ARDENT SOFTWARE CONVENES SUMMIT OF INDUSTRY LEADERS TO ADDRESS META DATA MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE
Ardent Software, Inc., a leading global data management software company, announced that it will moderate a panel discussion to examine critical meta data management challenges facing organizations building data warehouses. "Meta Data Management Value Proposition: Today's Myth and Reality" will be held in conjunction with The Data Warehousing Institute's Fifth Annual Leadership Conference in Orlando. Ardent will host industry luminaries, including Richard Rist of The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), David Marco of Enterprise Warehouse Solutions, Inc., Claudia Imhoff of Intelligent Solutions, Inc., John Ladley of META Group, Inc., and Thomas Bergstraesser of Microsoft Corporation, to analyze the current and future of direction meta data management as the precursor to strategic, enterprise-level information infrastructure.
"Meta data management is critical to integrating information-intensive applications, the first step in building an enterprise information infrastructure (EII)," said Pete Fiore, vice president and general manager of marketing operations and business development at Ardent Software. "The panel will examine issues such as standards initiatives and interoperability, the potential advantages of XML, the Microsoft Meta Data Repository, and methodologies for successful meta data integration and sharing."
The event will be held in Coronado Ballroom E of the Coronado Springs Resort, at 7:00 PM on November 16, 1999. Attendees can obtain an invitation to the event by calling Melissa Crowe at (508) 366-3888 x3796 or visiting Ardent at booth #415 at the conference.
Richard Rist, Vice President of Education and Research, TDWI
Richard A. Rist, vice president of TDWI's research and education, has more than 16 years experience with information and database systems. Rist's primary focus is on research and strategic assessment of the data warehousing marketplace. TDWI has experienced in excess of three-fold growth and has become recognized as the leading organization for data warehousing professionals during Rist's tenure as vice president of research and education. Formerly, Rist was worldwide director of marketing for Software AG's data warehousing business, provided strategic direction for Legent Corporation's database division, and spent seven years with IBM as a DB2 specialist at IBM's Large Systems Performance Evaluation Center.
David Marco, President, Enterprise Warehousing Solutions, Inc.
David Marco is the founder and president of the Chicago-based Enterprise Warehousing Solutions, Inc., a consulting firm providing business intelligence solutions. He has over 12 years of consulting experience as a DSS architect, project manager, meta data manager, and has provided vision and strategy across multiple project teams for numerous successful data warehousing projects. He is the author of "Building and Managing the Meta Data Repository: A Full Life-cycle Guide" due out in March 2000 and is a weekly columnist for Data Management Review and various trade publications. In addition to his writing, he speaks at 15-20 industry events per year.
Claudia Imhoff, CEO, Intelligent Solutions, Inc.
Claudia Imhoff is the founder and CEO of Intelligent Solutions, Inc., a data management consulting company. To date, her company has successfully completed the design and construction of data warehouses, operational data stores, and data marts across several industries. Her company offers basic and advanced courses in data warehouse and operational data store design and construction, data modeling, data architecture, and the principles of information engineering. She has co-authored two books with Bill Inmon entitled " Building the Operational Data Store" and "The Corporate Information Factory," and is a regular columnist for Data Management Review and other trade journals. Dr. Imhoff holds a Doctorate from the University of Tennessee in Oak Ridge and an undergraduate degree from Duke University.
John Ladley, President of Knowledge InterSpace, Research Fellow, Meta Group, Inc.
John Ladley is an authority on data warehouse and data mart architectures, methodologies, and tools, including OLAP, data movement, data extraction, and data hygiene. Prior to joining META Group, Ladley was director of technology planning for Alliance Blue Cross of Missouri. His 20+ years of IT experience also include working as a management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand's IT practice, where he specialized in the healthcare, insurance, defense, and consumer products industries. He is a published author and frequent keynote speaker on data warehouse architectures and related IT processes. Ladley holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Accounting from Grove City College in Pennsylvania.
Thomas F. Bergstraesser, Product Unit Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Thomas F. Bergstraesser has been product unit manager at Microsoft Corporation for the last four years, and is responsible for the development of Microsoft Repository and the Open Information Model. He is a key driver behind Microsoft's meta data strategy in the area of data warehousing and knowledge management. He was formerly development manager at Softlab GmbH in Munich, where he was responsible for the Maestro II repository. Bergstraesser has held development positions at Motorola and Siemens in the area of VLSI chip design, high level chip synthesis, and power calculation tools.
Ardent Software is a leading global data management software company. Ardent develops and markets data integration infrastructure software for e-business, data warehousing and analytical applications, and enterprise portals; along with embedded databases and tools for developing and deploying packaged applications. With worldwide sales and service operations, and 1,000 resellers in more than 50 countries, Ardent is one of the top software companies in the world. More than 60,000 customers and 2.2 million users in virtually every aspect of business and government use solutions that are powered by Ardent technology. Ardent is headquartered in Westboro, Massachusetts. The company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "ARDT. " For more information, visit Ardent's web site at http://www.ardentsoftware.com/.