Editorial

Once again Sybase's annual conference is quickly approaching. TechWave 2000 will be held at the location most popular among past attendees, Disney World's Swan and Dolphin hotels, from July 30 through August 3. Following the precedent set last year, this year's TechWave will cover all of Sybase's products rather than just the development tools, which was the standard until last year.

The theme of this year's conference, "e-nabling your future," is reflected in a heavy Web development/e-commerce emphasis in the sessions being offered. Certainly that's where the excitement is in the software industry and, like most other billion-dollar software companies (Oracle, MicroSoft, Sun, etc.), Sybase is pushing hard for market share in that area. Enterprise portals, Java, EAServer, vertical applications and e-commerce are just some of the technologies you can learn at TechWave.

At the conference site Sybase will provide some high-tech kiosks for use by attendees. The kiosks will allow attendees to access an e-mail account set up specifically for them. Conference announcements and special information will be delivered to those accounts from conference organizers - and probably from vendors too. The kiosks will also offer access to the Internet and online forms for filling out conference evaluations.

Prometric will again provide on-site facilities for associate- and professional-level certification testing. In past years the testing has been limited to Adaptive Server Enterprise and PowerBuilder. This year Sybase is offering certifications in several new areas, including EAServer and Enterprise Portals. If you are moving into these new technologies, give yourself an advantage over your competitors and become certified at the conference. Sybase is offering a 25% discount off normal pricing for tests taken at TechWave. Following are the certification tests to be offered at the conference:

• PowerBuilder 6 and 7, Developer: Associate, professional
• Enterprise Application Server Developer: Associate
• Enterprise Portal Architect: Associate
• SQL Anywhere: Associate
• SQL Developer: Associate
• Adaptive Server Enterprise: Associate

New versions of EAServer and PowerBuilder/EAStudio should be coming along by the end of the year. If either is in beta by the end of July, expect Sybase to offer technical rooms that provide hands-on access to the new versions. If they're not in beta, I expect to see the new features demonstrated at either or both of the two main conference sessions. These products offer exciting enhancements in their upcoming versions.

Sybase has made some recent announcements regarding new mobile and wireless initiatives including creation of a mobile and wireless subsidiary: iAnywhere Solutions, Inc. They'll undoubtedly convey those visions at the conference. For more information on these go to www.sybase.comand follow the press releases link.

Each year I promote the conference as an excellent training opportunity because of the time-compressed courses as well as the broad variety of session topics. This year is no different. If your company gives you one week of training per year, I strongly recommend you use it to attend the conference. I'll certainly be there, and I hope to see you there too.

For more information on the conference or to register, go to www.sybase.com/techwave2000.

Next month watch for our special TechWave issue!

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