Next TUG Meeting of Members
Wednesday, January 18, 2012

LOCATION: 85 Idema Road, Markham, Ontario

ADMISSION: Free to all TUG members ($40 non-members)

* NOTE: Session 1 will include a guided tour of Mid-Range's fabulous new data centre. (Due to the high security environment, photo ID is required for all sessions.)

AGENDA:

4:30 Sign up & Greeting

5:00 Session 1: The Evolution of the Data Centre

• Speaker: Jeff Willar - MidRange
  
  
• What I Learned On The Way To The Data Centre
  Jeff will share his real world experiences in building and maintain data centres in the GTA. He’ll cover cost considerations including the staffing, maintaining and other on-going costs involved. Why you might consider building your own and why you definitely shouldn’t (depending on your situation). The pros and cons of various cooling methodologies, electrical distribution, mechanical options, upgrade planning, monitoring of power, servers and storage. Getting the mix of power, space and cooling right for your environment. Dealing with telephone companies! And more…

• Jeff Willar is currently Vice President, Infrastructure Services at Mid-Range Computer Group Inc., Markham, Ontario and is responsible for field and managed infrastructure services along with datacentre services at Mid-Range. Jeff was integral to the building of Mid-Range's newest data centre in Markham. Previously, Jeff's role at Mid-Range was one of sales consultant and Sr. Solution Architect for the IBM Power Systems product portfolio.
  
  Prior to Mid-Range, Jeff was part of a small team that successfully launched the Canadian office of a large IBM distributor. A 10 year period with IBM Canada as an AS/400 Sales Engineer and Team Lead preceeded this role.
  
  With his 25 years in IT related fields, Jeff holds degrees in Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration.

6:00 Intermission (Buffet Dinner & Networking)

7:00 Session 2: - Toolkits for PHP Web Application Consolidation

• Speaker: Mike Pavlak - Zend
  

• IBM and Zend have been working very hard to deliver a new Open Source toolkit called XML Service. This project is now implemented in the latest version of Zend Server and Zend Server Community Edition for accessing IBM i specific resources like HLL Programs (RPG & COBOL) , Data Areas, Data Queues, Spooled files and much more. Coupled with a compatibility layer which makes the transition to the new toolkit virtually painless for existing PHP applications, this new solution ushers in a new era of PHP and IBM i integration. Mike will explore the Object Oriented model of the new toolkit as well as the existing Compatibility Wrapper that will intercept requests made by the existing i5 function calls and handle them via XML Service. Then Mike will also delve into the process of integrating Open Source applications on IBM i which can save IBM i shops the time and trouble of spinning up additional servers to satisfy day to day requests like company intranets. Open source applications, classes and functions will be reviewed live on a Power Systems server running IBM i in the cloud.

• Mike Pavlak has been working with IBM midrange solutions since 1992 and IBM Mainframes before that. After years of developing applications using RPG, CL and PHP he managed IT development and IT for power protection manufacturer Tripp Lite. Mike joined Zend Technologies as a Solutions Consultant working with the IBM sales team in 2008 and enjoys helping IBM i customers explore PHP as a state of the art solution for application modernization. In addition to several roles as a volunteer with COMMON the premier IBM midrange user group, Mike also teaches PHP classes part time at Moraine Valley Community College in Suburban Chicago. Mike lives in suburban Chicago with his wife, 5 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 rabbits, a leopard spotted ghecko, russian tortoise, fancy mouse and bunch of fish.

8:45 Wrap Up and Door Prize draw

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