Paris was this year’s location for Exchange 08. Over 100 breakout sessions and several hands on workshops were among the highlights of this global gathering of Progress users. The following are the top 10 highlights of Exchange 08:
1.) Exchange 2008 was an international meeting place with a varied audience of over 600 participants. With Progress® technologies in use in over 140 countries, holding Exchange in Paris allowed representation from more countries than ever before, including Russia, Turkey, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, South Africa, Estonia, the Netherlands, France, Kazakhstan, Poland, as well as the United States.
2) Both SOA novices and specialists were interested in Forrester’s latest SOA data and keynote. In the General Session, Randy Heffner, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, discussed how service-oriented architecture (SOA) is now mainstream and how application vendors can use SOA to extend legacy systems, improve application flexibility, and deliver business agility. He recommended next steps whether you are a novice or expert. Progress’ own David Olson followed showing how the Progress SOA Portfolio and OpenEdge® prepare you for the SOA world and specifically how OpenEdge developers can use SOA to extend the reach of their applications to new users and opportunities.
3.) More people than ever went hands-on with OpenEdge Architect and OpenEdge GUI for .NET in pre-conference workshops. Both were a resounding success with the OpenEdge Architect workshop helping developers learn how to use the OpenEdge flagship development environment effectively and efficiently. During the OpenEdge GUI workshop, participants got an introduction to OpenEdge 10.2A.
4.) Technical sessions on the new OpenEdge Structured Error Handling were among the best attended. Over two hundred people attended the two sessions on the new Structured Error Handling feature introduced in OpenEdge 10.1C. Session presenters Sarah Marshall from Progress and Peter van Dam from Future Proof Software provided the basics of using this new capability and how-to’s on migrating an application to Structured Error Handling without breaking any code. The sessions were extremely well received, with attendees excited to add this functionality to their applications.
5.) PEGGER of the Year named during the General Session. Tim Kuehn, a longstanding OpenEdge consultant and active Progress Email Group (PEG) participant, was announced as the PEGGER of the Year by members of the PEG Advisory Board. Tim has been a Progress user and PEG participant for over eight years.
6.) Customer presentations were standing room only, particularly on the OpenEdge GUI. Benelux partners Tony Vertenten from Intris and Erwin in ‘t Veld from CCS joined Progress consultants Roland de Piper and Eric Debeij, and explained how Intris and CCS are developing applications using OpenEdge GUI and how it affects their software engineering processes. A large part of their effort leverages iMo, a set of tools developed by Progress Professional Services and several partners. This fascinating talk literally filled the room. In fact, several Progress employees left to make room for additional customers. Learn more about other customer stories.
7.) Extraordinary opportunities to network. Exchange brought customers together and provided many opportunities to network with peers and Progress employees. Sunday’s Poster Fair at the Welcome Reception broke the ice and got the conference started with more than 20 posters on diverse topics. The Expo receptions and booths at the Expo got folks together informally to deliver fascinating demos of products and services.
8.) The Virtual Expo – A new feature of Exchange. With the debut of the Virtual Expo, exhibitors had another avenue to reach out to the Progress community. And attendees enjoyed this completely online cyber exposition where they were able to view exhibitors’ products and services at their leisure.
9.) OpenEdge Roadmap led the pack of forward-looking Roadmap and interactive Info Exchange sessions. Progress development and product management personnel offered several popular forward-looking sessions. With over 170 attendees, the OpenEdge Roadmap was the most attended session of Exchange. Customers learned about the future of Progress products, asked interesting questions, and had far-reaching discussions on all topics.
10.) The Exchange Community in Paris and beyond. Paris was a great setting to debate and learn about the latest tips, techniques, and new directions. And the outing on Tuesday night and a quick jump on the metro led you to quickly realize the excitement of being just outside one of the most vibrant cities on earth. Click here to enjoy photos from Paris, and register now for Exchange 2009, which will be held 8-11 June 2009 in New Orleans.
