Five Questions With: David Marble

David Marble, president and CEO of OSHEAN Inc., a nonprofit research and education network, discussed with Providence Business News OSHEAN’s new partnership with Sonic Foundry, a Madison, Wis., company specializing in video creation and management solutions. / PBN FILE PHOTO TRACY JENKINS
David Marble, president and CEO of OSHEAN Inc., a nonprofit research and education network, discussed with Providence Business News OSHEAN’s new partnership with Sonic Foundry, a Madison, Wis., company specializing in video creation and management solutions. / PBN FILE PHOTO TRACY JENKINS

David Marble, president and CEO of OSHEAN Inc., a nonprofit research and education network, discussed with Providence Business News OSHEAN’s new partnership with Sonic Foundry, a Madison, Wis., company specializing in video creation and management solutions, as well as the benefits of joining OSHEAN.

PBN: Tell me about the new partnership with Sonic Foundry and what that will entail.

MARBLE: The Sonic Foundry partnership is part of a comprehensive rollout of a cloud-based architecture for video services. The architecture, which also includes technology from a partner called Vidyo, provides a complete suite of functionality for video conferencing, collaboration, recording, webcasting and media management. Our members are increasingly using video in a variety of ways such as educational applications for lecture capture, broadcast and storage, and health care applications such as telemedicine where a doctor visit can happen over video and be stored as an electronic medical record. We are offering this service to the membership so each does not have to purchase, build and maintain the technology on their own, and it runs on the OSHEAN network and in the cloud.

PBN: What are the benefits for businesses, agencies and nonprofits to join the OSHEAN network?

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MARBLE: Membership benefits are realized in two major areas. The first is the network and service portfolio. Our network is second to none and boasts exceedingly high performance and reliability at a favorable rate structure due to the purchasing power of the consortium. The second area, often not understood until experienced, is the collaborative nature of our members. The membership is engaged in an ongoing program of education and best practices sharing. For instance, a few members are moving to OSHEAN cloud services this year and are only too happy to share their migration experiences with other members. We run forums, user groups, webcasts and specific member-to-member meetings to facilitate not just information sharing but the development of new services that are top of mind to member, such as cybersecurity.

PBN: How long has OSHEAN been in business and how many employees does it have? How many members do you have?

MARBLE: OSHEAN was founded in 1999 by URI, Brown University and the state of Rhode Island to be its research and education Network serving the nonprofit Community Anchor Institutions in the region. Today the OSHEAN staff of 20 professionals supports over 150 members in six vertical segments including colleges, K-12s, libraries, health care institutions, government and other nonprofit service agencies. OSHEAN also employs strategic partners for service and support, and network and cloud services.

PBN: You participated in the governor’s “Skills that matter” forum back in February – have you noticed a lack of skilled workers in tech in Rhode Island? What do you think of the effort to boost this part of the workforce?

MARBLE: I am also on the Board of the Tech Collective, which is engaged with a number of important workforce development initiatives, so I see this issue from a number of sides. As an employer, I can tell you firsthand that it is very difficult to find skilled workers in the IT field here in R.I., and if we do, it may be from another local company, so the net gain to the state workforce is zero. I am very pleased with the governor’s approach as it recognizes the systemic issue we face. That is why multiple initiatives are necessary from the CS4RI and P-Tech programs in K-12 to the TechForce/Ready to Work program to incumbent worker incentives. The opportunity is compelling and real work is being done. I hope we all understand that, given its systemic nature, it will take time and diligence to take hold.

PBN: Recently, the Rhode Island Foundation, NeighborWorks and Rhode Island National Public Radio were added to your network. How will they further expand collaborative opportunities available?

MARBLE: We are very excited to welcome new members to the OSHEAN network. As I stated above, all members receive the benefits of both the network itself and the collaboration with other members. As we continue to drive efficiencies to our members’ IT cost structures, they are then able to direct those savings to their mission: R.I. Foundation to their critical support of nonprofits; RINPR to the valuable programming it provides; and NeighborWorks toward its extensive community development programs. We also recognize that when we add new members, we gain collectively from their engagement as well.

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