User groups share and learn

It has been a year since the closing of the Communications Managers Association, one of the most influential user groups for network executives during the industry’s rise. At the time, Bill Moore, the outgoing president of the 55-year-old organization, said there was no longer a need for widely focused end-user groups like the CMA. The CMA prided itself on its social and networking events as well as educational seminars. Now end user groups are more likely to be tightly focused on a specific technology or industry sector, and eschew the golf outings to spend more time sharing ideas about how to save their organizations time and money. Examples of such organizations made the news recently.

* The Avalanche Corporate Technology Cooperative

Also known as Project Avalanche, the Avalanche Corporate Technology Cooperative has garnered a lot of press coverage this year highlighting its bid to help members reduce cost and increase control over mission-critical software. The cooperative is a for-profit initiative in which members, which include retailers Best Buy and Jostens, share intellectual property and collaborate on projects that generate intellectual property. The cooperative plans to share intellectual property covering tools, utilities and full applications, and eventually project plans, code templates and standards documents.

What a great idea: a place you could go to share software deployment strategies, collaborate on new developments and co-fund technical support. Just think of how much time and energy you would save by not having to start from scratch on these projects.

Check it out:

https://ibsmmap002.go-integral.net/

* The Government Open Code Collaborative

Launched in June, the GOCC enables public sector entities and non-profit academic institutions to share homegrown applications. Among the most recently posted software include an election tally system and a security alert application.

The GOCC includes members from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and West Virginia.

Check it out:

https://www.gocc.gov/

* Enterprise Architecture Interest Group

Launched in July, the EAIG’s goal is to create standards, methods and practices for enterprise architecture. It plans to release a set of 12 meta models to be used as architectural building blocks. It also has working groups studying ways to measure the benefits of formalizing an enterprise architecture.

EAIG members include Booz Allen Hamilton, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen.

Check it out:

https://www.eaig.org/index.htm

If you are a member of, or know of any other similar organizations, please let me know and I will share them in a forthcoming newsletter. Thanks.

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Network World Technology Tour: VoIP

Sept. 14-29, at a city near you

For corporate executives, VoIP raises expectations and fears that impact every corner of the enterprise. Data. Budgets. Users. Technology.Convergence. And so in support of IT executives who must meet every challenge, Network World presents a crucial new Technology Tour event.

Claim one of the limited number of complimentary seats at this high-demand event and you’ll learn how to plan, configure, troubleshoot, and leverage your VoIP infrastructure in ways that please CEOs, CTOs, CFOs and everyone who reports to them.

For more information and to register:

https://www.nwfusion.com/events/voip/index.html