Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Catch You in Philly for the IDUG Db2 Tech Conference 2018


Well, this year’s IDUG North American DB2 Tech Conference is almost upon us and I hope you have made plans to be there. If not, it is still not too late, though. The conference is being held in Philadelphia, PA this year -- The Cradle of Liberty -- from April 29 - May 3, 2018.

I don’t know about you, but every year I mark my calendar ahead of time and then look forward to the week of IDUG because it always provides an educational and enjoyable time. If you’ve ever attended an IDUG conference before then you know all about the fantastic educational and entertainment opportunities that IDUG offers. Of course, there will be many informative technical sessions on all of the latest and greatest Db2 technologies and features. The 2018 event offers more educational opportunities and training than ever before, including:
  • Five days of educational sessions
  • Half and full-day workshops
  • More than 100 one-hour technical sessions
  • Two expert panels on z/OS and LUW

There are also two great keynote sessions scheduled this year. The first, from Michele Goetz, an analyst with Forrester Research, whose session is titled “Your Business Is Only As Fast As Your Data.” She will discuss the importance of data governance programs and how to establish sustainable governance.

And then there is the one I am most looking forward to, a visit from Andrew Flip Filipowski, IDUG co-founder, Executive Chairman and CEO SilkRoad Equity, founder and former CEO of PLATINUM technology, inc. and current co-CEO of Fluree, PBC, provider of the world’s only ACID compliant blockchain graph database system. Flip is always educational and entertaining, so I expect a great keynote session from him as he discusses a wide range of topics such as bitcoin, crypto assets, blockchain, FinTech, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and more.

I’m also looking forward to the spotlight session on “Db2 for z/OS…and Beyond” from Jeff Josten (chief architect of Db2 for z/OS) and Maureen Townsend (Db2 for z/OS Development Director).

As usual, I will be busy at this year’s IDUG. I will be delivering two sessions this year. The first is on Wednesday at 3:40 PM (Session 5028) titled Db2 Application Development for Performance: Be Early and Be Informed. This session is aimed at application developers. The general idea is to give an overview of the things that you can do as you design and code your Db2 programs with performance in mind. All too often performance is an afterthought – and that can be quite expensive. Nail down the basics by attending this session!

My second presentation, on Thursday at 9:20 AM, is titled Database Trends 2018. This session is for everybody as I run down the important trends that are impacting the jobs of modern data professionals. I’ll touch on Big Data, analytics, NoSQL, cloud, digital transformation, in-memory computing, DevOps, and more. And conclude with how it all impacts DBAs. Don’t miss this session!

Let's not forget the exhibit hall (aka Solutions Center) where vendors present and demo their products that can help you manage Db2 more effectively. It is a good place to learn about new technology solutions for Db2, but also to hang out and meet with IBMers, consultants, and your peers.

This year I'll be spending some time in the CorreLog booth (#209) in the Solutions Center. Be sure to stop by and say hello, take a look at CorreLog's great solutions for SIEM and auditing Db2 for z/OS, and register to win one of 4 of my DBA books that will be raffled off.

That is a lot for one week, but there is more. You can go to full-day education sessions on Sunday April 29th (at an additional cost), plan for Db2 12 for z/OS and continuous delivery (half day session on May 3rd), attend Special Interest Groups (where you can discuss the latest industry trends and topics with other interested technicians), attend Hands-On Labs (with hands-on training led by IBM), and even take complementary IBM certification exams

And be sure to download the mobile app for the conference to help you navigate all the opportunities available to you!

The IDUG Db2 TechConference is the place to be to learn all about Db2 from IBMers, gold consultants, IBM champions, end users, ISVs, and more. With all of this great stuff going on this year in Philadelphia, why wouldn't you want to be there!?!?