ATP December Meeting Notice

When: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Registration begins 8:30 a.m.
Meeting begins at 9:00 a.m.

Where: Nationwide Arena
200 W Nationwide Blvd
Columbus, Ohio 43215-2563
(Enter the Arena through the
McConnell St. box office,
turn right past the escalators
to the Activity Center)
(see below for parking options)

Topics: Business Continuity through Advanced Technology

From Bleeding Edge to Reality – Convergence Continues

The Association of Telecommunications Professionals, Inc is pleased to present its December meeting (Wednesday the 13th, 8:30 AM) to be held at the Nationwide Arena.

Parking will be an additional cost for this meeting. There are several lots and garages near the arena.

There will be two distinct presentations. Jim Connolly, IT Director for the Columbus Blue Jackets, will discuss Business Continuity through Advanced Technology. Mr. Connolly will describe The Columbus Blue Jackets recent IT and telecommunications upgrade. Then John Loether, President and Senior Technology Consultant of LoetherSpeaks, LLC, will present: From Bleeding Edge to Reality – Convergence Continues, a look at major trends in computing and their effect on telecommunications.

Mr. Connolly will be explaining where the Columbus Blue Jackets were prior to deploying advanced technology and the effect of the deployment on the overall strategy and capability of his enterprise. Mr. Connolly will explain how embracing advanced technology impacted his understanding of communications in his business.

John Loether’s knowledge of the complex world of information technology has helped enterprises around the world cope with the challenges and trade-offs of their IT investments. As an independent consultant, his unbiased insights and forthright style bring his lectures to life and make his training seminars a rewarding educational experience. In a career spanning 27 years, as a consultant at the heart of the high-tech industry, Mr. Loether has witnessed the ever-changing face of computing technology across operating systems and hardware platforms ranging from handheld PCs and fault-tolerant transactional systems to symmetric multiprocessing and massively parallel processing systems. Mr. Loether’s background in sales training, engineering and marketing gives him a unique perspective across the competitive offerings of major manufacturers and a true understanding of the value that properly harnessed technology delivers to enterprise and public sector organizations.

While Mr. Loether covers some of the significant changes in the world of IT, he will include some important principles for embracing new technology, including: “CHANGE - the one thing that is constant”, “When/Where/Why technology can manifest itself at home, school, work, and play”, “Buying technology for technologies sake is unwise; but knowing what changes are happening or will happen is wisdom”, then one can reason how to apply the technology to a problem.

The meeting fee is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. To pre-register by e-mail, respond to treasurer@atp-ohio.org, and include the company name and names of those who will attend. Or, to register by phone, call the ATP HOTLINE at (614) 836-4318. And don't forget, when you pre-register before the deadline (5 p.m. on Friday, December 8, 2006), your name is automatically entered in the drawing for a prize, a Columbus Blue Jackets Jersey. Please register early so that we may have an accurate count for seating and lunch. Your pre-registration assists us in keeping our costs down.