There has been quite a bit of bellyaching coming out of some recent South Florida tech networking meetings. It sounds like this:

The government needs to do more to lure tech firms here.

The education system doesn't do enough to cultivate tech talent.

There needs to be more communication between companies spread out in the tri-county area.

It's the same sad tune the South Florida tech community has been spouting for at least two decades. But in the past few months, new faces have been doing the complaining.

And there are many more tech groups to complain to:

There's Refresh Miami. InternetCoast. South Florida Tech Alliance. Social Media Club South Florida. MobileMonday Miami. Florida 2.0. ITFlorida. ITWomen. Women In Technology International. Tech Tuesday. South Florida Interactive Marketing Association. South Florida WordPress Meetup. South Florida iPhone Meetup. Miami Ruby Brigade. Or even the yet-to-pick-a-name group in Boca Raton, which goes by ``New Tech Community.''

That's not counting technology committees at chambers of commerce and in enterprise groups. And if you count Tweetups -- in-person networking for social media junkies -- then add another three random tech-ish meetings to the calendar each week.

Even the fact that there are too many tech groups is a complaint.

``The tech community is starting to dilute itself,'' said Craig Agranoff, co-founder of Boca Raton-based VOIS.com, a social network for finding talent and getting projects done. ``There are too many meetings.''

All the frustration -- and the increase of tech groups -- boils down to one purpose: To create a stronger technology ecosystem, so that South Florida can finally get the Silicon Beach label it's been after for decades.

To some, that means building up the tech talent in a focused area -- such as turning the Grove into a ``Coconut Valley.'' But most voices say Silicon Beach isn't a physical place. It's just improving the collaboration between companies in the tri-county area and boosting the amount of companies that want to work here.

You could say the buzz began when the first IBM personal computer was born in Boca Raton in 1981. But as the PC market fragmented, IBM lost some of its financial clout, and Boca felt a brain drain with talent being spread to the Research Triangle in North Carolina and the growing tech corridor in Texas. IBM closed its Boca office in 1996. Some talent stayed behind, and most of the major players who remained went to start Citrix in Fort Lauderdale and other firms.

But the 2000 dot-com bust fizzled South Florida's tech powerhouse ambitions.

Now, the rally for action is revving up again -- led this time by entrepreneurs Brian Breslin, a software and Web developer, and Alex de Carvalho, a social media consultant who started the networking group Refresh Miami three years ago.

Last month, they oversaw a town-hall-style forum at Refresh to share concerns and ideas regarding South Florida's potential to be a stronger tech hub.

UNINFORMED TECHIES

One point that stood out during the meeting: Many who attended didn't seem to know much about other South Florida tech companies or the resources available to help them expand their own companies.

For Silicon Valley, the growth was in part due to tech start-ups like Hewlett-Packard and Apple taking a stand. Adding fuel to the fire were San Francisco investors and the research power of Stanford University.

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