IT Architecture Seminar

The National Academy for Software Development (NASD) organizes a seminar "Building IT Architectures" with the participation of famous international speakers on April 18, 2006 in hotel "Hilton", Sofia, Bulgaria. The speakers will present some cutting-edge concepts for building the IT architecture in large corporate solutions. Special guests of the event will be the President of the International Association of Software Architects (IASA) Paul Preiss and Joseph Williams, Global Technology Director in Microsoft. Oracle will also be involved in the event with their lectures.

The event is supported by Microsoft, IASA and Oracle.

For registration

Download the seminar program.

Download the registration form.

Seminar Program

Why IASA by Paul Preiss*

LEVEL SUMMARY: Introductory (Senior Developer, Project Manager, IT Manager, Business Analyst)

Summary: Today’s IT architect must be responsible for managing their own profession. Now there is a way.

Abstract: Everywhere you look there is another claimant to the throne of architecture. Yet surprisingly very few people agree on the basic role of the architecture professional or more tellingly the fundamental components of the field. We are hounded by terms like Architecture Style, Architecture Pattern, Architecture Framework and Toolsets. We are beset by consultants and product companies who want us to sign off on their work. We are mired in an environment where every developer who doesn’t want to be outsourced and every IT manager who’s been left behind the technology curve wants to be an IT architect. Yet architecture stands as a dream we can almost touch, a sense that things could be right if we just thought about it hard enough.

But we are not going to talk about all that stuff. We may mention style or pattern or methodology but we are really here to talk about people. People who’ve pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. People who’ve built their influence on technical skill and an ability to find value where there was none before. We are going to talk not so much about architecture as architects.

We’ve been around for years. We’re the ones you come to ask about a problem you can’t solve, or the ones who dreamed up that amazing application that made/saved the company massive amounts of money and is still pretty easy to maintain. We’re the ones who care more about HOW you decide than WHAT you decide. And together, well, you will be amazed at what we will accomplish…

The IASA Foundation Reference Model by Paul Preiss

LEVEL SUMMARY: Intermediate (Technical Architect, IT Manager, CTO, CIO)

Summary: IT architects consistently struggle with random frameworks and guidelines yet we are still lacking a consistent foundation for our careers. The FRM lays that foundation.

Abstract: When you become an architect, what separates you from a developer? What about an IT manager? Are we really just glorified software engineers or is there something to this architecture profession?

The IASA is developing the FRM with its members and sponsors to lay the foundation for our profession. We are creating a model which provides the working architect with the resources necessary to evaluate their current skill level and to explore the professional field. Don’t get me wrong we are not claiming to ‘the answer’ but to define a supporting infrastructure by which we may come to the answer together. The FRM contains elements and learning’s from thought leaders, corporate IT firms, product companies and consultancies. Specifically it provides the practicing architect:

·        A common glossary;

·        Relationships between common architecture concepts

·        A set of roles and personas involved in IT architecture

·        A series of common role-concept mappings

·        A series of common starting points for IT architects

·        A reference model for evaluating and relating architecture frameworks

As IASA members you have the opportunity to influence the entire profession and the IT industry as a whole. Come check out the latest in the architecture body of knowledge.

* Paul received a bachelor’s degree in Japanese from the University of Texas at Austin. He went on to become a project manager and later, the Applications Manager and Chief Architect for Dell Pan Asia based in Kawasaki, Japan. He then became the Sr. Architect for a software consulting firm in St Paul Minnesota, where he provided enterprise and software architecture consulting for numerous government and private enterprise clients. Paul also worked as Chief Architect of a digital asset management company where he focused on advanced product architectures. More recently Paul has spent most of his time creating and leading the International Association of Software Architects.

Managing the Global IT Ecosystem by Dr. Joseph Williams*

LEVEL SUMMARY: Introductory (Senior Developer, Project Manager, IT Manager, Business Analyst)

Summary: Today’s enterprise systems have become so complex that the only working analogy is an ecosystem where every element depends on its context and environment. Existing architecture frameworks don’t account for such complexity and must be reworked for the architect to actively manage, or even think about, changes.

* Dr. Joseph Williams is the Global Technology Director for Microsoft Corporation.  Prior to his current position he ran the Worldwide Solutions Architecture practice in Microsoft’s consulting organization and was the Chief Architect for Sun Microsystems’s Software Services division.  He has published 3 books and over 50 articles on IT strategy.  He is currently the Emerging Technologies editor for IT Professional Magazine (an IEEE publication).

Integration in a Service-Oriented World by Nikolay Manchev*

LEVEL SUMMARY: Intermediate (Technical Architect, IT Manager, CTO, CIO)

Summary: Leading companies are tackling the complexity of their application and IT environments with Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), which facilitates the development of modular business services that can be easily integrated and reused – creating a truly flexible, adaptable IT infrastructure.

The Oracle technology and SOA approach within your IT infrastructure provides significant benefits that ultimately allow your IT organization to focus more resources and budget on innovation and on delivering new business services.

* Nikolay Manchev is senior consultant in Oracle Corporation. He has many years of experience in the architecting J2EE applications and delivering enterprise IT solutions based on the Oracle platform for Bulgarian and foreign customers.

The presentations

Joseph Williams, "Managing the Global IT Ecosystem" (in English).

Nikolay Manchev, "Integration in a Service-Oriented World" (in Bulgarian).

Svetlin Nakov, "National Academy for Software Development" (in Bulgarian).