Monday, March 30, 2009

Open Group Conference Outlines Critical Requirements for Enterprise Architects During Global Economic Recession

The Open Group, a vendor- and technology-neutral consortium focused on open standards and global interoperability within and between enterprises, today announced the program agenda and preliminary speaker line-up for its 22nd Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference to be held in London, April 27 - 30, 2009 at the Central Hall Westminster. Realizing the increasingly critical role of enterprise architecture (EA) in effecting greater alignment between business and IT and creating internal efficiencies, The Open Group will assemble industry veterans and thought leaders to discuss the how enterprise architects can help chart organizational change during these turbulent times.

The opening plenary sessions on Tuesday, April 28 will formally launch TOGAF(TM) version 9 in Europe with keynote sessions presented by Mike Turner, enterprise architect, Capgemini and Steve Kirby, principal enterprise architect, SAP. In addition, Judith Jones, CEO, Architecting the Enterprise, will outline how TOGAF 9 facilitates the alignment between business and IT - an essential function during an economic slowdown to demonstrate immediate business benefits and faster return on investment on EA infrastructure projects. As part of a special spotlight on the global recession, targeted session streams will address how to use EA to focus on a client's strategic objectives and how to get serious about EA. Presenters include Grant Brown, senior manager, Performance Improvement Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Bhavish Kumar, deputy practice leader, Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Enterprise architecture can be the backbone that supports organizations as they weather today's relentless changes - be it from mergers and acquisitions, organic growth, leadership or technological advances. It is all the more imperative for business leaders and enterprise architects to reinforce an organization's existing IT architecture to best withstand the negative impacts of a global recession. As such, The Open Group will host a plenary panel on Tuesday, April 28 that will discuss in detail the role that enterprise architecture and EA frameworks, such as TOGAF, play in the economic downturn. Moderator Kevin White, content director at CIO Connect, the leading independent membership and development organization dedicated solely to the CIO, will lead the interactive discussion between Capgemini's Mike Turner, Forrester principal analyst Henry Peyret, Infosys principal architect Thomas Obitz, Transport for London group CIO Phil Privett, and MITRE Corporation associate department head Terry Blevins.

The conference will also hold a variety of focused tracks addressing key issues facing the enterprise architecture community, such as business architecture and business analysis, SOA, enterprise financial systems architecture, EA governance and best practices and the EA lifecycle. Ron Tolido, CTO Continental Europe & Asia Pacific, Capgemini will host a detailed stream of sessions focused solely on business analysis relative to the current economic environment. Additional session speakers include: Ann Rosenberg, BTC Global Practice Ownership for Business Process Management, SAP; Dr. Nigel Dix, chief architect, London Underground Information Management; John McNaughton, The Salamander Organization; Ahmed Fattah, executive IT architect, IBM; and Tarmo Ploom, Credit Suisse.

"With no business today being immune to the economic recession, the advancement of thought-leadership and proven standards related to enterprise architecture are more important than ever," said Allen Brown, president and CEO, The Open Group. "Effective enterprise architecture is a critical component in creating robust, efficient organizations that can stay competitive, both in good times and in bad. We're pleased to be able to bring together experts at some of the leading end-user and vendor organizations in the world to focus on this critical subject at our London conference."

Registration, Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities

Registration is open to both members and non-members of The Open Group. For more information, or to register for the conference in London please visit: http://www.opengroup.org/london2009-apc/. Registration is free for members of the press and industry analysts.

The Open Group also offers various sponsorship and exhibit opportunities. For more information, please visit: http://www.opengroup.org/london2009-apc/sponsor-exhibit.htm.

About The Open Group


The Open Group is a vendor-neutral and technology-neutral consortium, which drives the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow(TM) that will enable access to integrated information within and between enterprises based on open standards and global interoperability. The Open Group works with customers, suppliers, consortia and other standard bodies. Its role is to capture, understand and address current and emerging requirements, establish policies and share best practices; to facilitate interoperability, develop consensus, and evolve and integrate specifications and open source technologies; to offer a comprehensive set of services to enhance the operational efficiency of consortia; and to operate the industry's premier certification service. Further information on The Open Group can be found at http://www.opengroup.org.

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