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For New Jersey, a Technology Summit
This article by Melinda Sherwood was published in U.S. 1 Newspaper
on May 12, 1999. All rights reserved.
High technology may be instrumental in creating a
global village, but for the moment location still counts and sometimes
regional is still better than national. That’s part of the theory
of the Portland, Oregon-based American Show Management, which is
presenting
a two-day technology summit for New Jersey’s business, government,
and educational communities.
The New Jersey Technology Showcase will be held at the Garden State
Convention Center in Somerset on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 18
and 19, from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Sponsor/exhibitors include Arthur
Andersen,
Gartner Group, Buchanan Ingersoll, Hyperion, Summit Bank, Lucent,
Microsoft, Panurgy, and Actium. The showcase will feature Y2K exhibits
and conferences, distance learning/training solutions, technology
training labs, client server/open systems, Miscrosoft Partner Pavilion
and Theater, E-commerce exhibits, data/video/voice communications,
plus new and emerging technologies.
Wendy Rayner, the state’s chief information officer, will host
a CIO roundtable Tuesday, May 18, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. The roundtable
will focus on Information Technology issues, such as E-commerce,
Internet
insource/outsource, and data-mining. Panelists will include Scott
Sautner, Sarnoff Corporation (see story below); H.G. Vinnecombe,
Lucent
Technologies; Glenn Rogers, PSE&G; and Joseph A. Micali Jr., Summit
Bancorp. Fee: $10. More information: 503-968-1123 or
www.asmcorp.com.
American Show Management (ASM), acquired last month
by the investment firm Warburg, Pincus, has been producing expositions
and conferences for 18 years, but only recently began to collaborate
with states in setting up technology forums. The idea was launched
in 1997 with the first-ever Maryland Technology Showcase. This year,
Maryland, Kansas, Iowa, New Mexico, Washington D.C. and New Jersey
have all asked for their own technology showcases. With exhibitor
fees ranging up to $1,995 for a 10 by 10-foot space, ASM has been
happy to oblige.
Economic development for the state is only one advantage, says Bob
Dethlefs, managing director of American Show Management. "Our
goal is to make information more centralized," he says, "so
that all businesses can come together about what’s working and what’s
not." Moreover, he says, "regional is more effective than
national" when it comes to reaching decision-makers at many
mid-sized
companies. "People aren’t being sent all over the country anymore
just to attend trade shows."
Top Of Page
IT Leveraging
As businesses grow accustomed to sharing information,
rather than hoarding it, people are rediscovering the strength of
numbers. IT professionals can do better by working together, says
Scott Sautner, director of information systems and services
at Sarnoff Corporation. "I believe we should build a local
community
to gain leverage with vendors like Sun Microsystems or Oracle,"
he says.
Sautner will join other IT professionals at the New Jersey Technology
Showcase on Tuesday, May 18, for a roundtable discussion. Sautner
received a BS in computer science from Lockhaven University, Class
of 1987, and an MS in computer science from Drexel in 1989. He worked
for nine years in project management and planning under the CIO of
Bellcore. He received an MBA from NYU in 1996.
"I’m a business person, not an IT person," says Sautner,
"I
want to find the most economical solution to any problem." Sharing
ideas and banding together with other professionals, he says, can
be very cost-effective. "I don’t want to find out that another
company knew about a new product or service a week or two before
me,"
he says. "People in the IT community can put pressure on suppliers
to give everyone equal access to information." In addition to
talking to peers, Sautner suggests the following:
to be first in line for new information.
time with all of your suppliers, Sautner says. Identify your
priorities.
of options, and functional and financial comparisons to solve your
problem.
by technology. "You can’t go after everything at once,"
Sautner
says. "You need to see what other companies have done and in what
kind of time frame."
— Melinda Sherwood
Corrections or additions?
This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com
— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
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