Final Day of the 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES Nurnberg, Germany Conference

This is a high level recap of the last day of the 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES for automation technology.    Just as a reminder, John Byrd, former President of AMT, has stated on many occasions that  MTConnect will be the most important change to the machine tool industry since CN

I took most of today, Thanksgiving in the US, to followup with personal emails to the following customers/prospects:

• Bonfiglioli
• Schneider Electric
• ART - Applied Robot & Technologies
• Reliance Precision Mechatronics LLP
• DAC Electric
• Lenze
• isel
• Carpanelli Motori electrici
• WEIS GmbH
• ISG Industrielle Steurungstechnik GmbH
• POLARIS Motion Control Systems
• YASKAWA
• Baumuller
• Mattke Servotechnik
• VISPA
• THK
• Bosch
• already a member, but felt I should stop by
• RS Components GmbH
• An Electrocomponents Company
• SEW EURODRIVE
•  Industrie-Electronik GmbH
• Siemens
• epis
• BeR Industrie-Elektronic GmbH
• KUHNKE
• sontheim
• Beckhoff Automation
• ascolab
• NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
• KW Software
• intel
• Schwieger
• CERTEC
• XiSys Software
• ige-xao
• Mitsubishi Electric
• Siemens
• Phoenix Contact
• Panasonic
• infoteam
• linutronix
• OPC Foundation
• OSADL
• Rexroth Bosch Group
• adstec
• Rockwell Automation
• ROSE
• A Phoenix Mecano Company

Second Day At 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES Nurnberg, Germany Conference

Today was day two at the Conference in Nurnberg, Germany.

This is a high level recap of the second day of the conference is the 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES for automation technology.    Just as a reminder, John Byrd, former President of AMT, has stated on many occasions that  MTConnect will be the most important change to the machine tool industry since CNC.

When  I met with customers and prospects today, I had a basic format that I followed to make my points in a clear, concise and compelling fashion. 

• Introduce myself, Sun Microsystems, AMT, MTConnect Institute and MTConnect
• I asked how they provided information about their device to the outside world.
• I listened carefully, then when they were finished I asked if they ever heard of Java.  Everyone, of course, has heard of Java.
• I then asked if they heard of MTConnect.  Most had not heard of MTConnect.  I then said that MTConnect will do for controllers and machine tools what Java did for computers.  This got their attention :-)
  
• I then explained why they should care about MTConnect for their business.
• I explained how customers could taken advantage of MTConnect with their specific set of products/technologies.
• I then went into the brief history of MTConnect so they understood the context of where, when, why, what and how this is important for customers, integrators, software and vendors at this Nurnberg Conference.
• ITalk about why Sun Microsystems cares about MTConnect.
• After they understood everything above, I gave them my business card and the sheet Paul Warndorf gave me on MTConnect and said I would follow up with them via email this week.
  
• I typically spent about 15 minutes with some vendors/customers/prospects and up to 45 minutes with others.
  

Today was a very good day, but a very long, long day as I spent nine hours talking with the very nice and extremely interesting vendors that I met with on Wednesday the 25th of November:

• Industrie-Electronik GmbH
• Siemens
• epis
• BeR Industrie-Elektronic GmbH
• KUHNKE
• sontheim
• Beckhoff Automation
• ascolab
• NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
• KW Software
• intel
• Schwieger
• CERTEC
• XiSys Software
• ige-xao
• Mitsubishi Electric
• Siemens
• Phoenix Contact
• Panasonic
• infoteam
• linutronix
• OPC Foundation
• OSADL
• Rexroth Bosch Group
• adstec
• Rockwell Automation
• ROSE
• A Phoenix Mecano Company

I am going to use Thursday, Thanksgiving in the USA, to follow up with the many customer/prospect meetings that I had the past two days and then fly out Friday morning to get some cold turkey when I arrive late Friday :-)  It was a GREAT Conference!

First Day of 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES Conference In Nurnberg

Yesterday was my first day in Nurnberg, Germany and I had a very nice dinner at a restaurant that first opened in 1331.  I think that is a couple of years older than McDonalds in the US :-)

This is a recap of the first day of the conference is the 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES for automation technology.    Just as a reminder, John Byrd, former President of AMT, has stated on many occasions that  MTConnect will be the most important change to the machine tool industry since CNC.

When  I met with customers and prospects today, I had a basic format that I followed to make my points in a clear, concise and compelling fashion. 

• Introduce myself, Sun Microsystems, AMT, MTConnect Institute and MTConnect
• I asked how they provided information about their device to the outside world.
• I listened carefully, then when they were finished I asked if they ever heard of Java.  Everyone, of course, has heard of Java.
• I then asked if they heard of MTConnect.  No one had.  I then said that MTConnect will do for controllers and machine tools what Java did for computers.  This got their attention :-
  
• I then explained why they should care about MTConnect for their business.
• I explained how customers could taken advantage of MTConnect with their specific set of products/technologies.
• I then went into the brief history of MTConnect so they understood the context of where, when, why, what and how this is important for customers, integrators, software and vendors at this Nurnberg Conference.
• After they understood everything above, I gave them my business card and the sheet Paul Warndorf gave me on MTConnect and said I would follow up with them.
• I typically spent about 15 minutes with each vendor/customer/prospect.
  

I spent most of the day talking with the very nice and interesting vendors that I met with on Tuesday the 24th of November:

• Bonfiglioli
• Schneider Electric
• ART - Applied Robot & Technologies
• Reliance Precision Mechatronics LLP
• DAC Electric
• Lenze
• isel
• Carpanelli Motori electrici
• WEIS GmbH
• ISG Industrielle Steurungstechnik GmbH
• POLARIS Motion Control Systems
• YASKAWA
• Baumuller
• Mattke Servotechnik
• VISPA
• THK
• Bosch
• already a member, but felt I should stop by
• RS Components GmbH
• An Electrocomponents Company
• SEW EURODRIV

 

Leaving For Germany Tonight - MTConnect in Germany

I am leaving tonight for my trip to Germany to meet with many customers. The conference is the 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES for automation technology. John Byrd, former President of AMT, has stated on many occasions that  MTConnect will be the most important change to the machine tool industry since CNC.


I am really looking forward to this trip as nothing is more interesting to me than talking to customers about MTConnect.  I will be reporting on meeting with many customers and prospects via my blog.

Java For Business - Which Level of Support Is Right For Your Business?

Sometimes I get the question, how does Sun make money with Java?

The truth is that Sun makes money in many ways from Java - some direct and some indirect.  What many individuals think of is support and it is true that Sun makes money from various support offerings.  I thought it would be nice to have a simple reminder of the various service levels that Sun offers.  You can see the entire list of Java support offerings here. Below is from the entry at sun.com

Which Support Level is Right for Your Business?

 

Java for Business offers four levels of support to ensure the right fit for your business needs

• Access-Only offers continued access to software that has reached end of life for those customers who do not needs support. Security updates and any other bug fixes made to releases after end of life will be available to you via this program. Access-Only is perfect for customers who are using legacy applications with no bugs or problems but who wish to continue to receive security updates and general bug fixes for Java.
• Standard Support extends the life of existing Java applications for your organization and for your customers. Fixes provided to you will continue to be made available to Java for Business customers along with new operating system support and all other maintenance in quarterly updates. Perfect for customers whose primary interest is in running their Java applications much longer than ever possible before.
• Premium Support adds the ability to have a fix provided to you by Sun to also be incorporated into Sun's next available bi-weekly standard revisions, ensuring your network of customers and partners can leverage that same fix, faster than ever before. Premium support is perfect for customers' whose Java application are critical for their and their customers businesses.
• Premium Plus Support further adds the ability to request a quote for a Java for Business custom revision for an older update or revision of the Java platform (additional terms and conditions apply). Premium plus support is perfect for customers seeking maximum assurance for their Java applications from Sun
•  

Java Classic offers two levels of support to ensure the right fit for your business needs

• Java Classic Standard Java Classic is for the most recently released Java SE family, and provides basic business-hour coverage for less critical systems. It also provides 3 years maintenance from time of Java SE product family release.
• Java Classic Premium Java Classic is for the most recently released Java SE family, and provides enhanced support including 24/7 help desk assistance. It also provides 3 years maintenance from time of Java SE product family release.

The Wealthy Barber and the Twins Saving Story

The Wealthy Barber is one of my favorite books to recommend to young people because of the clarity of its stories.  Neil Groundwater initially told me about this great book.

Below is my favorite story from the book:

“Two twenty-two-year-old twins decide to start saving for retirement. One opens an IRA, invests two thousand dollars a year for six years, and then stops. His IRA compounds at twelve percent a year … very good. The second twin procrastinates and doesn’t open an IRA until the seventh year — the year his brother stopped.   The second twin then contributes two thousand a year for thirty-seven years. He, too, earns a rate of twelve percent a year. At age sixty-five, they go out for dinner to compare their IRA holdings. The second twin, who is fully aware that his brother stopped contributing thirty-seven years earlier, is confident that his IRA will be worth at least ten times as much. What do you think, Cathy?”
“I think he’s wrong … or you woulnd’t be telling us the story,” was her clever rationale.
“Yeah, yeah,” Roy laughed. “At age sixty-five, they would both have approximately one million two hundred thousand dollars.”

The first brother paid $2,000 a year for six years. He contributed a total of $12,000. The second brother contributed $2,000 a year for thirty-seven years. He paid a total of $74,000 — more than six times his sibling!"

The main point of this is the magic of compound interest and the most important attribute young folks have in this formula is TIME.   That is why I always tell young folks when I speak at Universities and Colleges that I was never very good at math, but by God I know compound interest backwards and forwards :-)  I have always put a 25% of whatever I made into long term savings since age 16.  As the old saying goes "and that has made all the difference...."

Infrequent Depth versus Frequent Noise aka Quality vs. Quantity

I just noticed that my LinkedIn Contacts went over 500+    One of the reasons LinkedIn works so well is that it runs on Sun hardware and software.   When I am asked why I don't have a Facebook page, my answers are two fold.  First, LinkedIn is really the Facebook for business people and secondly, my wife has a Facebook page.   When I am asked why I do not Twitter, my answer is that I prefer to blog and I have LinkedIn.  I am interested in big projects my friends and contacts are working on, but I am not interested in what they had for dinner (the Twitter femto-level info stream I simply do not care about). 

It could be argued that I do not twitter because I am old.  I do agree with my father on his analysis of twitter.  When he called and said, "what is Twitter?" and
I explained it to him, his response was, "why the HELL would I waste my time doing that?"   Good question :-)    I guess I prefer infrequent depth verus frequent noise....

You Date Your Hardware Vendor, But You Marry Your Software Vendor

• You date your hardware vendor, you marry your proprietary software  vendor and have lots of kids, but with your open software vendor you are allowed to sleep around if you use protection.  Protection in this context is a defined dual stack strategy with governance ie a software game plan.  Date and Marry wisely :-)
• There is a myth that open source software is created and updated by teenagers and twenty-somethings in their spare time.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  
• The good news is that open source is largely created and supported by huge organizations.  For example, Sun Microsystems has donated more source code to the community than the next five entities combined.
• Scott McNealy's dotcom bubble Wall Street story.   For example, as Scott would say, "It's not just TCO, it is TEC Total Exit Costs that matter."

Participate – Don't Just Watch and Use

A Must Watch Security Segment "Sabotaging The Systems" on 60 Minutes

This was an excellent segment that 60 Minutes produced and showed on security issues around the globe ranging from Brazil's blackouts, to ATM hacking to hacking into CENTCOM.

Very Detailed iPhone vs. Droid Review

This is a very detailed review comparing the iPhone versus the Droid by Motorola at MobileCrunch.

The bottom line of the review is that both are very nice for any sane person :-)

Neil Groundwater's Computer History

Checkout Neil Groundwater's very historic and cool pictures of him in front of an  80 megabyte disk drive the size of a washing machine.  As Neil states, he had the opportunity to work with some of the legendary Unix engineers at Bell Laboratories and UC Berkeley.

Greg Papadopoulos, Sun CTO, Warning on Cloud Computing

                            "It's proprietary systems all over again."

I could not agree more with Greg - I think he is exactly right on with his concern.

SCAP: Important Protocol - Security Content Automation Protocol

Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP - pronounced "ess CAP" ) is a very important security protocol that is being embraced by a number of government agencies.

Wikipedia has a nice overview I would encourage everyone to check out:

SCAP Components

• Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)
• Common Configuration Enumeration (CCE)
• Common Platform Enumeration (CPE)
• Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
• Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF)
• Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language (OVAL)

These components can be used to build products that have SCAP Capabilities:

Bending Light and Catching Photons

David Brown of the Washington Post wrote a great article titled:

Optical Inventions That Fueled the Information Age

The article discusses Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for the work they did that led to fiber-optic data transmission and digital photography. 

The article hits on the main point that Kao achieved when it states:

 "While light normally passes through glass and does not go around corners, Kao's work -- aided by that of many other scientists and engineers -- is proof that under the right conditions, those generalities do not hold true. Sometimes light can be kept inside a strand of glass, like water in a pipe.  

It seemed hopeless until Kao and a theoretician colleague, George A. Hockham, made some measurements and calculations. They determined that if the impurities scattering the light rays could be removed from the glass, and if they used a wavelength that the glass molecules could not absorb, then much, much more light would stay inside the fiber."

The other winners, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, in the article  won for their work on Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD).

The article hits on the main point that Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith achieved when it states:

"In the late 1960s, at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, they were working on ways to improve memory devices -- a way of storing information acquired over time. The ultimate goal was to eliminate the annoying echo that sometimes occurred in very-long-distance telephone calls. 

They used an array of small squares made from silicon-based semiconductor material. "Semiconductors" are capable of generating an electrical charge, although not as readily as metals and other conductors (hence their name). Electrodes placed nearby can then be used to hold the charges in place and keep them from dispersing. 

Like a row of dominoes of different face value, a line of small semiconductor squares called "pixels" outfitted with electrodes were able to hold a row of different charges. If a voltage was then applied to the array in the right fashion, the charges could be moved off the pixels and "read out." 

After some pondering, they realized that light falling onto the semiconductor chips was being transformed into electrical energy. (Explaining that phenomenon, called the "photoelectric effect," is what won Albert Einstein his own Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.) With the lab lights off, that interference disappeared.

 "They put two and two together and they realized they had made an imaging device," said J. Anthony Tyson, who was at Bell Labs with the two men and is now a professor of physics at the University California at Davis.

 By combining the photoelectric effect -- light's tendency to kick electrons out of atoms, creating a charge -- and the ability to hold and move an entire array of charges in an organized fashion, they created the basis for digital photography."

The article is a must read because of the tremendous benefit that all of us have seen in our lives from the Internet to digital cameras - to just name a few.

Veterans Day - Thanks to My Father, My Cousin Chris Edstrom, Dr. Harry Foxwell and Brad Kirley

Thanks to my father John Kenneth Edstrom who did two tours of duty in Vietnam as an officer in the Air Force.  My father is also in the very unique category in that he was awarded TWO BRONZE STARS for the two tours of duty for his countless acts of bravery in his two years in Vietnam.  The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service.  

 

Thanks to my cousin Chris Edstrom who has done three tours of duty in Iraq and one (so far) in Afghanistan.  Thanks to Dr. Harry Foxwell and Brad Kirley for their service to our country.

History of Veterans Day as stated at TimeAndDate.com

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 an armistice between Germany and the Allied nations came into effect. On November 11, 1919, Armistice Day was commemorated for the first time. In 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the day should be "filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory". There were plans for parades, public meetings and a brief suspension of business activities at 11am.


In 1926, the United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I and declared that the anniversary of the armistice should be commemorated with prayer and thanksgiving. The Congress also requested that the president should "issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples."

An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) was approved on May 13, 1938, which made November 11 in each year a legal holiday, known as Armistice Day. This day was originally intended to honor veterans of World War I. A few years later, World War II required the largest mobilization of service men in the history of the United States and the American forces fought in Korea. In 1954, the veterans service organizations urged Congress to change the word "Armistice" to "Veterans". Congress approved this change and on June 1, 1954, November 11 became a day to honor all American veterans, where ever and whenever they had served.

In 1968 the Uniforms Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) made an attempt to move Veterans Day to the fourth Monday of October. The bill took effect in 1971. However, this caused a lot of confusion as many states disagreed with this decision and continued to hold Veterans Day activities on November 11. In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which stated that Veterans Day would again be observed on November 11 from 1978 onwards. Veterans Day is still observed on November 11.

Harry Foxwell always sends out a nice email to Sun employees (and I imagine others).  Today he asked the question: Do you know where your veterans are?

Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery:
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/visitor_information/tomb_of_the_unknowns.html
National World War II Memorial: http://www.wwiimemorial.com/
Marine Corps Memorial: http://www.nps.gov/archive/gwmp/usmc.htm
US Navy Memorial: http://www.navymemorial.org/
Air Force Memorial: http://www.airforcememorial.org/
Korean War Veterans Memorial: http://www.nps.gov/kowa//index.htm
Vietnam Veterans Memorial: http://www.nps.gov/vive/index.htm
Vietnam Women's Memorial: http://www.visitingdc.com/memorial/vietnam-women%27s-memorial.htm
Iraq Veterans Memorial: http://iraqmemorial.org/

Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov/

Motorola's Droid Looks Very Nice

Motorola's Droid could be a very hot smartphone.

A long time friend picked up one of the first Droids and absolutley loves it.  Look out iPhone....

NYC 311 - Very Cool Service For Citizens

When I was in New York City giving a keynote at the NYS Forum.  I put together a proposal for a keynote at the following event and  was introduced by Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) Commissioner Paul J. Cosgrave at the following event:




                            NYS Forum IT Corporate Roundtable
                                   MetroNY Program Launch
                                      September 30, 2009


I spoke on the following topic:

                            Open Government: Lessons Learned


Open Government: Lessons Learned - NYS Forum Presentatation
 
Mr. Cosgrave told me about a very cool app for the iPhone called 311 

The 311 system was designed to simplify the lives of New York City residents by having a single number for the of city residents  — questions, complaints, requests for service — through a single phone number, a Web site and an iPhone app that I put on my phone immediately.

Why can't all cities have this type of system?


                       

Electronic Medical Record Article Misses Main Point

The Washington Post has an article on October 25, 2009 called:

Electronic medical records not seen as a cure-all

The sub title is:

As White House pushes expansion, critics cite errors, drop-off in care

By Alexi Mostrous

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 25, 2009 


Four of the points made in the article were:


"Anonymous reports sent to the Joint Commission, the body charged with certifying 17,000 health-care organizations; Grassley's staff; and the Food and Drug Administration disclose problems, including:
-- Faulty software that miscalculated intracranial pressures and mixed up kilograms and pounds.
-- A computer system that systematically gave adult doses of medications to children.
-- An IT program designed to warn physicians about wrong dosages that was disconnected when the vendor updated the system, leading to incorrect dosing.

This Story

• 
  
  Electronic medical records not seen as a cure-all
  
  
  
• 
  
  Letter from Sen. Grassley (pdf)
  
  
  

-- A software bug that misdiagnosed five people with herpes" 

This article misses the entire point in my opinion.  

The article fails to compare Health Care prior to electronic records and specifically the total number of deaths because electronic records did not exist.  The author digs down into low level examples of computer systems that made mistakes on a wrong dosage and then paints a broad brush that electronic records are inherently bad.   This begs the question, "so having manual paper records are better?"  Of course not.  The author misses the big picture....

My Cloud Computing Presentation at VT's ACM

Above is a photo of me (hard to see me) presenting to Virginia Tech's Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Meeting on cloud computing.    My oldest son John is the President.   I spoke Wednesday night the 4th of November at VT for one hour and 45 minutes.   Sun Microsystems provided pizza, soft drinks and gave away very nice Java/Sun Microsystems/VT t-shirts in the school color of "Chicago Maroon".

This is the abstract that was used for my presentation:

Cloud Computing is the hottest topic in the IT industry today.  Cloud Computing is also most over loaded buzz word in the IT industry as well.  Come learn:

                What is cloud computing and what is not?
                Where cloud computing is being used and how?
                When cloud computing makes sense and when it does not?
                Why cloud computing is important for a VT student?
                What are the technical challenges of cloud computing?
                Most importantly, how cloud computing can help you at VT
                and in your career after VT?


My slides can be downloaded at VT's ACM site here.

Above is a photo that my son John took of the students and Professors who attended the ACM meeting where I presented.  I received some very nice comments from the students and professors in attendance which I greatly appreciated.

This is the first time that I presented to the VT ACM and the sixth time that Sun Microsystems provided a speaker to the ACM and picked up food and drink.  Previously, I have helped John by bringing down some real thought leaders in the computer industry:

• Chris Melissinos - Sun's Chief Gaming Officer to speak on gaming
• Dr. Bruce Haddon to speak on Java and software development
• Dr. Harry Foxwell to speak on Open Solaris and Solaris
• Curt Harpold to speak on grid computing
  
• Jim Fiori to speak on Software Perfrormance

With Oracle purchasing Sun, this may be the last time that Sun Microsystems provides a speaker.   If this turns out to be the case, I am very proud of Sun Microsystems and how it has helped VT's ACM over the past couple of years.

John is a Senior with 141 credits finishing up his BS in CS/Math and BA in Business as well as working on his Masters in CS as well this year.  I could not be more proud of him.

Edstrom's Law of Computing

Open Source Monetization: Follow the Money

• W. Mark Felt (Deep Throat) never said, “follow the money”, BUT, when it comes to open source, YOU BETTER FOLLOW THE MONEY.   
• You must know how the software is funded today and how it is funded tomorrow. 
• Open Source Monetization is an evolving with a community building source and enterprise binary model with horizontal/vertical non-open components  – understand what the open source software monetization strategy is.
  

More on My Open Government: Lessons Learned

• Users, abusers and losers.
  
  
  1. /usr/local/src
  2. /usr/local/bin
  • The 3,000 page open source guidelines document.
  • If the average person can not lift the document, then they will never read it.
  • “We're Open”.  The most over-loaded and abused sentence in computing today.  
  • Open source is a mandlebrot continuum.
  • Open source software 101
  • Make sure your data is open first
  
  

The Good, Bad and Ugly of Open Source in Government

I gave a talk in NYC called "Open Government:  Lessons Learned" and I am going to share some slides over the next few days.

•  The first motivation with open source software is typically about saving money.
• If saving money is higher than #3 on your list you likely have the wrong motivation.  Choice and  Flexibility, Security, Standards and building on a platform all should rank higher than saving money.
• You're not NSA, don't try to be.
• Unless you measure your Data Center in acres and you have floors of world class Ph.D.s , then don't fork your own OS or major application.
• There is a fine line between clever and stupid. 
• A room and/or software library full of new piece parts will end up being a history bin full of old piece parts.  Think governance.

5th Annual IT Security Automation Conference

This last week I attended The 5th Annual IT Security Automation Conference will be held on October 26-29, 2009.

I sat on a couple of panels:

• OS Vendor Panel with Microsoft and Red Hat
• Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP - pronounced "ess CAP" )Panel
  

It was a great conference and below is the framework and the agenda.

Sponsors:	National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Security Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency, Department of Homeland Security.
Audience:	Public and Private Sector. Executives, Security Managers and staff, Information Technology (IT) professionals, and Developers and Integrators of Software Products and Services.
Format:	Conference, Tutorials, and Workshop.
Purpose:	Provide a common understanding for using specific open standards and new security technologies across various domains of interest including Cloud Computing, Health Information Technology (IT)/Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140, and Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) implementations. This conference will also provide tutorials and workshop regarding Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security technologies and initiatives..
Topics:	Cloud Computing (Security and Trust) DoD Data Pilot/Strategy/Architecture Health IT/Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA) Crypto/FIPS140 Compliance Frameworks/800-53 Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)

In my opinion, the key points from this conference were:

• This conference is growing at a tremendous rate.
• SCAP is very real and very important.
• The quality of the attendees were very impressive.
• The vendor exhibits were very informative.
• There is a genuine outreach to vendors from the community and from the vendors to the community.
• It was great seeing so many long time friends at this conference.
• The food in Baltimore is always great :-)
  

Encryption Standard: Inception Until Full Implementation

When I attended The 5th Annual IT Security Automation Conference will be held on October 26-29, 2009, I learned an interesting fact regarding the time it takes for a new encryption standard to reach full maturity. 

This is from the initial point when NIST advertises they are considering a new standard, it has been advertised for admissions, the winner has been selected and finally when it has been fully implemented in the community and industry.

The time it takes?  Nine years.