Tutorials

Interest in social computing exploded in 2007, lead by surging corporate interest in Facebook as a model for how organizations can improve information sharing, collaboration and community-building efforts. Indeed, social computing has become a strategic issue for virtually all organizations. As with any transformation endeavor however, there are challenges (e.g., employee adoption, integration with existing infrastructure, security, and compliance). Still, social computing offers organizations tremendous opportunities to catalyze innovation efforts, improve business performance, enrich employee relationships and address age-old knowledge management objectives.

Social computing encompasses a wide range of technologies: blogs, wikis, tag and social bookmark systems, XML feeds (e.g., RSS) and feed syndication platforms, and social networking. The question for many IT organizations is whether they can leverage existing investments in IBM and Microsoft platforms to deliver social computing solutions, and how third-party vendors extend those solutions in an integrated manner. In this three-hour tutorial, we will walk through the social computing platforms offered by IBM and Microsoft; find out exactly what is doable out-of-the-box; what features are available through partnerships (and with whom), and what's in the social computing roadmap from each vendor. This session will be demo-centric to allow attendees the opportunity to visualize how end users interact with various features. Vendors will also present on the technical implementation of those major functions. The format will enable a side-by-side comparison of IBM and Microsoft offerings so that attendees can walk away knowing exactly what each platform is capable of delivering.

Format:

Mike Gotta, Principal Analyst at Burton Group will provide a brief introduction to social computing and layout the key issues strategists should consider as they listen to the workshop presentations and demonstrations. IBM and Microsoft will then detail their social computing platforms and demonstrate its various capabilities while answering questions from the moderator. The workshop will end with a Q&A session to address audience concerns.

Who Should Attend:

IT architects, infrastructure planners, collaboration strategists and application decision-makers on social software (blogs, wikis, tag/social bookmark systems, RSS, and social networking).

You Will Learn:

Attendees will become familiar with the social computing capabilities of IBM Lotus Connections and Microsoft SharePoint Products & Technologies (e.g., blog, wikis, RSS, social networking) enabling them to conduct more thorough comparisons within their own enterprise.

Enterprise 2.0 technologies and capabilities have allowed organizations to vastly improve their efficiency and effectiveness as well as their ability to realize value from their investments but have also introduced a new level of threat and risk into its information infrastructure. The introduction of virtualization, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), social networking, encryption, identity and access management, advanced web capabilities, and other innovative technologies and capabilities have enhanced business effectiveness, but has also have expanded the threat and risk landscape that must be identified, understood, and managed. Enterprise 2.0 technologies include the traditional information security issues of confidentiality, integrity and authentication but it also add new and unique concerns including such as unauthorized and non-detected system access, data leakage, compliance challenges, and electronic social engineering. This workshop will provide you with a methodology for performing threat and vulnerability analyses against your Enterprise 2.0 information infrastructure as well as strategies for understanding and managing the threats and vulnerabilities which are enumerated through this analysis. This workshop will introduce the concepts of data asset enumeration, threat and vulnerability analysis, and vulnerability management as they relate to Enterprise 2.0 technologies and concepts and their associated information infrastructure. It will also provide insight into the information security concerns and risk mitigation solution concepts involved in effective risk management capabilities for these capabilities. Case studies of associated with information security in Enterprise 2.0 solutions will be utilized throughout the workshop and interactive threat and vulnerability analysis and vulnerability management activities will also be conducted.

Syllabus:

Threat and Vulnerability Management for Enterprise 2.0 Solutions
* Overview of Threat and Vulnerability Management
* Asset Enumeration
* Threat and Vulnerability Analysis Overview
* OSI+ Threat Analysis Methodology
* Vulnerability management
* Risk mitigation strategies and countermeasure development

Who Should Attend:


* Individuals who are deploying Enterprise 2.0 solutions within their organizations
* Information technology professionals who would like to expand their knowledge of security concerns and threats associated with Enterprise 2.0 solutions
* Individuals who have the responsibility to introduce and maintain threat and vulnerability management solutions within their organizations
* Business executives who would like to understand the business impact of threats and vulnerabilities associated with Enterprise 2.0 solutions within their enterprise
* Anyone would like to gain insight into the policies, processes, procedures, technologies, and concepts involved with threat and vulnerability management concepts and programs

Prerequisites:


* Familiarity with basic information security technologies, concepts, policies, procedures, and techniques. No security background or technical background required.

Being successful with Enterprise 2.0 and social computing projects and initiatives requires a clear understanding of the right tools, techniques, and critical success factors. This tutorial will provide a comprehensive examination of the latest Enterprise 2.0 tools and platforms, current and cutting edge implementation techniques, and will provide an in-depth exploration of successful Enterprise 2.0 rollouts via the latest case studies.

Enterprise 2.0 tools and platforms from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Google, BEA, SuiteTwo, and other leading Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 firms will be examined in detail with fast-paced and informative demonstrations and detailed analysis. The focus will be on the capabilities for helping organizations deliver on a complete and integrated Enterprise 2.0 strategy ranging from effective enterprise search to the use of blogs, wikis, portals, and syndication. Also covered are advanced techniques such as prediction markets and enterprise mashups to fully leverage the productive capability of workers in a scalable yet emergent fashion.

The tutorial will also explore best practices and emerging techniques for Enterprise 2.0 social media and adoption including social aggregration, analytics, expertise location, reputation systems, and more. Whenever possible, patterns and practices are backed by cited material from existing and new case studies when they show proven efficacy. The tutorial is intended to be a comprehensive overview of the Enterprise 2.0 space from current products to best practices.

Who Should Attend:

* Individuals whose job responsibility involves collaboration with other individuals, teams, and organizations
* Executives and managers in business and IT with responsibility for designing, implementing, and operating IT systems and business processes within their organization
* IT staffers and general line of business workers that are seeking to apply the latest social computing best practices directly to their daily work
* CIOs and CTOs that are seeking to be more effective in their positions
* Enterprise architects that wish to leverage their IT resources and support their internal customers more effectively
* Business planners and strategists that are seeking to optimize their organizations for maximum efficiency and business-focused results You Will Learn:

* What the latest leading tools and platforms in the Enterprise 2.0 and social computing space are and their capabilities
* Current and emerging best practices in Enterprise 2.0 and Social Computing
* Innovative new techniques for applying social media and 2.0 era approahces in the workplace
* The findings of the latest Enterprise 2.0 case studies

Unified communications applications are maturing in 2008, offering more integrated capabilities and customer choice than ever before. Today's unified communications applications include integrated voice, instant messaging, audio conferencing, PC-based video and Web collaboration, with telephony- and PC presence and click-to-communicate capabilities built in at the foundation level. Many are also SIP-based, so that they can integrate with other UC apps, and others have open APIs to allow for integration with other applications, such as Office and CRM or supply chain software.

But as IT and line-of-business managers grow increasingly interested in deploying unified communications, the competition among vendors is growing fiercer. And despite a rash of recent partnerships and acquisitions, not all vendors offer a single product that delivers multiple converged communications out of the box. In this three-hour tutorial, we'll dig deep into the nuts and bolts of UC apps from Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, IBM Lotus, Nortel and Siemens. Find out exactly what features are available from each vendor today; what's available only through partnerships (and with whom); and what's coming down the pike. We'll also look at requirements for implementing the technologies and whether it's possible to integrate them with other applications?and if so, at what cost. And we'll delve into ROI strategies to ensure your UC deployment is a success.

This deep-dive session will give you time to delve into each application, with live demos and presentations that really drill down into exactly what each application delivers now, so that you can make the right buying choice to carry your company through tomorrow.

Melanie Turek, Principal Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, will kick off the session with a close look at the unified communications market, and discuss key issues for IT to consider when they deploy a UC application. Each vendor will then demo and detail their product, while answering questions about features and functions from the moderator. We'll finish up with an audience Q&A, to ensure participants' toughest questions get answered. Attendees can expect to leave with a solid understanding of what each vendor's product can deliver, making it easier for them to take the next step in the UC decision-making process.