Thursday, January 18, 2001

The Bea-st Systems

Calling all hard-core techno-geeks! Wanna learn about one of the leading e-business infrastructure companies? Wanna get techno-speak presented to you in an IMAX-screen environment? Wanna have a chance to win a Compaq iPaq?! Well, you missed your chance 'cause all this exciting stuff happened at SPIREknowledge, Inc.'s seminar on BEA Systems' new Collaborate product. The evening started with a hefty amount of networking at the former B.Altman's department store-turned-NY Public Library and City University Graduate Center on 5th Avenue and 34th Street.

During this time, I got to meet Refinery editor Alan Eisenberg and Executive Producer Andrea Adler. I also chatted with iXL's Innovator James Dawson and NewTechReporters' Managing Editor Harald Weiss. Flowers by Daye's Ritsuko Daye Deura, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Joe Roberts Jr. and Bluestone Software's Karsten Beyer stopped by my table as they ventured over to NYCTemp's, Unisys' and GlobalSight's tables. Novo's Stephanie Huang, KarmaCom's Karma Martell and Citibank's Diane Schneider heard my pitch about the Black Tie and our Morning Circle events. I enticed a few others with candy and chatted with Long Island-based FatWire Corporation's Jim Gleason, Enterprise Ireland's Technology Products SVP David Byrne and Mimecom's Bill Houston and Larry Scott.

After the guests - more than 100 of them - gathered into the nice, new auditorium, SPIREknowledge President Stephen Madsen spoke on B2B frameworks and integration methodology. SPIREknowledge has a good perspective on this, since they hire top-dog IT consultants and place them at jobs that best match the client and their needs. It helps that their people don't work on a commission basis, a big difference from many other recruiting firms. SPIREknowledge can focus on the right match, not just placing someone for the sale's sake. Madsen knows his stuff, too - coming from Campbell Soup Company as IT director, not to mention stints with IBM and EDS. And he's not afraid to wear a pink whistle attached to his nametag holder. (Disclosure: everyone's holder had a whistle). After his presentation, AlleyCat News' Anna Copeland Wheatley came up to give away three of the iPaq's. A BEA executive then spoke on "BEA Collaborate and Process Integrator" and "Successful Implementation Realities Presented by BEA Engineers/Executives." Between those presentations, yours truly was a second presenter of two more iPaq's. Finally, Agency.com's Senior Technical Director Mitch Golden presented a case study based on their experiences working with BEA Systems. Then the final iPaq's were given away.