 April 2001 |
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continued from page 1"We’re trying to get everyone on the same page," Jones says. "We need to replace a lot of obsolete computers and other equipment so that our people can communicate with each other quickly and easily. There’s a lot of information sharing between departments." The town will be replacing almost one third of its computers, upgrading its servers to Windows 2000, and replacing the entire network backbone. Jones heads a department of three full-time employees and two interns. When the town has completed the overhaul of the infrastructure — in 6 to 9 months — Jones says his group will begin to concentrate on non-internal issues, outside of town hall. "We’d like to offer broad band access to town council meetings," he says. "We have a lot of ideas on the drawing board." Jones served as an IT consultant in Northern Virginia for seven years before returning in May 2000 to Blacksburg, where he had studied accounting at Virginia Tech in the early 1980s. "I was ready to make a quality-of-life change," he says. "I was looking for a small town." And he is not disappointed with his decision. "The people in Blacksburg town government are fantastic to work for, from Town Manager Gary Huff on down. They trust us, they empower us, and they let us do our jobs," Jones says. When Jones is not solving technical problems, he can be found on the golf course, mountain biking, running, or hiking with his dog, Cody. &Click a Mouse, Buy a House
As a result, real estate firms are competing through technology. Waterfront Properties of Smith Mountain Lake, Inc. recently launched an innovative web site combining Internet technology with WebGIS mapping to provide convenient, one-stop shopping for consumers online. The Waterfront Properties web site (www.smithmtnlake.com) was developed and designed by Anderson & Associates. In addition to extensive property search options, the site provides information ranging from area golf courses and vacation rentals to country clubs and recreational opportunities. Consumers can search for properties by various criteria, including price range, community, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, or development status. Once a property is accessed, consumers can view photos or artist renderings of the property, examine floor plans, explore the lot and surrounding area through a customized visual interface of smart-mapping, or connect to a Waterfront Properties sales associate.
Also unique to the site is the data maintenance system. Rather than rely on a webmaster to update the constantly changing property information, data is easily maintained by Waterfront Properties staff through a password-protected, web-based form. This allows for daily mainten-ance of the data, so consumers are viewing current information. "Our informational web site is an important tool developed with today’s consumers in mind," said Waterfront Properties Broker, Ann Bowen. "Through the search options, consum-ers can find the properties that fit their unique needs and even connect to an agent with the click of the mouse. Our goal is to simplify the sales process for busy customers." For more information about web site development, contact Ken McCrery at 800-763-5596 or by e-mail at mccrery@andassoc.com. &
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