A banking leader with a large presence in Lake Mary plans to expand its Central Florida footprint, adding a “significant number of jobs” to the region in the process.
BNY Mellon, a New York-based financial institution, will create one unified campus across two locations that will expand its site by 200,000 square feet.
The company did not say how many jobs would be added to its already existing workforce of 1,200 in the area.
“Lake Mary is an important location for us globally, and we believe in the local community and its top talent,” said Alejandro Pérez, chief administrative officer at BNY Mellon, in a news release. “We’re excited to continue expanding our presence in Florida and remain committed to serving our clients across the state.”
The additions will include expansion of its cutting-edge office space at 600 Colonial Center Parkway along with renovations of an additional 100,000 square feet down the road at 300 Colonial Center Parkway.
The project should be complete next year for the company, which established its presence in the region in 2001.
Orlando Economic Partnership leaders reached out to BNY Mellon last year as they considered an expansion.
“We are thrilled to see BNY Mellon’s expansion in Lake Mary, a move that underscores the region’s economic vibrancy as a global business hub,” said Tim Giuliani, OEP president and CEO.
One of the more highly anticipated hackathons in Orlando returns next month for its third year.
The Orlando Magic’s Innovation Challenge will bring with it sports innovators, tech solutions – and tickets to an Orlando Magic basketball game.
The team said the event is part of its “continuing commitment to innovation and technology.”
“The Magic’s Innovation Challenge has been growing each year and we’re excited to bring it back,” Magic Executive Vice President of Strategy and Innovation Jay Riola said in a news release. “One of our core values at the Magic is innovation. Through that value is our belief in the power of collaboration and creative thinking. Central Florida is home to an active and vibrant innovation community, and we are excited to host this exciting event for a third year.”
The event will be led by Roger Osorio, who has helped facilitate the first two events. Events-based innovation program HyperValidation will lead the event.
The Orlando Magic has long been considered one of the NBA’s more tech-forward franchises.
In 2014, it opened one of the league’s first design thinking innovation lab from a desire to seek new ideas and creative innovation.
Since then, more than 100 projects have gone through the lab.
The innovation challenge will take place from Jan. 19-21 at Amway Center and the Orlando Magic offices.
A showcase of high school student ideas at the world’s largest modeling, simulation and training conference in the world last week, on its surface, was a place to hear ideas from those who could give existing challenges a fresh look.
For instance, this year’s task for the Student Problem Challenge: ideas to sustain a global force in a digital world.
However, it also serves to inspire younger people – that is, the defense industry’s future workforce – to consider pursuing careers that could eventually mean solving future challenges that might face the Warfighter.
“We have an up-and-coming generation that is really immersed in all of this growing up,” said Cassie Muffley of the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), who helped coordinate the workshop and presentations. “So, they are already thinking about things like how do I avoid getting hacked on my video game server? But, later on, they will be the ones working on the military side.”
The showcase, held in Orlando during the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, I/ITSEC, took four teams of high school students through a daylong workshop.
The teams had industry mentors work alongside them, as well. In addition, they worked under the leadership of Muffley and Erica Haglund of The ASTA Group, a member of I/ITSEC’s STEM Committee.
As the tech industry in all sectors faces a potential workforce shortage, more programs have been introduced to try to bolster the numbers.
Schools and industry often work together to do so.
The Student Problem Challenge could be a small example of how private industry can address that problem, Muffley said.
“We can solve the technology problem today,” said Muffley, who has helped lead the workshop the last two years. “But if we don’t start teaching our future workforce how to critically think, how to solve problems, getting them interested in this type of career field, five to ten years from now, it won’t matter what we did to advance technology if we don’t have the workforce to support what we’re doing at that time,”
As the students presented on stage, four defense industry veterans and professionals sat by, ready to challenge their presentations.
Their inquiries helped lead the students to think critically about their solutions.
Beverly Seay, southeast regional director for NSIN, was impressed at how flexible the students were in their ideas.
It’s a skill she said typically found in entrepreneurs and more experienced businesspeople.
“Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, you understand a problem, validate your thesis and perhaps change your perspective when you get more data,” she said. “The fact that they took such a huge problem and narrowed in on a particular area, then went out and validated it or changed their mind on the floor, that’s great.
“Whether you’re in a small company or in a big company, those critical thinking, problem-solving skills are what’s important and we need to teach everyone that, no matter what discipline they’re going into.”
Muffley said bringing young people in to address existing challenges offers crucial perspectives, as well.
“They see the world differently than we do,” Muffley said. “They don’t know the rules of the game yet. It’s a lot easier for them to think outside of the box, in the realm of the possible.”
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings likely has as much experience dealing with an active shooter situation as any mayor in the country, having been a former police chief and county sheriff.
So, his turn in a simulator last week at the world’s largest simulation conference came from a unique perspective.
As he exited the scenario, which he navigated alongside one of his security detail, Demings said his own training decades ago was certainly far less sophisticated.
“I wish this would have been available when I first started,” said Demings, 64, who was a detective 17 years with Orlando Police Department before a four-year stint as its police chief started in 1998. “But this was good for me. It’s good training for me.”
World’s largest defense show
The scenario put Demings into a virtual arena built by VirTra, an Arizona company that opened an Orlando office last year.
It was on the show floor of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, known as I/ITSEC.
It’s the largest modeling, simulation and training show in the world for the defense industry.
Every year, it attracts some of the bigger defense contractors to showcase their latest technology. For VirTra, that meant showcasing its real-time shooter scenario.
Demings’ experience
As he walked the floor, visiting booths hosted by companies with Orlando businesses, Demings stopped by VirTra.
He wanted to put in a little bit of training.
As a county sheriff for 10 years, Demings would be involved with training options for officers.
“I’ve been involved in some shootings, commanded shooting scenes, but from a training perspective we tried to make the training as realistic as possible,” Demings said. “This type of training really enhances their ability to perform in a real-life situation. You will react in real life, pretty much how you’ve trained.”
In the simulator, Demings stood ready, facing a large, 300-degree screen.
The scenario duplicated what appeared to be a library, with the camera slowly making itself down a hallway.
Other characters were seen fleeing the scene as Demings and his detail moved toward the simulated active shooter.
Demings said the level of sophistication in training continues to improve, which is important.
A new generation
“And, so, this is the way of the world now,” said Demings, who continues to use the most advanced training methods to keep his law enforcement certification current. “The young officers entering the profession today, they have grown up in a world full of technology and innovation and their eye hand coordination is pretty phenomenal.”
Because of the sensitive nature of certain industries, including military intelligence, security and law enforcement, it’s sometimes unclear how important they are to Central Florida.
But Demings said it has become an instrumental goal to build this high-tech industry within the region.
“It’s not widely advertised that we have these types of facilities and assets here within our community,” he said. “So, as we have looked to further diversify our economy with highways and jobs, modeling, simulation and training is pivotal to that ultimate goal, as well.”
A common misconception of the UCF Business Incubation Program is that it helps new entrepreneurs, giving them the tools and resources to learn how to become business owners and grow their business.
While there are plenty of those types of entrepreneurs, there are many Incubator clients who are on their second or third business, serial entrepreneurs who value the resources of the UCF Business Incubation Program.
This year, Advanced Simulation Research Inc., (ASRI) will graduate the program and establish their permanent home in Avalon Park. The owners of ASRI, Juan and Sandra Vaquerizo, are this type of client, owners of multiple businesses and part of the local technology industry in Central Florida for nearly four decades.
Recently, ASRI learned it has been named as one of the of the contracted companies under a new multi-billion-dollar U.S. Air Force contract that could spend nearly $1 billion dollars per awardee on a range of live operational and training technologies – including simulation and artificial intelligence – over the coming years.
“There’s a part of me that wishes we weren’t moving,” Sandra Vaquerizo says. “The support systems of the incubator are just wonderful, with all the expertise that is available, paired with their facilities. It truly helps with many of the issues facing small business.”
The story of ASRI starts in the 1980s, when Sandra and Juan met in college at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Their first job was at General Electric’s Simulation and Control Systems Department, which was based in Daytona and focused on flight simulators.
“The first modeling tools were graph paper and pencil, so our GE team innovated some of the first simulation modeling tools and scenes. I was the first person to use photo texture in a simulation at that time,” Sandra Vaquerizo says. “I built all the landmarks for New York City for rooftop helicopter landing training, on a system that is less powerful than today’s smartwatch.”
When General Electric moved to Orlando after merging the division with Lockheed Martin, the first iteration of ASRI was born, as Soft Reality Inc. or “SRI.” That company developed and built simulators for the Army National Guard and for the Space Shuttle program, winning the NASA Shuttle Avionics Integration Lab women-owned small business of the Year.
At that time, there were only a couple of companies working in the simulation industry who could leverage PC Graphics and GPUs.
SRI was sold and after a few years; Juan Vaquerizo then founded ASRI and joined the UCF incubator, with Sandra joining him at the company in 2015, along with Dr. Lisa Spencer, a graduate of UCF and an expert in Computer Vision.
The team was able to expand ASRI’s scope to include AI systems development and AI/ML training, as well as Warfighter training. The techniques to develop efficient code on prior graphics systems allow them to get the most out of the latest small, light-weight, high performance GU-enhanced computers.
Juan received multiple commendations from Army PEO-STRI for his innovative work on the CCTT-DSTS Dismounted Solider Infantry Squad Training system, the first wearable, untethered, immersive, collaborative infantry trainer.
ASRI has received SBIRs and multiple IDIQ awards from the Air Force AFRL, based on their work in AI-enabled airborne “Edge” autonomous systems for ISR applications.
“Juan and Sandra have had a major impact on this region and this industry as they have been on the leading edge of developing technology for our miliary for so many years,” says Carol Ann Logue, director, programs & operations, Innovation Districts & Incubation Program, University of Central Florida. “The incubation program is proud of their growth these past few years and we’re thrilled to see how they will grow in the future.”
Today, the company is focused on developing new technologies in software and hardware for national defense utilizing artificial intelligence on systems that are the size of a hard drive. One of the key areas is in surveillance, where the company uses multiple types of simulated sensors to teach the AI how to find threats. ASRI leverages their expertise in warfighter training through simulation to train and test these new autonomous systems.
“Our autonomous systems can use different types of sensor inputs simultaneously in real time, it’s like a person using all their senses to achieve a higher level of awareness and comprehension,” Sandra Vaquerizo says.
One of the keys to their success is being able to see future technology trends and become a part of that future.
“You have to love this stuff,” Sandra Vaquerizo says. “You need to use your innate curiosity to explore every nuance and see where you can take the technology.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is still an emerging technology, but its impact across industries is already wide-reaching.
Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, for instance, taps into digital twins to identify, monitor, and repair anomalies in flight trainers.
With the help of AI algorithms for data collection and processing, this endeavor ultimately enhances the Orlando operations’ production of high-fidelity flight simulators and overall client satisfaction.
Successful AI applications can also be observed in the gaming industry, from efficient video game creation and development to immersive gaming experiences.
Besides gaming software companies themselves, leading the way in the AI boom is Nvidia.
The Santa Clara, Calfi.-based firm manufactures the graphic processing units (GPUs) used in computers and video game consoles.
Nvidia’s AI gaming chips make up 18% of total revenue and generate $2.49 billion in sales, according to its most recent earnings report.
Behind the chipmaker’s rise in the gaming industry is founder, president, and CEO Jensen Huang.
His leadership lends itself relevant to businesses looking to leverage the potential of AI in gaming.
Read on to learn more about his business model and strategy that aligns with the AI boom.
Developing generative AI
While Huang’s master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford explains why the company excels in developing the chips that power AI, it is his long-term investments in research and development that enabled Nvidia to release the newest generative AI technologies poised to transform and elevate video game creation.
One of these is Ace.
The AI technology allows non-playable characters (NPCs) to be smart by directly interacting with human players.
Meanwhile, Neuralangelo can transform 2D assets into detailed and textured 3D videos.
Nvidia also invested $25 million in the University of Florida to bolster research efforts in AI supercomputers.
The move demonstrated the value of bridging the gap between business and academia for continuous innovation.
Partnering with gaming companies
Not only does Huang-led Nvidia collaborate with educational institutions on AI research.
The company is also known for a series of strategic partnerships with gaming companies.
Huang’s vision to bring 3D graphics to the gaming market was first realized upon GeForce’s release, with Nvidia securing a deal to develop graphics hardware for Microsoft’s Xbox console.
After a series of acquisitions, Nvidia would move on to design a graphics processor for Sony’s PlayStation 3.
The move cemented its place in the gaming industry throughout the years by facilitating AI adoption.
Meeting the need for upskilling
Digital transformation through emerging technologies like AI also highlights the importance of upskilling your capabilities.
This is especially true in relevant areas like data science to master machine learning and software engineering to build applications that support AI innovations.
Unlocking and honing such skills can increase employability in any industry.
However, it’s especially crucial in the gaming industry since it can make production more efficient and improve overall gaming experience.
In this light, Nvidia has a training program for companies and organizations to ensure they can adopt its AI technologies effectively and efficiently.
Through these executive, developer, and IT training courses, professionals in the gaming industry are equipped to integrate AI in creating interactive worlds that meet gamers’ expectations.
Prioritizing DEI initiatives
Huang recognizes the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the gaming industry for greater representation in AI technologies.
Thus, Nvidia prioritizes DEI in its workforce by having dedicated recruiters assist women and members of minority groups throughout the talent pipeline.
The company also boasts its strong compensation and promotion parity. Within the company, women are promoted at an equal rate (13.9%) to men (14.2%).
Overall, businesses and companies that want to follow Nvidia’s footsteps in revolutionizing AI for gaming must know how to invest in research and development, partnerships, upskilling, and DEI.
For more tech-related resources and updates, stay tuned to Orlando Tech News.
The ties between Central Florida’s business community and Latin American countries are undeniable. Many businesses look to emerging markets in South and Central America as potential growth areas and just as many companies in Latin America look to Florida as an entry point to markets in the U.S.
For anyone, it takes time to learn about these new markets, from the language people use to the unique customs in business. When expanding into those new markets, there isn’t a lot of time to learn.
That’s where Volusia County Business Incubator site manager Connie Garzon comes in.
She has been a learner for life and her experiences bring a wealth of knowledge and advice to her client companies, especially in this realm.
“I learn from our clients and the economic development practitioners in the area,” said Garzon, who credits Carol Ann Logue, Rob Panepinto and the UCF Business Incubation Program for her success. “The way we collaborate with everyone is incredible.”
Garzon has led the Volusia County Business Incubator since it opened in 2011. She has always felt it was her perfect job, pairing her love of learning and the campus environment with her experience in business.
But getting to this point was a long road, over thousands of miles between homes.
Garzon was a successful bank executive in Bogota, Colombia, becoming a turnaround expert in the industry. That is, she would visit low-performing branches, work with the team and make it successful.
But across the street from her office was Citibank, among the largest international banks in the world.
“It was my dream to work for Citibank,” Garzon says. “I applied for a job there but was turned down, one of my first times being rejected. I asked why and it was because I didn’t speak English. Every one of their executives were bilingual.”
It must have been fate when she received a call from Mauricio Bernal, whom she had dated. He asked her to move to Jacksonville and marry him. He was an architect with the design-build firm The Haskell Company there and he missed her.
She received a student visa moved to Jacksonville, married in 2000, and started studying English at the University of North Florida.
From there, the couple moved to Michigan and then to Mexico City, where they stayed for four years and started to raise a family. Garzon loved being a student and received her MBA while in Mexico.
The couple returned to Jacksonville. When the Haskell Company asked for the family to move back to Mexico, the family decided to stay, and in 2007, Mauricio was hired by NASCAR. They relocated to the Daytona Beach area.
Always the learner, Garzon went back to school at Daytona State College and decided she wanted to work there, too. The big moment came when she saw a job was posted for someone to manage the Small Business Development Center. They specifically sought someone with a background in banking and finance.
“It was like that job was sent from heaven just for me,” she says. “I loved this opportunity.”
Almost four years later, the opportunity to lead the Volusia County Business Incubator came about and she jumped at the chance to build something new.
“Connie’s work in Daytona Beach truly impacts the community by helping these businesses grow and understand how to utilize the assets of the region,” says Carol Ann Logue, director, of programs & and operations, at the Innovation Districts and Incubation Program, University of Central Florida. “When you look at the ecosystem Volusia County and Daytona Beach has built to help economic development, it’s great to see how the Incubator – and Connie – is at the center of it.”
Like so many leaders of the UCF Business Incubation Program, Garzon is an entrepreneur as well. She is the founder of My School Tech Hub, which provides tech summer camps for children 7 – 12 years old. Today the company is operated by Connie’s oldest daughter, Sofia Bernal.
Sofia was 12 years old when the company was started, and now Sofia is pursuing her computer science degree at Florida State University.
During the pandemic, Connie started a business with her sisters focused on helping Latin American people learn about healthy living.
“My ventures have been an amazing experience to learn about the challenges of being an entrepreneur and how God sends you things so you can learn,” Garzon says. “I made all the mistakes and I certainly understand the experience that our clients go through.”
Today, Garzon has set out to find new life experiences. She is a talented artist and has sold her oversized, abstract canvases for thousands of dollars.
“When I feel stressed, I go to Michaels and buy a big canvas, oils, and brushes and tell everyone to leave the garage and let me be,” she says. “Painting oils on canvasses is an extremely therapeutic and expressive outlet during my challenging times. It is a powerful coping mechanism and a way to process my emotions, thoughts, and experiences.
Once, Garzon held an exhibition of her paintings. “When I told the story of one of my paintings, people were crying,” she says.
It’s just part of her new life as her daughters leave the nest. Her youngest daughter is about to graduate from high school, looking to become an architect.
She hopes the community she has helped build in Volusia County will bring them back to the area once they start their careers.
“I love just being in this environment, working for the community, with the mindset of leaving the world a better place to be,” she says “We’re helping Volusia County diversify the economy, and creating the type of community we all want to live in.”
He spent a lot of his parents’ quarters on Williams’ Flash pinball machine and Evel Knievel from Bally, honing his skills.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that, to this day, he continues his mission to keep nostalgic video games in front of new generations with Free Play Florida.
“We just don’t want it to fade away,” said Essex, the president of the organization’s board of directors. “I don’t want to see a revival 20 years from now where it disappeared and came back. I want to keep it in the forefront.”
Free Play Florida celebrated its 10th year last weekend along with a new venue, RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
The weekend-long event combined an arcade floor with panels, game shows, competitions and plenty of old-school game consoles to keep attendees busy.
A user-driven experience
A wide range of ages enjoyed Free Play Florida.
Perhaps the most impressive element? The machines come, for the most part, from organizers’ and supporters’ personal collections.
“We get great pride in our hearts when we see people playing our personal games from our collection, and especially introducing it to people that didn’t realize it existed,” he said. “It makes us very happy to share our passion with the general public.”
The show floor was easily the most popular area.
However, a series of panels did provide insight into the industry, with voice actors, game developers, content creators and others hosting Q-and-A sessions.
Among them was John Riggs, a YouTube personality whose channel focuses on video games and has more than 190,00 subscribers.
A good part of his channel dives into classic video game consoles. But he said playing arcade games provides a much different experience and thrill.
“This show brings that all back,” he said. “Back then, there was no online gaming. You actually had to interact with people. You just had a new best friend for a few moments.”
The fact they were all set to “free play” wasn’t lost on Riggs, either.
“These were all built to be quarter munchers,” he said. “You just kept playing, popping quarters in and those companies got rich, 25 cents at a time.”
A fading trend? Maybe not.
Although reliable data is hard to come by, anecdotally, arcade cabinet production historically comes in waves.
As the home console generation emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, so, too, did the production of new arcade cabinets and the popularity of arcades.
More recently, there has been a surge in production, according to various outlets that specialize in the genre, as so-called “barcades” have grown in popularity.
That has created a new opportunity for people like Caris Baker and Brian Stabile of Astrocrow Games.
The Orlando duo launched their two-player sports action game THROWBACK: Jai-Alai Heroes just four weeks before Free Play Florida in 2016.
Ever since, they have become a staple at the event and led a panel this weekend about creating the cabinet.
“This is kind of where it first started,” said Stabile, whose cabinet is now installed in two Florida arcades. “It feels great to have everybody supporting us. They have been with us every step of the way.”
Free Play Florida origins
Free Play Florida came from partnership forged in 2013 between the Southern Pinball Festival and Game Warp.
The non-profit group Byte Amusement Group was created to support the effort in 2017 with a mission of educating the public on the history, art and science of arcade, pinball and early computing.
One of the more interesting sections of the show floor is the “Pre-War Playground,” which highlighted games created 80-90 years ago.
Essex called that section a cornerstone of the show.
“It’s important for us to continue to perpetuate that education to the masses,” he said. “Our goal is to give them an opportunity to experience that with us over a 3-day weekend.”
Essex laughs when he thinks back on his early arcade experiences, pumping quarters into Flash and Evel Knievel.
As he checks out the floor, he said he does feel some of the memories come back to him.
More importantly, he said, he has not lost much of the drive to be entertained.
“We still have that desire to have fun, relive our childhoods and be children in our own way,” he said. “When you step up to a game at 50 years old that we used to step up to at the age of 12, it takes you back to that arcade. Stepping up to these games, it’s almost like you’re in 1985 again.”
The Central Florida-based Free Play Florida organization spent the weekend in Lakeland, celebrating 10 years of providing a marketplace, experience center and thought leader platform for professionals in the venerable world of arcade gaming.
The RP Funding Center was transformed for three days into a facsimile of the long-lost arcades of yesterday.
We took a stroll through the event, capturing the sights.
The Themed Entertainment Association announced its 30th annual list of winners Wednesday morning and one Orlando attraction took home some honors.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was one of three to win an outstanding achievement award in the “Attraction” category.
That short list also included Bermuda Storm in China and Musikkfabrikken Hunderfossen in Norway.
The Guardians ride debuted at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World in May 2022.
The intergalactic chase through space and time represented the first Disney coaster with a reverse-launch. In addition, it is touted as one of the largest fully enclosed coasters in the world.
Judging Chairman Andy Westfall said hundreds entered the competition.
“This year’s major submission trend included a heavy emphasis on consumer and hospitality-based experiences which personalized guest engagement in new, impactful, and meaningful ways,” he said in a release.
For a full list of winners, visit TEA’s WEBSITE HERE.
