Look Back The first SPACs, underwritten by EarlyBirdCapital, GunnAIIen and Sunrise Securities, were all traded on the OTC Bulletin Board and most were small in size. The first two raised $21 million each. By 2005, the traffic for SPACs picked up, but it was still the domain of smaller investment bankers. Names such as !Bankers, Maxim Group and Ladenburg Thalmann appeared on the cover of the prospectu ses. SPACs continued to trade on the OTC Bulletin Board . Then changes came.

SPACs : • Marathon Acquisition priced 37 .5 million units at $8 each to raise $300 million on August 24. The underwriters were Citigroup, Ladenburg Thalmann and UBS Investment Bank, and the deal traded on the AMEX under the symbol of MAQ-U. • Energy Services Acquisition priced 8.6 million units at $6 each to raise $51 .6 million on August 30. The underwriter was Ferris , Baker Watts, and the deal traded on the AMEX under the symbol of ESA-U. These two transactions underscored the development of this investment instrument. Yes, baby, you 've come a long way! R John E. Fitzgibbon, Jr. has been an investment banker, an analyst and a journalist. He recently launched /PO Scoop. com, covering the /PO market for Wall Street. Mr. Fitzgibbons was previously a co-host of The /PO Show, on national radio. He was recognized with "Best of Wo/1 Street" for /PO coverage by CBS MarketWatch in 7998. WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

Our composite index refl ects an impressive variety of companies. And has successfully demonstrated impressive consistency, even in tough market cond it ions. Here, everyone from global leaders to niche players f inds a near-ideal environment for their one common goal: growth.

AMERICAN To learn more, ca ll John McGonegal, Senior Vice President, Equities, at 212-306-1652 or visit www.amex.com .

STOCK EXCHANGE" Equities Options ETFs

ÂŠ 2005 American St ock E xchange LL C. The Amer ica n St ock E xc ha nge lo go is a trad ema r k of Am er ica n St oc k Ex ch ange L L C. Past perf ormance is no guarantee of fut ure res u l ts.

According to the current documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car?, the oil companies and majo r auto manufacturers have conspired to keep clean, inexpensive electric automobiles out of the hands of consumers for profit reasons. Th ere may be an element of truth to that claim, but the founders ofTesla Motors feel that there is also another explan ation for why we aren't all driving electric cars today. In a me ssage on the company's Web site they say, "Historically, it seemed to us that electric cars had been designed by people who thought we really shouldn't be driving

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at all - but if we must, we should suffer every minute of it. Electric cars have had terrible range and embarrassing styling. To those who say electric cars have been tried and failed we say, of course electric cars won 't cat ch on if no on e actually wants to drive them." To prove their point Tesla has launched the fully electricTesla Roadster. It is a beautiful high-performance ride that will rip through 0 to 60 in about four seconds using first gear and reach a top speed of 130 in second. That's right, just two gears and a battery-powered electric motor creating faster acceleration than a Porsche 911 . But that's only

part of the story. With no clutch and a very wide, flat torque curve, the acceleration of the Tesla Roadster is instantaneous and thrilling- no matter what speed you start from. Based on the EPA's freeway test, th e Tesla Roadster has a range of 250 miles on a single charge. All you have to do when you pull into your garage is plug it in for the night the same way you'd charge your cell phone. The car ships with a Tesla rapid-charging connection that any qualified electrician can install in the owner 's garage . A full charge using this system can take as little as 3.5 hours. There is also an optional mobile WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

charging kit for charging from any avail-

hybrid cars while generating one-third

mechanics for work involving the car 's

able 11 OV or 220V electrical outlet, but at significantly longer charge times . Depending on your electric utility rate, the cost of driving the Tesla Roadster could be as little as a penny a mile.

of the carbon diox ide. Compared to other sports cars with the same performance and acceleration, it was six times as efficient and produced one-tenth the

unique electric drive train and chassis. Tesla Motors will begin with Customer Care Centers in five key markets Northern California, Southern California, Chicago, New York, and Florida- offering direct sales and support for buyers and owners. The Tesla Roadster is powered by a 900-pound water-cooled and heat-regulated lithium-ion battery pack. Tesla conservatively estimates that the battery pack should be able to power the roadster for 125,000 miles without any noticeable loss of power or charge duration . In development, Tesla focused on

American racing green No matter what color it 's painted, this roadster is always green . Tesla compared its first prototype vehicles in "we ll-to-wheel " research, accounting for all fuel efficiency and emissions of several types of high-efficiency cars, and found that the fully electric roadster offered double the efficiency of popular WWW. VREXPO . NET

pollution. Service is another inherent plus to a fully electric car. The car has none of the traditional scheduled requirements of oil and power steering fluid maintenance. Tire service should be all that is required during the first 100,000 miles, in contrast to the typical 3,000- to 5,000mile service schedule of gas-powered vehicles . Tesla recommends taking the car only to specially trained Tesla

FALL 2006

I 35

the Li-ion battery pack as the safest and most reliable battery technology available today . Lotus partnership The car was engineered, designed and developed by Tesla Motors in San Carlos, California, and all of its funding came from within the United States . Tesla's design and manufacturing partner, however, is Lotus Engineering in the United Kingdom. The design contract was awarded through a competition involving several design firms. The initial chassis was from the Elise, supplied by Lotus and significantly modified by Tesla Motors engineers. Tesla continues to use Lotus Engineering for certain design and engineering tasks, and the production roadster will be assembled by Lotus Cars under contract . Final assembly of the roadsters will take place in the United Kingdom. Tesla designs and builds it s own power electronics, motor and other drive train components, which incorporate patented AC Propulsion's Reductive Chargingâ&#x201E;˘ technology to reduce mass and complexity for the roadster's unique built-in battery charging system. Silicon Valley support The founders of Tesla Motors are Martin Eberhard, CEO, and Marc Tarpenning, CFO and Vice President of Engineering. The two entrepreneurs

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

Martin Eberhard, CEO

MarcTarpenning, CFO

previously co-founded NuvoMedia, creating the market for electronic books and the infrastructure to deliver electronic content securely over the Internet, with the 1998 launch of the Rocket eBook. NuvoMedia was eventually sold to Gemstar-TV Guide International for $187 million. Eberhard had always been interested in fast, fun cars, but wanted something that was very energy efficient . After finding nothing like that for sa le, he was convinced there was a business opportunity. With NuvoMedia in their background and plenty of Silicon Valley connections to draw on , Eberhard and Tarpenning decided to build fast, energy-efficient cars that were fun to drive. Tesla's key investor is Elon Musk, one of the founders of eBay, who has put up much of the $60 million so far

raised by Tesla Motors. Other investors include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Michael Dell is among the many high -profile customers who have posted large deposits for one of the first roadsters . The $100,000 sticker price of the Tesla Roadster is competitive with other high-performance sports cars with similar specs. It is definitely an enthusiasts' car, intentionally priced to allow for Tesla to enter into the market while developing its technology. Plans are in the works to develop other models that would provide fully electric alternatives to high-end sedans at around $50,000. Tesla has sold out its initial special edition of 100 Signature Roadsters and is now taking reservations for the next 100 cars. VR www.teslamotors.com

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Aviation Technology Group's Javelin was born from ATG Founder and Chairman George Bye's intense desire to bring military-caliber performance to civilian aviators with a costeffective, state-of-the-art jet. Bye incorporated ATG in June of 2000 to use emerging technologies in designing, developing and producing the Javelin executive jet as well as a Javelin military trainer and advanced jet t rainer. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Desert Storm, Bye is a highly experienced aerospace executive. He is also a pilot with 23 years of aviation managem ent experience and over 4,000 flying hours in aircraft including the supersonic Northrop T-38,

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for which he was a NATO Master Instructor. At NATO, Bye literally wrote the book for the advanced aeronautics course. Now Bye is well on his way to achieving his dream for the Javelin. More than halfway through its methodical development track, the prototype jet has met or exceeded its goals in a battery of flight tests. It appears that ATG is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the very hot Very Light Jet (VLJ) sector of general aviation . The Javelin's uniqueness stem s from the fact that it looks and acts like a small F-22 Raptor fighter jet . This is no accident, since ATG is simultaneously developing versions of the Javelin WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

training and target towing . According to Bye, the military trainer version of the Javelin recently received a warm reception at the Paris Air Show. At a price of $5.5 million , he says the Javelin Mk-20 AJT "has great advantages over legacy systems such as Lockheed Martin's HC-130, Dassault's Falcon 20 and Lockheed's F-16. We can save a remarkable amount of dollars to do all the various military and police functions." ATG is also banking on the tens of thousands of general aviation pilots or business jet owners who will want to move up to a high-performance executive jet. At about $2.8 million for the civilian version, the Javelin Mk-

for trainer and military applications as well. ATG has partnered with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to produce the Javelin Mk-20 Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) version equipped with ejection seats and military-grade avionics, including radar and other enhancements . ATG expects the AJT to fulfill a wide variety of military and homeland defense applications such as surveillance, military navigation WWW. VREXPO . N ET

10 is roughly the same size and same price as a medium-twin turbo aircraft. Its small two-seat cockpit with all glass instrumentation is a high-tech marvel -luxurious enough for pilot and passenger to ride in pressurized comfort while, at the same time, offering the Top Gun experience. The Javelin's state-of-the-art avionics suite, supplied by Op Technologie s, makes single-pilot operation very manageable . The avionics include three 5x7-inch fully integrated displays in the forward and aft cockpits, with options

available to arrange the primary flight display, the multifunction display (with moving map) or the engine instruments, and crew ale rting system (with synoptics) in any of the three positions. The flight route is rendered on the moving map with color-contoured terrain, traffic and data-linked graphic information. Above the center display is a multifunction control display and keyboard through which the flight management system is controlled. This unit also controls the head-up display, offered to Javelin owners as an option. This high-

ATG Chairman George Bye with the Javelin prototype in 2005. FALL 2006

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The Javelin has passed a battery of light tests with flying colors. reliability flight control system enables precise single -pilot Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations . Ease of use and safety don't detract from the Javelin's main appeal, though. It is the ultimate aircraft for business executives, experienced pilots and aviation enthusiasts who want to get somewhere the fastest possible way- and have a lot of fun doing so. What biz-jet owners will sacrifice in cabin space they ' ll gain in thrills with the Javelin . Two 1,800-pound-thrust turbo fan jet engines power the Javelin up to Mach 0.87 (575 mph) . It is capable of a 9,000-feet-per-minute ma ximum rate of climb and a 45 ,000-foot ceil-

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ing. Pilots can expect to execute some wicked rolls and loops with the Javelin's fighter jet-style configuration and raked

flight time is included in the price of the aircraft. For pilots with fewer than 1,500 hours, ATG will assist them with referrals

wings. Owning the Javelin will be the equivalent of owning a Ferrari FXX, a car that come s with Ferrari race training and track time for every buyer. ATG has a program that guides new owners through the qualifications and proficiency process to fly the Javelin. For pilots with at least 1,500 hours total time and a multi-engine rating, obtaining the rating required to fly the Javelin should be relatively simple. Javelin training with ground school, simulator flight training and actual

to gain the necessary skills, additional flying time and confidence to earn their Javelin rating. ATG has already booked 106 non refundable deposits of $100,000 for the Javelin Mk-1 0. According to its projections, these orders account for a year 's production. With FAA certification expected in 2008, any new customers signing up today probably can't expect delivery before 2010 . So, if you've got to have one, get your deposit money in soon. V R

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Cover Story

Fortu note Son The Art of Ronnie Wood By David Willson Ronnie Wood's legendary career as a rock musician spans 40 years, with the last 30 years in the Rolling Stones. Much of that time he has had a tandem career as a visual artist. He attended art school with the intention of becoming a professional artist and has been producing fine art for exhibition since the early 1980s. Early in his art career, he was dismissed by some critics as a rock star dabbling in art, but his paintings and print editions of portraits, land scapes and animals have developed a devoted following. Wood ha s been commissioned for a Royal Academy of Arts show and has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A Ronnie Wood original sketch can bring in excess of $10,000. Hi s paintings sell in the high six figures, but have topped $1 million. Hi s print editions debut between $1 ,600 and $3,000 but then climb to $15,000 or better on the secondary market. One could easily say that the multitalented musician was born under a fortunate star that bestowed special gifts on him. But he sees talent in a different

light. " I think a lot of people are born with it but they are too shy to show it," said Wood during a recent conversation with ValueRich magazine. "They think, 'Everyone can do this.' And then as they get older, they realize, 'Oh , I am different after all.' It's all about how you individually develop what you can do. And, then sure enough, you can do what you never thought you could .'' Time and place

Ronnie Wood was born in a western suburb of London, England , in June 1947. It was the right place at the right WWW. VREXPO .N ET

Abstract Tree, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 37" time. London would be the breeding ground for wave after wave of cultural change in music, fashion and art as Wood was growing up. Wood was the youngest of three brothers . Hi s musically talented and artistic older brothers each brought different musical influences into their home and then went on to build successful careers as commercial artists . "They were very fine graphic artists," says Wood . "They would do all the advertising art by hand for the newspapers. So, when I was growing up, I thought my brothers were very famous, because I'd see drawings that they'd done in fine detail reproduced in the newspapers for adverts. Art was their livelihood- and so was music, funny enough ." Activities in the Wood hou se hold revolved in equal parts around music

and art. Friends would gather in a back room filled with musical instruments to jam and practice. "My brothers were eight and ten years older than me, so when I was little, I just copied whatever they did . If they played the guitar or drums or saxophone, I would do the same. If they drew, I would draw. And then they would correct me. They'd give me pointers and I'd listen ." A crossroad in careers

Both Ted and Art went to nearby Ealing Art College. Ronnie eventually followed his brothers, but unlike th em, he did not end up with an art career. He wanted to become a scenery painter in the film industry but was frustrated by difficulties breaking into the profession because of the unions. Fortunately, he had a backup career that developed FA LL 2006

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Mick with Harmonica II, screen print, 19%" x 27%" very nicely due to th e mu sical influ ences of his brothers. The oldest brothe r, Ted, had a skiffle band called Candy Bison . Skiffl e, based on American w ashboard or jug band jazz, w as t he rage in England du ring the 1950s. Many early British rock bands had their beginnings in sk iffle - among them The Quarry Men, which later evolved into The Beatles. Wood 's first public gig w as playing washboard with Ted 's band at the age of 10. In the early 1960s, two German promoters created the American Folk Blues Festival to tour Europe, and over the next couple of years American blues artists such as Muddy Water s, Howl in' Wolf, T-Bone Walke r, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Otis Ru sh became big celeb ri ties . Ironically, these same

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Rhino, screenprint, 14%" x 19%"

names were virtually unknown in the United States at the time; due to segregation, they rarely performed for white audiences or received radio airtime . The tours energized a legion of young British musicians, among them Ronnie's brother Art. He introduced Ronnie to the blues, and the back room of the Wood house began to pul se with a backbeat. Wood used to rush home from school to watch an afternoon bandstand show on the family 's black-and -white TV. One new band he particularly liked was named after lyrics from a Muddy Waters song- The Rolling Stones. Wood used to say to his mother, "I 'm going to be in that band ." Wood 's art training at Ealing Art College was a complete depa rture from his childhood quest to draw and paint scenes perfectly. "While I was in college;' says Wood, "I was doing action painting and abstracts. The te acher would say, 'OK, you can do what you want; I'm leaving now. But if you want my advice, ride this bicycle all over this canvas.' It was about freedom of expression . You weren't forced to do anything, but my curiosity would lead me to try anyway." Like his older brothers, Wood played in bands while in school and afterward . By the time he was 20 years old he wa s playing bass with his very clo se friend Rod Stewart in former Yard birds guitarist Jeff Beck's band . Wood quickly found his place in the burgeoning Briti sh rock scene. He even shared a Holland Pa r k flat with Jim i Hendri x for a while. "When I wa s shacking up with Hendrix," says Wood, "I used to think, 'Wow, I wish I could play guitar like that! ' I mean you might jam with him, but you 'd think, 'Fuckin' hell, he's SO good- unbelievable.' I was playing bass at the time, and he'd always tell everyone else to stop. He'd say, 'Come on , let the bass player play.' I would do my best, and he'd re ally love it. And because he would sha re the limelight, it made me better. "I think that kind of give-and-take spreads on to the art world as well. I like to jam with other artists. Not that I do it that often, but the few times that I've done it - with Sebastian Kruger in the studio, my brother-in-law Paul, and my two brothers, Art and Ted - whenever we've jammed on a painting, it's turned WW W .VALUERICHONLINE .COM

out really great because they take care of the tiny details when I would do a greater part of the whole thing." Wood and Stewart left Beck's band and joined The Faces when lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott quit. For six years they co-wrote many of the songs for The Faces and Stewart's solo albums. The two remained close even though tension grew between Stewart and the rest of the band due to his meteoric rise to solo popularity. Then, once again, Wood happened to be in the right place at the right time. One night at a party, Wood was sitting with Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and singer Mick Jagger, when Taylor leaned over and told Jagger he was leaving the band . Jagger asked Wood to be Taylor's replacement on the spot . Wood didn't want to desert his friend Stewart and The Faces, so he declined. The Stones auditioned several guitarists but Keith Richards was convinced that Wood was the right guy. Meanwhile, things had come to loggerheads between Stewart and The Faces. Wood collaborated in the studio on several Stones songs and, in 1975, formally joined the band . His prediction had come true.

Ancient form of weaving When Richards and Wood play together, they weave the notes around each other. Structure disappears as they fluidly trade off musical roles - one taking the lead melody, the other playing rhythm; one playing the high notes, the other the low notes. They play off of each other's cues, creating something entirely new. Wood likens the serendipitous nature of his playing with Keith to his art. " Keith's original term for it was 'The Ancient Form of Weaving; says Wood. "And we still do it. We really get off on it. It changes every show. It 's always different. That's the great thing about the music. That's why we still do it. And the great thing about painting is that you never really achieve what you want to do. You might achieve something on one painting , but it only makes you want to do another painting to take it further - to see what you can do. Stepping in t o the unknown and the absurd- I love it! " W W W VREXPO .NET

Hendrix, oil on canvas, approximately 40"x 20" On the other hand, Wood views music as collaborative art and his painting as a solo gig. "''m a Gemini, it feeds both of my directions," he says. "I pretty much love to tour musically and also get

also breeds prize Irish racing horses, Wood returns to some of his favorite subjects- the local landscape, horses, and his rock memories - t o explore new techniques.

a chance to show off my solo work with the painting ."

"One of my favorite ways of painting that I dabble with these days is to put my brush on the end of a pool cue, like Matisse used to do, to paint from a distance. You see these old photographs of Matisse with his extended brushes, and Picasso, when he was doing Guernica, used the long-distance approach , as well. I often get a small photograph in my left hand and then reproduce it on a big scale on the wall. It's great- the simpler the lines, the better. I get a lot of enjoyment out of that, and I find that it really releases a lot of the frustrations. I'm very pleased with the results.

Quest for new expression When talking to Wood about his art, the theme continually returns to his quest for new discoveries. "''m experimenting with how far I can take it once more;' says Wood. "I've been studying all around the museums in Paris and Berlin and seeing how the old boys did it. I'm seeing them in a whole different light now."

In his studio at his County Kildare, Ireland farm Sandymount, where he

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Ronnie Wood's studio at Sandymount in County Kildare, Ireland It comes out just as I want i t - sometimes," he laughs. According to Dewey Graff of Dewey Graff Fine Arts, who has been exhibiting and selling Wood 's art for years, "One of Ronnie's favorite artists is Picasso, and some of his art is starting to look like it. Bigger Bang is one piece where I see a lot of influence from Picasso." Bigger Bang was produced in a blue-and-red color scheme as a digital screen-print on paper, selling for $3 ,250 a print . A special collectors' edition in monotone grays on canvas sells for $6,000 a print. "One of my favorites is Conversation Piece;' says Graff. "When you look at it, you feel like you 're being pulled right into the studio with the guys :' Wood has a very devoted following of art supporters. "Most people who buy Wood buy more than one piece," says Graff. As Wood has transitioned from his earlier rock-star portraits into traditional realistic and impressionistic paintings of animals and landscapes, and then to more abstract handling, his legion of supporters continues to grow. Wood will have some major new pieces touring the United States at

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Conversation Piece, digital and screen print 33" x 20%" several gallery events coinciding with Th e Stones' A Bigger Bang tour this fall. Gallery shows are planned for New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco, with additional possible locations to be announced . At a time when rumors have once again surfaced that this tour may be The Rolling Stones' last, Wood once again seems to be in the right place at the right time, with growing interest in his art. But for him, the timing is incidental.

"It is hard to put into words;' he says, "but I think the key is longevity. You keep experimenting without ever actually reaching perfection. I hear songs we did in the seventies and I think, 'Oh no, it sounds like a rough sketch: But now I'm part of it in the present . This is what's happening now, and it's exciting to see if it can get better. That 's what happens musically and artistically. You are always striving to get better. And it always does." R WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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El Monte Sagrado Li ving Resort and Spa

Eco- elegance in Taos By Kayla Willson

Another time, another world. I feel as though I've entered a safe haven, an exquisite, opulent palace far from my own world. Built on an ancient riverbed in the artsy Southwest mountain town ofTaos, New Mexico, nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa TM is more than just a luxurious sanctuary- it is an inspiring combination of beauty and art, breathtaking views, lush tropical foliage and gardens, and direct global influences. But that's not all. The $50 million El Monte Sagrado also serves as a state-of-the-art ecological model for the world. Located in the high desert, this extraordinary resort was designed with a self-s ustaining natural wastewater treatment

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system, called the Living MachineTM, which recycles and replenishes wastewater on-site. Thomas Worrell Jr., a former newspaper magnate turned environmental entrepreneur and the original developer of this "living resort," invested nearly half a million dollars in the complex water recycling and purification system alone. An elaborate rainwater-collection network feeds the resort's natural streams and ponds. Guests can soak in a therapy pool surrounded by orchids and ferns, or walk through misted greenhouses and waterfalls. As elaborate and detailed as this innovative ecosystem is, the same attention has been paid to comfort and elegance throughout the entire resort, including its 36 one-of-a-kind hotel suites. The sprawling assortment of adobe casitas, ponds, WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

x.Pedition

pool, gardens (indoor and out) and spa creates an ambience of natu ra l seren ity amid intriguing interior design and artwork by an array of engineers, craftsmen and artists using ideas and materials from around the world . The fine attention to detail is immediately evident upon first entering the lobby of El Monte Sagrado. A dazzling 90-pound citrine crystal from Brazil hangs from the foyer ceiling, illuminated by fiber-optic lighting. Sparkling mica chips are embedded in the wax finish of the lobby walls. As you check in at a desk topped with rain-forest marble from Mexico and a lace wood veneer from Africa, you know this place is something special. Now the fun begins. You get to choose a Native American Su ite, inspired by some of the WWW. VREXPO .NET

outstanding Native American heroes throughout history, a casita, or a two bedroom global su ite. Each will transport you into another world . The Bali casita offers the experience of the Age of Kings and the ancient Hindu courts. Original Balinese artwork and a shower floor inlaid with black and white river stones highlight this suite. Or you may want to share your room with a mummy (actually a bookcase) in the magnificent Egyptian exclusive casita. For lovers, the Kama Sutra grande exclusive casita will inspire you with images of erotica carved into the bed's headboard and wood paneling framing the bathroom's splendid tub. Other global suites you can "travel" to include Argentina , Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Japan , Mar ra kech, China and

Te xas. All room s are filled with carefully handpicked artifacts, artwork and innovative design. Amenities include fireplaces, private courtyards, outdoor hot tubs and mountain views. Global themes , combined with Southwest influences, continue through out the resort. Intricate leaf-and-stempatterned wrought iron works created by Will Wilkins of Hamilton, Montana, surround you as you walk on a floor of sun mosaic designs made with India sandstone and New Mexico limestone. The restaurants, bar, ebony-furnished multimedia and teleconferencing boa rdroom, library with its refurbished antique billiards table and the salon a multipurpose room with a spectacular view for meetings and receptions, are all a feast for the senses. FALL 2006

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After checking in to the Mexico Suite (above) guests enjoy amenities like the popular Anaconda bar, a massage in the spa and native fusion cuisine at De Ia Tierra restaurant (top to botom, right).

El Monte Sagrado continually enlightens guests with innovative design, artwork and exotic plant and animal life (a 1,100-gallon saltwater aquarium is visible from the bar and restaurant). At times you feel as if you are staying in a private museum . The Anaconda Bar, named for the snakelike giant sculpture that undulates above the bar, is a favorite meeting place for guests and locals. The anaconda is a symbol of rebirth and renewal, but this one isn't just any ol ' anaconda . The snake's scales are gold-plated tiles from Italy and its huge white belly is illuminated from within by tiny LEOs. Fine dining with global and local influences is offered in the elegant De Ia Tierra restaurant; casual breakfast and lunch dining amid waterfalls and tropical foliage is available in The Gardens restaurant. The Living Spa offers guests a full array of specialized treatment s and massages.

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So, whether you choose an afternoon surrounded by calming waterfalls at the resort 's spa or wish to peruse the resort's art masterpiece s, including originals by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Jan Sluyters, you have an additional bonus in knowing that you have been good not only to yourself but also to your environment . Features such as geothermal heat exchange, PV energy and storm water management allow El

Monte Sagrado to achieve a high level of ecological self-sufficiency. Worrell 's philosophy for creating El Monte Sagrado was to show others that it was possible to live comfortably without damaging the environment. His vision was to set an examp le for others to find the path to a better way of living on our earth . Thi s unique retreat is now man aged by The Kessler Collection , which includes several AAA Four-Diamond Hotels throughout the country. Orlandobased hotel developer Richard C. Ke ss ler, president and CEO, is known for building luxury boutique properties. As we move into th e future , let us hope that more resorts will follow suit and treasure and respect our natural resources while still allowing us to bask in our senses . R

www.elmontesagrado.com www.kesslecollection.com Thomas Worrell Jr. WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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New technology, a shift in culture and a programming revolution appear to be lining up in a star-crossed conjunction to change everything ... again. By David Willson

Today each of us lives several hundred years in a decade. -Marshall Mcluhan

Twenty years ago, America gathered around the TV for the 6 o'clock news to catch up on the day's events. Now, young and old, we are accustomed to finding practically any information we want anytime we want and any way we want it. We now have RSS news feeds

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displaying top headlines and video clips from the broadcast and cable news, local and international newspapers, special interest magazines and Web sites right on our homepages . Taking it a step further, dynamic Web boards such as Digg .com allow users to continually post and rate links to remarkable stories from all over the Internet. Items from contributor-content sites like these frequently scoop regular

news sources- even though one must approach them with a certain level of skepticism . The term audience is a relic of the past. Today we are users. We learn events at a rapid-fire pace on our car radios, televisions, desktops, laptops and BlackBerrys. In fact, we even contribute to the flow by uploading and submitting videos and photos from camcorders and cell phone cameras, and by blogging. WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

Television is not the Oracle sitting in our living room the way it used to be. Walter Cronkite became "the most trusted man in America " by simply reading the news for us. Try explaining that concept to a 20-year-old and probably the only response you 'll get is "Who 's Walter Cronkite?" The idea of passively waiting until evening to learn what happened during the day seems passe. That same degree of change in culture and methodology is about to come about in the way we transact business -only it's a change that will take a year or two instead of decades!

New Technology

were actually conditioned by hyperlinking to be click-happy and fickle. It was hard to keep them engaged . After a brief flurry, most communities dwindled to a commercially unsustainable level and petered out. We were sold on the proposition that the World Wide Web was a Brave New World when it actually was more like the Wild, Wild West. Monetizing the Web proved to be more difficult than ever imagined. This ushered in the dot.com bu st. Combined with the bear market of 2000 , that event created one of the most remarkable downturns in Wall Street 's history. E-commerce became an elephant's graveyard with only a few notable survivors. This was not the end of the Web, however. A lot of programmers lost cushy jobs, but they didn 't stop inventing. The Web was still a great facilitation tool and a vast playground for enthusiasts. Browsers got better. Operating systerns improved . Search engines were refined . Today, the integration between these various software components has become practically seamless. With ubiquitous high - speed connections and better optimization for multimedia files, the Web is becoming the ultimate platform for delivering "infotainment," distributing it to a whole host of new

For its first 20 years , the Internet existed as a government network to link scientific re search . But then , Tim Berners-Lee posted A short summary of the WorldWideWeb project in 1991 on the alt .hyperte xt newsgroup. Based on Berners-Lee's principles, the Web became a publicly available service on the Internet. It grew rapidly with broader accessibility through consumer-friendly g raphical browser software. Add an explosion in PC sale s coupled with a flood of inexpensive telephone modems, and Web use also exploded . Futurists began predicting that we would soon have a paperless society. They predicted the demise of print media and they predicted that large virtual communities would be the next big step in human social evolution. Most ~Jof the 1990s were spent chasing those '<.t-'_, â&#x20AC;˘ ,., visions, but with surprising results- 8~' oÂˇ the complete opposite happened. .; As information made available if E on the Web found its way into Âˇ.~ desktop publishing, more paper than ever was used . There was an unprecedented flurry of new magazine titles as publishers discovered niche audiences galore online. In fact, a whole new genre of magazines such as Wired and FastCompany appeared with online interactivity included in their business model. Perhaps the biggest surprise to some was that the Web communities of the 1990s were abysmal failures. Web users

WWW. VREXPO .NET

In the 1990s, the Internet grew into the World Wide Web.

devices: PCs, MP3 players, PDAs and cell phones.

Culture Shift In the 1990s, many people struggled with the learning curve of using a PC and surfing the Internet. Now it's a basic life skill. Computers are common among all types of people and segment s of society. Sitting at a PC is an isolating experience, however. As we become more dependent on computers for managing our lives and businesses and for com munication, isolation has led to frustration . Since we are an innately social species, all that pent-up energy is poised like a slingshot for release . If the next big Web boom is ushered in with a bang, it will be this energy behind it. And it will be the youngest users who ignite that blast. If you want to know what the next big thing will be, just follow the kids . Take file sharing for instance. Sharing music and video file s started on college networks. Of course, these academic networks were linked to the Web, so the phenomenon spread. Entrepreneurial Web sites such as Napster introduced file sharing to middle school and high school users before most adults even had a firm idea of what an MP3 file was. Music and entertainment were caught flatfooted by the file-sharing phenomenon . Worse, instead of figuring out how to profit from an enthusiastic new group of cu stomers, their initial reaction was to sue the Web purveyors into oblivion and unleash attorneys on the users. This, of course, left the market wide open for someone like Apple Computers' Steve Jobs to figure out an ethical e-commerce approach to the file-sharing business. He created iTunes, negotiated contracts and launched an entire new industry. Today, youth culture on the Web has morphed well beyond simply trading music files. Teenagers to 30-some things are building friend networks of Web Boom: continued on pg 60 FALL 2006

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Web Boom: continued from pg 59 hundreds and even thousands on social networking Web sites such as MySpace. com. Should the business community take these teenage hangouts seriously? Media mogul Rupert Murdoch seemed to think so when his News Corporation plunked down $580 million last summer to acquire MySpace's parent company. Why would a pragmatic businessman like Murdoch spend that kind of money on a Web community dominated by teenagers? The answer lies in a media concept that has become very much in vogue lately- convergence. Murdock's FOX Broadcasting Company's hit reality show American Idol has changed the very nature of television as one of the most successful integrations of media convergence to date, spanning the Idol experience over the Web, wireless telephone networks and broadcast television to create a huge fan base. By the end of American Idol's second season, FOX was receiving more than 20 million phone calls or text messages per episode casting votes for contestants . The show's Web site gathers its most devoted fans at every stage of development- auditions, performance, voting and tours- with multimedia interviews, production gossip, discussion boards and fan profile pages. What was Murdock thinking when he purchased MySpace? With a community of 25 million youthful members posting photos and videos and sharing media files at the time, MySpace.com must have looked like the perfect extension to his other media properties. It appears that he might have been right. In its one year under News Corp., MySpace has grown to over 100 million members. However, News Corp. has had its share of challenges blending its business goals with the MySpace communi ty culture. In fact, the media industry in general has been struggling with many questions posed by newly empowered users . The issues faced are not so much technological or managerial as they are sociological. Speaking about three standout Web communities, Craigslist, Flickr and MySpace, at a recent O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Danah Boyd,

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Rupert crazy to $580 million MySpace.com? .â&#x20AC;˘. Crazy like a FOX. a Ph.D . candidate at the UC Berkley School of Information and a social media researcher at Yahoo!, said: " MySpace users are initially given one friend - a guy named Tom. He's one of MySpace's founders . Every day, Tom posts messages to the site- he reads messages from users all day long, relying on users to inform him of problems on the system, features that they want, concerns that they have. "The folks at MySpace design ba sed on this ongoing flow of user feedback. The culture evolves with the designers and users working in tandem. Customer service is not a segregated group who simply answers questions of a finalized product. They are completely integrated into the design system, and the senior people are the most deeply embedded in user culture." In contrast, most commercially developed Web sites to date have been based on consumer information from surveys conducted by management. The Web site design staff typically receives its marching orders from marketing . And customer service primarily dispenses

advice and comisserates with customers as a separate unit. As Boyd puts it, "If the goal is to ship a static product that is about people connecting to a machine, the current paradigm works. But if the goal is to build community social software, this is a dreadful approach . You cannot segment the people who engage with the users from those who build for them . You cannot test for community practices by running user studies on individuals . You cannot boil down culture into static representation of people. You must live the culture that you are creating." Going forward, corporations in Web businesses have a lot to learn about productive relationships with empowered users in a Web 2.0 environment. Most agree that it is worth it. There doesn't appear to be any limit to the potential upside.

Programming Revolution Just a few years ago, Web developers faced an infuriating lack of standardization . This has been a thorn in the side Web Boom: continued on pg 62 WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

Finding Convergence in Business An interview with Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT by David Willson R : Your book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide is about how the advent of more participatory media is changing the balance of power between the entertainment industry and its fans and consumers. It's fascinating. But I found myself thinking a lot about our audience of small public company management and Wall Street as I was reading it, and wondered if some of the same principles might apply in their space. HJ: In some ways what we are calling convergence culture is what other people are calling network culture. At least one dimension of it is. Yochai Benkler has this new book out, Wealth of Networks, in which he is making the argument that the Web (and the Net) is becoming the space where commercial players, non-profit players, governmental players, educational players and amateurs are meeting each other. You might add to that the small business of the sort that you're talking about. I don't want to say the Net creates it. Because indeed, when we look at fan cultures, we see a history that goes back throughout the twentieth century. A lot of activity was taking place hidden from view. And what the Net and the Web did was make that activity public. But as it goes public, then the scale of that activity increases dramatically, and its effectiveness increases dramatically. Fan fiction, for example, was being written certainly as far back as the 1960s and was being photocopied , mimeographed , sent out, all behind closed doors and under the tables at conventions. But now it 's visible on the Web. The amount of stuff that is being produced has increased dramatically. The number of readers has increased dramatically. And the cultural impact of fan fiction has increased dramatically. As that has happened, then also the legal risk of doing it increase s because the whole issue

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of intellectual property gets thrown into crisis by the public nature of this communication. R: Of course, the corporations that are in the broadcast and media business are struggling with this. Because they also want to reach out to this community, don't they? HJ: I think the cultures are founded on very different principles. One is an open-source, very participatory

culture, and the other is about closed doors and intellectual property control and regulation. The mass media companies are really struggling with this . We're in a period where I think everyone understands that our culture is going to become more participatory, but there is not a generally agreed-upon set of terms for participation -a time where they want to

Jenkins Interview: continued on pg 63

Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide By Henry Jenkins, $29.95, NYU Press Henry Jenkins likes to say that he grew up reading Mad magazine and Famous Monsters ofFilmland -and, much as his parents feared , it warped him for life. Perhaps so, but he also happens to be the DeFiorz Professor of Humanities and Founder/ Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT. He has spent a decade and a half doing Image: NYU Press groundbreaking research into the cultural life of media consumers and is the author or editor of eleven books on the subject. His recent book, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, clearly builds the case for a coming world in which every story will be told and every brand will be sold across multiple media platforms- from Web sites to cell phones, from TVs to iPods, from computer games to comic books to feature films. Jenkins describes how media companies, sponsors and advertisers are learning to view their audience in a variety of different contexts. They might be fans connected through Web groups, brand enthusiasts or audience participants using cell phones. It's an uneasy partnership for corporations that are loath to turn over creative control and protective of their intellectual property rights. Jenkins takes us inside the corporate decision making process and describes how companies are developing innovative programming strategies that leverage these "brand advocates" to attract more energy around a property. But he also tells the tale of how newly enabled consumers can hold a company's feet to the fire for decisions they disagree with . The book develops these ideas through case studies of a number of key media properties, including Survivor, American Idol, The Matrix, Star Wars, Harry Potter and the presidential campaign of 2004. While it's a page-turner due to its story-like narrative, Convergence Culture is densely packed with ideas. You'll find yourself rereading sentences and paragraphs, as multiple layers of meaning reveal themselves. Convergence Culture is a must-read for anyone interested in the motivations of today's vast online and multimedia audiences- which can ferociously propel brands and ideas to prominence in a heartbeat.

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Web Boom: continued from page 60 of e-commerce and enterprise, which require a seamless environment with PCs and other devices. But, in recent years the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organization that oversees development of the Web, stepped up standardization initiatives concerning Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) . Once these key building blocks were standardized, developers were free to use them in new and innovative ways. CSS, which was once simply a way of setting site-wide font and style rules, is now being used to build entire Web sites . This way, site design and data are maintained separately. The design essentially stays the same but can incorporate continually changing content. The new W3C standards have moved the Web toward a collaborative model where each individual Web site and its users can theoretically leverage the potential of the .e ntire World Wide Web. This model changes the Web from a destination to a platform that enables users to share assets from their computers, handheld devices, digital cameras, camcorders and cell phones, as well as dynamically edit and repurpose everything. So far, Web 2.0 is manifested most clearly through features such as blogs, wikis and tagging. Most people are familiar with blogs

(Weblogs) . The main criticism of blogs is that there are far too many of them and there isn't enough time to read them all. But bloggers typically link to other bloggers that they respect. If you follow blog links, they lead to well-vetted resources, creating a superior thread of high-quality content. Blogs are an excellent peerto-peer tool. Wikis are collaborative knowledge bases contributed to by registered users and policed for accuracy and quality by those same users. Most people are familiar with the Wikipedia Web site. As it has grown, so has controversy over its ability to scale up and remain accurate. Some corporations are developing internal wikis, and some industry-specific wikis are appearing on the Web. By creating a common knowledge pool, wikis tend to break down colloquial barriers and help insure that the information will not be lost as the group changes. Every day, business people e-mail links for millions of articles on the Web to associates and friends. Also, millions of bookmarks are created that remain only on users' host computers. Tagging allows for those links to be saved and managed by keywords online or on company servers. Content that would normally be lost in a mass of data becomes manageable and can be shared at will. The functionality of Web 2.0 is

perfect for business networking and facilitation . The buzz is that there are hundreds of business Web 2.0-enabled sites in development right now. Some of them are intranet sites, to help large organizations better manage the flow of internal data. Some are taking the form of community sites on the Web, using MySpace-style social networking but dedicated to facilitating defined enterprise and networking functions. We have seen many times in the past that reducing barriers to efficiency can streamline the flow of commerce and create a burst of activity and wealth . In this case, it appears that technology and users have evolved in relative lockstep with each other for years, sometimes missing that key element that would unlock full potential. Several tumblers have obviously fallen into place now, however, and our hand is on the latch. For some companies- those unwilling to accept the openness of the Web 2.0 environment or unable to adjust their top-down management style -opening the door could be like opening Pandora's box. For other companies -those that study the lessons currently being learned on consumer sites such as MySpace and Flickr and can take an innovative and flexible approach to their business model and industry - it could be like opening Fort Knox. VR

FOLLOW THAT BLOG: Web 2.0 and business blogs at the forefront Confessions of an Aca/Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins Henry Jenkin's heads the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. Jenkin's posts can be quite serious and thought provoking about technology and culture.

Tales from the Web 2.0 Frontier This Ziff Davis blog, written by Richard MacManus, specializes in Web 2.0 and social med ia commentary. MacManus also has industry focused Web log entitled Read/Write Web.

VentureBeat A highly visual and feature rich blog by Matt Marshall, formerly the venture capital journalist for the San Jose Mercury News, that focuses on insider news about Silicon Valley entrepreneurial and venture business.

http://www.henryjenkins.org

http:// blog s.zdnet.com/ web2explorer http:// www.readwriteweb.com

apophenia :: making connections where none previously existed Written by Danah Boyd, a PhD student in School of Information at the University of California- Berkeley, and a social media researcher at Yahoo! This blog mixes youthful perspective with brilliant academic material.

The Impact of Information Technology (IT) on Businesses and their Leaders Andrew P. McAfee, an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, blogs about how managers can most effectively use Enterprise 2.0 to achieve business goals.

FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog Fast Company magazine was one of the first to connect an online community to their print publication . The "Company of Friends" is still thriving today and contributing brief items about entrepreneurial business to FC NOW.

http:/ / www.zephoria .org/ thoughts

http:// blog.h bs.ed u/faculty / amcafee

http:/ / blog.fastcompany.com/

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http:// ventu rebeat.com

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Jenkins Interview: continued from pg 6 7 harness this collective intelligence but they 're terrified of what it can do to them if it gets out of control. We see companies that are torn between what I call the prohibitionist and the collaborationist models. The prohibitionist model is one where you try to clamp down on your consumers in order to exert traditional controls;

intellectual properties that are exciting. They are doing something that could positively impact the world. They could use the Web to generate fans similar to the way an entertainment company does, couldn't they? HJ: I think the word fan and the

the collaborative model is one where

fan community, as we have understood it, is too narrow to think about. But certainly NASA and space travel

you empower your consumers to be actively a part of your efforts to bring your content to a larger public.

generates major enthusiasts. I think biotech is starting to generate those. The computer enthusiasts from day

VR: it seems as if the new collective-intelligence aspect of the Internet, if it is handled correctly by the smaller companies, would really be a great way for them to get more awareness and also forge new relationships that they never would have had a chance to do before. However, there is this need on Wall Street for everything to flow along certain patterns and through certain gatekeepers. In a sense, it is kind of the same equation, isn't it? HJ : Small business has a lot of new opportunities in this space, particularly if they can build enthusiasm behind thei r product, if they can capitalize on their smallness to create a level of intimacy, trust and community around what it is they are trying to market. That 's the real power of Web 2.0 for a retailer. It recreates that intimate ex perience that you have in a local shop, where your customers get to know each other and their recommendations carry weight with each other. So, if a few key customers in that system get excited about a product, they become your major advocates for talking to each other and spreading the word. They become what I call grassroots intermediaries, or what you might call amateur thought leaders to seed discussion in that space.

VR: Our readers are not in a consumer space. They are essentially the investment community and public companies, so it is a closed business market. As I was reading your book, I found myself thinking about biotech companies, for example. Biotechs have

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investors. Just as the fan wants to find a hot rock band before it becomes a major success, an investor may well be looking for a company that has not yet reached major status.

VR: There are stories of musicians who have attracted enough interest in their performances on MySpace.com to eventually get a record contract with a big company. In a sense, aren't these examples of using social networking to take business to the next level? HJ : I think we can se e lots of examples of brands, companies and performers using these social networking sites to bring greater visibility. I would say that there are right ways and wrong ways to do it. The right way is to present yourself honestly and authentically and personify the company through a key personality who can talk openly to the users and give them a sense of engagement and participation in the fortunes of that property.

Image: MIT Comparative Media Studies

one have been a major online advocacy for certain products. Apple has built that level of loyalty. The day traders and other investors on that level are, I would argue, fans of the stock market and invest in it with passion . And so, when they talk to each other about what they think is a hot new property, they are involved in what we might call fan-like activity. It 's a mixture of knowledge and passion that generates the fan phenomenon. So, the key message there would be to figure out where the passion lies around your product. The second message is that there is also a sense of intimacy or social connection. Everyone in America is taught to root for underdogs. So, figuring out how to present yourself as an emerging company with promise, but one that is still struggling to move up the food chain, that image could appeal to a large number of

The wrong way is what people are calling "astroturf," which is to try and present yourself as something you are not- like presenting yourself not as the company, but as a fan of the company, or even somebody not affiliated with the company, and to try to create buzz that way. Sooner or later, that gets found out, and sooner or later you get exposed as a fraud . Just as you shouldn 't misrepresent your company on a stock report, you shouldn't misrepresent your company on MySpace or a blog .

V R: Ethics are important, aren't they? I'm thinking of the whole Napster episode. By the panicky way that the music industry addressed fife sharing, they actually left the door open for Steve Jobs to step in and figure out an ethical approach to file sharing, and now iTunes is the 500-pound gorilla. HJ: You 've got to start from the assumption that your consumers want to be ethical. They're not normally in the business of ripping you off. They are looking to get access to what they want when they want it. And iTunes provided that. Jenkins Interview: continued on pg 64

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Jenkins Interview: continued from pg 63 Communities that form around brands, companies and media properties actively police those companies' ethical standards. That 's part of the nature of what a brand community is. A brand community is a very powerful way of getting your message out, but they also hold you accountable to the standards and commitments you make. That's why I think astroturf is right up there with spam as one of the really outrageous things that a company can do in the digital age. There is a huge backlash against these fake bloggers and fake amateurs that has started to emerge. You 'd do better to reach out to your most loyal consumers and empower them to be part of the process of spreading your message. Create advocates. Be open about what your relationship to those advocates is. VR: In Convergence Culture, you give us an inside look into the corporate stories behind some of the biggest hit shows on television . It makes for interesting and fun reading. I was wondering about some of the popular cable shows based on small businesses, such as American Chopper and Miami Ink. Do you know anything about how those shows got started? HJ: I know relatively little about them in any specific sense. But they are definitely cases where small to mid-sized businesses have connected with smaller to mid -sized cable companies . That 's the partnership that seems most powerful right now. There seems to be a mutual courtship that is taking place. There are an infinite number of smaller cable channels that reach core consumer groups in different sectors . They have a real need, and are constantly looking, for content that is going to engage the consumer. If you have someone with a vibrant public personality and a fair amount of knowledge in a space, it certainly seems worth exploring the options of constructing a show around that kind of personality.

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Those are shows that appeal very strongly to committed niches. They are not being judged by the Nielsenratings mass-audience standards . They just need that strong niche following that watch week in and week out. And they frequently depend very heavily on their Web presence and their courtship of fans through the Internet. They are certainly an interesting and important story to consider as we think about what is happening with the convergence culture that I describe in the book. 1

reach out to your most loyal consumers and empower them to be part of the process of spreading your message.' â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘

VR: What are newest things that you see happening in the way of con vergence since you finished the book? HJ: I think the biggest story since the book came out is the way that television is being reshaped by down-

loading. It was just coming in as I was finishing the book, so there is only a little bit in there about the announcement of the video iPod. On my blog this week [September 6, www.henryjenkins.org] I posted that basically every major network, and almost all of the cable networks, have some way that you download content via the Web at this point. Many of the shows for the fall are already circulating to audiences through the summer. And I think this changes the way television is going to operate. We are moving much more toward a world where I can watch a show whenever I want to and not even have to set my TiVo to record it. I think that 's going to be a big change. Another change that's happening very, very fast is the use of mobile technology as an outlet for all kinds of things. Probably not brands directly, because if people are angry about getting spam in their e-ma i l, they 'll be more angry about getting a phone call with it. But I think that embed-

ding advertising inside content that is going through mobile seems to be a growing trend . VR: One of the things I rarely ever read or hear anybody talking about anymore, with the focus being so centered on collaboration via Web 2.0, is the globalizing aspect of it. HJ: Absolutely. It's something that we certainly see in the entertainment sector and I think we are going to see across all sectors. Consumption is now global. People are now tracking products all over the world. We are starting to see what I call pop cosmopolitanism, which is the interest of young people in forms of popular culture from other parts of the world, and u sing Web communities and Web searches to really track down that content and learn about it and engage with it. R : What final words would you leave ValueRich readers about con vergence and Web 2.0, and what they will bring to the marketplace? HJ : The general advice I have grows out of a core concept from the book, the idea of cultural attractors and cultural activators. A cultural attractor is something that draws likeminded people together and creates a community around your brand, your service, your property- whatever. A cultural activator gives them something to do. Historically, companies have done a very good job of beginning to build communities, but they haven't been able to identify tasks and opportunities to put those communities to work on their behalf. The key, as we begin to think about Web 2.0, is: What are the activities? Not just, How do I build a community of consumer s? But, What do I want that community to do with the products or information I'm offering them? How can they help me? And how can I help them build the sort of life together that whatever it is that I am selling is tied to? That's the challenge, as we think about the new wave of development in this space. VR

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It's hard to remember our lives before today's great technological inventions that we now take for granted. There's no question that innovations, such as the Internet and cell phones, drive business and have become our virtual assistants in the modern era . But how far can the gods of technology push the envelope to make our business and personal lives better, make technology more interactive, and further support global communication? We may be on the verge of finding out. Innovators in the field of wireless mobile technology are already dialing into "3G" networks, the third generation of wireless networks, which are expected to revolutionize mobile communication by allowing simultaneous voice and data transfer between wireless mobile devices, fusing audio, data and video technologies . Even before the much-touted 3G network s emerge in the American mobile market, Utah-based PSNet, with

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visionary CEO Chad Sayers at the helm , is launching a next-generation technology that allows wireless mobile video and data communication using current low-bandwidth cellular networks. According to Sayers, PSNet has created a unique data-formatting software suite that allows it to introduce live, wireless, two-way video conferencing on a single data-processing chip. And the chip can be used in currently available networks and systems, such as cell phones, desktop computers, satellite television systems and even iPods, so there is no need to wait around for cell carrier companies to offer 3G networks in the United States. Convergence Device In an interview with Sayers, the CEO and founder of PSNet said, "Our focus is people, our platform is rich media content, our motto is 'The Future of the Internet速: but the thing that has everyone talking is our NavlM."

Sayers is referring to the PLANet Navigator 'M ("Nav " for short), his Company ' s PCDA (Personal Communications Data Assistant) the world 's first, a PDA/ smart phone with multi-communications capabilities and an operating system that recently won "Best of Show " in its category at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show. The Navis a high-speed , low- cost video conferencing mobile phone device with unique proprietary data-formatting software tucked inside the processor on a tiny microchip. Like your typical mobile phone, the Navis set to offer users a tri-band device with Bluetooth, a 2.1 MP camera, a highspeed processor and 128MB SDRAM with up to 30 gigs of storage. But this ali-in-one ultimate convergence device also offers communication capabilities that liken it to having a personal assistant in the palm of your hand. In production, the Nav will run a PSNet upgraded version of the award -winning Linux OS WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

n.Ovations and be equipped with a videoconferencing chip, USB client/ host ports, an SD/ MMC slot, GPS (global positioning system). an lrDA port and "remote save" capabilities. The Company believes its Nav has all the right features for business and leisure, features that we currently use multiple devices to accomplish . Chief among these are the complete GPS, live, free video conferencing abilities and video recording capabilities that allow for live-event viewing, and video call recording that can be saved remotely.

Full Featured Two-way Video In fact, Sayers says the PSNet Nav will offer two-way simultaneous download and upload of a video stream using existing 56K-rated bandwidth (actual bandwidth in these networks is about

demand is expected to continue driving growth in the burgeoning mobile devices and communi cations marketplace. Sayers believes the Company's Navbased products are well positioned to capitalize on these industry trends -trends that other providers of wireless technology products and services may soon be following. According to an April 2006 report from Analysys , mobile operators in Japan and South Korea have already reached 40 percent penetration of 3G services. It is expected that during 2006, the transition from 2G to 3G will be largely completed in Japan, and upgrades to the next 3.5G stage with 3 Mbit/s data rates are under way. Since

parents or guardians know when a child has moved outside a specific circumference of their Nav device. Yet despite all the hoopla about wireless technology's next generations, key industry challenges include questions as to how much technol-

43K). currently available on all mobile cellular networks. Nav devices will use existing cellular frequencies to format live, streaming two-way video data and voice into a minuscule lOK channel (for both upload and down-

ogy we are willing to pay fo r - especially with bundled mobile com munications devices. Additionally, increasing competition to build the 3G network in the U.S. is creating a highly fragmented sector with rising barriers to entry.

load speeds) . " Viewers love the Nav because they can now see 24 to 30 frames per second (fps) in live, two-way conversations, all in the wireless, handheld formats that they 've come to rely on;' says Sayers . "This versus existing U.S. networks that currently require a minimum of about 90K speeds per channel for simultaneous upload and download in order to produce a quality picture at 24 fps in live video-calling :' If you are thinking you've no need for such a high-tech gadget, so why keep pushing the tech envelope, you 'd

PSNet Nav will offer two-way simultaneous download and upload of a video stream using existing 56K-rated bandwidth, currently available on all mobile cellular networks.

be in the minority. According to recent research, sales of wireless smartphones and high-tech personal digital assistants (PDAs) are growing, along with consumer demand for video, mobile Internet and e-mail services on handheld mobile devices worldwide. Aside from typical bu siness and leisure uses, live, mobile, two-way communication has application s in a host of fields, with a worldwide market that now exceeds $125 billion in annual spending. Sales are up 73 percent in the second quarter of 2006 for these high-tech mobile cellular devices, and

Japan and South Korea have con sistently led the way in developing innovative mobile technology, we can expect similar trends for the next generation of wireless mobile communication s across the Atlantic. It may be that con sumers require better, more advanced products and services to allow complete convergence of their wireless systems. Sayers has identified a host of target markets for PSNet's Nav, in addition to advanced business and leisure uses. Future applications include mili-

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tary versions, encoded with the products' integrated GPS locator to prevent "friendly fire:' Police/ security can utilize facial recognition software in conjunction with the Nav to match ex isting databa ses, while contractor s will be able to conduct remote conferencing with construction crews and video journaling for businesses, governments, insurance companies etc. To help ensure safety in crowded areas, a children 's educational and entertaining version of the Nav can be enabled , with GPS tracking and Bluetooth software letting

Early Benefits

Image: PSNet, Inc.

"The Nav and its proprietary components offer tomorrow 's technology to consumers today. Ex isting networks are already in place for our offerings, and because the products' capabilities only require initial purchase of the chip- found in the Nav or any of its hosts- usage could be free for consumers," says Sayers, "although networks may choose to charge a bit for video communications on their networks as an upgrade, such as ten or fifteen dollars a month initially." Not bad, considering the multiplicity of the Nav video benefits and uses. "Without the need to charge 'per minute usage' over an expansive network with limited bandwidth, ex isting cell phone carriers can offer streaming wireless video and live person-to-person video calling capabilities with PSNet 's advanced data formatting technology today- at no additional co sts for the network carriers." According to Sayers, that means big saving s for some pretty big businesses. For example, by offering PSNet techno IFA LL 2006

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_;"'"' PSNet, Inc. CEO, Chad Sayers ogy in the form of the Nav, or any of its counterp arts, T-Mobil e" , the nation 's fou rth-larg est cellular carri er w ith just over 22 million users, could provide the very latest in technological innovation to it s cu stomers today at virtually no extra co st. This could translate into substanti al competitive advantages for the carrie r as well as introduce new revenue streams that might not have otherwi se been available to it, such as movie or TV episode view ing . Using it s proprietary data format ting technology to power the Internet and w ireless commun ication s, Sayers has been steadily building some of the mo st advanced Internet technologies available to accomp any hi s flag ship PLAN et Navigator for use as content on the device, as well as being available to anyone on the Internet. Sayers explains, " With the unique softw are on our chip available for any circuit board, laptop, server, PC or cell phone for use on any netwo rk, working in conjunction with rich, dyn amic con tent unli ke any others, w e t ruly w ill be offering the ' Future of the Internet' for an international audience."

Sayers and PSNet also plan to harnes s the power of the Nav to capt ure its share of the future Internet marketplace. The Company has developed proprietary data mining software for use in conjunction with its proprietary data formatting technology, providing for Internet offering s such as advertising, cla ssifieds and promotions mediums to help PSNet make its way from the Nav to prominence on the Informat ion Superhighway. Mining the Web Sayers plan s for his company's Web site to utilize patent-pending Advanced Crawler Technology (ACT ). which he says is the mo st advanced data mining and deep Web crawling technology available in the world today. "ACT achieves con sistent and unprecedented accuracy rates of 97 percent or better in data crawling and extraction; rates substantially higher than any existing technology," says Sayers . "PSNet is utilizing ACT to ro ll out a compreh ensive, dynamic Web portal that brings together the best of the Internet's offering s - from real estate to classified s to

Articles in ValueRich magazine should not be const rued as investment or legal advice, nor does t heir appearance im ply an endorsement by ValueRich of any specific investment, security, transacti on or strategy. The articles we publi sh contain th e views so lely of th eir respecti ve authors and our publica ti on. There is not a claim, promi se or guara ntee about t he accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the info rmation, and neitherValueRich or its authors are responsible or liable for any tra di ng or investment decisions made based on such info rm ati on. Our affil iates, offi cers, directors and employees may have purchased or may buy shares discu ssed in Va lueRich from t ime to ti me. We may also receive compensation from parti es who utilize our publication services and engage in fu ture transactions as a result of our services or publication.

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job openings and shopping sites- with the ability to realize additional revenue streams for the Company from adverti sers in the form of ads and search engine positioning:' With PSNet 's corporate team members including CFO Bill Brannan , former CFO ofThe Domino's Pizza Group; COO Frank Davi s, 1996 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist for the creation and subsequent success of the shopping platform he designed that was used to build Overstock.com ; Chief Scientist Tim Riker, former CTO of Linea and internationally recognized as one of the world 's top Linu x developers; CTO Marcia Pugina, former CIO ofWhizbang / flipdog.com and patented data mining programmer; VP of Sales Gary Vas s, former 10 year wo"rld record setting Sales Manager for the Kirby Company and international sales consultant, and Greg Merten, former VP of Hewlett-Packa rd, PSNet may be well on its way. We may not have grown up with some of technology 's grea t est invention s, but technology has certainly matu red alongside us. Demand for a better, easier and cheaper mousetrap will always drive continued innovation in all sectors, not the least of which is high technology. With a simple solution to today's tech demands, Sayers and his PSNet suite may be riding wireless tech 's next wave. R PSNet, Inc. www.psnetinc.com WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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The Software Coup d'Etat

How

on-demand players outthought and outplayed the trad itiona I software giants By Liza Grant Smith

In 1999, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) burst onto the scene with its founder, Marc Benioff, heralding "the end of software." Rather than paying the hefty up-front license fees, clients paid by the month to access Salesforce.com's customer relationship management (CRM) software over the Web. This type of model represented an emerging trend in the software industry known as on-demand software, a form of Software as a Service (SaaS) . By delivering software over the Internet, the vendor assumes all of the maintenance and daily technical operation and support for software provided to clients. In addition to a lower initial investment, on-demand software offers faster deployment (days or weeks rather than the 6 to 18 months required for traditional license-and-install software). less work for a company's IT department and more vendor accountability. Following the launch of Salesforce.com, Benioff quickly became on-demand software's most vocal proponent. Despite the numerous inherent benefits of on-demand, the investment 70

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

community was hesitant to buy into the idea of an impending software revolution . This was due in part to a previous fiasco in the industry, but also to the movement's spokesperson himself. In the mid-1990s, significant funds were poured into Application Service Providers (ASP) such as US

Hour customers have a lower total cost of ownership and are able to reduce their costs associated with internal IT departments" lnternetworking, Corio and lnterliant, with the assumption that companies would be interested in buying enterprise applications as hosted services. This assumption proved incorrect. Hosted apps had security and performance issues that were compounded by difficulties with customization and integration. The model also required ASPs to make large up-front investments in

hardware and software that were offset only by monthly subscription revenue streams. In the face of intense competition and overwhelming debt levels, many ASPs ultimately folded. With the investment community still licking its wounds, Marc Benioff began making a sales pitch for on-demand software that was anything but conventional. For those familiar with Benioff and his attention-grabbing stunts, this was less than surprising. To celebrate Salesforce.com's birth, Benioff rented a San Francisco theater for a $250,000 party featuring the rock group The B-52's . He wore Hawaiian shirts to work and rode a fancy scooter around the office. He even followed business advice from fallen rap star MC Hammer, calling him "a creative genius." And in one of the most extreme demonstrations of his personality, Benioff reportedly hired out-of-work actors to picket a sales meeting at competitor Siebel. Some viewed Benioff's bombastic claims of the death of traditional software as nothing more than showmanWWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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Descartes Systems Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DSGX)

120 Randall Drive Waterloo, N N2V 1C6 Canada www.descartes.com CEO: Mr. Art Mesher Company focus: On-demand logistics solutions. "Descartes is 'metrics driven, focused on results'. The results that our customers have achieved using our

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"' __________~----------------------------------------------_J EL_ ship without foundation . What they would learn was that Benioff was far from the only one recognizing and capitalizing on the trend of on-demand software . Companies offering on-demand began generating results and garnering investor attention, and soon even the biggest industry players would start scrambling to get in line. A New Dawn for Software

On-demand represents the secondgeneration of SaaS after the ASP name and many of its players died out . In contrast to ASPs, on-demand offers its customers software specifically built for one-to-many hosting. This means that many companies use one copy of a software package, accessing it over the Web. Since the ASP investment debacle, the costs associ ated with providing SaaS have also decreased significantly. Developers have begun to create applications engineered from the ground up to be offered as a hosted service. That, along with the arrival of XML and Web services, has made it easier for companies to integrate hosted applications into their legacy systems and utilize them without difficulty. Additionally, after years of exposure to the Web, corporate users have become mo re comfortable with the idea of hosted applications as a means of achieving their goals without significant cost. Traditionally, companies had to buy software full of bells and whistles that they didn't need . According to a 2005 survey of 250 IT execs conducted by global market intelligence and advisory firm IDC, companies believe that they use only 16 percent of the software WWW. VREXPO .NET

able to reduce their costs associated with internal IT departments that would typically run and manage an on-premise, licensed solution. We relieve them of these complexities and have more skin in the game with each customer, as our responsibilities are deepened with the on-demand model." Erin Traudt , a research analyst for IDC's SaaS research program, echoes this sentiment and underscores the impact on-demand has had on the software industry. "The on-demand business model

they buy.

represents an evolution in the soft -

Another primary incentive encouraging the use of on-demand software is a much lower cost. A study by the Yankee Group found that the total operating cost of an on-demand software package is less than half that for an equivalent traditional package. Many of on-demand 's benefits tie into the greater vendor responsibility and accountability. "As a pure, ondemand vendor, we manage all of the complexities for our customers that are typically associated with an on-premise, licensed solution;' says Michael Gregoire, CEO of Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ: TLEO), a provider of on-demand talent management solutions. "Since we host the solution, manage

ware industry toward perpetual vendor accountability to continually deliver and demonstrate the value of their software to customers," says Traudt. "It also represents a pervasive change in mindset that is impacting vendor and customer notions of how software functionality is accessed and purchased."

As the concept of on-demand software began to take root with consumers, early on-demand pioneers were joined by new entrants to the market segment . What the established players knew, however, was that adopting an on-demand model was not a simple endeavor.

the data, and are responsible for uptime performance, our customers have a lower total cost of ownership and are

On-demand vendors, such as logistics solution s provider Descartes Systems Group, Inc. (NASDAQ : DSGX),

Vendors Shoulder the Load

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(NASDAQ: TLEO) 4140 Dublin Boulevard 4th Floor Dublin, CA 94568 www.taleo.com CEO: Mr. Michael Gregoire Company focus: On-demand talent management solutions. "The eRecruitment sector is poised for tremendous growth and is expected to be a $4 billion industry by 2009, up from $2 billion today (Yankee Group, date/ source). Taleo is completely aligned not only in terms of partners and channels, but products as well, to capitalize on the growing momentum and to maintain its industry leadership role:'

E '-------------------------~----------------------___J FA LL 2006

I 71

Websidestory Inc. (NASDAQ: WSSI)

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10182 Telesis Court 6th Floor San Diego, CA 92121 www.websidestory.com CEO: Jeffrey W. Lunsford MC $223.35M Company focus: On-demand digital marketing applications. "We are a focused and disciplined growth company that is innovating and delivering profitable growth at the intersection of four very positive macro trends: 1) surging growth in acceptance of the on-demand delivery model; 2) 30% annual growth in digital marketing; 3) 25% annual growth in e-commerce; and 4) the migration of best practices established in the web analytics market back into the enterprise market:'

E~------------------------------------------------------------_J are forced to maintain continuous customer satisfaction . If clients don't like what they 're receiving, they can simply cancel their subscriptions. "We were one of, if not the first, logistics software and services providers to change our model to Software as a Service to align how our customers pay for their logistics solutions with the value they receive from the solution ," says De scartes CEO Art Mesher. "This shift in model also had an impact on our corporate culture. Our internal mantra is that we are 'metrics driven and focused on re sults: This is because a SaaS model focuses a company on delivering quantifiable results that compel the customer to keep using the service. SaaS vendors like Descartes frequently say that their value proposition to customers is that 'Our system s don't cost, they pay."' And while the benefits of on-demand are appealing, it is not a small undertaking for traditional software providers to successfully jump into the game. " Having helped pioneer the ondemand d elivery model gives us a strong advantage over more estab lished packaged software companies attempting to launch on-demand solutions," says Jeffrey Lunsford , CEO of WebSideStory Inc. (NASDAQ: WSSI) , which has been offering on - demand digital marketing solutions since 1996. "We believe that to be successful , you have to architect your entire operating model, from the ground up, with ondemand on its DNA.

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

" Everything is different : how you solicit innovative ideas from your customers; how you deliver those ideas with a much more rapid R&D cycle; how you drive prospects through the sales process; how you deliver value-added consulting services ; how you handle support questions:' Rather than shifting entirely to an on-demand model, many traditional software companies are adding ondemand options to their existing product offerings. And while offering software via an on-demand delivery model is a competitive advantage , Traudt suggests that pure-plays do have some inherent advantages. " Pure -play providers focus 100 percent of its resources on on-demand , while a division of a larger, traditional company may need to lobby for resources and management attention, especially given that the on -demand business probably represents a small portion of the traditional company 's overall revenue ." Convincing Investors

When it was clear that on-demand providers were still standing and thriving after the Internet investment bubble burst, investors began to see the veracity of Benioff's "end of software" claims. On-demand now seemed like a tangible shift in the software industry rather than a blip. Investors were once again attracted to SaaS opportunities. "Investors are attracted to this model

as well because it gives them the predictability and visibility into our financials, therefore avoiding any extreme changes in our quarterly revenues. The on-demand model is becoming the preferred software delivery model on Wall Street;' says Tal eo's Gregoire. To capitalize on investo r interest, more on-demand providers began to enter the public arena . WebSideStory, Taleo, Vocus and Salesforce .com all completed their IPOs during 2004 and 2005 . Going public provided these tech companies with a multitude of benefits. " Part of it was to bring visibility to the company and to the space we were going after. From that perspective things worked really well because we went out on the road and got to tell our story to hundreds of investors and start to educate not just our customers but also the investment community about the space that we're automating," says Richard Rudman , CEO of Vocus (NASDAQ : VOCS), an on-demand PR solutions provider. "The second part was to raise money for potential acquisitions. In fact, we just spent $28 million on an acquisition that we completed a couple of weeks ago." Capital for strategic acquisitions appears to be a common thread in these companies ' decision to go public. "The costs of being public are more substantial now than they 've ever been - and they are more than just direct monetary costs. These costs, however, are worth it if you are a high -growth company like WebSideStory that may need quick access to capital if the right strategic opportunity arises;' says Lunsford. "We have added two worldclass companies - both with worldclas s investors- to the WebSideStory family since going public in transactions that would have been difficult if not impossible to pull off as private-to-private transactions:' Taleo's Gregoire points to an additional benefit. " Becoming a public company is a branding event and establishes a greater sense of legitimacy to customers and partners, not just because you are transparent in terms of the strength of your business fundamentals , but because WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

company.

Vocus Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS)

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4296 Forges Boulevard Lanham, MD 20706 www.vocus.com CEO: Mr. Richard Rudman Company focus: On-demand software for corporate communications and public relations "As a company, we just reported our 28th consecutive quarter of revenue growth and since going public we've beaten analyst expectations the first three quarters out of gate. Our high growth is attributed to innovating in an overlooked market and our consistency is attributed, in a large extent, to the on-demand software model:'

"'en "' E~------------------------------~--------------------------~ you also have access to capital markets and are viewed as a legitimate competitor," he says. "Finally, there is no doubt about how much of a motivating factor it is for employees to be involved- not just with the initial event of going public, but as a stakeholder with options to incentivize our employees as the com pany looks to execute its business:' What has been Wall Street's response? "It 's actually been very good especially given the choppiness of the investment and economic environment;' says Rudman . " [Vocus] went public in December, so it's been less than a year and we're trading up about 50 percent from our IPO price." For Descartes, who went public in 1999 and shifted to on-demand in 2004, the strength of the new software model is evident. "Many investors are looking for companies with higher degrees of predictable revenues and earnings , strong gross margins and growth potential. As more companies have adopted SaaS

models over the past 18 months, these investment opportunities have been more plentiful. We have see n inves tor support for one or two companies in each vertical niche to adopt a SaaS model to attack their markets," says Mesher. "In May 2004, when we adopted our SaaS model, our stock price was as low as $0.95, and as of August 2006 our 52-week high is $4.13. We attribute at least some of that increase to investor support for our SaaS model." The Giants Reconsider Their Stance

Many doubted if small on-demand players would be able to compete effectively with the software giants. At least one software company regretted its complacency. Siebel Systems, a superstar in the dot.com era , was caught between SAP on the high end and Salesforce.com on the low end . After deriding Salesforce.com's software for being insufficiently feature -rich, Siebel finally initiated its own on-demand strategy in 2003, but it had waited too long. In 2005, Oracle acquired the ailing

RIGHT

NOW TECHNOLOGIES

Right Now Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW)

40 Enterprise Blvd. P.O. Box 9300 Bozeman, MT 59718-9300 www.rightnow.com CEO: Greg Gianforte

Company focus: On-demand customer relationship management (CRM) software and services.

WWW. VREXPO .NET

Greg Gianforte, CEO of on-demand CRM solutions provider RightNow Technologie s (NASDAQ: RNOW) and another vocal supporter of on-demand responded to the announcement. "Consolidation may well be the only way for the 'old guard ' of enterprise software to grab market share, since software purchasing clearly continues to shift to on-demand vendors," he sa id. "Siebel tried to make the transition to on-demand, but were late to the party. These old guard application vendors, including Siebel, Oracle and SAP, have struggled with customer satisfaction and I don't see how this move will help solve this problem :' In November 2005, six years after Benioff launched his "end of software" campaign, Microsoft released an internal memo from Bill Gates in which Gates wrote, "The broad and rich foundation of the Internet will unleash a 'services wave ' of applications and experiences available instantly over the Internet to millions of users." He continued, "This coming 'services wave' will be very disruptive. We have competitors who will seize on these approaches and challenge us:' In July of this year Microsoft announced that it will offer on-demand CRM next year. It wasn 't the only software heavy hitter that decided to adopt an "if you can't beat 'em , join 'em" mentality. In February 2006, software applications giant SAP unveiled its first entry in the on-demand CRM market. Clearly, on - demand has taken up residence in the software space, creating both a transformation in the industry and an investment opportunity. It seems only fair for Marc Benioff to have the final words on the subject. " The so ftware industry is going through a transformation that is unlike anything it has seen in two decades, and the emergence of the PC itself," wrote Benioff in an internal message to his company. "This tran sformation goes by many names: On-Demand, Web 2.0, Software as a Service. But they all point to the same conclusion : The era of traditional software ' load, update, and upgrade' business and technology model is over. It is time for 'The Business Web:" R FALL 2006

I 73

Managing 2laugh

by David Willson

AND I'M A SMALL-CAP

WHAT'S THAT?

WeLL B.C., IT'S MY NeW PRODUCT. HeRe, TAKE ALOOK.

HeY, THIS IS ReALLY AMAZING/ HOW DID YOUR LITTLE COMPAWY COME UP WITH SOMETHING THIS INGENIOUS?

ReMeMBeR THOSE GUYS YOU FIRED WHEN YOU MOVED YOUR R&D TO INDIA? THEY WORK FOR Me NOW.

ReALLY/ BUT THE LOGISTICS OF MANUFACTURING SOMETHING THIS UNIQUE...

WHEN YOU MOVED YOUR MAMJ!ACTURING TO CHINA, I BOUGHT YOUR OLD PLANT FOR NeXT TO NOTHING.

YOU'RE MAKING THIS IN THe U.S.A.? HA/ FOR WHAT YOU'LL HAVe TO CHARGE, NOBODY'LL BUY IT/

ACTUALLY, THe CHINESe WANT ALL THE NEW TeCH THEY CAN GeT RIGHT NOW. We .lJST WROTE OUR FIRST ORDER FOR 50,000 UNITS.

THAT MEANS THe MONEY I'M SPENDING ON MANUFACTURING IN CHINA IS INDIRECTLY GOING TO".

".PAY THe GUYS YOU FIRED, TO WORK IN THe PLANT YOU SOLD, AND MAKe A PRODUCT YOU DIDN'T. NOW HOW COOL IS THAT?/

HELLO, I'M A BLUE CHIP.

Blue Chip and Small-cap

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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Small-cop Market Doting Dos and Don'ts lesson 1: Getting Noticed

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:Â§ It's an all-too-familiar scenario: Attractive small-caps with great personalities and tremendous potential are left sitting at home while their large-cap counterparts get wined and dined all over Wall Street. The statistics regarding small-cap market exposure, or lack thereof, are sobering and widely known . There is little market love available for the thousands of companies crowding the small-cap space. That's hardly new information. ValueRich decided to provide some insight into the problem by going directly to the people small-caps are courting and those trying to help them get dates. A panel of fund managers, research analysts and IR/ PR specialists speaks out on what small-caps are doing right and doing wrong in their quest to gain market exposure. Small-caps, put down your gallon of rocky road ice cream and self-pity, cast off your frustration, and listen up. 76

I VALUERICH

MAGAZINE

Fund Managers

in either Fl or F2 EPS over the past 30

Participants: Robert J. Sullivan , Chief Investment Officer of Satuit Capital Management; Satuit Capital Microcap Fund Michael Corbett, Chief Investment Officer of Perritt Capital Management; Perritt MicroCap Opportunities Fund

days. The ultimate focus list comprises roughly between 800 and 1,200 companies. Sullivan states that this quantitative screening is not even 10 percent of their overall assessment. The other 90 percent represents the qualitative portion and entails a bottom-up approach that determines which stocks ultimately make it into the fund . In this phase, Satuit is looking for a combination of four things: (1) revenue growth and the

"Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?" (What attracts fund managers to small-caps) According to Robert Sullivan, Satuit Capital Management compiles its preliminary universe using a Zacks database. Screening for companies with market caps under $500 million , it generates a list of approximately 3,000 domestic companies. This initial list is trimmed to approximately 2,000 by removing any company with a negative EPS growth forecast. The final filter is the elimination of any company that has had a downward estimate revision

sustainability of it, (2) margin expansion and the sustainability of it, (3) balance sheet strength and (4) cash flow. Michael Corbett calls Perritt Capital 's strategy a quantitative approach with fundamental analysis . The Company uses a nine-factor model, comprising nine essential items that can be pulled directly off the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow. If these items are moving in the right direction, a company scores well. For companies achievWWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

w.Street rather than a trader within the space.

ing 6 out of 9, the Perritt analyst s and team have permission to study them and get to know them better in terms of the product, service and management.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game:' (Why small-caps can't get exposure)

"I'm not attracted to you in 'that' way:' (Small-cap turnoffs)

Sullivan: The first reason that comes to mind is that there is very little investment banking activity. Investment banks don't have a real motivation to go out and try to reach out to these companies and generate a relationsh ip. Corbett: Sarbanes-Oxley has made things worse . Now [companies] are afraid because their attorneys are sort of looking over their shoulders saying, "I'm not sure you can do thi s, that and the other:' It's a difficult environment right now with the increased regulation we're seeing in the industry.

Sullivan: We try to look at the focus list and stay in the top 20 percent of companie s in the list. Anything below top 20 percent is yellow flag. Corbett: Usually it comes down to certain item s such as too much concentration from one customer or some other factor related to the balance sheet, like too much debt. We try to look for companies who have little debt or no debt. "It's not me, it's you:' (What causes break-ups between smallcaps and the funds who lo ved them)

Drowning in the dating pool. (Mistakes small-cap companies make) Sullivan: A smaller-cap or micro-cap company should spend time with different inve stment banks and the Wall Street community and try and figure out how to communicate properly with investors. That seems to be the biggest problem that I've found with the smaller companies. Corbett: When you have a smaller company it almost requires a re solution of conflict, if you will. You often have a management team that founded the company and owns a lot of the stock. There can be a sen se of entitlement ingrained in management. If that's the way you want to run the company, terrific. But if you want to go out into the public world and start working with

Sullivan: We have a very short fuse here for what 's an event and what 's a trend. If a company guides down, that leads me to believe they 're not going to make their numbers. Then we'll go ahead and consider getting it out of

the portfolio. Corbett: We actually have very low portfolio turnover, particularly relative to our peers and other investors in thi s asset class. We try to hold things for two, three or four years, if not longer in some cases . We think that 's a much more appropriate approach, mainly because there's a lot of liquidity issues within the micro -cap space. It 's our opinion that you really should become an investor

Wall Street and a more profe ssional investment community, you 're going to have to recognize that the demand s are going to be a lot different than if you were to stay in the other world , which is more closely held. That 's what small and micro-cap companies don't spend a lot of time thinking about, and they should .

Research Firms Participants: Russell Hoss, Director of Re search for Roth Capital Partners Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist for Jefferies & Company Dating heroes and zeros. (Why some small-caps are loved and others neglected) Hoss: We believe the biggest risk for a small -cap company is the manage ment team . In our experience, those sm all-cap companies most likely to succeed have a solid management team who has a vision and can execute a business plan . Hogan: There has to be a defendable business plan . There are a lot of companies who went public between 1997 and 2001 that didn't have defendable business pl ans or short-term plans for having earnings . That 's a big piece of it. If you 're a publicly traded company that doesn 't have any natural comps, it's also very difficult to get coverage. If your business is so unique that it's hard to compare you to anyone else, you're probably not going to get much of a look.

Listed Companies on Major US Markets By Market Cap and Number of Analysts A DR's & Closed-end Funds Excluded- July 31, 2006

More than $50 M, Up to $1 00 M

317

186

588

68.8%

23.4%

6.5%

1.3%

100%

More than $100 M, Up to $500 M

307

460

541

338

1,646

40.6%

26.0%

21.3%

12.1%

100%

More than $500 M, Up to $1 .0 Bn

208

337

648

34.1%

23.2%

23.3%

19.4%

100%

More than $1 .0 Bn, Up to $1.5 Bn

240

358

31.2%

21.8%

23.3%

23.7%

100%

More than $1.5 Bn, Up to $2.0 Bn

26.9%

100%

More than $2.0 Bn

39.7%

100%

Source: The Nati onal Research Exchange - www.Resea rchExchange.com WWW.VREXPO .NET

FALL 2006

I 77

"If you were a laser, you'd be set on 'stunning':' (What first attracts research firms to small-caps)

Hoss: It really depends- investors, industry contacts, management teams, board members, industry conferences, etc. Hogan: There's usually one of three drivers that put you on our radar screen . The first is a function of a broader view of our research platform . Let's say we're going to have a health-care conference and start dialing around regarding what companies we should have on board. We end up finding a couple of things. Another big driver is that as an analyst you 'll go around and start talking to your customers about your universe. A lot oftimes, inside your coverage universe, you ' ll have clients that will ask you questions. When they reoccur, you tend to sit up and take notice. It brings companies up to our radar screen. Lastly, they just show up in your space when you try to do things. Suppose you're doing due diligence on one of your companies and trying to figure out who they lost a contract to. Low and behold, it's XYZ Corporation out of nowhere that doesn't have any coverage. When you focus on different sectors, you tend to bump into things in your normal course of business. "I think we should just be friends:' (Small-cap red flags) Hoss: There are a lot of red flagsover-promising and under-delivering is one we see often . Hogan: Sometimes you get a little nervous if small-cap companies market themselves too hard or are too aggressive in the way they go after press . It sends up a red flag if they 're over-promotional. Unfortunately, sometimes small-cap companies sit back and think, 'My total enterprise value or total market cap would be much higher if I just got a little more love from the investment community: So they 'll go out, get some bought research and be written up. Sometimes that doesn't say the right thing. [As analysts], you'd rather think the management team is spending the majority of the time sticking to the knitting and running a business.

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"Let's take this relationship to the next level:' (How research firms ultimately select small-caps for their universe) Hoss: First and foremost , we ask, "Can we add value?" Next questions: Is this company relatively undiscovered? Does the company have an exciting story? Is the management team accessible? Does the management team understand the Street? Hogan: We ask, "Where am I going to be the most impactful?" It's more a function of "I'm not going to put weeks of work into an initiation piece on a com pany when , at the end of the day, it's going to have a hold rating:' I think part of [the analysts'] enthusiasm for their prospects drives the decision and , fortunately or unfortunately, that's going to be one of the decision makers. Meet the parents. (How important is getting to know company management) Hoss: In the world of small-caps it is absolutely imperative to know the executive - level management team . You have to visit the company and know the product or service. A key to being a good analyst is to look under the hood, ask the tough questions, do channel checks, talk to customers, suppliers and employees. What we always say here is that 'you absolutely have to do the work. Hogan: It's entirely important. There's definitely a benefit to looking them in the eye, asking them the tough questions and seeing how they react to gauge how you feel about the compa ny. If you don't have a level of comfort after having met somebody who happens to be running a company you 've got a chance to be an equity owner in or not, typically you're going to lean in the 'or not' direction. Courting Faux Pas (Mistakes small-caps make) Hoss: They focus on the stock price, not the business. Hogan: Sometimes you get a smallcap company that for one reason or another thinks they 've got one shot at this and they 're going to take a swing at the fences for a one-time benefit.

The love doctor is in. (Dating tips for small-caps)

Hoss: Have a solid business plan and demonstrate an ability to consistently execute that plan . Hogan: I think one of the greatest things that small-cap companies can do is spend their time giving management access to investors, such as volunteering to go to small and mid-cap conferences that are being held by investment banks or broker dealers. At the end of the day, that's a captured audience that beats the heck out of buying an airplane and running the banner around Manhattan in terms of bang for your buck.

IR, Public Relations and Consulting Participants: Devin Bosch, President of Capital Group Communications Mark Jablon, President of Big Apple Consulting "Where's the love?" (Why some small-caps are loved and others neglected) Bosch: Management, indu stry, execution , EPS, quality news and proper financing are all critical factors in presenting to the investment community. However, in a small-cap environment you need to package such information and then be able to send it in an honest, ethical and fully compliant manner. Jablon: Number one is management, and number two is the story and the potential of the company. When somebody buys a micro-cap company they know they 're not necessarily strong financially. They 've pretty much accepted that fact. What they're really looking for is what 's the potential of this company making it one day, and will the management of the company spend the money on the right things. "What's someone like you doing in a place like this?" (How much does market membership matter) Bosch: The difficulty in being an OTC company vs . a senior exchange company is that most brokers can't recommend OTC companies to their clients because of the strict rules compliance WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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departm ents have in effect. However, this can b e overcome with a proper strategy to focus efforts on firms that can recommend your stock. Jablon: I've dealt with companies on the Pin k Sheets, the Bulletin Board, AMEX and NASDAQ. The general rule is for every pe rson who will buy a stock on the Pink Sheets, 10 people will buy it on the Bulletin Board and 100 people will buy it on NASDAQ. Your story will determine whether or not you belong on a given exchange along with the financial s your company has. You may not be suitable for NASDAQ if you're not prepared to have your financial s dissected on a quarterly basis as is required by the NASDAQ exchange. Fumbled Flirtations (Mistakes small-caps make) Bosch: To gain exposure, sometimes management makes the mistake of hiring 'bandage'-approach IR firms to hype WWW. VREXPO .NET

the story without considering the longt erm damage such promotions can do. Junk fa xing, mass spam e-mailing and fly-by-night penny stock newsletters with little or no presence are some of the ' bandage' tactics that small -cap companies get sold on to gain market exposure. Unfortunately, these same tactics damage the credibility of the company and, in certain cases, place the company in harm's way. Jablon: They break the number one rule your mom always told you, which is 'If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.' There are a lot of sharks out there promising to raise these com panies $1 million, $2 million, $5 million, and the company doesn't warrant that immediate investment. No one's going to hand a small company a $5 million check. What they end up doing is giving a whole bunch of their stock away to people based on the promise that they 're going to get a lot of money.

Then those firms just sell their stock and lead them down a bad path, leaving the company with no money and the company's stock in a bad position. I really believe that the CEO need s to concentrate on building his company. If they do that, then from there they need to build the venues that are going to get them the greatest exposures. I'm a big proponent of places like Investor's Business Daily. R Satuit Capital Management, LLC www.satuitcapital.com Perritt Capital Management, Inc. www.perrittcapital.com Roth Capital Partners, LLC www.rothcp.com Jefferies & Company, Inc. www.jefferies.com Capital Group Communications, Inc. www.capitalgc.com Big Apple Consulting, USA, Inc. www.bigappleconsulting.com FA LL 2006

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82 Edgewater Foods International, Inc. ( 86 scent Solar Technologies, Inc. (ASTI: NASDAQ) 90 etrlals orldwide, Inc. (ETWC: NASDAQ) 9 4 Sâ&#x20AC;˘arTire Systems Inc. (SMTR: OTCBB) 100 GeoPharma, Inc. (GORX: Nasdaq)

Image provided by Edgewat er Foods Internati onal

Seafood production was once a much simpler process. Years ago, when the demand was lower and the natural supply plentiful, those with the basics of a boat and a net could get into the game. As global population grew, however, waters became polluted and supply began to dwindle, causing a fundamental industry shift. Aquaculture evolved as a means to effectively address these new challenges . Now producers who want to succeed on a large scale need to temper the simplicity with science. No one knows this better than Island Scallops Ltd. ("ISL''), the subsidiary of Edg ewater Foods International, Inc. (OTCBB : EDWT). which has spent the past 17 years looking for the " holy grail " of aquaculture species. They have found it in Pacific scallop s and blackcod, both extremely disease-resistant, fastgrowing, high-yield species with high worldwide demand. These discoveries come with an added bonus . In finessing the complexities of developing 82

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these species, ISL has created significant barriers to entry for others. As a result, Edgewater Foods is now positioned to commerci alize its find without sharing either the credit or the profits.

Super Scallop Twenty-five years ago, the Pacific scallop didn't exist. Robert Saunders, CEO of Edgewater and director of ISL's R&D efforts, remembers his introduction to th e hybrid scallop, which was created by crossing a Japanese import with local weathervane scallops. Saunders had been looking at Canada's native species of scallop, measuring them about once every two months and detecting barely any growth rate. In 1984, he received 20 of the Pacific scallops and put them in the water. A month and a half later, checking on them to be sure they were still alive, he discovered that the scallops had doubled in size. " It's one of those moments when you realize that this is the species," says

Saunders. Since ISL's inception in 1989, the Company has looked at 14 different aquaculture species, everything from halibut to abalone to scallops, in an attempt to identify and ultimately commercialize the most attractive. Attractiveness in this case relates to a number of factors including growth rate, disease resistance and consumer demand. With the Pacific scallop, ISL scored a hat trick. In addition to being one of the largest scallops in the world (reaching sizes of 15 em and 500 grams), the Pacific scallop farmed by ISL has a proven record of being disease resistant, boasting a 95 percent survival rate during the growout phase. This achievement is the result of considerable work on ISL's part. "We built the hatchery to commercialize them , and just as our first crop was coming to harvest, we got hit by a disease;' says Saunders. Rather than serving as discouragement, Saunders WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

asserts that this blow ultimately underscored the Company's belief in the Pacific scallop. "I spent eight years of my life building a disease-resistant hybrid. " During that process, we [tried) a whole variety of other species and realized that still nothing comes anywhere near what this species is capable of' Positioned for Success

The payo f f promises to be huge. While ISL can sell a truckload of 200 dozen oysters for $600, a truckload of 200 dozen scallops brings in $2,400 . Despite the amazing economies of scale, ISL is the only producer of live Pacific scallops in North America . Since it is labeled an "exotic" species, the United States prohibits farming it in U.S. waters. And while North America has traditionally relied on both wild production from the east coast of North American and Chinese imports to fill the void, U.S. and Canadian Food Inspection authorities have curtailed Chinese imports due to high levels of pollution. Additionally, the majority of scallops entering the U.S. market are chemically treated to maintain viability during shipping. Due to its location in Vancouver, ISL can deliver additive-free, natural , fresh scallops to all major West Coast cities within 24 hours. And since the scallops are essen tially range fed , ISL is in the process of obtaining organic certification. ISL's farm sites for scallops add significant weight to the Company's value and predictions of future performance. The five tenures, located on the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island, comprise roughly 1,141 acres. With additional infrastructure investment, they have the capacity to accommodate 50 to 100 million scallops. "It really is those companies who are po sitioned well for the best farmland that are going to be successful," asserts Saunders. "I give the analogy that the first guys into the Sacramento Valley grabbed the best properties, and that's essentially what we have done. "We were out there in the '80s and '90s applying to the government for large tracts of areas that were suitable for scallops. Now we hold more tenures than anyone in Canada :' ISL's tenures are located in the highest-productivity areas, close to popula-

tion centers for access to employees and on the power grid and transportation network. In British Columbia , which is mostly trees and coastline, this is rare. The waters are pristine and unspoiled by major industry, but the farther you are from prime areas such as ISL's, the more difficult it is to get equipment to work. According to the Company's calcula tions, the current market value of these farm sites is approximately $11 million. With the area available for shellfish aquaculture within Baynes Sound almost fully subscribed and the Provincial application and review a four- to fiveyear process, ISL is in an advantaged competitive position . Given the existing farming infrastructure, the Company has the ability to increase its scallop production to 15 million scallops annually beginning with the spring 2008 harvest (2006 scallop class) and rapidly increasing production to more than 50 million in 2009 and 100 million in 2010. Fish of the Future

The Company's second species, the sablefish or blackcod, may be less familiar to many Americans. With most of the world's catch consumed in Japan, blackcod is a highly valued high-oil deepwater whitefish. It is considered the sister fish to- and serves as an ideal substitute for- Chilean sea bass, which is currently over-fished in all oceans. Economic conditions make it an

Ed~water Foods c:::..=_ ---:5 International, Inc.

EDWT:OTCBB

Edgewater Foods International, Inc. 5552 West Island Hwy. Qualicum Beach, British Columbia Canada V9K 2C8 www.edgewaterfoods.com

Tom Bostic P: 800-793-0087 bos@mediagang.com

attractive species for commercialization . While demand has held constant over the past decade, supply has been steadily declining . The 2005 shortfall was estimated at over 20,000 ton s, or $224 million, assuming current market prices. ISL has spent the pa st eight years developing proprietary technology for the production of blackcod juveniles. Saunders believes that blackcod will be the next species, after salmon, for successful large-scale commercial farming, and the Company plan s to expand production into both ocean and onshore farming. " Biackcod is one of the few species that I would consider growing on shore,"

Robert Saunders, CEO of Edgewater and director of ISL's R&D efforts WWW. VREXPO .NET

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The Pacific scallop says Saunders. "The reason is that it grows spectacularly fast in a very short period of time. In about si x months, it grows to a one -kilo fish. Nothing I have seen comes anywhere close:' ISL has developed one of the few hatcheries dedicated to blackcod production that is capable of producing large quantities of juveniles. Potential competitors would require at least one year of construction, with an additional year for testing and production . This provides ISL with a two-year lead time, during which the Company can develop superior strains of blackcod to meet future competition . The Company 's existing hatchery infrastructure has the capability to produce 100,000 juvenile blackcod annually. Initial response to ISL's limited production has been excellent. Encouraged by this and the attractive demand con ditions, ISL plans to construct a new

hatchery within the next two to three years that could generate $7.3 million in revenue. Increasing hatchery production to 3 million blackcod annually would still fill less than 30 percent of global shortfalls. ISL's marketing and distribution strategy is focused on developing and maintaining long -term relationships with distribution channel members. The Company has also developed a unique live holding system in which it delivers live product directly to seafood suppliers and restaurants and retrieves unused product on a weekly basis . With unsold product returned to ISL for further processing and shucking , for resale as shucked meat, the Company minimizes waste and maximizes profits through reduced processing costs. ISL can also adjust more rapidly to changing demand trend s. On the brink of widespread com mer-

cialization of its two main products, ISL has evolved beyond a scientific operation into a viable investment consideration . In June 2005, Edgewater Foods, a Nevada corporation , acquired ISL. The Company went public in August 2005 and began trading on the OTC Bulletin Board under the ticker EDWT on November 10,2005. With $5.4 million in financing from the sale of convertible preferred stock in mid-July, management estimates that Edgewater now has adequate funding to execute its planned scallop expansion. At the end of the day, it all comes back to the necessary duality. "This is a simple farming operation . The more animals you get in the water, the more money you make . The simplicity is that," says Mark Elenowitz, an Edgewater director and co-founder of Tripoint Capital Advisors, LLC. "The comple xity is the science behind the deal and the science behind developing the fast-growing disease-resistant animal. "All the R&D has been done over the past 17 years, and now is the time to commercialize the product. We have the inventory in place. We have the infrastructure in place . The Company is adequately funded to execute the plan. We've got the demand as well as the supply to be able to do 100 million scallops a year." Thanks to ISL's investment in science, Edgewater Foods is now positioned to enjoy the art of profits. R

The unique hatchery technology at ISL's Qualicum Beach facilities differentiates the Company from its competitors.

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Meet George Jetson, his boy, Elroy, daughter Judy, and Jane, his wife (go ahead, you can hum the theme song). Many of us fondly remember the cartoon television series The Jetsons, which took viewer s forward to the year 2062 . The Jetsons were a traditional family that zipped around interplanetary space in a transparent flying saucer. Their home at Skypad Apartments was a platform in space with a host of devices, including a robot housekeeper, holograms, and electronic gadgets galore that would pop up at will to melt away th e complexities of daily living. The animated feature, debuted by Hanna-Barbera in 1962, is still loved for its vision of a more friendly world made possible through technology. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ : ASTI) is the developer of state-of-the-art devices using fle xible thin-film solar cells to turn natural sunlight into power for electricity. The Company's second-generation sola r

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cells offer superior flexibility and are light yet durable enough to sustain power under distressing space and nearspace conditions. This type of technology is a perfect match for a host of terrestrial applications as well as a platform in the sky being envisioned today- the Missile Defense Agency 's High Altitude Airship (HAAâ&#x201E;˘). The HAA is a lightweight, low-cost satellite- picture the Goodyear blimp only 17 times larger- stationed high above the jet stream. Defense contractor Lockheed Martin is developing the HAATMprototyp e to demon strate that an HAAâ&#x201E;˘ can operate communications and surveillance tasks on station and be positioned and relocated anywhere in the world . It would be loaded with a variety of sensors with applications that include everything from monitoring weather changes to providing 24/ 7 surveillance to support the U.S. in its counterterrorism and border control initiatives.

Closer to the ground, bringing solar energy into homes and businesses is a national priority. In 2007, President Bush's Solar America Initiative will fun nel $148 million towards advancing solar cell technologies, specifically for use on rooftops and other building materials, to create homes and com mercial buildings powered by the sun. Ascent Solar has the intellectual property to address these large terrestrial markets and recently submitted a proposal to the SAl for review. With an industry-first roll-to-roll monolithically integrated manufacturing process on plastic, Ascent Solar is just beginning to commercialize its revolutionary technologies into a wealth of terrestrial applications as well as those for the skies above. Plastic Lightens the Load Ascent Solar Technologies was created by ITN Energy Systems, Inc., a technology incubator known for spinning WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

off companies as they gear up for their commercialization phase. Global Solar, Infinite Power Solutions, and MicroSat Systems were all successful spin -offs that preceded Ascent Solar's IPO in July 2006. Ascent Solar benefits from ITN's long-standing civil and government relationships, including those with the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and others that have invested over $60 million toward ITN's solar cell research and development since 1994. Utilizing proprietary processing and manufacturing techniques it gleaned from years of living inside ITN 's brain trust, Ascent Solar has developed a second-generation plastic-backed solar cell, which could easily be connected into single modules and manufactured roll-to-roll - where installation is as easy as unfo lding a towel. This breakthrough production process creates long sheets of solar panels up to 20 times longer with the potential to generate 20 times more power than traditional glass-backed silicon panels. Made from copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) as thin as a strand of human hair and backed on plastic, Ascent Solar 's latest solar cells are powerful, yet lightweight and flexible enough to be cut to specification for applications in a variety of industries. Rolling Onto Market Ascent Solar 's second - generation solar cell technologies will be off and rolling in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility by 2008. The Company is currently building a 1.5-megawatt (500 kW per shift) annual capacity production facility to initially serve the aerospace and HAA niche market, and provide capacity to develop products for expansion into future terrestrial applications. These specialty markets command much higher paybacks, typically $1 ,000/ watt compared to less than $1 0/ watt in the consumer market. "The aerospace industry provides us with a high-value opportunity to demonstrate that our solar cell technologies carry significant cost and operational advantages over existing technologies," says Ascent Solar CEO Matthew Foster. "We also want to leverage these WWW. VREXPO .NET

same advantages as we enter the terrestrial market. We know our solar cells work, but the smart way to prove that is by starting on a smaller scale. We can better control costs as we gain market acceptance and retire major risks at a small scale volume production level. It is a calculated approach to entering an emerging market:' They say you can 't be all things to all people, but Ascent Solar may challenge that idea . Closer to the ground, the Company believes its technology and manufacturing process lend themselves to serve a variety of diverse markets, including homeland security, defense, commercial communications, and terrestrial markets. According to Foster, "The secondgeneration thin-film solar cell creates a single technology platform to power a broad range of industries, which has not existed up until now. Our pathway to commercialization will address all of these markets, with a focus on continually driving down production costs until the limits of economies of scale can be reached ." The evolution of the thin film solar cell on plastic substrate could follow a trajectory similar to the semiconductor silicon wafer industry, which overcame a painstaking process of production, quality control and integration issues. Crystalline silicon modules, which have dominated the solar power market for over 40 years, are much too heavy for aircraft and space. Even Ascent Solar's

ASTI : NASDAQ

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. 8120 Shaffer Parkway Littleton , CO 80127-4107 www.ascentsolar.com Jim Blackman PR Financial Marketing, LLC 713-256-0369 jim@prfmonline.com

first-generation solar cell, a metal foilbacked cell, was deemed too heavy and required cells to be lined up in a series similar to batteries in a flashlight, too cumbersome to pass the intense quality controls necessary in space. "The proprietary monolithically integrated roll-to-roll manufacturing process we developed for plastic substrate is pushing the evolution of solar energy panels forward, eliminating the past limitations of glass- and metal-backed solar cells," claims Foster. Solar America Team Solar energy is emerging as a criti cal path to diversify dependency on any single source of energy, such as traditional fossil fuels. Rising interest in solar

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energy is driving a market anticipated to soar from $11 .2 billion in 2005 to $51 .1 billion by 2015. Japan, China and Europe are among the world 's champions of solar energy, taking the lead in both its technology and commercialization. Yet for the U.S., making solar cells affordable enough to bring to market remains a major challenge. At present, the U.S. owns only 9 percent of the worldwide solar energy market. The world is consuming oil at more than two times the rate of discovery of new supplies, and U.S . consumption (approximately 25 percent of world con sumption) is rapidly outpacing its supply. U.S. dependency on ground sources can 't last forever, and the country must reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers in order to thwart skyrocketing oil and gas prices. Earlier this year, President Bush issued the Solar America Initiative (SAl), as part of the Department of Energy's comprehensive Advanced Energy Initiative, to accelerate the development of alternative sources of energy through 2015 . SAl funding increased 78 percent over last year, to $148 million. The ultimate goal is to produce solar energy in the U.S. that is as affordable and reliable as conventional gas and oil. SAl creates a favorable environment for larger companies to partner with smaller companies, such as Ascent Solar, which own enabling technologies. In July 2006, Ascent Solar submitted a letter of intent to the DOE in pursuit of an SAl grant to accelerate the development of solar cell systems for homes and businesses. The Company plans to focus on accelerating the manufacturing scaleup of its thin-film solar cell technology and the associated roll-to-roll manufacturing processes to demonstrate that significant reductions in direct manufacturing costs can be achieved and reduced to levels under $1 / watt, as outlined by SAl. "Much [as] a textile manufacturer produces fabric, we can generate the raw material, in this case power, onto sheets that can then be converted into any number of products around the world," says Foster. Applications include integration into building materials for commercial / residential rooftops, portable power sys-

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Ascent Solar Technologies' roll to roll coater. terns, and even solar-powered siding to warm up your camping tent. Being Terrestrial Ascent Solar 's target customers include traditional aerospace concerns, companies in the defense and communications industries, and domestic and foreign government entities. In addition, system integrators, who are eager to incorporate solar cells into building materials for commercial/residential rooftops and siding, represent ideal partners. The larger, terrestrial market remains wide open and fragmented. Participation in Solar America can create a systematic path of commercialization, which can exponentially grow a company 's equity. On top of providing funding to propel new research and commercialization, Solar America also re-invests in its participating companies, commercia liz-

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ing the systems it teams up to develop. Fulfilling Solar America's requirements could translate to a large windfall over the course of the next 10 years. In addition to the accelerated R&D aspects of the SAl program, Ascent Solar intends to address the DOE installedcapacity goals by accelerating plans for expanded manufacturing capacity in excess of 100 megawatts. This expanded capacity will commence in 2010 and has a planned completion date of 2015 . Generating improved efficiencies in manufacturing can drive down costs. "The ultimate objective is to demonstrate that dramatic cost reductions in solar cell module direct manufacturing are possible," says Foster. "The SAl is targeting a three-factor reduction from present-day crystalline silicon-based technologies to $1 / watt. We believe we can reach this goal. If the SAl program is successful, the team players involved will emerge as the leaders in installedsolar cell systems throughout the world in the 21 " century:' How will the foreign oil giants react to beefed-up U.S. production of alternative energy? "Ruh-ro!" Astra, the Jetsons' dog, would exclaim. Translation : With the help of companies such as Ascent Solar Technologies, the U.S. is rising to the challenge of creating a world of new possibilities in the solar energy stratosphere. R WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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Clinical Trials without the Paper Tribulations By Stephen Feller All images provided by etrails Worldwide, Inc.

Each and every drug that's approved by the FDA must go through a long and rigorous set of tests surrounding the safety and effectiveness on the patients it will ultimately treat. As part of the process, drugs must endure at least three phases of clinical trials where pharmaceutical companies gather thousands of data points from patients across the world surrounding the treatment's (drug) performance. For each trial , there is the huge administrative task of recruiting patients and doctors, securing sites to perform the tests, distributing drugs, tracking patient progress, etc. This process is very time intensive and costly - two words that any business person dreads. Securing all of this information and transferring it into usable information can take years. North Carolina-based etrials Worldwide , Inc. (NASDAQ : ETWC) is helping pharmaceutical companies conquer these cost-intensive administrative tasks. Founded in 1999, etrials offers a suite of eCiinical software and services that help shift the outdated paper processes of clinical trials into a completely

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electronic process with data collection in near real time- a dramatic change from the months/ years with paper. The etrials su ite of products not only makes data collection quicker, it also helps companies develop safer drugs with more accurate data. "We're accelerating the pace drugs get approved by removing what has traditionally been a paper-based process and introducing technology," says etrials' CEO John Cline. Only 25 percent of clinical trials conducted today use electronic technologies, Cline says, and the need to collect, verify completion and then review the content of paper-reported data has contributed to the astronomical rise in the cost of bringing new drugs to market. With the immediacy of electronic technologies, global clinical drug trials can be conducted in a faster, more precise manner because information can be reviewed by companies in real time throughout all trial phases. Whi le etrials is poised to save drug companies both time and money, the Company's technologies have additional implications. After the much-publicized

issues with the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx and the need for quick results for new types of drugs, even post-approval, the Company's integrated suite of applications to collect information offers increased precisision and effectiveness throughout the entire lifecycle of the drug. Connecting the Pieces with Technology The Company 's services are built around what it calls a "fully integrated " software suite that includes electronic data capture, interactive voice response, electronic patient diaries and a clinical trial management system . With the intent to meet the needs of clinical trial sponsors and participants, etrials aims to address every aspect currently tracked using paper methods. The challenge of implementing electronic reporting lies in the technology's ability to seamlessly integrate data from various sources without threatening the validity of the data . etrials' eCiinical suite is designed to make it easy for clients to integrate mult iple sources of data, including external data sources WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

like EKG and lab data, into one central database. "If you 're testing an antibiotic, it 's pretty clear when it work s since it 's based solely on a quantitative blood test," Cline says. "But if you 're testing an allergy or erectile dysfunction drug, such as the Viagra test we did, you need to read and report on the patient's experience. The systems we have put together allow both types of data to be brought together in a controlled environment to fully compare all the information electronically." The cost of bringing new drugs to market has grown from approximately $500 million to over $1 billion . While research and development expenses continually rise, pharmaceutical companies are under pressure from investors and the government to keep costs down and offer safe products as quickly as possible. Cline says several etrials clients have shaved 30 to 40 percent off

individual drugs' R&D costs simply by switching from paper tracking to their system . The FDA requires all clinical study information to be submitted electronically, either as a pdf file or on a CD. While collecting the data electronically is not required, they seem to be moving quickly down this path . Utilizing tech nology enables companies to eliminate the entire conversion process from paper-based data- along with its ha ssles that relate to multiple individuals manually entering data into computers from thousands of pages and millions of data points. By eliminating the potential for human error using technology, the FDA and the client receive more accurate data. "Our mantra is, if you're going to submit electronically, why don't you collect electronically," Cline says. "The goal is to move that application through the process as quickly as you can to maxi-

etrials Worldwide, Inc. 4000 Aerial Center Parkway Morrisville, NC 27560 www.etrials.com Courtney Smith etrials Worldwide, Inc. Courtney.Smith @etrials.com P: 919-653-3400

mize the patent life protection before the drug goes generic. We know we can take drugs to market faster and have the technology to carry the drug from molecule to money - or development to deployment:' Electronic data reporting allows sponsor companies to build information standards into the database the moment a clinical trial begins and throughout any subsequent changes. This process allows companies to track and compare data during clinical trials, as well as through the post-approval stages once the drug is deployed into the marketplace. The real and near-real time technology enables sponsors to monitor patients and the multitude of potential adverse events more closely. The automated , integrated etrials systems allow companies to recognize safety and efficacy issues associated with a drug immediately. This safety and simplicity, aside from saving money, is one of the benefits of switching to eCiinical.

The company has history After leaving the Swedish company Araccel in 1999, Cline funded the formation of etrials with his own money, originally working out of the basement of his home, collecting investors and venture capital for the new company along the way. The eventual acquisitions of Cline's former employer Araccel and other companies now gives etrials experience dating back to the early 1980s, WWW. VREXPO .N ET

FALL 2006

well before anyone in the medical or pharmaceutical industries or etrials ' competitors developed computerized data reporting. etrials went public in 2006 via a unique acquisition by CEA Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC (Special Acquisition Company). As with most companies, etrials had many motivators to becoming public. Most notable among these,

has the experience, industry network

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and technology to make that leap for

discuss specifics at this stage beyond the information that they are "engaged in active discussions:' While there may not be many financial analysts paying attention, the industry seems to be taking note of etrials' accomplishments. In April 2006, the Company announced that it had signed a contract with an existing client and top 10 pharmaceutical company to incorporate its patient diary technology in several upcoming studies . This contract necessitates the coordination and deployment of more than 4,000 handheld devices and over 700 international sitebased diaries for these studies. As of FYE 2005, etrials had worked with more than 100 customers, including 15 of the largest 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world, and participated in 33 I Do:,s r - - n t ttnlp clinical studies used for o~~~~:. 12 new drug applications. The Company had also partnered with several contract research organi-

them. In terms of acquisition prospects, etrials is targeting profitable companies with $10 million to $20 million in revenue. The acquisition strategy relies heavily on determining synergies and adding ancillary technologies to broaden the suite while identifying additional

Cline says, relates to working with some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world . When these companies sign contracts for clinical trial work, they seek providers that are financially stable and capable of completing multi-year trials . Going public also gave etrials clients faith that they would continue to pursue future acquisitions of new technologies to better facilitate their trials- the principle way the Company has grown in stature and capability. Revenue for etrials is based on contracted trial fees and the Company 's contract backlog. For fiscal 2005, the Company reported a 6 .7 percent increase in revenue from the prior year, to reach $13.6 million . Additionally, in August 2006, etrials announced the achievement of a major financial milestone; the Company

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zations through licensing agreements, including Quintiles Transactional .~ Corp ., Omnicare, Inc., INC Research and Cato Research . As for competition, etrials is positioned in the - - - - - - - - - - -· top three in this space, posted its first growth etrials eCiinical suite import module in earnings, reported for and is the only provider the quarter ending June 30, 2006. Cline ways to eliminate paper in the clinical of an integrated suite of applications . anticipates that these positive results trial process. Cline isn't surprised that there are no will continue if recent trends persist. " We're looking for interesting techchallengers to their industry-leading While continuing to attract new cusposition , partially because there have nologies to bolt onto our suite and tomers with its combination of experibeen no new interests in the market increase the successes we can have for ence and continued success, etrials is our clients;' Cline says. "We think what's with serious funding since 2000. actively looking to further develop appli"Nobody wants to be the guinea pig exciting is that this organic growth will cations around the eCiinical suite with in the drug industry;' Cline says "Even if continue for the next three to four years, additional software attained through you could build a good or better mouseeasily. And we also think that the oppo racquisitions. According to Cline, many trap, what you wouldn't be able to reptunity exists if we do some of these boltsmall companies with a strong customer on acquis itions to really launch etrials licate is our history and our heritage of base and quality products can 't make even fu rther." industry-leading technology and delivthe leap to that "next level " and etrials The Company is currently evaluating ery for our clients." R

VALUERICH MAGAZIN E

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rt~.~ TRACEGUARD

Better Explosive Detection Losing the war on terror is not an option. But as a recent GAO sting operation showed, luggage screeners do not have adequate solutions to prevent explosives being smuggled onto aircraft.

Which is why TraceGuard Technologies Inc. (TCGD.OB) is making such big waves with its patent-pending automatic trace explosive extraction and collection solutions. Our CarrySafe screening system for carry-on luggage, currently at an advanced stage of development, is designed to help dramatically improve explosive detection levels while shortening passenger lines.

The market is demanding better explosive detection.

TraceGuard is dedicated to meeting this demand.

www.traceguard.com

If paying at the pump drains your wallet as fast as it fills your tank these days, consider how much more rising fuel prices cost the guy who owns the big rig at the diesel station . With more than 1.5 million commercial vehicles on American highways , commercial vehicle manufacturers, fleet owners and operators in particular are looking for any edge to improve fuel and maintenance efficiencies and lower costs in an increasingly competitive market. Technological advancements that can generate those efficiencies fill an important need and represent an attractive market opportunity. Improving the bottom line in the commercial vehicle industry doesn't necessarily mean reinventing the wheel - perhaps just ensuring that

VALUERICH MAGAZIN E

it 's properly inflated . It may seem like a small issue, but tire under-inflation is the main cause of premature tire wear, catastrophic tire failures and can significantly reduce fuel economy. Tire maintenance and repair also accounts for the second highest expense in this $148 billion industry where rubber costs are rising alongside fuel. Unlike the family SUV, where reduced tire pressure saves pennies over the life of the tire, under- inflation in commercial vehicles results in thousands of dollars in hidden costs. A two- or three-cent saving per gallon can translate over time to thousands of dollars for a large fleet. These savings are particularly important given prevailing market conditions. Since 1987, SmarTire Systems (OTCBB: SMTR) has been paving the way with

its wireless products that support the vehicle marketplace. The Company has consistently developed industry-leading technology and products for advanced tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) to improve safety, performance, reliability and fuel efficiency for passenger and commercial transportation vehicles.

Road Less Traveled In 2003, the U.S. government began implementing legislation that required passenger vehicles be equipped with tire monitoring systems, creating a substantial new market opportunity. By that time, SmarTire was already actively researching, developing and selling its cutting-edge tire monitoring devices to passenger vehicle markets worldwide. To date, the Company has invested more W W W. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

than $100 million in R&D for its patented tire monitori ng and safety technology. Driven almost entirely by legislation, the passenger market quickly shifted from being highly fragmented to being dominated by a handful of industry giants with their hands already in the small-vehicle -technology cookie jar. As competition grew, prices dropped, substantially lowering profit margins for SmarTire's innovative monitoring devices. SmarTire's management responded by focusing on the rapidly growing commercial vehicle sector, where rising costs were creating an attractive operating niche that could best utilize the Company's technology and better serve its goals. The commercial vehicle and trucking industry is currently one of the largest industries in North America. SmarTire's domestic ta rget market is valued at approximately $2 billion. However, the Company's interests are not limited to domestic opportunities. SmarTire has had a sales, marketing and European distribution office in the U.K. for a number of years and Management estimates the European market to be approximate ly $1 .6 billion . The sector as a whole is under increasing pressure to maintain profitability. With tire under-inflation a key component in lower fuel efficiency, technology in this specialized area represents an important investment for industry participants. SmarTire's products are unique, offering the most advanced tire pressure monitoring systems for both aftermarket and OEM applications. Using a wireless interface, the products monitor all tires independently, ensuring proper inflation and optimal performance despite road conditions . SmarTire's TPMS alerts drivers to cha nges in air pressure or temperature problems, either of which could lead to tire failure, early enough to allow for corrective action . As a pioneer in the sector, SmarTire has created industry-first technology that includes an innovative chip design, radio frequency transmission, universal applications and modular receiver, and display opt ions that allow for installation in mobile environments . The Company's technology uses a customWWW. VREXPO .N ET

ized Application Specific Integrated Sensor (ASIS) to create a single microelectronic package. This package offers pressure- and temperature-sensing elements and a digital logic state machine that provides black box recording and optimizes battery life for faster data transmission when problems occur. An added benefit is the incredibly short time to recoup the investment. SmarTire's systems pay for themselves in terms of fuel savings in only three to six months for the average commercial vehicle. The increased tire life span, coupled with ongoing reduction in fuel costs, generates savings throughout the vehicle's life. In addition, the product's modular design allows for future-generation technology solutions, including drive train and similar monitoring features with far-reaching applications.

Early Relationships Pay Off "We have been encouraged by rapid market acceptance for our products from commercial vehicle OEMs who recognize the inherent benefit of entirely wireless monitoring systems with the ability to offer substantial cost savings over the life of each vehicle," said SmarTire VP of Marketing and Sales Dave Warkentin . SmarTire recognizes that in the passenger vehicle marketplace, legislation has forced the hand of technological innovation, and superior mobile vehi-

SmarTire Systems Inc. Suite 150-13151 Vanier Place Richmond, British Columbia Canada V6V 2J1 www.smartire.com Investor relations: D.P. Martin & Associates, Inc. (561) 514-0194

cle monitoring systems are considered more of a luxury than a necessity. The commercial vehicle, bus, recreational vehicle and off-road equipment industries, which represent SmarTire's four target markets, are driven by competitive market demands to increase operating efficiencies with offerings that significantly benefit the bottom line. Alternative fuel technology, like hybrid and electric vehicles, might promise the passenger market the opportunity to sidestep rising fuel costs, but it doesn't offer the same promise to the trucking industry because conversion and maintenance costs are prohibi-

SmarTire's SmartWaveTM TPMS improves vehicle safety and performance by providing drivers with real-time tire information. The system includes highpressure sensor/transmitters, a robust shielded receiver, a graphic display unit and antennas.

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The SmarTire sensors mounted inside the tires continuously monitor both air pressure and temperature and transmit the data to the receiver. The receiver, in turn, sends the information to the display unit where the driver can toggle through each wheel position and select the type of information being displayed: tire pressure, temperature or pressure deviation . A bright red LED light on the display is activated whenever a tire pressure irregularity is detected or when the temperature of a tire goes above a preset level.

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tively high . Sophisticated tire pressure monitoring devices designed specifically for rugged, mobile applications are a simple and cost-efficient measure that can be taken now. Currently, SmarTire commercializes and sells the only truly wireless TPMS system that meets these unique needs. SmarTire is now actively involved in its four distinct product sectors, with very similar product lines, for its tire sensing technology and other commercial wireless communications products. Increasingly, the Company has found that introduction of SmarTire technol ogy into these sectors offers a refined target market that is currently served by only a few key manufacturers. SmarTire 's core technologies are designed to meet the specific need s of the commercial vehicle market and enable the Company to quickly establish entrenched relationships with industry leaders and large fleet providers . To further secure market positioning, the Company intends to offer additional enhancements and after-market wireless components in conjunction with its low price and superior systems. Management believes that SmarTire's first-to -market status combined with industry-leading technology offer the Company a significant competitive advantage in the targeted North American and worldwide markets, where it is already distributing and selling its wireless systems. A series of strategic alliances with major OEMs in the near future will further differentiate the Company by creating stronger barriers to entry through entrenched products tailored to the unique needs of the industry.

VALUERICH MAGAZIN E

According to Warkentin, "The com mercial, recreational, off-the-road and bus industries are unlike their passenger counterpart in that the technology requirements are substantially greater. For example, R&D costs are unusually high in developing mobile monitoring systems and with only four major CV OEMs in the U.S. with the potential to lock the industry:' He continues, "We are confident that our established history of providing superior wireless, mobile technology to this industry gains us advantage in each of our target markets as we move forward with our tire sensor devices and as new products are developed specifically for this industry:' Despite the tremendous opportunities in the commercial vehicle market, SmarTire knows that its OEM market includes only a handful of North American suppliers. This raise s concerns about heavy reliance on a small customer base for growth in a single line of sensing technology. This risk is mitigated by the opportunity for refined technological development for industry giants in the commercial vehicle market.

Partners for Growth Only month s since implementing its refined corporate focus and technological mission, SmarTire's agile thinking is already paying off. Last quarter, the Company posted impressive revenue growth, up 262 percent to $1.2 million , over $330K posted for the same period last year. This increase was largely as a result of successes in the recreational vehicle and bus markets. Growth is expected to continue as the Company

benefits from new partnerships and increases its footprint. New inroads with OEMs and key industry partnerships in the commercial vehicle and trucking sector should follow, with additional opportunities for aftermarket sales and installations to manufacturers and suppliers of entire fleet operations. Toward that end , SmarTire has teamed with industry-leading supplier Dana / Eaton Corporation , a Tier 1 supplier in the design and manufacture of commercial vehicle drive train compo nents. Late last year, SmarTire and Dana inked a key marketing and distribution agreement that affords SmarTire rapid market entry via Dana's substantial list of loyal customers. Dana is now marketing and selling SmarTire tire monitoring systems directly to target OEM customers throughout North America, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The Company has also secured a relationship with industry-leading manufacturer Vansco Electronics. Vansco is an established North American electronics provider especially strong in the OTR business and with sufficient capacity to support continued growth for SmarTire as it builds market posi tioning in the commercial vehicle and trucking market. The Company intends to continue developing key alliances with trusted industry partners to ensure long-term marketability for its growing line of innovative products. No matter how painful the price at the pump, commercial vehicles, buses and RVs will continue to travel America's highways for years to come . SmarTire is heading toward a new horizon as it paves the way for fuel efficiency. VR WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

The ladder of success is best climbed by stepptng on the rungs of opportuntty. •

•

- Ayn Rand

Atlas Capital Services, LLC is a provider of financial and advisory Investment Banking services to priva te and public companies worldwide. We help our cl ients raise capita l, develop optimal operating structures, manage and facilitate growth and devise effective exit strategies using innovative solutions consonant with their business fundamentals. Our focus on our clients' core strengths helps high-potentia l companies achieve sustainable growth through all market cycles. Our conviction that integrity and trust are the touchstones of success influences everything we do . Atlas Capital offers a full range of services to assist management and owners in analyzing their company's current financia l status and helping prepare for their future needs .

• • • • •

Corporate Finance Equity Offerings (Private and Public) Debt Placements Mergers and Acquisitions Shareholder Divestiture

Atlas Capital Services, LLC www.atlascapitalservices.com {212) 267-3500

Quintessence Photonics Corporation

QPC Lasers, Inc. OTCBB: QPCI QPC Lasers, Inc. was founded in November 2000 to design and manufacture next-generation, high performance semiconductor lasers and associated optical components. QPC's proprietary technology was developed by CEO Jeff Ungar, a 20 year veteran in semiconductor laser technology; along with a staff of eminent scientists and engineers experienced in the specialized field of highpowered lasers. The Company's intellectual property includes sixteen patents (three patents issued and thirteen pending), as well as trade secrets, and is enabling QPC to commercialize high performance and low cost lasers in a multi-billion dollar global marketplace. Over the last five years, QPC has attracted financial backing from strategic, venture capital and individual investors of over $37 million. QPC has competitively won over $6 million in development contracts from the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Missile Defense Agency, and major U.S. and foreign defense contractors. Quintessence Photonics Corporation went public through a reverse merger with QPC Lasers, Inc. (OTCBB: QPCI) in May 2006.

Key Milestones June 19,2006: OPC wins US Government subcontract for Mid-Infrared Lasers which have a variety of applications including; Confusing Heat-seeking Missiles and Detection of Chemical Weapons. May 31, 2006: OPC wins U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) subcontract for development of high power, high brightness semiconductor lasers for high energy weapons applications. DARPA is the central research and development agency within the Department of Defense and its mission is to maintain the technological superiority of the U.S. Military and prevent technological surprise from harming our national security by sponsoring revolutionary, high-payoff development that bridges the gap between fundamental discoveries and their military use. Past DARPA contracts were instrumental in development of STEALTH and GPS technologies. March 28, 2006: QPC wins contract with The United States Army for development, performance testing, and delivery of high power semiconductor lasers in the eye-safe wavelength regime. February 10,2006: QPC awarded a multi-year production contract by the Israeli Ministry of Defense to deliver high-brightness lasers for target illumination applications. January 1, 2006: General Merrill A McPeak, joined the Board of Directors for QPC in January 1, 2006. Now retired , General McPeak was the highest ranking officer in the US Air Force from 1990-1994 (Chief of Staff, Gulf War). March 2002: QPC commissioned a vertically integrated state-of-the-art high-technology semiconductor laser fabrication facility located in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar, California, all critical semiconductor laser fabrication processes are preformed including semiconductor growth and packaging. Late 2001: QPC organized its technical staff to include world renowned experts in optoelectronic devices and semiconductor materials with experience at Lucent Technologies and Agere Systems.

Applications

QPC's Competitive Advantages QPC has developed multiple breakthrough technologies, each representing large commercial potential. Collectively, they establish a revolutionary platform to replace or enhance legacy technologies in existing industrial and commercial markets, and create new applications in emerging markets, including defense, homeland security and digital light projection. These breakthroughs enable a quantum leap in laser integration and miniaturization. QPC has developed multiple breakthrough technologies, each representing large commercial potential. Collectively, they establish a revolutionary platform to replace or enhance legacy technologies in existing industrial and commercial markets, and create new applications in emerging markets, including defense, homeland security and digital light projection. These breakthroughs enable a quantum leap in laser integration and miniaturization. QPC's product offerings and those under development have superior performance in terms of performance, reliability, size, weight, and cost. QPC enables customers to a lower total cost of Electronics ownership and operation. Compared to QPC's semiconductor lasers which are Fi rst "home com puter" - 1954 laptop co mputer anticipated to be released in 2007, a conventional multi-stage solid-state industrial laser system is roughly ten times larger (the size of a minivan), weighs and Photonics costs as much as ten times more, and consumes over ten times the amount of QPC's Gen Ill electrical power during operation First indu st rial laser- 1968

Direct Do id e Laser

QPC's Revolutionary Laser Technology BRIGHTNESS: QPC's technology can create high power beams which can be focused tightly to a small spot over long distances. Traditional laser technology achieves high brightness performance with expensive, large systems and only with high power consumption COLOR CONTROL: QPC's technology achieves high power, high brightness laser beams with extremely accurate control of the emission color, including lasers in the eye-safe regime. Traditional laser technologies emit light over a broad color range or at a fixed color which cannot be changed by design. LOW COST: QPC's technology enables hundreds of lasers on a single ch ip which can be manufactured at the wafer scale, causing a paradigm shift to lower cost structure and manufacturability. Traditional high power lasers are extremely costly because of the many mirrors, lenses, crystals and associated optical components which are assembled by technicians. COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT: QPC's breakthrough semiconductor chip laser technology is compact and lightweight and can deliver high power high brightness beams with precise color control for a low cost

DEFENSE

$1 0 Billion Market Counter Measures Missile Defense Free Space Communications Bio-Chemical Detection

HOMELAND SECURITY

$2 Billion Market Counter Measures Missile Defense Free Space Communications Bio-Chemical Detection

INDUSTRIAL

$1 Billion Global Market Sheet Metal and Plastics Cutting, Welding , Soldering Digital Projection Home Theater

MEDICAL & BIOMEDICAL

$400 Million Market Varicose veins Wrinkle reduction Hair removal Ophthalmology Dental

Laser Product Line QPC's high brightness, high power Generation Ill Lasers being designed to provide ten times reduction in size, weight and cost compared to conventional laser technology. Additionally, the ten times increase efficiency is expected to enable a dramatic reduction in the electrical power consumption and cooling systems required to operate the lasers. QPC is shipping high brightness Generation I and II lasers today, and the high power high brightness Generation Ill Laser Prototypes are expected to be released in 2007.

By Stephen Feller

With significant time and hundreds of millions of dollars invested in drug development, pharmaceutical companies pursue any avenue that might keep the patents on their drugs' chemical compositions alive. Consumers, on the other hand , are elated when patents lapse. Generic versions mean lower costs on drugs with the same composition and effectiveness as their branded equivalents. For Florida-based GeoPharma , Inc. (N asdaq : GORX), generic drugs repre sent the key to the Company's future. GeoPharma has already made a name for itself in the nutraceutical arena with several products geared toward carb conscious consumers and, most recently, with the hoodia-extract weight-loss product DEX-L10. The pharmaceutical drug sector, however, represents a new growth strategy aimed at capitalizing on its manufacturing expertise to develop high-margin generic or novel drugs for niche markets with high barriers to entry. According to Pharmaceutical Commerce magazine, generic drugs currently account for just over half of

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VALUE RICH MAGAZINE

the total number of prescriptions filled in the United States. With approximately $60 billion in branded drugs losing patent protection over the next three years and pressure from the federal government to slash health -care costs, that figure could increase to two-third s by 2009. This burgeoning market opportunity is the reason that GeoPharma is looking toward product diversification with a massively expanded focus on generic and antibiotic drugs.

'The generic drug sector is where we have placed the hopes and faith of our company' Like Pfizer and Gla xoSmithKiine , GeoPharma offers both manufacturing services and consumer products- simply on a different scale. The Company's new initiative represents Management's desire to alter the balance between the two segments . Historically, GeoPharma has been dependent largely on manu-

facturing services for its financial prosperity. With the move to generics, the emphasis has shifted to proprietary products . CEO Mihir Taneja points out that this is an effort to move beyond being a service provider- the demand for which rises and falls with industrywide needs -and instead "control our own destiny" by creating its own drugs to send to market. Throughout its operating history, the Company has derived its income from manufacturing for clients and distributing its own propriety health and food products . Innovative Health Products, Inc. and Belcher Pharmaceuticals, Inc., two of its Florida-incorporated companies, manufacture, package and distribute high -quality private-label dietary supplements, over-the-counter drugs, high-value pharmaceuticals, and health and beauty care products for companies worldwide. While Innovative Health specializes in developing and manufacturing nutritional supplements, Belcher is a state-of-the-art FDA-registered drug development and manufacturing facility. The third Florida corporation, Breakthrough Engineered Nutrition, Inc., WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

develops and m arkets the Company 's brand ed dietary supplement product lines and convenience food s. Management hopes to leverage the success of these existing capabilities both financially and with the manufacturing and marketing expertise it has gained to help support its expansion into the gene ric drug market. The Generic Drug Market Taneja sees a "tremendou s opportu nity " for GeoPharma in gene ric drugs. "The generic drug sector is where we have placed the hopes and faith of our company," Taneja says . "We have put a tremendous amount of resources, capi tal and time into the generic sector." Underscoring this growth strategy was the recent appointment of Robert Herrmann as president of the nutraceutical manufacturing division, Innovative Health Products. This move will allow Taneja to focus on increasing the Company 's antibiotic and generic drug pharma ceutical sales.

to beta-lactam antibiotics in Baltimore, Maryland. This facility possesses several ANDAs and will be moving sterile, injectable and non-sterile items to market in upcoming month s as well. Management points to the lack of generic antibiotic producers in the United States as another reason that this is an attractive market for the Company to explore. In terms of its overall generic drug strategy, one of the factors differen tiating GeoPharma from many of its competitors is t he Company's focus on drug projects beyond routine ANDAs. Its scienti sts are looking for unique generic drug s, those with unique delivery systems, unique formulation challenges or other factors that make them different. Thi s is a segment of the generic drug

IJGeoPharma GORX: Nasda

GeoPharma, Inc. 6950 Bryan Dairy Rd . Largo, FL 33777 www.geopharmainc.com

MihirTaneja, CEO P: 727-544-8866 mihirt@geopharmainc.com market not largely pursued by other players. GeoPharma continues to add accredited scientists to its advisory board to help identify attractive new drug oppor-

Pending Assets GeoPharma has several drugs currently under review by the FDA, including the veterinarian -based product carprofen , a generic form of Rimadyl , used to treat arthritis in dogs. Taneja feels this generic can penetrate a sizable market long dominat ed by Pfizer. The Company al so has several other drugs moving toward FDA submission but cannot discu ss them in any great detail until the application s have been completed and sent to the federal agency for review. GeoPharma has appro x imately 10,000 squa re feet (with an expected expansion to 20,000 square feet) dedicated to cephalosporin antibiotics at one of its Belcher Pharmaceuticals facilities . Cu rrent ly, Belcher ow ns an ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug Application ) for cephale xin , a penicillin alternative. Management expects to begin shipping from this facility w ithin the next few months. Through the Company 's controlling -interest inve stment in American Antibiotics LLC , it al so ha s 100,000 square feet of manufacturing dedicated WWW.VREXPO .NET

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GeoPharma's Belcher Pharmaceuticals facilities (above) will be the site of future expansion in antibiotics alternatives. tunities and accelerate the Company's progress. The most recent of these was Dr. R. Vijay, M.D., F.A.C.S, who agreed to be the Company's Chief Medical Advisor and Officer of Government Liaison. Dr. Vijay is a distinguished cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, researcher, proven leader of the medical community and also a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director, National Institute of Health (NIH) . Well-entrenched Manufacturing GeoPharma has gained significant experience from producing its own products, now sold under the Breakthrough Engineered Nutrition arm of the company. Originally starting with various low-carbohydrate products, Breakthrough has moved to branded higher margin dietary supplements which it manufactures for itself. GeoPharma's subsidiaries have found nearly 30,000 points of distribution for these products, including major vendors such as Wai-Mart and CVS. According to Taneja, the Company's DEX-L 10, made from the African root Hoodia gordonii, is the number one hoodia-based product on the market. In support of this claim, nutritional retail chain GNC named GeoPharma "Vendor of the Year." 102

VALUERICH MAGAZINE

'We are moving very aggressively on the drug fronts, while also maintaining a healthy profit' The Company has grown "organically," he says, from section to section, one piece at a time. "From our manufacturing divisions, we've gone out and picked up new clients, new contracts, as well as increased margins, and grown our existing customers. We've grown the business just by getting customers." As GeoPharma has evolved, Management has remained focused on maximizing the efficiencies and capitalizing on the synergies related to its vertically integrated structure . The Company's different business segments tie together and leverage off one another to produce solid financial results and opportunities for future endeavors. Plenty of Opportunity Taneja believes GeoPharma's stock is undervalued at the moment, which is likely to continue until the Company

brings the new generic drugs to market and sees growth in that area. Despite the challenges associated with stock price and the investments in R&D, the Company continues to grow revenue and profitability from the existing business segments. Total revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31 , 2006, increased 76 percent, to $49.7 million, compared to $28.2 million reported in the previous year. Net income was $1.5 million, or 17 cents a share. Additionally, the Company posted record revenues of $14.4 million in the first quarter, which is historically a slower quarter. "We are moving very aggressively on the drug fronts, while also maintaining a healthy profit," Taneja says, adding that "this is certainly not a short-term investor's opportunity. In 18 to 24 months, investors will see a company that is growing tremendously." While the existing business segments will continue to provide a foundation for the Company, he believes the generic drug initiative will catapult growth to another level. With the prevailing market conditions and GeoPharma's manufacturing and marketing expertise, Taneja sees a bright future for the Company in generics. WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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Am per, Politziner & Mattia, PC Lawrence Gray, CPA gray@amper.com

Baker Tilly International is a network of high quality, independent accountancy firms. We are the 1Oth largest network in the world by fee income and are represented by 112 firms in 65 countries, with a global fee income of $1.5 billion and 18,500 staff worldwide. With a global reach we provide advice in all major business communities. We work to offer expert technical guidance which includes a wide range of specialists and experts on every continent in which we do business.

World Headquarters, 2 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1 B 3ST, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7314 6875 Fax: +44 (0)20 7314 6876 info@bakertillyinternational.com Baker Tilly International is a trademark of the UK firm Baker Tilly, used under license.

Massachusetts 617-912-9000

New Jersey 732-287-1000 x333

Eisner, LLP Bruce Rosen, CPA brosen@eisnerllp.com

New York 212-891-4035

Cohen & Company, CPAs Peter Bastulli pbastulli@cohencpa.com

Ohio 216-579-1 040

Parente Randolph Philip Santarelli, CPA psantarelli@parentenet.com

Pennsylvania 570-820-0127

Hansen, Barnett & Maxwell, CPAs Douglas Hawkes, CPA dhawkes@hbmcpas.com

Utah 801-532-2200

Beers & Cutler Jere Shawver, CPA jshawver@beersandcutler.com

Virginia 703-637-7672

Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP Steve Stensrud, CPA sstensrud@virchowkrause.com

Wisconsin & Minnesota 800-362-7301

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1\cies

Acies Corporation

ACIE :OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Develop New Business

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure The Company is focused on continuing its track record of significantly increasing revenue and on reaching sustained profitability and positive cash flow, principally through continued organic growth of its merchant account portfolio enabled by expanding its national distribution network.

Attract Market Exposure To introduce AMS to brokers and market makers in an attempt to generate market coverage and analytical support. COMPANY DESCRIPTION AMS Health Sciences sells more than 60 natural nutritional supplements, weight management products and natural skincare products through independent distributors across the U.S. and Canada.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Acies Corporation is a financial services company that, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Acies, Inc., specializes in providing payment processing and online banking services to small, medium, and large-size merchants across the United States. Acies' payment processing services enable merchants to process Credit, Debit, Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT), Check Conversion, and Gift & Loyalty transactions. Acies also offers traditional and next-generation point-of-sale (POS) terminals, which enable merchants to utilize Acies' payment processing services. COMPANY ADDRESS 14 Wall Street, Suite 1620 New York NY 10005 P: 800-361-5540 F: 212-937-3813 Email : acie@efcg.net www.aciesinc.com

COMPANY CONTACT Oleg Firer Chairman, CEO & President

Jeffrey A. Tischler Executive VP, CFO & Director

AMM : AMEX

AMS Health Sciences, Inc

IRCONTACT DodiHandy Elite Financial Communications Group, LLC P: 407-585-1 080 Email: acie@efcg.net

COMPANY ADDRESS 711 NE 39th Oklahoma City, OK 73105 www.amsonline.com P: 405-842-0131 F: 405-843-4935

COMPANY CONTACT Jerry W. Grizzle Chairman, CEO and President IRCONTACT Robin Jacob VP & CFO P: 405-842-0131

~ent \ SOLAR ASTI : Nasdaq

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. [ COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Ascent Solar - a developer and manufacturer of state of the art, thin-film photovoltaic materials and modules.

• High efficiency polycrystalline PV on Plastic • First to take PV on plastic into production CIGS technology on PLASTICS: ·cheaper ·lighter ·flexible and more compact COMPANY ADDRESS 8120 Shaffer Parkway Littleton, CO 80127-4107 http:/ / www.ascentsolartech.com COMPANY CONTACT Matthew Foster, CEO P: 303-285-1738 F: 303-420-1551

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IRCONTACT Brian Blackman PR Financial Marketing P: 832-515-0928 brian@prfmonline.com

Better Biodiesel, Inc.

)

Pending : OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions,

Develop New Business, Attract Market Exposure To dramatically increase availability of competitively priced biodiesel fuel world-wide using our patent pending hyperefficient, high volume biodiesel technology. COMPANY DESCRIPTION As the exclusive owners of a revolutionary biodiesel refining technology, we produce greater volumes of fuel, at lower costs, in a much smaller footprint than traditional processors. Our advanced technology vastly reduces environmental impact and production costs by eliminating the usual water wash cycle, saving on water, energy and land costs. We use a variety of feedstocks-e.g. palm oil and animal tallows, regardless of their fatty acid content-giving us the distinct advantage of utilizing locally available feedstocks. And, we build our own refining machinery. COMPANY ADDRESS 1400 West 400 North Orem, UT 84057 COMPANY CONTACT Ron Crafts, CEO P: 801-990-2810 info@betterbiodiesel .com

IRCONTACT Anthony Evans & Abigail Bruce Capital Group Communications P: 415-332-7200 betterbiodiesel@capitalgc.com

WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

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B I ~'''~ -;,,\""' PHAN TM

l:~n1:inent:al ENERGY

TEC HN O L OG I ES , IN C . BIPH :OTCBB

Biophan Technologies, Inc. COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Develop New Business Attract Market Exposure COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Biophan's founding goal was to make all biomedical devices capable of safely and successfully working with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Its technologies enable medical systems such as pacemakers, interventional surgical devices such as catheters and guidewires, and implants such as stents to be safely and/ or effectively imaged under MRI. Biophan and its licensors hold over 200 U.S. and foreign patents, licenses, or applications, and has begun to license its MRI safety solutions to leading device manufacturers. To expand their mission to improve delivery of healthcare, Biophan is helping to commercialize the Myotech MYO-VADTM, an MRI-compatible cardiac recovery system. COMPANY ADDRESS

IR CONTACT

150 Lucius Gordon Drive, Suite 215 West Henrietta, NY 14586 www.biophan.com

Jim Blackman PR Financial Marketing P: 713-256-0369 jim@prfmonline.com www.prfmonline.com

COMPANY CONTACT

Daniel Hullihen Director, Business Development P: 585-214-2441 M: 585-703-1412 Dhullihen @biophan .com

CORPORATION

Continental Energy Corporation

CPPXF : OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital Continental Energy Corporation is seeking funding in the $5 - 10 million range to enable the Company to obtain additional exploration acreage in Indonesia. Continental has identified several attractive areas and intends to obtain one or more exploration blocks during Fall 2006. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Continental Energy Corporation (OTC-BB:CPPXF) is an independent international oil and gas exploration company focused entirely on making a major oil or gas discovery. Continental has a production sharing contract with the Indonesian government which gives the Company exclusive petroleum exploration and production rights for the highly prospective 900,000 acre Bengara-11 Block, located in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. COMPANY ADDRESS

IR CONTACT

14001 Dallas Parkway, Suite 1200 Dallas, Texas 75240 www.continentalenergy.com

Alan Stone & Company, Ltd P: 212-521-4102 alanstone1 @earthlink.com

COMPANY CONTACT

James D. Eger, CFO P: 972-934-6774 F.:972-934-6718 jdeger@continentalenergy.com

- --

....,

CYBER DEFENSE SYSTEMS ' -

ENDEVCO CYDF : OTCBB

Cyber Defense Systems, Inc.

EnDevCo, Inc.

ENDE :OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract MarketExposure Gain market recognition and revenue for funding developmental engineering, design and production of UAV's and Airships. Utilizing new contacts to solicit commercial, government and Law enforcement for Global communications, Military, Homeland Defense and the U.S. Dept. of Defense opportunities.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Develop New Business, Attract Market Exposure ENDE's strategy is to participate in: oil & gas exploration & production; technology development for enhancement of oil & gas production, integration of power generation & natural gas production, crude oil trading activities

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

The global war on terror has re-defined this country's need for security both at home and abroad. CYDF is uniquely positioned to meet these needs with current products like the scalable CyberBugTM' a small-unmanned air vehicle (UAV), the developmental CyberScoutTM and M.A.R.S. TM airships. It's subsidiary Techsphere System's SA 60 A, SA 90 airships. CYDF's products offer unique opportunities for surveillance, rescue operations and communication.

EnDevCo is a rapidly growing energy company establishing an identity as "The Energy Development Company" through science based business development activities. EnDevCo believes the sensible application of"state of the art" geoscience technologies provides profound risk reduction while significantly improving the profit upside for oil and gas exploration and production investments. The Company's investment philosophy is governed by its dedication to the principle "... science before the drill bit':

COMPANY ADDRESS

IR CONTACT

10901 Roosevelt Blvd Ste lOOD St. Petersburg, FL 33716 www.cduav.com

Emerson Gerard Jerry Jennings P: 561-881-7318 mediareply@egaplus.com

COMPANY CONTACT

Billy Robinson, CEO P: 727-577-0878 F: 727-577-0873 billy@cduav.com WWW.VREXPO .N ET

COMPANY ADDRESS

IRCONTACT

2425 Fountainview Drive, STE 215 Houston, Texas 77057 www. endevcoinc.com

Tom Cloutier Investor Relations Director P: 760-832-2412 F: 760-322-0104 tcloutier@endevcoi nc.com

COMPANY CONTACT

Chris A. Dittmar, CEO T: 713-862-2272 F: 713-862-2690 cdittmar@endevcoinc.com

FAll 2006

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ICC EnXnet, Inc.

EXNT :OTCBB German WKN# AOHMDW

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Develop New Business Quickly expand revenue through the introduction of products and technologies into the marketplace, focusing on: • Thin Disc © -Transform "stagnant" gift and stored value cards into multimedia marketing tools. • OneDiscTM_ Dual sided CD/ DVD. • Medicai-D-Teet-OR- Save billions by reducing hospitalization, operating room and other costs. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

EnXnet is an emerging developer and licensee of leading edge technologies in the areas of interactive and dual sided digital media, security/anti theft products and medical technologies. EnXnet has assembled one of the most impressive portfolios consisting of more than ten products and technologies, together with over ten patents which have been applied for and are currently pending. EnXnet's products and technologies address $3 trillion in combined global markets. COMPANY ADDRESS

11333 E Pine Street Tulsa, OK. 74116 P: 918-592-0015 F: 918-592-0016 www.enxnet.com

COMPANY CONTACT

IR CONTACT Ryan Corley, Integrated Capital President & CEO Partners, Inc investor@enxnet.com P: 908-204-0004

j.;:J.:commiiHic.ltiiJII~EPCG: OTCBB

Epicus Communications Group, Inc.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure To grow its subscriber base with its full suite of local and long distance voice services, and digital voice messaging for residential and small business customers through its Freedom Rings voice and Freedom Messenger digital messaging service brands. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Epicus Communications is a Florida-based telecommunications company that provides local exchange services to small business (SOHO) and residential customers. EPCG has a 5-year operating history and subscriber base of approximately 21 ,000 customers located in seven southeastern US states. EPCG's in-house development of proprietary software technologies enables it to provide fully automated, network services to its customers.

COMPANY ADDRESS

1750 Osceola Drive W Palm Beach, FL 33409 www.epicus.com

IRCONTACT Gil Sharell P: 941-650-4501 gsharell@sharell.com, or

COMPANY CONTACT Gerard Haryman Chairman and President P: 407-942-1240 gharyman@epicus.com

Mark Cohen 5W Public Relations P: 212-999-5585 mcohen@5wpr.com

etriats· ETWC : Nasdaq

etrials Worldwide, Inc. COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Mergers & Acquisitions

Develop New Business etrials plans to continue its growth by acquiring new customers and partners, growing our business with those clients that we currently have and leveraging our strong balance sheet to search for complimentary technologies to incorporate into the etrials eCiinical suite. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

etrials is an eCiinical software and services company dedicated to making pharmaceutical, biotechnology, device and contract research organizations more efficient. Our eCiinical Suite of products, including electronic data capture, interactive voice response and eDiaries, provides our customers with unprecedented insight into all aspects of their clinical trial, maximizing their return on investment and accelerating their drug development timelines. COMPANY ADDRESS 4000 Aerial Center Parkway Morrisville, NC 27560 www.etrials.com COMPANY CONTACT

IR CONTACT Lauren Murphy Ashton Partners P: 617-275-8745

Genoillnc.

GNOLF : OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Increase Market Awareness COMPANY DESCRIPTION GenOil's primary technology is the Hydroconversion Upgrader (GHUTM), a proprietary upgrading process that converts low margin heavy crude oil into lighter low sulfur crude oil that can be sold as gasoline and jet fuel. The company's process can dramatically reduce sulfur and other contaminants of the crude oil, thereby helping refiners meet worldwide government mandates for low sulfur and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels.

COMPANY ADDRESS

COMPANY CONTACT

510, 703 - 6th Avenue SW Calgary, AB T2P OT9 CANADA www.genoil.net

David K. Lifschultz Chairman and CEO P: 403-750-3450 F: 403-290-0592 sales@genoil.net IRe-mail: ir@genoil.net

Courtney Smith P: 919-653-3400 1 10

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OL DBA L PA YMEN

TECHNDL OQIES

GPTX : OTCBB

Global Payment Technologies, Inc. COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure

HBSC :OTCBB

Human BioSystems, Inc. COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Develop New Business

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Global Payment Technologies, Inc. engages in designing and manufacturing currency validation systems. Its products include paper currency validators and related paper currency stackers used in various automated machines, including gaming and gaming related equipment, beverage and vending machines, and retail equipment that dispense products, services, coinage, and other currencies. The company markets its products primarily to the original equipment manufacturers through sales representatives, sales/ product technicians, and customer service support personnel, as well as through strategic joint ventures and distributors worldwide. Global Payment was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York. COMPANY ADDRESS

IR CONTACT

425 B Oser Avenue Hauppauge, NY 11788 www.gptx.com

Brian Blackman PR Financial Marketing P: 832-515 -0928

Human BioSystems, a developer of preservation platforms for biological material, is seeking to license the Company's blood platelet and organ preservation technologies to qualified company(s) that have existing channels of distribution and solution manufacturing capabilities needed to service those identified markets. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Human BioSystems is a developer of preservation platforms for extending the shelf life of blood platelets, donor organs, tissue, cells and other biomaterials for much longer periods of time than is currently possible. HBS has been successful in preserving animal organ s for extended periods of time over a wide range of temperatures from refrigeration to freezing in liquid nitrogen, and platelets at near freezing temperatures. IRCONTACT

COMPANY ADDRESS 1127 Harker Ave

Palo Alto, CA 94301 www.humanbiosystems.com

COMPANY CONTACT

William McMahon CFO P: 631-231-11 77 F: 631 -434-1771

Harry Masuda, CEO P: 650-323-0943 M: 650-207-6888 hmasuda@humanbiosystems.com

Rich Kaiser YES International P: 800-631-8127 P: 757-306-6090 rich @yesinternational.com

HVa~IO

TECHNOLOGIES NRSU

OTCSB : HYST

I mme rsi o, . HYBT :OTCBB

Hybrid Technologies, Inc.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital & Develop New Business

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Hybrid Technologies, Inc., (HYBT) is a development stage technology company that is focusing its resources and efforts on the development and marketing of lithium powered vehicles, products, commercial and residential properties. Hybrid Technologies, Inc. holds the licensing agreements for development of all four-wheeled , three wheeled and two wheeled vehicles and lithium/ solar power system technology for residential and commercial properties. Everything from scooters, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, watercraft, lawn and garden equipment, cars and homes are successfully being converted to zero emission, lithium powered vehicles and facilities. COMPANY ADDRESS

COMPANY CONTACT

5001 E. Bonanza Road, Suites 138-145 Las Vegas, NV 89110 www.hybridtechnologies.com

Melissa Carroll Marketing Director P: 702-300-1725 mcarroll@hybridtechnologies.com IR CONTACT INFO

P: 888-669-1808 ir@hybridtechnologies.com 1 12 I

VALUE RICH MAGAZINE

IMMR : Nasdaq

Immersion Corporation

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure To proliferate its technologies across markets, platforms, and applications sotouch and feel become as common as color, graphics, and sound in user interfaces. Short-term focus on achieving sustained profitability by executing sales/ marketing plans, controlling expenses, selective investment, and defense of patents. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Immersion develops, manufactures licenses and supports a wide range of hardware and software technologies that let users interact with digital devices using their sense of touch . Immersion focuses on six application areas: medical, gaming, mobility, automotive, touchscreens, and industrial. Immersion has more than 600 patents issued or pending. COMPANY ADDRESS

IR CONTACT

801 Fox Lane San Jose, CA 95131 www.immersion.com

Stephen Ambler CFO P: 408-46 7-1 900 sambler@immersion.com

COMPANY CONTACT

Stephen Ambler CFO P: 408-46 7-1 900 sambler@immersion.com

WWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

om:ylJ(;Jweap•ns IP v&

summiT INC: .

Innofone.com, Inc. is the first public company to focus on the New Internet (1Pv6) , and the many new and innovative products and services possible with this massive global upgrade to the existing Internet (IPv4, the standard since 1973). THE Company to come to for: • Up-to-the-minute information on IPv6 • Critical hardware components with "bulletproof" security for corporate and government networks • Workshops, consulting and conferences on IPv6 and its applications • Industrial teams and partnerships • Investment opportunities with high leverage potential as the New Internet expands Visit www.innofone.com for more information and to plan a visit to our offices in Santa Monica, CA (next to the historic Santa Monica Pier) . Let's invent the future, together.

SolidDNS™- The World's First IPv6 Secure DNS Appliance

0 Full dual stack capability

0 Based on a hardened BSD variant 0 Intuitive administrative interfaces 0 Strong authentication and encryption

The VALUE

Market lace Email has Finally Evolved MAIL : NasdaqSC

lncrediMail, Ltd.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure lncrediMail's goal is to become the market leader in entertaining andcreative email system s for the consumer market. MAIL seeks to generate increased brand awareness by extending beyond viral marketing into more traditional sales and marketing strategies including advertising and distribution relationships. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

lncrediMail designs and markets an integrated suite of cu stomized and entertaining email software products for the consumer market. Its software enables users to design and personalize e-mail with a large collect ion of multimedia content. With 65+ million regi stered dow nloads, th e Company generates revenues through licensing, co-branding, advertising and sponsored links. lncrediMail differentiates itself by not using adware, pop ups or any type of intrusive ads.

COMPANY ADDRESS

lncrediMaillnc. 211 East 43rd St. Suite #2 300 New York, NY 10017 incredimail-corp.com

COMPANY CONTACT Jeff Holzmann Executive V.P. P: 212-682-1995 M: 646-354-9797 Jeff@incredimail.com

IRCONTACT James Carbonara The Investor Relations Group 11 Stone St., 3rd fl New York, NY 10004 P: 212-825-3210

International Stem Cell Corporation

Symbol: N/ A

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital International Stem Cell Corporation is raising investment capital to fund the development of products for cellular therapies using embryonic stem cells. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

International Stem Cell Corporation provides an unlimited source of human cells for transplant therapy procedures, with the focu s on the treatment of diabetes, liver disease and retin al disease. We have developed or are developing: (1) a new class of stem cells for human tran splant therapy, using a process free from principa l ethical objections. (2) techniques to cause those cells to be "differentiated" into the specific cell types required for transplant. (3) manufacturing protocols to produce these cells without contamination .

COMPANY ADDRESS

COMPANY CONTACT

2592 Jason Court Oceanside CA 92056 www.intlstemcell .com

Jeff Krstich CEO P: 760-940-6383 jkrstich@intlstemcell.com

morgan beaumont '" Morgan Beaumont, Inc.

MBEU : OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital, Develop New Business, Market Exposure, Mergers & Acquisitions COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Morgan Beaumont is a Technology Solutions Company that owns and operates th e SIRE NetworkTM and is a provider of Stored Value and Prepaid Card Solution s in the U.S. The company offers stored value Discover, MasterCard and Visa card products, sold under Morgan Beaumont or private labeled for sale under another brand. Th e company also sells whole sale telecommunications services through its wholly owned subsidiary MBI Services Group.

COMPANY ADDRESS 6015 31 st Street East Bradenton, FL 34203 www.morganbeaumont.com

COMPANY CONTACT Cliff Wildes CEO P: 941-753-2875 IRCONTACT

Ken Denna rd DRG&E P: 713-529-6600 ksdennard@drg-e.com

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Symbol : N/ A

NetStairs.com, Inc.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital Develop New Business To become a leading suppl ier of client-centric media streaming solutions for online video advertising, Web TV, SMS, Broadcast, SMS-MMS, Intelligent Podcasting, Mail-in Rebate and coupon management. Doing business with the world 's one and only intelligent media streaming technology enabler affords you the most comprehensive streaming solution that can uplift your online advertising and web media strategies. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

NetStairs.com provides intelligent media servers for those in th e advertising and entertainment industry who seek web enabled unicast and email delivery communications. COMPANY ADDRESS

IRCONTACT

2821 East Commercial Blvd . Suite 201 Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33308 www.netstairs.com

Kevin Quin P: 954-229-5099 F: 954-229-1861 kquin @netstairs.com

COMPANY CONTACT

Dr. Ahmad Morad i, CEO Richard Paull, CFO P: 954-229-5099 WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

We help companies create shareholder value.

Whether we make a financing easier, help you achieve a fairer market valuation, or broaden your shareholder base, we help you enhance the value of your business. For small-cap investors, good opportunities are typically difficult to find, learn about, and invest in. This causes small-cap markets to exhibit systematic undervaluation and illiquidity. By retaining us to author an investment report or provide research coverage, you make it easy for current and prospective investors to understand your company and the value it represents. We broadly distribute our content through most major financial portals and to a variety of institutional and individual investor groups, ensuring your company gets the attention it deserves.

To learn why so many small-cap companies are becoming Harbinger Research clients, visit us online at www.harbingerresearch.com or call us at 21 2.61 2.3000.

Harbinger Research, LLC 257 Park Avenue 5., 12th Fl. New York, NY 10010 www.harbingerresearch.com

Harbinger Research now accepts bot h cash and restricted shares for its services.

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Market lace

PLMA:OTCBB

Palomar Enterprises, Inc.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital Attract Market Supply and Exposure Palomar Enterprises is looking for relationships that can provide capital to The Company to grow. We are also looking for groups that can provide market awareness to investors to increase our market cap and share price.

PCYG : OTCBB

Park City Group, Inc.

& Acquisitions, Develop New Business, Attract MarketExposure Park City Group, lnc:s objective is to become the leader in business management software and consulting to the retail industries for Workflow Management, Inventory Management, Category Management, Labor Management, Production Planning, and Forecasting, as measured by our clients' successes.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital, Mergers

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Palomar Enterprises is a full-service real estate and mortgage brokerage firm, specializing in California coastal properties and development projects. The Company focuses its resources on foreclosed and distressed properties, which can be purchased, renovated and sold at substantial profits. Palomar Enterprises generates additional revenue from the commissions earned by their licensed agents listing properties and providing mortgage loans to home buyers.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

COMPANY ADDRESS

COMPANY CONTACT

COMPANY ADDRESS

COMPANY CONTACT

120 Birmingham Dr #11 0-G Cardiff, CA 92007 www.palomarenterprises.com

Steve Bonenberger CEO P: 760-434-9300 steve@palomarenterprises.com

333 Main Street P.O. Box 5000 Park City, UT 84060 www.parkcitygroup.com

Randy Fields, CEO P: 435-645-2100 M: 435-602-4100 IR CONTACT

IRCONTACT

Gil Sharell (941 ) 650-4501 Contact1 @palomarenterprises.com

Park City Group, Inc. develops and markets patented computer software that helps its retail customers to increase their sales w hile reducing inventory and labor costs: the two largest controllable expenses in the retail industry. Or technology and consulting services facilitate retailers and manufactures in delivering the right product, at the right time, for the right price.

Lester Rosenkrantz Cameron Associates P: 212-554-5486

Brent Fouch- CFO P: 760-753-7163 brent@palomarenterprises.com

QPC Lasers, Inc. Symbol : N/ A

PSNet,lnc.

& Acquisitions, Develop New Business, Attract Market Exposure To continue to create and distribute unparalleled Internet and computer rich media/ video communications software and mobile devices for online content and ground breaking educational, entertainment, military, medical, construction, security and consumer high tech rich content devices for business, government and consumer consumption with distribution via PSNet devices, websites and online portals. COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital, Mergers

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

PSNet designs, develops, tests, implements & markets software & hardware solutions for "Next Generation" rich media, Internet content & live two-way video communications in low bandw idth formats, portals, networks or configurations. PSNet utilizes its own software, mobile devices, patents, copyrights, trademarks, databases, websites & other assets to compete at the top of the "connected " mobile device and rich media markets. COMPANY ADDRESS

COMPANY CONTACT

10150 South Centennial Pkwy Suite 400 Sandy, Utah 84070 www.psnetinc.com

Bill Brannan CFO P: 801-748-1782 F: 801 -748-1786 bbrannan@psnetinc.com

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QPCI : OTCBB

QPC Lasers, Inc. COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure

QPC's laser technology is leading a paradigm shift in the multibillion dollar defense, medical, and industrial high-power laser marketplace. QPC's objective is to offer advancements in high power semiconductor laser technology, replacing expensive, large and inefficient legacy technology. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Quintessence Photonics Corporation is a world leader in the development and commercialization of high-brightness, highpower semiconductor lasers for the industrial, defense, and medical markets. Founded in the year 2000, QPCI is vertically integ rated from epita xy through packaging and performs all critical fabrication processes at its state-of-the-a rt hightechnology facility in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar, CA. COMPANY ADDRESS

IRCONTACT

15632 Roxford Street Sylmar, CA 91342 www.qpclasers.com

Capital Group Communications, Inc. Mark Bernhard Gregory Sprague Anthony Evans P: 415-332-7200 QPC@capitalgc.com

COMPANY CONTACT

George Lintz, CFO P: 818-833-4668 glintz@qpclasers.com

WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

BIG APPLE CONSULTING USA, INC.

"YfJM!ffledJA'# {fj;O«<JC Y!J~ mtfte 6)ft;u "®

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Big Apple is the #1 Financial Public Relations Firm in the Country. The Only Financial PR Firm Dedicated to the Financial, Management, and Business Needs of Small Companies.

Toll Free: 1.866.THE.APPL(E) 280 Wekiva Springs Rd., Suite 201 Longwood, FL 32779

V: 407.884.0444 F: 407.884.0125 www.bigappleconsulting.com

The VALUE

Market lace

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Raptor Networks Technology, Inc.

RPTN : OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure The Company is relatively undiscovered as the true "first mover" in distributed networking in a market of $14B expanding at double digit growth rates. COMPANY DESCRIPTION Raptor Networks Technology, Inc. has designed and produced the world's fi rst, and only "Distributed Core Network Switching Technology;' allowing for ultra high performance, 1GbE and 1OGbE network buildouts and upgrades at less than half the price of traditional alternatives. Raptor's "distributed core" network switches are fully compatible with legacy network products and impact traditional switching as the PC impacted mainframe computing. They fit applications including VOIP, streaming video, IPTV, high performance computing and geographic redundancy. COMPANY ADDRESS 1241 E. Dyer Rd. Suite 1SO Santa Ana, CA 9270S www.raptor-networks.com

COMPANY CONTACT Thomas M. Wittenschlaeger, CEO P: 949-623-9301 twittenschlaeger@raptor-networks. com

IRCONTACT Bob van Leyen, CFO Paul Knopick P: 949-623-930S E & E Communications bvanleyen@raptor-networks.com P: 949-707-S36S pknopick@eandecommunications.com

~sanz "----' SANZ,Inc.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Working with such brands as EMC, NetApp and Symantec, SANZ delivers sophisticated data storage/ management solutions to clients in the commercial and federal markets from several locations across the U.S. In 2004 SANZ introduced its proprietary software product, EarthWhere'Mthat provides geospatial imagery users dramatic improvements in speed and processing power. The company already counts many large federal agencies as clients and expects further dramatic growth.

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SGGL :OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Mergers & Acquisitions Sage Global's objective is to extend its reach within the mortgage services and insurance industries through acquisition. Having successfully completed three acquisitions, Sage is uniquely positioned to present a full range of online financial and insurance services for small businesses and the individual retail customer COMPANY DESCRIPTION Sage Global's mission is to present a full spectrum of online financial and insurance services and products for small businesses and the individual retail customer. Having completed three strategic acquisitions during the past year, Sage has taken significant steps toward its goal of becoming a complete financial services institution positioning itself as a market leader in a rapidly-growing industry. COMPANY ADDRESS Sage Global Solutions, Inc. 217 Technology Drive, Suite 2SO Irvine, CA 92618 www.sage-global.com

COMPANY CONTACT Henry D. Davidson, President henry@sage-global.com

Andrew Kondo, CEO andy@expnotary.com Doug Coulter, CTO doug@onlinemortgageinc.com P: 949-88S-93S9 F: 949-861-9760

SMAR1nRE" SANZ: OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Investor Awareness/Capital Formation SANZ offers investors a low-risk, high-potential opportunity to engage with two exciting inter-related technologies: Dynamic storage solutions market driven by explosive growth in data management; Rapidly developing market for geospatial imagery software used to provide users with data quickly & easily

COMPANY ADDRESS 9800 Pyramid Court Suite 130 Englewood, CO 80112 P: 303-49S-6300 F: 303-814-0693 www.sanz.com

So lut ions , In c.

Sage Global Solutions, Inc.

COMPANY CONTACT Robert Ogden, CFO SANZ P: 303-49S-6321 rogden @sanz.com IRCONTACT Ron Both, IR, Liolios Group P: 949-S74-3860 ron@liolios.com

SmarTire Systems, Inc.

SMTR:OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Develop New Business SmarTire's objective is to be the preeminent provider of wireless sensing and control systems for the global transportation industry. As a leader in wireless technology, SmarTire works with original equipment manufacturers to improve the safety and operating efficienc of commercial vehicles around the world. COMPANY DESCRIPTION SmarTire develops and markets proprietary advanced wireless sensing and control systems worldwide under the SmartWave(TM) trademark. SMTR has developed numerous patent-protected wireless technologies and advanced tire monitoring solutions since its founding in 1987 and its proprietary SmartWave platform provides a foundation for the addition of multiple wireless sensing and control applications. COMPANY ADDRESS Suite 1SO, 131S1 Vanier Place Richmond, British Columbia Canada, V6V 2J1 www.smartire.com

COMPANY CONTACT Robert Rudman Chairman of the Board P: S61.514.0118 rrudman @smartire.com

IRCONTACT D.P. Martin & Associates, Inc. (S61) S14-0194

Dave Warkentin VP Sales & Marketing P: 604.249.3870 dwarkentin@smartire.com WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

Steve Crowley's AMERICAN SCENE National Money-Talk Daily Radio Program Launched LIVE from the Disney/MGM Studios in June 1990 Every weekday from 9am-12noon eastern I 6am-9am pacific, we broadcast the finest Money, Financial and Stock Market related Information available on Money and Stock-talk Radio anywhere. American Scene is broadcast "LIVE Via Satellite" three hours daily ALSO WATCH: " WALLSTREETCAST" Our Top Weekly Half-Hour Financial Television Program Steve is the former Money Editor for "GOOD MORNING AMERICA", Money Pro News on local affiliate TV stations, and is the Author of MONEY FOR LIFE published by Simon & Schuster Our LIVE Location Remotes Include: THE MONEY SHOWS WALL STREET EXCHANGES NATIONAL INVESTMENT BANKERS CONFERENCES DISNEY/MGM STUDIOS N.A.S.A- SPACE COAST SELECT CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS For More Information Contact: Ed Henderson Phone: 954-418-8750 Fax: 954-418-8752 Our National Studios and Headquarters: 600 West Hillsboro Boulevard, Suite 210 Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441 www.americansceneradio.com and www.wallstreetcast.com

The VALUE

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TE ~ NI ~

ISTRONGHOLDI Stronghold Industries Inc.

SGDS: OTCPK QGR : Frankfurt

TKNK : OTCBB

Teknik Digital Arts, Inc.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure Stronghold is rapidly expanding through acquisitions of philosophically-aligned companies operating in the security; home automation and entertainment; fire protection; HVAC; and 路 the telecommunication infrastructure fields. Management seeks to increase investor awareness and market visibility. COMPANY DESCRIPTION: Elite class customers demand the finest in home security, entertainment and control systems and no company has attempted to consolidate this double-digit growth, multi-billion dollar industry until now. From its large customer base in Southern California, one of the wealthiest areas in the world, Stronghold is building the emerging leader in this industry. COMPANY ADDRESS 2716 Ocean Park Blvd Suite 1005 Santa Monica, CA 90405 www.strongholdindustries.net COMPANY CONTACT Gregg Davis P: 31 0-683-0404 gregg@corphq .com

IRCONTACT Mark Cohen VP-Financial Communications 5W Public Relations P: 212-999-5585 ext.244 mcohen@5wpr.com

Attract Market Supply & Exposure Teknik Digital Arts, Inc. (TKNK.OB), is a software publisher and systems integrator dedicated to developing solutions to make video gaming physically interactive and healthy. COMPANY DESCRIPTION: Teknik recently acquired exclusive rights through a joint venture with Powergrid Fitness to the patented, CES 2006 Innovation of the Year, isometric game controller Exer-StationTM. The Company is also introducing the Power Gaming League, the first physically Interactive worldwide video game league for individuals and teams. One out of every three children is considered obese or overweight in the U.S. The purpose of this league is to attack the growing problem of Childhood and Adult Obesity. COMPANY ADDRESS 7518 Elbow Bend Road Suite B-9 P.O. Box 2800-314 Carefree, AZ 85377 www.teknikcorp.com

COMPANY CONTACT John Ward CEO P: 480-443-1488 F: 480-443-3879

~~~~

rt~.~ TRACEGUARD Advancing Travel Distribution

TraceGuard Technologies, Inc.

TCGD:OTCBB

Triton Distribution Systems, Inc.

TTDS : OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital TraceGuard seeks to raise capital in order to materialize and commercialize its innovative technology. TG plans to become a leading supplier to the transportation security industry, and to expand its focus to other sensitive areas including transportation terminals, border crossings, mail services and food/pharmaceutical plants.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital Triton Distribution Systems seeks to secure its position as a leading travel distribution alternative to the obsolete and limited legacy systems currently providing global distribution services. Capital raised will be used to expand partnership agreements world-wide while continuing to develop customer driven product functionality.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: TraceGuard develops innovative security technologies and solutions for the expanding market of explosive detection. The Company's initial systems are targeted at the airport security ma rket. TG's solutions are based on patent-pending automated non-inva sive trace extraction and collection technologie s designed to help detect explosives in suspect luggage. The TG management team has broad experience and expertise in th e homeland security sector, product engineering, and business development.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: Triton is a Travel Distribution Service Provider developing and marketing the industry's most advanced solutions for electronic access to global travel inventory. At Triton we offer, low-cost, easy-to-use systems for travel inventory distribution from airlines, car rental companies, hotels, tours and cruise operators, and other travel sellers to travel agencies and their clients on a global scale.

COMPANY ADDRESS 330 Madison Avenue, 9th Floor New York, NY 10017 www.traceguard.com

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COMPANY CONTACT David Ben Yair, CFO P: 866-401 -5969 david.ben-yair@traceguard.com

COMPANY ADDRESS One Harbor Drive, Suite 300 Sausalito, CA 94965 www.tritonds.com

IRCONTACT Capital Group Communications, Inc. Anthony Evans and James Hsu P: 415-332-7200 triton@capitalgc.com

WWW.VALUERICHONLINE .COM

We have the scientific knowledge) team members) and resources to turn the embryonic stem cell hope into reality.

D iabetes and other diseases have been successfully treated with human cells. H owever, without providing a reliable and essentially milimited source of cells for these therapies, millions of critically ill patients will never see the benefits of these medical breakthroughs. I nternational Stem Cell Corporation has been created to solve that problem by providing an unlimited source of human cells for existing and future transplant therapy procedures. O ur focus is on curing: • D iabetes

Our • • passton ts creating human cells to preserve human life.

S pecifically to address these needs, we have developed, or are developing: • a new class of stem cells from which an essentially unlimited supply of cells for human transplant can be derived, • the techniques to change or differentiate those cells into the specific cell types required for transplant (e.g., retinal cells for macular degeneration or islet cells to treat diabetes), and • manufacturing protocols and facilities to produce the cells in compliance with government regulatory requirements, including eliminating contaminating animal byproducts. We do not use fer tilized eggs or any products from abortion clinics. And we do not destroy any fertilized embryos that might become a human child.

• Liver disease • Blindness

International Stem Cell is highly unusual in the world of stem cell research because we integrate an active cell-based business, that does not require FDA approval, to help researchers create cellular therapies in compliance with regulatory agencies. M ost companies in the stem cell field are focused only on research and development of future products. We combine that with an active business of providing the specialized cells, serum-free growth media and related cell culrme "reagents" essential to the process of creating and differentiating stem cells into therapeutic products. In summary, International Stem Cell is addressing all the needs of a rapidly growing market. Our patent portfolio and experience base is robust, and our future is bright.

Our goal is to be the world's leader in providing human stem cells to study and cure disease. www.in ternationals temcell. com

(31 0) 454-3055 Visit our booth at the Value Rich Small-Cap Financial Expo and let us explain our compatry in more detaiL

The VALUE

Market lace

UNIVERSAL GUARDIAN

(OTCBB: WDAl\ 1)

_GLOBAL RISK MITIGATION

Universal Guardian Holdings, Inc.

UGHO : OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Raising Capital for Growth Universal is launching a series of patented and patent pending products and systems that have been under development for the past several years. Additional capital will be dedicated to support inventory, media and marketing costs to drive product and systems growth in the multi-billion personal protection, homeland and international security markets. COMPANY DESCRIPTION Universal Guardian is a multifaceted, global ris k mitigation company that provides security products, systems, and services designed to mitigate security threats worldwide. Universal's global risk mitigation group provides strategic and tactical security services, integrated global supply chain asset vi sibility, RFID and security systems, and non-lethal and personal protection products

World Am, Inc.

WDAM :OTCBB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure In acquiring Senz-lt, World Am obtained the rights to a break through technology developed through nine years of major government funding. World Am, Inc. positioned itself- through Select University Technologies, Inc. - to become a significant player in the sensor business. COMPANY DESCRIPTION World Am, Inc. is a leading supplier of access and weapons control portals. Currently it is developing a state-of-the-art sensor technology which will effectively detect chemical, explosive and biological threats, the results of which will provide tailored solutions - within security, food processing, air quality and medical applications- that will protect invaluable human life and

deliver world-wide security.

to governments, businesses, and consumers worldwide. COMPANY ADDRESS

COMPANY CONTACT Michael J. Skellern Founder, Chairman & CEO

4695 MacArthur Court Suite 300 Newport Beach, CA 92660 www.universalguardian.com

SMAR T

P: 949-861 -8295 F: 949-861 -8694

EN EI=i!G Y

Smart Energy Solutions, Inc.

SMGY.OB : OTCBB

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Smart Energy Solutions, Inc. manufactures, markets and sells the Battery Brain 'M . The Battery Brain TM attaches to the Battery of any vehicle and protects the vehicle from battery failure and vehicle theft. It is an innovative electronic accessory, w hich easily attaches to the battery of any of a wide range of vehicle s, and uses patented technology to ensure the owner always retains enough charg e to start the engine.

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CONTACT INFO Chris Pflanzer P: 949-955-5355 M: 714-553-6770 cpflanzer@world-am.com

OLUTION S

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Attract Market Exposure SMGY is building market awareness for our company and our products. We are expanding our product marketing and availability within several major market segments in North America and Globally. Our products address two critical needs on every vehicle and boat, "energy management and theft" and we are agressivly introducing ourselves to this enormous market.

COMPANY ADDRESS Smart Energy Solutions Inc. 207 Piaget Ave. Clifton NJ 07011 www.SMGY.net

COMPANY ADDRESS

4040 MacArthur Blvd Suite 240 Newport Beach, CA 92660 www.world-am.com

COMPANY CONTACT Ed Braniff, CFO ed.braniff@batterybrain .com

P: 973-340-6000

iKarma Inc.

IKMA.PK: OTC BB

COMPANY OBJECTIVE: Develop new business iKarma is currently seeking synergistic relationships with reputable VC's, investment bankers and potential business partners. COMPANY DESCRIPTION iKarma.com turns happy customers into a free sales force by capturing their reviews and comments and turning them into a powerful sales tool. The success of services like eBay and Amazon have shown that online reputation management has the power to boost profits and move product for sellers of hard goods. iKarma has taken the process of reputation management out from the limited confines of the online/auction marketpl ace and adds features that enable businesses in the service sector to harness the power of their reputations.

COMPANY ADDRESS 1203 Town Center Drive Suite 212 Jupiter, Florida 33458-5210 www.iKarma.com

CONTACT INFO Paul Williams - CEO

561 -427-7285 Paul@iKarma.com

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No irs during that time, it is only in the last decade or so that the Golden State has been producing world-class wines from the grape. The best of these are truly outstanding . Much of this has to do with a better understanding of vineyard practices and winemaking techniques suited to the grape. Because site selection is so important to producing fine Pinot Noir, a few American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) are recognized as prime locations for producing good-to-great wines . Recognized as among the best are Carneros (Sonoma and Napa counties), Russian River Valley (Sonoma County) , Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), Pinnacles (Monterey County), Anderson Valley (Mendocino County) and, most recently, Santa Lucia Highlands (Monterey County) . One characteristic these regions share is a valley that receives cool maritime breezes from the Pacific Ocean.

California Pinot Noir World-class wines come of age among the giant redwoods. By Greg Allikas

Many believe that Pi not Noir grapes produce the greatest red wine on earth . Once seduced by thi s silky red liquid, one finds it difficult to go back to other red wines . But this noble grape, re sponsible for the great red wines of Burgundy (and sparkling wines of Champagne), has long been a challenge to winemakers in the New World . Pi not Noir is a low-yielding "difficult" g rape variety that is prone to problem s from vineyard to bottling . It needs a special climate of warm, sunny days and cool nights. If the growing season is not warm enough, the grapes will not ripen fully and produce pale, thin wines . If planted in too hot a climate, the resulting wines taste cooked and "raisiny:' There are al so a host of cultivation problems specific to Pinot Noir due to the variety 's less-than-vigorou s vines, w hich do not always provide ample shading for the thin-skinned fruit. The vine s seem to do be st in chal ky lime stone soils such as those found in France's Cote d 'Or. Careful site selection is required for a vineyard to pro 124

I VALUERICH MAGAZINE

duce varietal wines that even hint at the fruit 's character. Flavor of the Earth The grape seems to reflect its gout de terroir (flavor of the earth) more than other black grapes. This can make one region's Pinot Noir taste quite different from another's. Pi not Noir is genetically unstable, and a given clone (variety) can produce wines that have their own unique character. There are some four dozen varieties known in Burgundy alone, and perhaps 200 or more wo rldwide. Occasionally, one will read tasting notes and see mention of the clones used to make a Californi a or Oregon Pi not Noir wine. In year s past, it was hard to find California Pinot Noir wines that had consistent quality and showed true varietal character across the board . Usually made by Chardonnay producers because the grape requires a similar climate, California vineyards have had fits and sta rts along the way. Although there have been some memorable Pi not

Great Reds Among the Redwoods A recent trip to Northern California provided me the opportunity to explore the beautiful Anderson Valley and sample some of the fine wines being made there. The first thing that strikes you about Anderson Valley (other than that the nearest city is 30 to 40 minutes away over a mountainous road) is the beauty of the surrounding redwood forests. The ancient tall trees lend a sense of quiet calm to the region and make for a slower pace of life. You can drive through them or, better yet, take a little hike with a picnic basket and a great bottle of wine. People have been making wine in the Anderson Valley since the 1970s. Some of the wineries have gained a good reputation with West Coast wine aficionados. Long known as a good climate for growing Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer, the Ander son Valley has proven to be one of California 's outstanding regions for Pi not Noir. You won 't find that " Napa glitz " here. The wineries are often downright homey, and the actual winemaker may well be the person serving your tasting. At opposite ends of the Anderson Valley Wine Trail, Goldeneye Winery and Handley Cellars could not be more different. Goldeneye is a relative newcomWWW. VALUERICHONLINE .COM

er to the valley, while Handley has been there for almost 25 years . Goldeneye focuses only on the ultra-premium Pinot Noir. Handley, on the other hand, offers a wide range of wines, seeking broad appeal. Both produce excellent Pinot Noir. Goldeneye Vineyards

Heading northwest on Route 128 just beyond Booneville, one of the first wineries you notice is Goldeneye. The winery is the result of Dan and Margaret Duckhorn's growing passion for Pinot Noi r. Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa Valley has been producing legendary Bordeaux varietal wines since 1976, with a particular focus on the Merlot grape- famous for the great wines of St. Emilion and Pomerol. Eventually, the Duckhorns applied their commitment to quality to making Anderson Valley Pi not Noir. The first

grapes were harvested in 1997, yielding only 375 cases of wine. The estate vineyards are planted with a variety of Pi not Noir clones, providing winemaker Zach Rasmuson with small lots of distinctive character to use in assembling his final blend . Yields are kept low, averaging two tons per acre, and only select ripe fruit is used for the flagship wine, Goldeneye. Grapes from younger vines are deselected to make a brighter wine called Migration . Goldeneye Winery produces only Pi not Noir wines, but that also includes a dry rose. Handley Cellars

A graduate of the University of California at Davis, Milia Handley made her first Chardonnay in 1982 after serving as assistant winemaker to Jed Steele at Edmeades Winery. Handley went on to build her reputation as one of the premier makers of Chardonnay

a.Toast

- not only in the Anderson Valley but also the state. When 1 first visited Handley Cellars in 1988, the wine lineup was primarily Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir produced from the 30-acre estate vineyards. They now produce a full range of wines including some from additional property in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. Handley Cellars produces a Mendocino County and an Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and , in so me years, a reserve of the latter. The Mendocino wine is made from Anderson Valley and Potter Valley fruit, while the Ander so n Valley bottling is made from exclusively estate-grown fruit. As sistant winemaker Kristen Barnhisel joined the staff in 2004 and has been instrumental in shaping the future of Handley's wines. R www.goldeneyewinery.com www.handleycellars.com

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Goldeneye Winery

Handley Cellars

2003 Goldeneye Pinot Noir This truly decadent wine is smooth and silky, with an almost chewy texture. Rich flavors of cherry, blackberry and plum continue to develop followed by a long finish that reveals earthy, spicy undertones. The nose is complex, with cherry, cedar, tar and floral notes predominating. Good tannin structure suggests the wine will age well. Sixteen months in new French oak barrels. 74.5% alcohol; three-bottle limit, $52.

Migration 2004 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Although lighter in style than the 2003 Goldeneye, this is a rich, full-bodied wine with a silky texture and ripe cherry and plum flavors. Eleven months in French oak barrels adds a nice toasted oak finish. The aroma is of cherries and strawberries with toast overtones and a hint of roses. Drink now or hold three to five years. 74.5% alcohol; $30.

2003 Anderson Valley Pi not Noir The wine has a beautiful ruby color in the glass and a su btle smoky aroma of ripe plums with earthy mushroom notes. It has good balance, with Bing cherry, red licorice and plum flavors and a hint of tar. The finish of cherry and plum is somewhat rustic. Drink now or hold three to five years. 73.8% alcohol; $25.

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I 125

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