Symposiums

October 21, 2009
8:30am – 11:00am

The philosophical debates continue, the political positions for and against are now well known. The predictions of early demise or swift success were both wrong. Amid all these debates, an increasing number of new innovative applications are being released as open source and the business case seems much simpler today. Terms such as peer production, innovation, reliable, and high quality are now frequently associated with open source projects. In this symposium we will take a pragmatic perspective on open source concepts and tools. What can your firm do today? Should your next internal project leverage open source toolkits? Should you release your internally developed tool to the open source community? Should you deploy open source technologies? Are there really any cost savings? Is there an appropriate mix of approaches that can leverage the gains of open source without incurring the risk? What are the standout examples of today and tomorrow? What are the keys metrics of success and why do certain projects fail? The symposium will bring together a diverse panel of experts who will ensure that your organization does not miss the boat on this important topic.

Panelists

• Matt Mullenweg, Founder, Automattic Inc.
• Chris Fralic, Partner, First Round Capital
• Shawn Dahlen, Program Manager, Lockheed Martin
• Jonathan Markow, Executive Director, Jasig
• Vijay Royyuru, Vice President, Technology, First Data Corporation

Moderator

• Munir Mandviwalla, Temple University

February 5, 2009
8:30am – 10:30am

To critics, cloud computing is just a fancy name for distributed or net-centric computing. For proponents, it is a concept that will usher in a new era of high value computing innovations at low cost. Cloud computing is typically associated with delivering services through the Internet and is integrated with the concept of software as a service (SaaS). Google Apps and application service providers (ASPs) such as salesforce.com are often quoted as examples. Cloud computing will likely leverage massive data and storage centers, provide services on a subscription basis, apply virtualization, and provide instant access worldwide through the “cloud.” Is cloud computing in general and software as a service specifically, the answer to the economic uncertainties of today? Will firms large and small really be able to reduce their reliance on internal server farms and utilize Amazon’s web services? Will we see new applications that for example leverage the Facebook API to deliver entirely new kinds of capabilities? Can cloud computing overcome security and integration challenges and help firms save money and deliver new capabilities?

Panelists

• Lauren C. States, Vice President, IBM Software Group
• Jazz Tobaccowalla, Vice President, Wyeth
• Ed Sullivan, CEO and Founder, Aria Systems, Inc.
• Yair Greenbaum, Executive Vice President, ekkoTV, Inc.
• Charles D. Wallace, Chief Technology Architect, Rohm and Haas Company

Moderator

• Munir Mandviwalla, Temple University

April 9, 2008

Organizations often talk about innovation, but few actually act in an innovative manner. Is innovation really that important or is it just the modern mantra of every organization? Why do organizations really need to innovate? Is it competitive or opportunistic pressure? Are some organizations born to innovate? Can every organization really create new products and service through innovation? Should every organization pursue radical innovation? Would it make more sense to pursue process innovations under some conditions? Can you really innovate by acquisition or must you develop everything on your own? Is open and distributed innovation really the answer? Should large organizations even bother with innovation? Can you simply buy innovation? Is innovation really the old refrain of business process reengineering? The panel will engage the participants in an informal interactive manner to further discuss the above questions.

Panelists

• Cristóbal I. Conde, President and CEO, SunGard Data Systems Inc.
• Matthew Charles Mullenweg, Founder, Chief BBQ Taste Tester, Automattic, Inc.
• Joe Weiss, Chairman, Electronic Ink
• Rajiv Banker, Merves Chair and Professor
• Ram Mudambi, Professor and Perelman Senior Research Fellow
• Youngjin Yoo, Associate Professor and IBIT Fellow

Moderator

• Munir Mandviwalla, Associate Professor, Temple University

 

March 18, 2008

Business processes have been defined, data architectures are strong and finally your ERP system is deployed. All systems go, right? Not so fast. You have a complex new system that has cost you millions, but is it going to do what you want? Will it be used? Will the documented productivity gains at other firms be duplicated at yours? Do you have the will to implement the change management needed to realize value? Perhaps you should have taken your existing legacy applications and connected them together using Web Services, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Enterprise Mashups.

What do you need to do to ensure the ERP system delivers its promise? Are training, usability analysis, customization, and complicated deployment strategies required? How will you maintain corporate commitment? Do enterprise systems make sense in the future? Should we implement new ones? Should we retire old ones?

Panelists

• Harold Hambrose, CEO, Electronic Ink
• William P. Lawson, VP and CIO, AMETEK, Inc
• Charles D. Wallace, Chief Technology Architect, Rohm and Haas Company
• Roger Wilson, Vice President, Campbell’s Soup
• Rahul Argade, Solution Architect, Microsoft

Moderator

• Munir Mandviwalla, Temple University