IBM Developer Works - Leveraging the power of Smart SOA

Hello All,

In this post, I am about to give a brief summary on the event Leveraging the power of Smart SOA - An Initiative of IBM Developer Works. This time it was conducted on March 12th, 2009 and the venue was also different. It was Image Auditorium, MRC Nagar, RA Puram, Chennai - 600028. As Usual I registered for the event and this time I could see only few of the members of the last developer works meet and others are different. As my professor was not able attend, I felt a bit lonely. But Thank God! Hareeshram Chanchali, my friend from TCS (Previous meet attendee and we became friends since then) came and I got a good company.

Unlike last meet this event had lot more give-aways. Sessions were conducted on the themes of Entry Points through Reuse and Connectivity, Web2.0, Cloud Computing, Managing Business Process as Entry Point to SOA, Learn. Share. Connect etc. Speakers included the core assets of IBM like Naren Krishnan, Ram Vignesh, Vignesh VR, Himanshu Goyal etc.

This event was registered by a count of around 800 but witnessed only by a count of 300 plus. I could figure out why this much attendees. Only reason is, its on thursday! Many IT professionals find hard to take Casual Leave. As I was free on that day for my academic project, I was able to come. Hospitality was improved a lot and the receptionists astonished the attendees with good hospitality.

I should not forget to mention about the food and tea provided. A wide variety of food! I had a nice lunch, which challenged me that I will fight with sleep in the afternoon sessions. LOL!

But Afternoon sessions were less technical and enjoyable. JAM was conducted on the theme "What the corporates would have done in this economic recession". Prize was a watch. Unlike last time, we had Unconference, a presentation event where the attendees select their own topic and to present. Laptops were provided to the participants inorder to prepare the powerpoint presentations. Including me, six participants came out with presentations. As a token of appreciation, we were given a Laptop bag. Goodies were given to the participants for their active participation and best interactions. For unconference, Apple i pod was the prize. This time an entrepreuner, Mr.Sridhar of i-link System Solutions won the cake.

This event as per IBM's perspective may be to inculcate and propagate the culture of SOA. But I and other IT professionals found it as a nice time for a gathering and to get in touch with many. I thank Ms. Bharati Muthu, for providing such a nice initiative and appreciate her for organising it in such a way that time was properly managed.

Like last time this event was witnessed by participants of all age groups participated. As usual I was the youngest participant and the seniormost was Dr. H.V. Ramakrishnan, Additional Rector, Dr. MGR University.

Last but not the least, I would like to mention about the IBM Green initiative. Money plants were displayed with the theme of "Nurture yourself with developerWorks". Its really appreciatable initiative of IBM towards Green Computing.

The event came to an end in the evening. An this is not an end for the initiative. Its just a beginning and IBM has to conduct more events like this to propagate the new technologies.