ComputerWorld recently released its annual report recognizing the 100 Best Places to Work in IT for 2011.  I am excited to announce that MetroStar Systems made the list with an impressive showing at #85 overall!  We also finished in the Top 10 of the Small Business Category and #2 in the South Atlantic Region.  In a region filled with many tech companies, it is also noteworthy to mention that MetroStar Systems is the only IT firm in Reston, Virginia ranked in the report.

Our commitment to employee learning and development gave us a significant edge in the selection process.  ComputerWorld created a special employer profile for each of the Top 100 companies and our Employer Profile highlights our innovative employee training, career development, and recognition strategies.

We are excited to see that our dedication to excellence is being recognized by the one of the “leading sources in technology news and information for IT influencers nationwide.“  This special recognition also comes on the heels of a fruitful 2010 where we were awarded accolades for significant growth.  Job satisfaction, working in an enjoyable environment, employees benefits, and excellent employee morale add significant value to the quality of work we are able to provide to our clients, and acknowledgement for being a leader in this area only serves to strengthen our reputation. Special thanks to all of our team members who make MetroStar Systems one of the Best Places to Work in IT everyday!

StarLabs is where our engineers and artists collaborate and share innovative projects. It allows those unfamiliar with MetroStar Systems to learn more about the behind the scene things we do and the people who bring them to life.

One of the current projects we feature on StarLabs is Visualize It, which provides a rich user experience for navigating and exploring SharePoint Libraries. It is a powerful solution for not only finding data but also discovering data. An example of how Visualize It works can be found on this blog! See the top of the page, the little guy holding the “Visual Search” banner. Click on it and type in a keyword like “SharePoint” and watch Visualize It in action.

Currently, Visualize It, is available for free download. System administrators can download it and implement it to their SharePoint Portals. If you test it out, please let us know your feedback!

Learn more about StarLabs and the different projects we are working on by visiting http://labs.metrostarsystems.com

Last week our New Media team was brainstorming a name for a new application MetroStar Systems is creating, and we thought our tips for name creation might be worth sharing.

In this video, Theresa Kattula, Monica Huie, Patricia Joo, and Kathy Ohlhaber give four quick tips for naming a product or service.

1. Define: Define your or your client’s mission/goals for the product or service as well as define your target audience. For example, you don’t want to use inappropriate words for a Government targeted audience. Do a competitive analysis to see the names your competitors are using for similar products and see if the name you want already exists.

2. Abstract vs. Obvious: Based on the objectives and target audience that you define, consider whether you want to create an abstract or obvious name for your product or service. In other words, do you want a name that’s really unique and creative but needs some explanation? Or, do you prefer to use a more self-evident name that’s clearly reflective of what you’re offering? Whichever kind of name you choose, decide how you want it to relate to your product or service and build your brand around it.

3. Longevity/Memorable: You want to keep in mind that the Internet is going to be around for a long time (unless the Mayans were right and 2012 is the end). So make sure you’re coming up with a brand name that can retain its longevity. Look at what sites your brand can work with and choose the ones that have the potential to be around for a while (i.e., of course Facebook). You also want a memorable brand, so be creative with the marketing of your logo or mascot. You still remember what animal Geico’s mascot is, right?

4. Easy to pronounce?: Is it easy to pronounce? If you create your product name by combining two or more of the features of your product or service, you may come up with a name that is difficult for people to pronounce such as Type + Tweet + Display = “tytwdi”. This is really hard to pronounce with just one vowel! Keep it simple because if it’s hard to pronounce, it’s probably hard to spell and remember.

We hope these four quick tips have been helpful! Have fun coming up with a name for your product or service and don’t be afraid to get creative! Good luck, and be sure to post your comments on Supernova!

Nearly a year and a half (524 days to be precise) has passed since we released Supernova to the world, shedding light on the inner workings of MetroStar Systems. In that time we’ve experienced continuous expansion, enjoyed a wide spectrum of client projects, and made a positive impact in our local and global community.

But as things continue to heat up our blog has been getting denser and denser. Rather than let it collapse on itself, we took the initiative; choosing to put in the energy so Supernova could shine once again.

So what’s changed? Here are just a few of the major changes we’ve implemented:

1. A much, much simpler interface. In both the theme/layout and in the organization of the blog, we took every step to ensure that we ended up with a much cleaner, easier-to-navigate blog. We literally cut our categories down from 57 to 5! All of the widgets in the sidereel were re-organized into a better configuration. Search is now prominently featured at the top.

2. A whole bunch of behind-the-scenes: Not all of the work that was done is immediately visible on the front page. We went through a kind of “spring cleaning” phase: deleting old and unused media, evaluating and updating plugins, consolidating tags, that sort of thing.

3. A shift to WordPress 3 “Thelonious” of course! This is a powerful platform that gives us the flexibility we need to make a blog like Supernova. A huge thanks to the entire WordPress team for putting together this awesome package! We found the upgrade to be simple, and easy.

4. Visual Search functionality! Using Silverlight + Pivot we are now able to visually navigate Supernova posts and pages. If you haven’t seen it in action yet, check it out!

None of this would have been possible without a stellar team of marketers and designers to build it. Special thanks to Ali Manouchehri, Daniel Nguyen, Hector Portillo, AJ Shah, Monica Huie, and Patricia Joo!!

For your consideration: click here to see a screenshot of the old theme. We’d LOVE to hear your feedback on the new look and feel!

And finally, I’d like to thank Fritz Zwicky for coining the term “Supernova.”

To infinity and beyond!

-D

Day One

As my two month internship here in Reston draws to a close, I have taken the time to reflect back on the time spent at MetroStar Systems.  The experience has given me a window of perspective into life at one of the most personable, friendly and team-oriented companies I’ve ever had the pleasure to have known. The past nine weeks have provided me with so many minuscule tidbits of information and pieces of knowledge that will surely stay with me throughout my professional career. Some of the things, such as managing social media accounts via HootSuite and social bookmarking, were simple yet useful workplace tools that were unbeknownst to me until my arrival at MetroStar. Other tasks provided me with skills and the preparation for life in the real world of business. Sitting through and watching a business model presentation come together from scratch and watching it progress until just hours before it was to be presented was one of the most useful learning experiences I’ve ever had.

I have yet to take a class that could come close to emphasizing the value of implementing BMG and applying it to all aspects of a project/business/anything in life.

The month of July went by faster than I could have ever expected it to. The World Cup came to a close after a month of random outbursts of cheers, streaming games in minimized boxes in the corner of the screen, and a first WC win for La Furia Roja. Soon after the Cup ended, the marketing squad gained two new members: Monica Huie and Patricia Joo. After the new additions, the team moved forward at a previously unseen pace of speed and multitasking. New projects seemed to come in from all directions and it quickly became clear that this new formidable block would be more than capable of handling its workload.

As I near the end of my last task here at Metrostar Systems (this blog post), I can’t help but to smile when I try to think of any negative aspects of my experience. There was one thing that will always stand out and bug me about this place. Over the course of all of the FIFA 10 soccer matches played by the company B-Team, not ONE of the games ended in our favor. Oh well, I couldn’t have asked for a better duo to pair up with than Daniel and Ethan and I’m sure that one of these days (maybe years from now) we’ll  pull it together and beat a football side a prominent as the KC Wizards or the Colorado Rapids

-Jon Malley

]]> http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/2010/08/06/week-9-at-metrostar-systems/feed/ 0 http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/2010/07/27/mostafa-elzoghbi-mvp-2010/ http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/2010/07/27/mostafa-elzoghbi-mvp-2010/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:30:09 +0000 Jon Malley http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/?p=3193 ... ]]> Another year has passed here at MetroStar Systems and yet another Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Visual C# award has been bestowed upon our own Mostafa Elzoghbi. In what has seemingly become an annual occurrence, Elzoghbi secured a Visual C# MVP award for the fifth consecutive year. This exclusive award is given to those who survive the extensive review process that encompasses around 100 million technical community participants worldwide. Not only is this an outstanding personal achievement, but it helps everyone on the MetroStar Systems team by improving the overall reputation of the company as a Microsoft Gold Partner.

Ever since he had the innovative idea of establishing the first .NET community in Kuwait (known as DotNet Boom), the MVP status has been a yearly staple for Mostafa. Though, it’s hardly surprising when an accomplished professional such as himself has stated his intentions of winning the award each year as long as it’s being offered. Over the past year, Mostafa has traveled across the globe to speak at various SharePoint Saturday events, including New York City and the Arabian summit. Some of the projects he has worked on include War Gaming BPM for the Air Force and SharePoint ELearning for the USMC. He also has a resourceful blog where he advises on various .NET issues and problems.

Congratulations Mostafa!

Lead411 started with a list of over 1,650 companies and narrowed it down to the top 81.  This recognition required that the companies must be in either the Software, Wireless, Internet, or Media industry; be a privately held organization; and be within the districts/states of Maryland, District of Columbia, Delaware, and Virginia.  Additionally, companies had to meet certain revenue, funding, or website traffic requirements.

You can visit http://www.lead411.com/dc-de-md-va-companies.html for more details about this award and to see the complete list of “Hottest DC Area Companies”.

My first week at MetroStar has been full of new and exciting experiences. Though I have no idea what I’ll be doing by this time next week, it’s been a great start so far. I started my internship here the Tuesday after the Memorial Day weekend. The morning on my first day consisted of a lengthy, though standard, orientation session led by Mo Hessabi and Greg Citizen. Unlike my previous internship last summer in DC, I was immediately welcomed with the cool refreshing breeze of an adequate air conditioning system.   The office itself is also much larger than the cramped, two-room space that was rented out on K Street.  I received a brief tour of the premises and completed the necessary paperwork alongside the other new employees, Lynna Hall and Andrew Cisternino.

A quick lunch with Lynna and Greg was followed by a briefing by Mona Lutnes over our newly issued security cards (lanyard included). I then met Jenni Hubacher, the first of the three people that would be supervising me during my stay at MetroStar. The remaining hours of the workday were spent getting acclimated and setting up the desktop computer that I had been assigned.

Wednesday was my first true day of work and I soon met the second member of the Marketing team, Daniel Nguyen.  Jenni introduced me to Google’s AdWords service and we began working on a campaign advertising 8570.1 certification training sessions at the Stafford office.  Next, we moved on to Google Analytics to chart data pertaining to the MetroStar Systems (new and improved) website. My first real task was to complete a report on the data which included multiple graphs and analysis. On Thursday, I worked with Daniel and researched information about social media to get me up to speed with some of the current projects that are being put together. With the most unfortunate timing, I had to leave work early due to a terrible viral infection in my throat (at least that’s what I hope it is- No Mono please!) that left me unable to complete the full work day.

Nearing the end of my first week, Friday morning consisted of writing up my first MetroStar Systems blog entry on the future of social media. After lunch, I ran an inventory of all of the Marketing and HR collateral. The whole experience so far has been as enjoyable as I could have ever imagined. Everyone I’ve encountered has been friendly and helpful.   With that in mind, I’m elated to have the opportunity to spend the rest of my summer here at MetroStar Systems.

P.S. If anyone wants to play a game of FIFA sometime, just shoot me an e-mail.

-Jon Malley

When an instructor faces a room of students, we seem to stand alone. When all goes well we’re the Rock Star!. But when all goes wrong ours is the only face people see. Many instructors get the blame when events beyond our control happen: technicians setup a room wrong, the systems crashed, books never arrived, course ware contained several major errors, etc…

These events cause many instructors to receive complaints they couldn’t effect at one time or another. Here are a few:

• Instructor didn’t know what he was doing…
• Systems kept crashing and teacher couldn’t fix it
• Nothing worked, instructor was [no good]
• Presenter couldn’t control the room
• Class was too fast (and in the same class, “Class was too slow”)

But we often forget the instructor is not alone. Many people helped us earn that place in front of the room; the technicians who set up and maintain the equipment, the administrator who orders and delivers our course ware, the manager who gives us the required time to study and prep for courses and certifications, our coworkers and peers who help with difficult concepts and share great analogies, the sales people who sell our services and keeps our paychecks coming in, and so on.

We instructors do stand alone, but we are not by ourselves. It would be nice if customers acknowledge those others who control events beyond the instructors’ control, but it would also be good for us instructors to remember all the people who helped make a class possible when things go great, as well as when things go wrong. Pay back does happen; I’d rather receive a dividend than a loss!