We operate in an industry where mergers and acquisitions are common. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that we’ve taken this step. Starting last summer, we were looking around for an infusion of venture capital. We had come pretty far since reacquiring the company from Media Live. We could see that taking the next step would involve some new arrangements.

During this process, The Active Network got in touch with us…and I guess the rest is history. It was inevitable that someone would consolidate the disparate offerings in our market. We’re glad it was Active, as we couldn’t ask for a better partner. Their goal is to dominate on-line registration in every possible vertical. This is a sea change in our industry, and we want to be a part of it.

For the corporate event space, WingateWeb will continue to focus on the enterprise client, although we see room for Event Console to scale down a bit. Active is giving us plenty of room to move ahead as we see fit. There is no slowing down for us. In fact, we are hoping to add developers as fast as we can. We will also be expanding our sales staff through the year.

Having The Active Network backing us up will mean a lot. With Active’s resources and position of strength in the broader market, we expect to experience dramatic growth in 2008, similar to what we saw in 2007. With our new partners, Thriva and RegOnline, we’ll be able to focus on “co-opetition.” When we can’t meet the needs of a potential client, we can pass them on, keeping it within the company. We’ll also get leads from them. This is how we’ll dominate the corporate event space.

It’s going to be exciting.