West Coast IBM i Conference Up Next
July 8, 2013 Dan Burger
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Time is still on your side, but it won’t be for long. IT departments need to stay current on skills and technology. Those that don’t will become a drag on their companies’ growth and competitiveness. IBM midrange shops aren’t any different in that regard. But there is a difference–the opportunities for training and education are not as prevalent as with other platforms. This is particularly true on the West Coast, where the annual OCEAN User Group one-day tech conference is the only event of its kind. The conference is scheduled for Friday, July 19. IT continues to be one of the fuels that produce business advancements. Some companies actually understand this and have ongoing programs that foster IT skills advancement. There are numerous benefits to this, but one of the biggest is getting more from the IBM i platform investment than many people realize is possible. “Yes, i can do that, too!” is equal parts technology and skills development. Much of the technology is built into the system and the IBM i vendor community has a great deal to offer. Moving forward in a cost-effective way is up to the individual system users. Companies that participate in the OCEAN Tech Conference have talked about it in previous articles in IT Jungle. Excellent content provided by top quality instructors and good value are two often-mentioned differentiators when it comes to selecting training options. Trainers not only have to be subject matter experts, but they also need to be facilitators and motivators. Decisions on value have a lot to do with travel, lodging, and applying what was learned to create a more effective, efficient, and business-focused IT department. This year the one-day event features 32 sessions in seven tracks that cover the subjects of highest interest to companies that are planning their IT strategies beyond the day-to-day, get-it-done routine. The tracks include: Power Programming, New Technology, Web Programming, Infrastructure, Mobile Apps, SQL and DB2, and IBM i modernization. A session schedule, session abstracts, and speaker profiles are available online. The roster of expert instructors includes: Alex Roytman, Brian May, Charles Guarino, Craig Pelkie, David Brault, Eamon Musallam, Grant Smith, Isabelle Sato, Jim Denton, Julie Gutierrez-Farley, Larry Bolus, Mel Beckman, Mike Pavlak, Paul Tuohy, Richard Dolewski, Roger Pence, and Sharon Hoffman. A Saturday workshop on Web services, presented by Charles Guarino, is available as a conference add-on. Registration for the Friday conference is $225 for members of any IBM i user group and $325 for all others. The Web services workshop on Saturday is an additional $50 fee. Although the majority of attendees stream in from the Orange County and the greater Los Angeles area, this conference also brings attendees from San Diego, San Francisco, California’s Central Valley, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada. Vendor support for this event means two things. One is that attendees have opportunities to learn about software solutions that can show off the modern capabilities of the IBM i platform. The other is that the low cost of this day of education is being underwritten by these companies. The vendor list includes: All Out Security, ASNA, COMMON, Help/Systems, IBM, inFORM Decisions, Key Information Systems, LANSA, Linoma Software, looksoftware, Maxava, Meridian IT, New Generation Software, Profound Logic, Remain Software, SoftLanding Systems, United Computer Group, Vanguard Systems, and Vision Solutions. The conference will be held at National University, which is located at 3390 Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa, five miles from the John Wayne (Orange County) Airport. RELATED STORIES IBM i Skill Building At The OCEAN i Witness Account: The Chief Architect’s View Steve Will Keeps His i On The Prize
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