|
| |
The following is now a rolling calendar of Events for the AITP Pittsburgh
Chapter.
To register for a dinner meeting, please visit the
dinner
registration page. Any special information will be linked to each event.
[January] [February] [March]
[April] [May] [June]
[August] [September]
[October] [November]
[December]

March 2011
Monday,
March 21- 5:30pm - 8:30pm
10 Cool Things Your Firewall Should Do
Ron Anderson
SonicWALL Systems Engineer


Midrange Plus
invites you to a Dinner Seminar at AITP (Association of Information Technology
Professionals) March meeting. The mission of the Association of Information
Technology Professionals (AITP) is to provide all members with the opportunity
for growth in their careers and community involvement by providing programs and
activities to achieve their goals. This is a good opportunity to share with
your Information Technology Peers and join a professional organization for self
development and social networking.
Ron Anderson is a
field Systems Engineer for SonicWALL covering the Upstate NY, PA and WV
territory. Ron has been with SonicWALL for 4 years. Prior to that, he was a
Senior Technology Editor and Lab Director for Network Computing Magazine and a
satisfied SonicWALL customer. Ron moved from Pittsburgh to Syracuse in 1993 to
serve as the Manager of Microcomputer Network Services at Syracuse University.
In Pittsburgh, Ron worked at Duquesne University and at the Highland Drive
Veteran Administration Hospital after receiving an MA at Duquesne University and
a BA from Grove City College.
[Back to Top=]
April 2011
Monday,
April 18 - 5:30pm - 8:30pm
LaRoche College
Student-run Meeting

The AITP NCC Experience
Zaid Al-Momen,
Aristide Niyungeko, Ines Ucyeye and Chris Vlasick
Faculty advisor: Dr Leland (Mike) McCauley
LaRoche College
Members of the LaRoche College AITP student chapter traveled to
Orlando and took 2nd place in the Web Design division. The student team
members are: Aristide Niyungeko, Zaid Al-Momen, Chris Vlasick and Ines
Ucyeye. Aristide won the Robert Half Student Scholarship award. These
promising students will regal their experience and present their winning web
design. Join us and find out what amazing things students can do these days.
Zaid Al-Momen
is a graduate of the
Distinguished Students High School in Baghdad, Iraq. He is currently
pursuing a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics at La Roche
College with a 3.85 GPA. He is scheduled to graduate in December 2011.
Zaid is still actively looking for an internship for this summer in software
engineering, programming, web development, or database management. In the
future, he would like to continue his education with a Masters Degree in
Software Engineering.
Aristide Niyungeko
is a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Burundi. He is also a BS
Computer Science major with a Mathematics minor at La Roche College
(December 2011). Aristide is the president of the LRC AITP student chapter,
a recipient of the Pacem in Terris scholarship at LRC, the AITP Pgh chapter
student scholarship recipient for 2010 and the Robert Half Technology AITP
student scholarship just awarded at NCC’2011! Aristide has already started
his summer internship at Compunetix and hopes to pursue a graduate degree in
Software Engineering.
Ines
Ucyeye comes to us
from Rwanda. She is pursuing a double major in Computer Science and
Mathematics at La Roche College and hopes to graduate in December 2011.
Ines is another recipient of the Pacem in Terris scholarship at LRC. She is
looking for a summer internship and her future plans include graduate
school.
Chris
Vlasick is a
graduate of Shaler Area High School. He is currently finishing his BS in
Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics and Spanish at La Roche College
which is scheduled for completion in December 2011. Chris is still actively
looking for an internship for this summer. His future goals are to land a
computer programming job (preferably in the Pittsburgh area) upon
graduation. He is particularly interested in developing for iOS.
Dr Leland (Mike)
McCauley received
his Ph.D from the University of Pittsburgh where he studied Philosophy and
later Computer and Information Sciences. He became interested in computing
after finishing a dissertation comparing natural and artificial languages.
After discerning the potential of micro-computing in the early eighties, he
became the founding and managing partner of Information Management
Associates in 1983, a company specializing in
database, networking, custom programming, and early web development. This
company continued until 2001.
He has taught at
La Roche College since 2002. Through the years, he has also taught
computing and systems development at Carlow University, Point Park
University, and CCAC.
[Back to Top=]
May 2011
Monday,
May 16 - 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Virtualization of the Client
Speaker
Philip G. Svesnik, C.I.O.
Company Westmoreland County

Kent Walters, Network
Specialist
Link Computers

Before the proliferation of desktop PCs, computing
resources were centralized with a mainframe in the data center with only dumb
terminals placed out on end user’s desks. With the arrival of low-cost PC
hardware and the evolution of both the Windows operating system and a broad
ecosystem of supporting application vendors, computing became decentralized and
end-user productivity often improved with the wealth of available software.
However, dealing with the resulting
diversity and managing those distributed PCs has become an ever-increasing
challenge and resource drain for IT staff and budgets.
In an effort to control desktop
support and IT labor costs, many IT departments are turning once again to a more
centralized configuration, while still delivering robust Windows desktop
computing to their end users. The right desktop virtualization solution can
accomplish both of these goals, provided it is based on
true zero clients that completely
centralize all management, processing, and troubleshooting into the data center.
Get IT Staff control back – No more Break-Fix desktop visits
n
Improve
desktop management and support productivity
n
Centralize software distribution and upgrades
n
Provision new users in minutes
n
Fortify
endpoint security, eliminate data loss and theft
n
Improve
backup compliance and facilitate business continuity
n
Regain
time needed for strategic initiatives
Save money, improve your user experience and help your company gain
the competitive advantage!
If you would like to find out how you can get your IT Staff control
back and minimize the break-fix desktop visits while saving money and improving
your IT operations join us at the May 16, 2011 AITP meeting where you hear from
both the users perspective and a vendor.
[Back to Top=]
June 2011
Monday,
June 20 - 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Cloud Computing: Two
Views
The View from Below
Ann Caulder Rose, Associate Professor, West Liberty University

Cloud computing is everywhere but is it leading up to a nasty storm or better
weather? From the perspective of one in the trenches, where did this come from?,
why bother?, and what’s the forecast for the future. In this discussion I will
share a perspective on why cloud computing should have been predicted and then
the benefits to institutions, users, and support staff. Finally, based on where
we have been, where we are, Ann will share some of her thoughts about the
long-term forecast.
Going All In With the Cloud
David Hoerster, Financial Analyst, BrainCredits

It's rare that you get a chance to build an application the way you want to,
from the ground up. If you did, what architectural choices would you make and
why? Is the Cloud really the magic bullet for all of the pains start-ups
experience? In this discussion, I will review the choices that I faced in
starting a company from the ground up, specifically around which technical
platform to choose out the many that are out there. Also, what is really
involved from a price perspective with the Cloud? It sounds simple, but there
are hidden costs and gotchas which you need to be aware. Hopefully the lessons
that I have learned (and am still learning) will save others a little bit of
pain.
Ann Calder Rose is an Associate Professor of Education
focusing on Online Instructional Specialist/Director of Distance Education with
West Liberty University. Ann has over thirty year's experience initially as
an educator working as a high school mathematics teacher and for the past 16
years in higher education. After 15 years working with teacher preparation and
most recently as the director of the program, she serves as the University's
Online Learning Specialist and Coordinator of Distance Education. In this
capacity she works with faculty providing professional development in the areas
of online learning and integration of technologies for enhanced learning-both
online and in the traditional classroom. Most of the sessions focus on Web 2.0
tools and other open source resources. She is West Liberty's Administrator for
Sakai, their Open Source Learning Management System. Additionally, in her role
as faculty, she teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in
Instructional Technologies, always with a focus on enhancing student learning.
David Hoerster, a recovering corporate financial analyst,
has been working with the Microsoft .NET Framework since the early 1.0 betas.
David is the co-founder of BrainCredits (www.braincredits.com), a recent
start-up that is hoping to change the way people learn on the web. David is the
co-chair of the Pittsburgh .NET User's Group (PGHDOTNET),
organizer of several recent Pittsburgh Code Camps and is also an occasional
speaker at Pittsburgh and regional user group and code camp events. David can be
found rarely blogging at
http://geekswithblogs.net/DavidHoerster/Default.aspx and also is an
occasional Tweeter (@DavidHoerster).
If registering early for this event, please use the
drop-down arrow to change the month to June.
[Back to Top=]
August 2011
Saturday,
August 6 - 8:00 Tee Time
Annual Scholarship Golf
Outing
Butler's Golf Course,
Elizabeth, PA
Join us for our
annual scholarship golf outing. Provides scholarships to worthy students with a
comp sci, info sci or related course of study in local schools.
Full details on the Golf
Outing Page including a sign-up form and vendor sponsorship information -
three levels - $25, $100, $200.
[Back to Top=]
September 2011
Monday,
September 19 -
5:30pm - 8:30pm
IPv6 - Network Provider Capabilities and Preparations
Barry Cook
Sr Sales Engineer

IPv6 –
transition from IPv4 – what does it mean?
Are you ready?
Is your carrier ready?
What happened to IPv5?
Each host
or computer on the Internet requires an IP address in order to communicate. The
growth of the Internet has created a need for more addresses than are possible
with IPv4. IPv6 was developed by the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to deal with this long-anticipated
IPv4 address exhaustion. How will it impact your business?
Our
Speaker is Barry Cook - Sr. Sales Engineer with Level 3 Communications for the
past 7 years with over 20 years in the Communications industry. Headquarters
for Level 3 Communications is in Broomfield, Colorado and a total of 5,300
employees, Level 3 has a local office at 200 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh PA
15219 with over 100 employees at this location including the Vice President,
General Manager, Sales Staff, Sales Engineers, Technicians, Customer Care and
Administrative personnel.
Level 3 Communications,
Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) is a Tier 1provider of fiber-based communications services.
Leveraging a comprehensive portfolio of converged voice, video and data
solutions, we deliver exceptional value by providing increased efficiency and
improved enterprise/IT productivity to support our customers’ growth
objectives. Our reliable and secure network has a proven track record of
delivering mission-critical data for enterprise, content, government and
wholesale customers. We’re committed to partnership, with a team of dedicated
people focused on understanding customers’ business challenges, providing
relevant network solutions, and delivering a superior service experience. Learn
more: www.level3.com
[Back to Top=]
October 2011
Monday,
October 17 - 5:30pm - 8:30pm
IT Pro’s Heaven:
Private Cloud
Bob Hunt, IT Pro Evangelist

The term private cloud is becoming ubiquitous
in the IT arena and industry magazines. This session will walk you through the
essentials , showing you what the industry trends are in private cloud and how
this new addition to your solution arsenal is the next logical step to
transition from virtualization into cloud computing. A private cloud represents
significant opportunities for IT Pros to modernize and convert what has been
deployed, as well as establish a strategic baseline for the next generation
computing environment. Knowledge of private clouds is an absolute must for
anyone working in IT going forward. This session will get you started on your
journey to the cloud success!
Bob Hunt
currently is an IT Pro Evangelist on Microsoft’s East Region Developer and
Platform Evangelism (DPE) team. Bob’s passion for technology is often shared
at when he presents at industry or regional TechNet events, online at all the
usual social networking sites,
his blog, or in supporting communities at various user
groups in the NY Metro, New Jersey, Fairfield County Connecticut, Pennsylvania,
or Delaware. With over 20 years of IT experience, Bob has been on all three
sides of the industry being in consulting and on IT staff prior to his 6+ years
at Microsoft. Before joining the DPE team in 2010, Bob was a Unified
Communications Technology Specialist in Microsoft’s NY Metro EPG district where
in addition to working with some of the world’s largest email environments, he
hosted the NY Exchange User’s Group for over 5 years.
Before joining Microsoft, Bob
spent several years at a number of regional and national Microsoft Gold
Certified partners in various roles including Practice Principal, Practice
Director, Managing Consultant, Sr. Systems Consultant and others. Bob had a
successful track record of building and running both profitable and
award-winning Microsoft consulting practices, focusing on Exchange, Active
Directory and other Microsoft technologies. Prior to his roles in Microsoft
consulting, Bob worked in IT where he filled various roles of Network Engineer,
SQL DBA, UNIX admin and IT support.
A graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, Bob is married with three
children (14, 12 and 10). His passions outside of technology include travelling
to Walt Disney World and the Caribbean, resort camping and playing basketball
with the family. Bob is actively involved in the community including
involvement in his school’s Adaptive Technology Committee and is a Board Member
of Westchester Arc where he is the Chair of the Marketing Committee.
[Back to Top=]
November 2011
Monday,
November 21 - 5:30pm - 8:30pm
PCI Compliance - What does it mean to you?
Eric M Wright, CPA, CITP

With increasing
data breaches in the news, you may be wondering what would happen it your
facility was breached. If you keep credit card information electronically
anywhere on your system you need to be PCI compliant. A complaint certification
can help protect you from litigation and fines. The standard includes 12
requirements for any business that stores, processes or transmits payment
cardholder data. These requirements specify the framework for a secure payments
environment; for purposes of PCI compliance, their essence is three steps:
Assess, Remediate and Report. Come and learn what
you can do to safeguard your data.
Eric has been involved
with Information Technology with Schneider Downs since 1983. He specializes in
and oversees the design, setup, installation and implementation of automated
accounting, distribution and manufacturing systems.
Eric has implemented a
wide range of ERP software solutions for clients. Budgets associated with these
solutions have ranged from $25,000 to $5 million. Many of these projects have
entailed integrating the client supply chain with their manufacturing and
distribution systems and, most recently, have involved integrating clients’ Web
presence with their back office systems. In addition, Eric is responsible for
the firm’s IT compliance services. He has assisted a number of our clients with
their compliance requirements, including PCI-DSS, SOX, ISO 27001 and NIST
security audits.
∙∙ Member—Pennsylvania
Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of Certified
Public Accountants
∙∙ The American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants - M.I.S. and High Tech Division
∙∙ Member—Schneider
Downs Manufacturing, Nonprofit and Transportation Services Industry Groups
∙∙ Board Member and
Treasurer—Gateway to the Arts
∙∙ Director—Peters
Township Baseball Association
∙∙ Fundraising Committee
Member—Boy Scouts of America
∙∙ Certified Information
Technology Professional (CITP)
∙∙ Technology Advisor’s
Department Chair
B.S.—Math and Computer Science, Waynesburg College, Magna Cum
[Back to Top=]
December 2011
Monday,
December 12 - 5:30pm - 8:30pm
EMPLOYABILITY. DO YOU HAVE THE CRITICAL SKILL SET TO ADVANCE
YOUR CAREER?
John W Ryba
Mr. Jack Ryba will join us for our AITP December meeting at Silvioni’s
Restaurant. His presentation will center around the topic of career choices and
movements using appropriate soft skills with ease.
If there is one thing IT professionals know, changes in technology happen often
and fast. Advances in technology require changes in IT practices that often
necessitate different skills than previously needed. In today’s globalized and
dynamic business world, it takes more than technical expertise to land that
coveted job, promotion or even recognition. Businesses more than ever want
individuals with specific and often unique personal competencies and attributes
– Soft Skills.
Studies of hiring practices
and surveys of CIO’s have found that companies overwhelmingly hire and promote
people having soft skills, particularly critical thinking, problem-solving, team
building and communication skills. If one wants the opportunity to advance his
or her career, soft skills are critical.
Jack has
thirty-five years of diversified executive-level management experience with
several local technology companies.
He was a senior
vice president, chief legal officer and secretary of Sulcus Hospitality
Technologies Corporation, a public company, and served as a director. Jack also
was the president and chief operating officer of two of its subsidiaries, Sulcus
Law Management and Radix Systems. He was the general counsel and vice president
of administration for On-Line Systems, Inc., and for General Intermodal
Logistics.
In 1984, he founded
Pittsburgh’s first law firm dedicated to the business and legal requirements of
emerging technology companies.
Currently, he
provides services to corporations and law firms in business and strategic
planning, mergers, acquisitions, and litigation support.
[Back to Top=]
January 2012
Monday,
January 9 - 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Machine to Machine (M2M) Business Solutions
Thomas Baker
Business Account Executive
Verizon Wireless
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW
HOW MACHINE TO MACHINE CAN IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS?
Join us to see how Machine to Machine (M2M) solutions
enabled by Verizon can transform your business. Looking to track your fleet of
vehicles to reduce fuel costs? Do you have equipment/assets in the field that
needs to be monitored remotely? Or do you simply want to get a better
understanding of what M2M is and the technologies used ?
Verticals covered:
1.
Construction
2.
Distribution
3.
Retail
4.
Transportation
5.
Public Safety
Tom Baker is a
Business Account Executive for Verizon Wireless, specializing in working with
businesses to show how Verizon can impact their business in significant and
measurable ways. Prior to joining Verizon Business Solutions, Tom was a Sales
Manager for Verizon in the consumer vertical. Now he shows his customers how
they can leverage machine to machine technology in today’s business world to
increase productivity, reduce costs, and increase efficiencies.
[Back to Top=]
February 2012
Monday, February 13 – 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Internet Marketing Tips & Strategies for 2012
Chris Hornak
Director of Operations

Abstract forthcoming.
Chris Hornak joined Eyeflow Internet Marketing as a SEO Developer in March 2008.
He currently holds the title of Director of Operations. Before Eyeflow he held
various IT jobs with a focus on web development and worked on furthering his
education with a Masters in Business Administration, Bachelors of Business
Science and an Associates in Software Applications and Programming. For a
complete bio, see
http://chrishornak.com/bio/.
Back to Top=]
|