Entretec (www.pasadenaentretec.com), a leadingstrategic partnering and entrepreneurial business support associationserving Los Angeles, announced six finalists for its third annualEntrepreneurship Award 2006. Offered in partnership withPricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest professional servicesorganization, the Entretec PricewaterhouseCoopers award celebrates theentrepreneurial vigor and business achievements of technology companiesbased in Los Angeles and Orange County. Previous award winners include,Guidance Software, a leader in computer forensics and incident responsesolutions, and Evolution Robotics, an Idealab! company that developspersonal robotics.


The six finalists for 2006 include: Accruent, Inc.; Arecont Visions LLC;Boingo Wireless; Blue Lava Group, Inc.; NextAce Corporation; and SyncVoiceCommunications LLC (company descriptions below). Each finalist willpresent a business overview and be recognized at Entretec's "HOT CompaniesNetworking Breakfast" on February 23, at the Athenaeum on the Caltechcampus. The Entrepreneurship Award winner will be announced at an awardsdinner on March 21, featuring keynote speaker, Walter S. Mossberg, authorand creator of the "Personal Technology Column" of the Wall Street Journal.Mr. Mossberg has been called "a one-man media empire whose prose can launcha new product" and "the most powerful arbiter of consumer tastes in thecomputer world today." The business community is invited to attend bothevents.


"The finalists exemplify successful young companies that have achievedsignificant product and market milestones as represented by either customercommitment or early revenues," said Stephanie Yanchinski, ExecutiveDirector of Entretec. "They represent a group of emerging technologyleaders." She continued, "The award also acknowledges the growingimportance of advanced tech within Los Angeles and Orange County, and itscontribution to the economic wealth of the overall region."


"We're excited about the growing level of support the annualEntrepreneurship Award has earned since its inception three years ago,"said Louise Wannier, Chairman of the Entrepreneurship Award Advisory Board. "We're not only attracting many significant applicants, but stronginterest from both the VC community and corporate sponsors as well."


The Third Annual Entrepreneurship Awards Program 2006 was made possible byevent co-partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and corporate sponsors, Hogan &Hartson; O'Melveny & Myers; Nestle; Christie Parker & Hale; BoltonInsurance; Reed Smith; X1/Idealab!; Cogent; Rustic Canyon; MomentumVentures Partners; Clearstone Ventures; Tech Coast Angels; Pasadena Angels;and the Cites of Pasadena and Monrovia.


For more information on attending or sponsoring the Hot Company NetworkingBreakfast, or the Entrepreneurship Awards Dinner, please visitwww.pasadenaentretec.com or contact Stephanie Yanchinski, ExecutiveDirector of Entretec, at (626) 356-9933 or scy@pasadenaentretec.com.


About the Finalists


Accruent (www.accruent.com) is a leading provider of solutions thattransform the way companies manage real estate and related assets. Theircollaborative, web-based solutions effectively manage all real estateprocesses, resulting in less risk and increased revenue and productivity.


Arecont Vision (www.arecontvision.com) manufactures and markets state ofthe art, real-time video surveillance systems and associated system levelsoftware that offer the market a cost-competitive, but vastly superior,alternative to analog video.


Boingo Wireless (www.boingo.com) provides software technology and roamingservices that offer ultra-high-speed wireless Internet service to tens ofthousands of public locations, such as hotels, airports, cafes, among manyothers, throughout the world.


Blue Lava Group operates several highly specialized e-commerce websites,famous for their award winning customer service and product knowledge,including www.tinyride.com, www.powervacs.com, www.gpsexplorer.com andwww.deepblueelectronics.com.


NextAce (www.nextace.com) provides software and services to the titleinsurance and mortgage lender industries. Its flagship "Title EDGE"process assists title companies in streamlining the production ofpreliminary title reports.


SyncVoice Communications (www.voicemanagement.com) provides a Voice NetworkManagement strategy for corporations through its core software platformVXTracker, an IT manager's platform for managing traditional and convergedvoice network.


About Entretec


Entretec (www.pasadenaentretec.com) is the leading strategic partnering andentrepreneurial business support association serving the 134/210 corridorand the greater Los Angeles region. Entretec connects with communitiesthroughout Southern California through its extensive outreach. The networkcurrently has over 250 member companies that participate in sectorconferences, strategic alliance partnering events, networking meetings,referrals, discount programs and business training workshops. Since itsinception nearly five years ago, Entretec has worked closely with thetechnology transfer office at Caltech, the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum,the Keck Graduate Institute, UCLA, USC, the NASA Commercialization Center,the LA County Business Technology Center, LARTA, the LAEDC, the San GabrielValley Economic Partnership, and the Cities of Pasadena, Monrovia andIrwindale. Entretec is positioned to work with communities and cities tobuild Los Angeles into significant clusters of advanced-tech development.Entretec operates from an office on the Caltech campus.


Media Contact:Jamie Brown626/791-5755Email Contact


Pasadena Entretec:Stephanie YanchinskiExecutive Director626/356-9933Email Contact


SOURCE:  Pasadena Entretec