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» Every time the New World Symphony orchestral academy welcomes a new member, it asks a mouth-watering question: “Who, from anywhere in the world, would you really like to study with?”
Thanks to the symphony’s embrace of Internet2 under CEO Howard Herring, New World can deliver for its fellows. Internet2 connects universities with a faster alternative to the internet, allowing high-quality videoconferencing with no discernible time lag. Members can work on their technique with the finest instrumentalists regardless of geography. Composers drop in digitally to talk to performers and audiences. The symphony has hosted 150 universities to demonstrate how to make Internet2 work.
A pianist by training, Herring arrived at New World in 2001, just as $300,000 in tech grants was coming in. He has overseen the IT transformation and development of a $200-million campus opening in 2011 that will be wired and fibered throughout. “Very often you find technology that is chasing a purpose,” Herring says. “What we’ve done is the other way around. We had the desire and need to be in touch with the rest of the world.”
Money-Saving Technology
Communications engineer Raghib Qureshi, 39, and Mohammad Amirzadeh, 54, Florida Department of Management Services, won a Davis Productivity Award in technology advancement for integrating several technologies to allow standardized routing of wireless calls throughout the state for non-emergency information and referral to human services and crisis counseling, saving $520,000.
