Planning for IBM's U2 University 2008 Underway

U2 recently wrapped up its regional technical conferences and plans are now underway for the 2008 series of U2 University conferences, according to Susie Siegesmund, director, U2 Data Services, IBM Information Management. “We’re in the process of planning for U2 University 2008. We’ve decided to limit the U.S. event to two cities, one in the East and one in the West, plus Europe and Australia,” Siegesmund told DBTA.

“As for the format, we’re considering offering fee-based half-day tutorials on the Monday and Tuesday morning before the conference begins,” Siegesmund said. “This is in response to survey feedback requesting more in-depth and possibly hands-on sessions. We’ll also look at having some sessions given by partners or customers who have used U2 to deliver cutting-edge technology. Another topic under consideration is a vendor fair, to provide exposure to some of the tools built by third-party vendors.”

The 2007 lineup included conferences in Denver, New York and San Francisco, as well as in London, England, and Sydney, Australia. Looking back, Siegesmund said, “From our perspective, the best thing was being able to provide so many technical sessions. We’ve added significant new features to the data servers and tools products over the past several years. Now, our customer base is better prepared to use these features to enhance their applications.”

As far as the sessions that got the best response, all of the sessions in the “New Technology” track were very well-attended, Siegesmund noted. “At each event, multiple people said 'this one class was worth the price of the event' – and each of them picked a different session.”

For information about IBM's U2 product family, go here.