Wired Sussex has been given a contract to replicate its business model throughout the South East.
The three-year project, named South East Media Network, was awarded by the South East England Development Agency (Seeda) and the Small Business Service (SBS).
It involves using Wired Sussex's success at delivering networking and sector-specific projects as a blueprint for assisting media companies.
The project will further strengthen ties with Wired Sussex's regional partners, Wired Wessex and Oxmedianet, and will lead to the establishment of new "wired" organisations in Berkshire, Surrey and Kent.
Seeda's project director Richard Bianco said: "We recognised Wired Sussex's considerable expertise and experience in delivering events and services to the new media sector in Sussex.
"By using their model as a blueprint for the region, the project will provide assistance to the other media clusters and help to establish the South East as one of Europe's main centres for media excellence and production."
This year has already seen the rolling-out of services to Oxfordshire's Oxmedianet and Wired Wessex, which covers Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Wired Berkshire plans to launch on January 30, with Wired Surrey following in March or April and Wired Kent in the summer.
Wired Sussex is already researching clusters of businesses in the regions and identifying possible future partnerships.
Executive director Emily Aitken said: "We have had lots of success in helping the Sussex new media sector to develop a sense of community.
"We hope the new regional services will enable companies throughout the South-East to take advantage of the many extra projects we have been running in Sussex, like our trade missions and venture catalyst programme."
Wired Sussex works with more than 750 companies in the region, helping them develop their businesses by providing access to its knowledge network.
The organisation's web site, which attracts more than 25,000 individual visitors a month, is a key resource for local companies to find out about new media in the South East.
Last week, Simon Gibbs, of Brighton-based internet company eplatforms, discovered a flaw in the mechanism for updating company profiles on the site, enabling users to update other companies' profiles.
Although the information on the site has been volunteered by the community and is non-sensitive, Ms Aitken said Wired Sussex took the issue seriously.
She said: "Any improvement we can make to our business, including web site security, is something we welcome. In this particular instance, no company was affected and the programming solution was enforced within ten minutes.
"However, we would like to apologise to all the companies on our web site for the occurrence.
"We take matters of security very seriously and would endeavour to take the appropriate course of action at once.
"In the future, if anyone is aware of potential weaknesses within the web site, Wired Sussex would ask they act responsibly and let us know immediately. We are always keen to receive feedback on our web site and hope its development will continue to be shaped by the needs of the community."
Mr Gibbs said: "It is imperative companies and individ-uals assist each other in securing the internet.
"The monitoring and management of security should involve fast responses and standard procedures."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article