The Special Preview

Where Technocrats meet

Technology Senate (n): An assembly or a council of Technocrats having the highest deliberative and legislative functions in the Indian enterprise.

If the confluence of Gods is at Mount Olympus, the meeting place for Indian CIOs is at Technology Senate in 2004. The senate where technology, management, and enterprise innovation converge annually—in a quest to reach higher levels of excellence in the enterprise. This is also the venue where the greatest achievements of enterprise IT are honored.

Like good wine, Technology Senate has also become sweeter as inside sources report. From the preview itself, it is clear that Technology Senate holds more promises for the CTO/CIO community in 2004.

For starters, Technology Senate 2004 will be held at the Pearl of the Orient, Srilanka. Srilanka is the finest island of its size in the world with natural, ethnic, and cultural diversity. This is why it was selected as the ideal meeting place for the Senate. Colombo city will witness the convergence of over 200 elite technocrats from the Indian and Srilankan corporate world during 28th to 31st of October 2004.

It is the attractions of learning, knowledge sharing, hot technology management debates, and the latest products that will bring the senators together this year as well. Actual implementations of upcoming technologies that can significantly improve the enterprise is yet another highlight of the event. All these come packaged with a liberal sprinkling of fun and leisure.

This event sees the best minds among corporate IT implementers get together under the aegis of the Hi-tech Publications group, Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Limited. The organizers will take care of each participant's travel and stay arrangements.

Here is a sneak peek at what Technology Senate 2004 is all about. Read on for the inside view.

Thus was born the Senate

Technology and its management in an enterprise brings with it complex and unique issues—concerns that demand constant knowledge-sharing within the community. Technology Senate is an endeavor to provide a common interaction platform for the CIOs. This has been the basic premise behind the Senate's conception and its consequent evolution to the present form.

The first Technology Senate took place in 2003. This event was the first of its kind in South Asia and was accepted by the Indian technocrat community with great enthusiasm. Held at the scenic city of Cochin, the event witnessed active participation from over 200 Indian CIOs. Apart from the peer-to-peer interaction, conferences and panel discussions, the event also provided recognition for outstanding CIOs in the form of awards. The Intelligent Enterprise Awards and Security Strategist Awards presented during the course of Technology Senate have found great acclaim among the CIO community. Intelligent Enterprise Awards is an endeavor to recognize Indian Enterprises who have optimized IT to ace their business goals. Security Strategist Awards recognizes innovative initiatives undertaken by CIOs in the area of enterprise information security.

Last year’s spectacular success and acceptance has been the prime motivator behind Technology Senate 2004. The event promises even more excitement this year.

Face to face

The best means of knowledge sharing is through peer interaction. This has, and will remain the salient attraction behind Technology Senate. When 200 of the crème de la crème of the CIO community get together in the Senate, the peer-to-peer interaction itself is the great learning experience.

Apart from this obvious bonus, conferences that address diverse enterprise technology issues are a main attraction of the event. Theme-based roundtables featuring prominent enterprise IT users come next on the menu. These are part of the conference tracks and will witness lively debates on relevant topics. Other highlights of the event include a futuristic network based on the latest as well as developing technologies that will transform the way enterprises operate.

The power of knowledge

The Senate will officially begin with a grand welcome dinner on 28th October, the eve of the conference. This allows the participants to recuperate from the journey with a fun filled evening networking with their peers.

The conference sessions of Technology Senate 2004 will be spread over the next two and a half days. These will feature prominent researchers, analysts, CIOs and IT industry leaders as speakers. There will be seven conference tracks with each track consisting of three sessions relevant to CIOs. Successful case studies, panel discussions and theme based roundtables featuring prominent CIOs will also be part of the sessions.

Some of the topics that will be covered in the sessions are:

• IT leadership and management
• Managing customer expectations
• Enterprise business intelligence
• The secured enterprise
• Enterprise wide automation
• Open source in the enterprise
• On demand enterprise
• Enterprise storage

Apart from conference tracks, the Senate will also feature keynotes and management sessions. Special suites will also be provided for CIOs to discuss technology and management issues with leading analysts and technology leaders.

Seeing is believing

Of what use is plain discussion if the technology cannot be seen for real? Conferences happen every day, but where do I see the products that can significantly improve my business?

This is why Technology Senate 2004 has dedicated theme pavilions showcasing the latest technology products. These pavilions will showcase technologies and products that will significantly impact enterprise networks. Technology Senate’s theme pavilions witness participation from technology leaders showcasing their latest products.

The theme pavilions provide a platform for the CIOs where they can compare products from multiple vendors in real time and examine the pros and cons. Technology Senate 2003's theme pavilions witnessed participation from leading vendors like Sun, Seagate, LG, Samsung, 3Com, Zenith Infotech, Emerson Network Power, Via Technologies and APW President.

Year 2004 promises a wider range of products with a total of six pavilions. Each pavilion will feature multiple industry leaders showcasing their latest products—technology that will build the future enterprise.

Unravelling the future

While theme pavilions showcase the latest technology, a separate section called The Future Enterprise will showcase deployments of these technologies. After all, the threshold between research and practical use has to be crossed for a technology to be widely adopted.

The Future Enterprise is where the senators need to head, in order to witness all the upcoming technologies come live. This gallery of Technology Senate 2004 will showcase the latest in Enterprise IT products and solutions from multiple vendors. This will be a live futuristic network based on technologies that have the potential to transform the functioning of enterprises. All participants will be taken on a guided tour of The Future Enterprise.

It will be a spoiler to divulge what the network components of this year will be. But it promises to be a show stealer if last year is anything to go by. The main highlight of last year's futuristic network was the hottest wireless technology of the time—the 54 Mbps 802.11g.

The Future Enterprise 2003 showcased IP telephony over the wireless network using multiple clients like wireless laptops, PCs, and the latest IP phones. Remote user access to the enterprise with mobile devices like PDAs and cell phones were also showcased in 2003. These remote users had access to the enterprise applications like e-mail and databases using cellular technologies. Remote network administration of the network from across the world added flavor to the network. The latest power conditioning equipment and server enclosures was also used in the network.

A time to work play

Does being a CIO mean you think only about technology 24x7x365? Technology Senate differs with this stereotype. After all, all work and no play makes the CIO a very dull person indeed.

The fun menu on the Technology Senate menu is wide and varied. Apart from 28th October’s welcome gala theme dinner, there are many more attractions on offer. Golfing on the beach and the city tour on 28th as starters. The Srilankan theme dinner marks the perfect finale to the first day.

After intense technology debates, there is nothing like a shopping tour to unwind. The evening of 29th October will be dedicated to a Mega Shopping Tour, which can be quite a tiring experience. That's why Castle Theme Dinner with cultural programs will be the ideal dessert after the heavy main course of the day. No better way to rejuvenate yourself, right?

A beach party along with a fashion show is the way to groove on 30th evening. The day of departure (31st October) has an optional tour to Kandy.

Bring your better halfWorried about leaving your better half at home while you are having fun? Technology Senate 2004 is offering a choice to participants who want to take their spouse along at a subsidized package. Details about this package can be obtained from the organizers.

Time to pack your bags, Senators.

	"TS 2003 sessions which discussed issues like leadership in IT, and alignment of IT with business objectives were especially very relevant. The event's objectives have been met in an excellent manner" M.V. Sreeram, DGM-IT, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
	"The peer-to-peer interactions during TS 2003 were really precious. It is a great learning experience to hear diverse views on relevant issues from industry leaders" Rajiv Gerela, AVP-Technology, Wipro Spectramind
	"The panel discussions at TS 2003 was a great learning experience. Apart from that, TS 2003 also provided a very good forum for meeting our peers" R.P. Dumasia, GM, IT, GE Shipping
	"In my opinion, the best thing about TS 2003 was the interaction among peers. We have been able to share a lot of learning through interaction. This helps in getting to the root of the issues faced in real life" Murali G, Head-IT, SBI Life Insurance