OVERLINE:
UniForum News
HEAD:
UniForum '97: An Educational Opportunity
DECK:
Technical conference offers choices, information
and fun
The three-day conference at UniForum '97 (Mar. 12-14
in San Francisco) will offer 56 different sessions covering eight
major track themes, taught by the industry's leading experts.
The conference is broad enough in scope to attract virtually everyone
working as an IS professional today. However, there is more than
sufficient depth of coverage to satisfy those who are seeking
real professional advantage through continuing education. There
is also a two-day pre-conference of workshops and tutorials taking
place Mar. 10 and 11; watch for details in the next *UniNews online*.
Complete conference information, including speakers
and registration, will be published in a comprehensive brochure.
Watch for your copy in the mail in November. Mark your calendars
*now* to set aside the time you'll need to take full advantage
of the finest, most complete UniForum Conference ever presented.
Here are some details to whet your appetite.
The technical conference for UniForum '97 is organized
into tracks and threads. There are four groups, with eight specific
tracks, that allow for immersion in specific topics over the course
of the conference. These groups and tracks are:
Networking Solutions. The emphasis for this track is on technologies that support the capacity and connectivity of the network.
Network technologies
Distributed systems management
Enabling Solutions. The tools, enablers and technologies to build integrated standards-compliant networks.
Internet/Intranet Enabling Tools
Internet/Intranet Middleware
Emerging Applications. Distributed applications making use of the emerging networking technology.
Internet/Intranet Applications
Electronic Commerce
Enterprise Integration. Technologies that support scalability and fault-tolerant and future-growth environments.
Performance and Mission Critical Systems
Integrating Open and Proprietary Platforms: UNIX,
NT et al.
Tracks
Networking Solutions Group
Network Technologies Track
This track addresses foundation technologies and
key components of distributed networking and connectivity. With
the state of open systems networking changing at such a furious
pace, it is imperative that IS professionals keep up with the
latest developments to maintain their organization's competitive
edge. The choices made today for network functionality and capacity
may be replaced tomorrow with dramatically improved (and different)
capabilities. The IS professional must always be evaluating the
alternatives and readjusting his or her long-range strategies
to accommodate these new options.
Distributed Systems Management Track
Networks and distributed systems have evolved from
tools for a relatively few research and technical professionals
to a pervasive utility upon which most users are as (or more)
dependent as they are for power and telephone services. Like with
these common utilities, in order to provide a reliable "data
tone," the resources and facilities for networking have to
be managed across a variety of demands, purposes and events. Network
administrators need to know from a central console the status
of the entire enterprise network. Help desk personnel need to
dynamically know the status and configuration of user workstations
to quickly get them back into production. Asset managers need
to know the location, configuration and status of devices for
financial management. System managers need to know the installed
software, configuration and release levels to simplify the task
of distributing software and to maintain a coherent working network.
This session addresses the emerging tools and standards
that make managing networks and distributed systems achievable.
Attendees will understand the prominent tools available, the work
of standards bodies to facilitate heterogeneous systems working
together, the experiences of their peers in applying these things
and how to incorporate these tools into their enterprise network.
Enabling Solutions Group
Internet/Intranet Enabling Tools Track
Keeping up with technology has never been easy. Today's
fast-moving environment make it imperative that we take advantage
of the latest enabling tools for building and integrating networks
and systems. However, it seems every time we master one set of
technologies, another set comes along and we have to deal with
a new wave of excitement, creativity and--finally--discipline
until these technologies are part of our science of development.
The explosion of the Inter/intranet world has been
no exception. New capabilities in object oriented programming
and development tools such as Java, VisualBasic and Lotus Notes
provide a new level of confusion and concerns as to how to incorporate
them into the corporate development process. This track looks
at several of these new tools, their capabilities and how they
are being incorporated into the corporate development environment.
Internet/Intranet Middleware Track
As users and IT management are coping with the consequences
of downsizing while at the same time trying to achieve competitive
advantage through information technology, they are confronted
with the need to integrate new products, technologies and application
packages rapidly, on time and on budget. Middleware is the glue
that makes the integration of new and legacy applications practical
in the face of ever-accelerating business and technology change.
Middleware enables distributed systems with worldwide scope and
provides a stable platform for continuous technical innovation
and quick response to business initiatives.
This track attempts to demystify middleware, provide
conceptual definition to the buzzword and demonstrate successful
implementations of middleware infrastructures to solve real-world
IT and business problems.
Emerging Applications Group
Internet/Intranet Applications Track
This track addresses ways in which intranets are
replacing and supplementing other IT systems in corporate environments.
Some of the issues to be addressed include:
Systems: Will intranets
replace current LANs (such as NetWare)? How will the intranet
relate to client/server systems, which may be relatively new installations
on which the company has not yet realized its investment? What
role will objects play in Web management?
Applications: How will
companies integrate the Web and their databases? What will the
intranet's role be in groupware (and its effect on Lotus Notes)?
How will the Web browser impact the desktop GUI and end users?
What new business applications will intranet use enable?
Doing Business: How will
the intranet effect EDI and participate in the "business
Internet" for business-to-business interaction? How will
the intranet interact with the company's external Internet presence
and customers?
Electronic Commerce Track
One of the most exciting aspects of the exploding
Inter/intranet environment is the potential for electronic commerce.
The promise of eliminating middlemen, shopping from the convenience
of your home or desktop and a society has captured the imagination
of potential buyers, hopeful vendors and, certainly, the press.
The reality is that there is much to learn to make
electronic commerce a reality. Not only are there technical issues
concerning security, encryption and financial accountability,
but there is much to learn about how to effectively use this new
capability. This session addresses current state-of-the-art issues
that will either accelerate or impede the realization of electronic
commerce. Topics such as the current status of cash transfer,
credit card processing, experiences in implementing commerce applications
and advice on how to use this capability to promote and market
products will be discussed.
Enterprise Integration Group
Performance and Mission-Critical Systems Track
Open systems have grown up. What was once the domain
of the experimenter or the scientist pushing the frontiers of
their discipline is now moving into the domain of running the
everyday operations of our businesses and, in some ways, our lives.
Capabilities that were once the domain of the centralized data
center are finding their way into distributed systems or being
replaced with new technologies and are now central to the future
of distributed systems. High availability, 24 x 7 operation and
scalability for high data throughput environments are now central
to managing corporate mission-critical enterprise systems.
This track focuses on those technologies crucial
to mission-critical environments. Sessions such as comparing the
relative strengths of massively parallel and symmetrically multi-processing
systems in various environments and how to handle very large databases
with clustering will be discussed.
Integrating Open and Proprietary Platforms: Unix,
NT et al Track
Users are being faced with managing and living in
heterogeneous environments. Often the biggest challenge is integrating
Microsoft, Novell and Unix environments into single, homogeneous
computing solutions. What products and practices can make this
environment more livable? This track will include product information
and end-user experiences to educate IT managers and users in real-world
strategies for integrating these environments.
Focus will be given to multiple parts of heterogeneous
workgroups and enterprise computing solutions, including connectivity,
data sharing, mail products, and system and network management.
It will help users build open and flexible computing environments
using products from multiple sources.
Threads
Threads are designed to support attendees with interests
in topics that cross tracks. Each track is designed to contain
a session of interest to attendees following the thread. For example,
a user interested in security can attend sessions that relate
to security at the physical level from the Networking Technology
track, as well as issues of encryption and control that might
be covered by the track on electronic commerce.
The four threads for UniForum '97 are:
Management Issues and Answers
This thread focuses on issues and answers unique
to each specific track, such as what technologies are relevant,
what works and what doesn't, and the future direction for technology
most relevant to that track. Attendees following this thread
will receive an overview of enterprise management issues.
Heroes
This thread focuses on the real-world success stories
of organizations that have implemented significant open systems
solutions. Attendees following this thread will hear from those
who have been successful in pushing the state of the art, and
will understand what worked, what didn't work and the benefits
realized.
Security
This thread concentrates on the issues of security
that relate to each specific track. Topics selected will be those
most relevant to those who protect their companies' assets. Attendees
following this thread will hear discussions regarding security
from the connectivity level through applications and the integrated
systems level.
The Next Technology
This thread examines innovative technologies that
will likely play a role in future open systems integration. Selected
technologies that show promise to change or expand elements of
the enterprise open systems network are discussed with an emphasis
on new functions rather than on improved price performance.