Cerado Inc., a provider of mobile and Web-based software and services, has released the South-by-Southwest 2009 Unofficial Pocket Guide.

Built with Cerado Ventana, the new mobile application can be downloaded on mobile phones and other mobile devices. This new offering will serve as a roadmap for conference attendees to keep up with sessions, parties and other happenings at SXSW, which kicks off March 13 in Austin, TX.

"We heard from a number of SXSW attendees that it would be great to have a guide for official and unofficial events, including spontaneous parties and get-togethers, and this is an answer to a bunch of requests we had gotten from the community," said Christopher Carfi, CEO of Cerado, Half Moon Bay, CA.

"In the official channels of SXSW, a number of online resources have popped up, but we haven't seen any mobile resources that people can take with them," he said. "Thousands of individuals attend the SXSW Interactive conference, and while the main event is in the Austin Convention Center, there are so many other things going on after the panels finish up spread out all around the city.

"This is a tool to help people find out how to get to those other events."

The SXSW Interactive Festival features five days of exciting panel content and amazing parties.

Attracting digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the event celebrates the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technology.

Like last year's Pocket Guide, the 2009 version renders well on the iPhone and other mobile devices. It readily converts to a widget for a blog or start page.

What's new for 2009: Consumers can see a current listing of all panel sessions and parties; they can add their own events to the guide, making it a collaborative tool; and they can view Twitter feeds on SXSWi via the application.

"Organic, spontaneous, community-oriented events add a lot of color and interest to SXSW," Mr. Carfi said. "The app works on any mobile phone that has a modern browser, such as the iPhone, Nokia and BlackBerry."

Attendees can go to http://ventana.cerado.com and can click directly through to one of the three versions of the pocket guide app: iPhone, smartphone and widget.

The iPhone version drops an icon right onto the consumer's iPhone homepage without having to go to the App Store.

The widget version has information about parties and panels. It also pulls anything that is tagged SXSW on Twitter, so consumers get to see conversations that are going on and can reply from within the app to those Twitter conversations.

"It is extremely sponsorable -- if there is a sponsor out there interested in getting their name in front of the people attending, that can be done easily," Mr. Carfi said. "This is a community tool, and this is a venue for brands to connect to the SXSW community."

Founded in 2002, Cerado Inc. creates mobile and Web-based solutions that enable businesses, associations and organizations to better connect and understand their customer and member communities.

Cerado Ventana connects customers, employees and fans with their interests via mobile or on the Web.
"The conferences and events that people get really excited about are much more than simple annual get-togethers," Mr. Carfi said. "They have strong, year-round online and in-person communities.

"The 'event' is just an exclamation point on a much larger movement," he said. "What we've built is a way to bring those communities even closer together."