Informing the IBM Community

Letter from i-UG

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Wyboston
In the first article of a new regular series, Colin Spofford, treasurer of i-UG, reports on the UK midrange user group’s latest activities.

On May 19, i-UG, the UK’s major user group for the IBM i platform, held our latest event in central London in the historic Royal Exchange Building.

This was the first time we had held such an event in the heart of the capital. Over 40 people enjoyed a packed agenda which included: a live demonstration of the latest features of IBM’s web query tool by Binary Systems; PowerWire’s Steve Bradshaw highlighting IBM’s latest performance analysis tools – which are FREE on IBM i; and David Spurway gave some thought provoking insight into how the huge power of IBM’s Watson can be harnessed by ordinary companies.

However, the most popular item on the agenda was a presentation outlining the incredible potential of 3D printing technology by Kevin Askew of GoPrint 3D. He showed an enthralled audience that it is now possible to print a house!

Mike Ryan, chairman of i-UG and who was master of ceremonies for the day, said: “We presented this agenda back in February in Rochdale and we came up with the idea that it might be of interest to many of the companies based around London who couldn’t make it in February.

“We were aware that the south of the country has been somewhat starved of the type of events that i-UG specialise in and wanted to demonstrate that we are very active throughout the country. We were delighted with the turn out and the feedback we have received so far and this has certainly motivated us to look at holding more events in central London.”

i-UG’s next event will be International i-Power 2015 on September 9 and 10 and this is actually going to be just north of London at the Wyboston Lakes Conference Centre in Bedfordshire (pictured, above). As the format of last year’s event in Old Windsor was so successful, once again this will be a two-day event with the emphasis being very much on education.

Mike Ryan says: “In 2014, we expanded our event to run over two days. This enabled us to introduce workshops for the first time. We were astounded at take up of these one-day and half-day hands-on workshops, so this year we will be expanding the number of classes to give even more people the opportunity to learn something new.

“Prices start from just £150 for the workshops and £50 for the second day and we feel that is excellent value for the quality of education that we have managed to put together.”

International i-Power is now the biggest event of the year in the UK for professionals working with the IBM i and once again the backing of our vendors has been tremendous.

With all the sponsorship options now taken – with still over three months to go – this shows how the status of International i-Power in the annual events calendar continues to grow in significance.

For more information on the event and to register your place follow this link.

Editor’s note: PowerWire is the media sponsor of International i-Power 2015.

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