It’s official, text messaging isn’t just for teens and college students anymore. A recent mobile market report found 50% of text users are aged 35 or older. No surprise, it also reported 75% are aged 25 and up. Verizon Wireless was recently the first American carrier to report the average SMS (Short Message Service) text messages sent by its subscriber base had passed one SMS sent per phone subscriber per day. “There are more than 255 million mobile phone users in the U.S. alone,” says Scott Meyer, senior partner of MyTxtConnect, a local Orlando text-based marketing company. “That’s... Read more

Opportunities in Information Technology (IT) continue to grow here in East Orlando. With businesses that already call Orlando home as well as those moving into the area, technology is playing a major role in how business is conducted. Today Orlando hosts a $13.4 billion technology industry that employs close to 53,000 people. Some of the leading segments include digital media; optics and photonics; modeling, simulation and training; aviation/aerospace; homeland security/defense; and information technology. In addition, the Burnham Institute is projected to create 300 research jobs, the University... Read more

One of the original tech companies to blaze a path to Central Florida was Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin’s history dates back to 1909 when Glenn L. Martin organized a company around an airplane construction business. The Glenn L. Martin Company merged with American-Marietta Corporation in 1961 to become Martin Marietta, and then in 1995 with Lockheed Corporation to form the Lockheed Martin Corporation. Employing more than 4,800, the Lockheed Martin Orlando facility has been a part of the East Orlando community since the 1960s. The company has seen much growth while helping shape Orlando into... Read more

Hard at work in East Orlando is the UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training (IST). IST is an internationally recognized research institute that focuses on advancing modeling and simulation technology and increasing simulation’s role in training and education. IST is considered part of the Florida High Tech Corridor, a group of counties stretching from Daytona Beach to the Tampa Bay Area. This region boasts the highest concentration of simulation and training related activities in the nation. IST works on various projects that benefit from computer simulation. IST helped the military... Read more