"Reconsidering IT and the Education Business Model"
for I/T Professionals from K-12, Community Colleges and Universities

FAEDS 2007 Annual Conference 
Caribe Royale All Suites Resort and Convention Center, Orlando, Florida
September 23-25, 2007

Conference Schedule At a Glance

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Caribbean Foyer

2:00 - 6:00 PM

Registration & Information

Governors Board Room

2:00 – 6:00 PM

FAEDS Board Meeting

Boca III

4:00 – 7:00 PM

FCITL Board Meeting

Monday, September 24, 2007

Caribbean Foyer

7:30 AM - 6:00 PM

Registration & Information

Caribbean Foyer

7:30-8:30 AM

Continental Breakfast Sponsored by e-Techservices

Caribbean Ballroom I & II

8:30-9:30 AM

Opening General Session 

Keynote Address: “The Metaverse and the Future of Learning”

Claudia L'Amoreaux, Community Developer at Linden Lab

Claudia L'Amoreaux, aka Claudia Linden, will take us on a journey through early visions and versions of immersive, networked worlds like Worlds Chat and AWEDU (Active Worlds Education Universe). She'll present some of the personal techno-epiphanies that led to her role at Linden Lab, supporting education initiatives in Second Life. She'll share success stories and best practices from exemplary K12 and higher education projects in Second Life and a few fables of failure to help you avoid a similar fate. She'll offer advice on how to guide your universities, community colleges, schools and school systems in entering Second Life, how to build support, address doubts and place your focus on the areas that matter most.

The Second Life Educators are an innovative, rapidly growing international community of more than 3700 "3D Internet" pioneers representing hundreds of schools. Claudia will offer suggestions for how to join, participate and collaborate with this supportive community and the rich ecosystem of inworld groups, and web-based blogs, wikis, and mashups that's expanding daily. She'll explore how we can all become more effective advocates for the use of educational technologies that can meet the changing needs of today's learners.

Boca I & II

9:45-10:35 AM

Track Session A– Utilizing Florida Division of Emergency Management (FLDEM) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Funds (HMGPF), Allan Pither of the University of Florida

The HMGP funds were provided by FEMA as part of the response to Hurricane Francis in 2004.   The Grant proposals were submitted to the Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) Committee and then to the FLDEM - Long Term Recovery Office in Orlando. The Grant covers harding 9 sets of doors and 127 windows, to Miami-Dade County Specifications, with project cost of  $247,000.00

Boca III & IV

9:45-10:35 AM

Track Session B– Who Really Owns that Box: Live Windows Incident Response and Malware Analysis, John Sawyer of the University of Florida

Incident response for Windows systems will be covered with an introduction into malware analysis. Demonstrations of tools built- in to Windows and freeware available online will be used to show that anyone, no matter how large or small their budget, can do proper incident response and malware analysis. Current malware issues (like botnets) affecting organizations will be discussed along with a demonstration of a DIY malware kit available to any script kiddie who wants to "hack."  Bio: John H. Sawyer (CISSP, GCIH, GCFA, GCFW) is an IT Senior Security Engineer for the University of Florida. He also writes for Network Computing Magazine, Information Week and blogs for DarkReading.com. He can be reached at jsawyer@ufl.edu.

Boca V & VI

9:45-10:35 AM

Track Session C–Monitoring your costs at NWRDC, Steve Menard

This presentation will describe how our customers can peel back the detail behind one of our invoices.  The data and tools available to all of our customers will be covered .   File layouts, access techniques and sample reports will be provided.   The NWRDC is transitioning to a new release of the Komand accounting system.   While that upgrade will provide much more utilization detail than before, it will require some changes to existing processing.   Those changes will be covered in detail.   Advice on cost reduction techniques will also be discussed.

It is hoped that this presentation will allow our customers to avoid billing surprises by staying on top of their costs.

Boca I & II

10:45-11:35 PM

Track Session A– Blueprint for the Future, Randi Zwicker of Collier County School District

How do you go about adding the latest technology tools to every classroom in the district? Methodically, class by class, building by building, with a plan that is continually improved as the changes roll out. This is the formula that Collier County Public Schools used to complete its education makeover. The district has transformed each of its 2800 classrooms with video projectors, document cameras, sound systems, and interactive whiteboards. With these innovations, Collier hopes to capture the moment, engage the student, and provide an interactive learning environment.

Boca III & IV

10:45-11:35 PM

Track Session B- “Leon County’s Approach for System Hosting” Bill Piotrowski, Victor Ferreros, Bill Nimmons, and Mikal Haney

Shared services via a consortium, and even better, via an established school district/state agency regional data center which can leverage state and educational rates, could be a compelling option for hosting your mainframe services in terms of services, operational and back-up support, and costs.   This presentation is about functions, features, and criteria; the pros and cons relating to key items;  the actual costs and features considered across various agency and vendor options; our decision process... and Leon District's experiences to date (complete with actual service levels, costs, and data... with a few stories thrown in).

Boca V & VI

10:45-11:35 PM

Track Session C– Who Really Owns that Box: Live Windows Incident Response and Malware Analysis, John Sawyer, cont’d

Boca VII

10:45-11:35 PM

Track Session D– openCentre, Much more than just a K-12 student management system…, Casey Adams of OS4ED and Bill Teasley of NWRDC

Open Solutions for Education will present in partnership with NWRDC to give participants an overview of their new hosted offering, openCentre. openCentre is a groundbreaking open source SIS that gives educators complete control of their application and significantly lowers total cost of ownership.

       Together, OS4ED and NWRDC will offer openCentre in hosted mode with full help desk support offering unlimited calls and emails for our clients.  This exciting new offering can take the task of managing your SIS and put it in the hands of NWRDC, where you are assured complete uptime, secure hosting, disaster recovery and the most affordable hosting available to Florida education clients.  FL state reporting module available this fall!

Caribbean Ballroom

I & II

11:45 AM-1:45 PM

Luncheon Keynote: “Critical Issues in Technology Integration for the Nation's Schools” Dr. Allen Schmeider of JDL Horizons

Dr. Schmieder joined JDL in 1998 after serving 32 years in a number of important leadership positions in the United States Department of Education in Washington, DC. Dr. Schmieder received the President's Award from AECT for "outstanding national leadership and service in technology and education” and was selected as one of the nation's "Top 25 Technology Advocates" by District Administration Magazine. Dr. Schmieder is author of over 200 publications, most of which discuss educational reform.
Dr. Schmieder served under seven presidents, and recently developed the high tech, K-12 GLOBE Program, which was adopted by 6,000 schools in 60 nations around the world.

Boca I & II

2:00-2:50 PM

Track Session A- Explore World Class Education, 21st Century Learning, digital tools, Florida Digital Educator Program, and FCIT resources that will take our students from the Knowledge Age into the Conceptual Age, Gordon Worley of the Florida Center for Instructional Technology

21st Century Skills, digital tools, and digital content that students explore through project-based learning will provide a method for our students to experience education as learners who are being prepared to enter the Conceptual Age. Resources from FCIT/USF such as iTunes U for Language Arts, Florida aligned digital content for science and math, and the Florida Digital Educator Program will be explored.

Boca III & IV

2:00-2:50 PM

Track Session B- Florida LambdaRail: Next Generation Network for Research, Education and Economic Development, J. Phillip Halstead, Ph.D., CEO, Florida LambdaRail, LLC

This session will introduce Florida LambdaRail (FLR), LLC, Florida’s new 1,540-mile state-spanning high-speed optical network for research, education and economic development.   In concert with the conference theme of “reconsidering IT and the education business model” this session will explore how FLR can be a new force for innovation and competitive advantage. 

Caribbean VI & VII

2:00-2:50 PM

Track Session C- FIRN 2 Update, Melinda Crowley of the Department of Education

The FIRN2 presentation will include a FIRN2 update of network utilization, bandwidth, connections, and Strategic Plan; E-Rate Data Collection analysis, growth factor 06-07, current status, Year 11 Workshops and training, New USAC Forms, and Year 11 To Do List.

Boca VII

2:00-2:50 PM

Track Session D- Overview of Mainframe Security at NWRDC, Joe Peresich

This presentation will be be an overview of the IBM z9 mainframe security environment at NWRDC.  Topics that we will cover include

·         ACF2 protection of customer and system resources,

·         Securing Internet connections to the data center,

·         Protecting file exchanges between NWRDC and other hosts,

·         SSL, PGP and other security components.

This will be a PowerPoint presentation with handouts and examples provided.

Boca I & II

3:00-3:50 PM

Track Session A- Major Area of Interest Reconciliation File:  Methods, Timelines, and Data Elements, Dr. Connie Graunke and Ms. Andrea Latham, FACTS

This session will focus on District requirements for reporting Major Area of Interest credits for this year’s entering 9^th graders and methods being implemented by the Department of Education to assist Districts in their reporting efforts.  The presentation will outline the various reporting methods and timelines, including detailed discussion of the data elements that will make up the Department’s Reconciliation File.

Boca III & IV

3:00-3:50 PM

Track Session B- The Coming Knowledge Crisis – The Retirement of the Baby Boom Generation, Ramon Padilla of the Board of Governors

Beginning as early as 2008, the workforce will begin to feel the impact of the retirement of the baby boom generation.  This impact will be particularly hard felt in government and education where there has not been a great deal of “churn” in the workforce.  For those organizations who maintain legacy systems with legacy staff – be forewarned – you will not only lose your staff during this time but also your subject matter experts.  Organizations need to be planning for this departure of skilled workers in a systematic and thoughtful way.

Caribbean VI & VII

3:00-3:50 PM

Track Session C- The Latest and Greatest from Tallahassee- K-12 Education Update, Kate Kemker of the Department of Education

Boca VII

3:00-3:50 PM

Track Session D- From SNA to IP, Joe Peresich

This presentation will be an overview of how traditional SNA applications are being migrated to TCP/IP and the Internet.  Particular focus will be on IBM's Enterprise Extender and migration of such applications as JES2 RJE/NJE away from SNA to IP.  We'll also discuss 3270 terminal/printer, file transfer, and other SNA-related applications that can be migrated to Internet connections. 

Caribbean Foyer

4:00-4:30 PM

Afternoon Break Sponsored By SchoolNet, Inc.

Boca VII

4:00- 5:00 PM

FIRN Advisory Council Meeting

Boca I & II

4:30-5:20 PM

Track Session A- Largest US Installation of Activ Boards, Mike Horan of Sarasota County School District

Sarasota County is installing close to 3000 Activ Boards and training teachers for their use.  The session will provide an overview of the single largest interactive board in the US and valued at $13M.  

Boca III & IV

4:30-5:20 PM

Track Session B- Technology Learning Communities- They Work!, Don Manderson, Norma Jennings and Tom Ingram of Escambia County Schools

Escambia School District has established 80 technology learning communities, composed of 6 - 8 voluntary teachers per community, distributed over 50 schools. The learning communities are assigned to and are orchestrated by 6 district technology teachers who facilitate technology integration activities in each community. This integration is accomplished at a pace commensurate with the ability of community members to absorb technical skills and information and to inject technical methods into their instructional approach. Each community member devises an “action plan” based on their individual technology professional development needs (as measured by the DOE Inventory of Teacher Technology Skills) and the academic needs of their students (as measured by their students’ FCAT developmental scale scores). Each community member is provided with hardware, software, and professional development based on their action plan needs.

Boca V & VI

4:30-5:20 PM

Track Session C- Student Electronic Portfolio's, Tina Barrios of Manatee County School District

Manatee County has been developing a web development management system (SchoolPage) for the past 5 years.  This tool enables students and teachers to create and post websites both on the intranet and/or internet.  The system has a built in approval/feedback mechanism to allow teachers to approve all work posted by students as well as providing instructional feedback to the students on their work.  This past year as part of our district strategic plan we piloted using this system for student electronic portfolios to measure student attainment of the strategic objectives.  Come hear about this exciting initiative and see examples of what students and teachers are doing in Manatee County.

Boca VIII

4:30-5:20 PM

Track Session D– FAMIS Data Sub-committee

Caribbean Ballroom

I & II

9:00-11:00 PM

Welcome Party Sponsored by IBM-

The Return of the FAEDS 500 with Refreshments, Snacks, Games and Prizes.

Caribbean Ballroom

III, IV, & V

2:00- 9:00 PM

Vendor Booth Set Up

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Caribbean Ballroom

III, IV, & V

Before 7:30 AM

Vendor Booth Set Up Complete

Caribbean

Foyer

7:30 AM – 6:00 PM

Registration & Information

Martinique Ballroom

8:00 AM

FCITL Meeting

Caribbean Ballroom

III, IV, & V

8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Partners in Educational Technology Day / Exhibit Hall Open 

Caribbean Foyer

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM

Continental Breakfast Sponsored By STI

Governors Boardroom

8:30 AM- 10:30 AM

FAMIS Board Meeting

Caribbean Ballroom VI

9:00-10:00 AM

Premier Solution Session 1: Sencilo Systems “Case Study: Going Tapeless for Backup and Recovery” with Orange County Public Schools and Sencilo Solutions

Last year Orange County Public School looked at the possibility of eliminating tape from their backup environment.  Faced with the challenges of ever shrinking backup windows, proliferation of new servers to backup, along with the need to recover up to 28,000 employee's data.   OCPS surveyed the Network Storage and Backup marketplace from around the country before finding the answer right here in their own backyard from Sencilo Solutions.  Sencilo presented to the County a next generation backup technology which would reduce their need for a sixteen drive LTO tape loader, while allowing all data recoveries request to be served via high-speed disk rather then tape.   The County expects to recover it's investment within 30 months based on eliminating future tape purchases, off-site vaulting cost, along with other services. 

Boca I & II

9:00-9:50 AM

Solution Session 1: FirstClass “Using FirstClass to Develop Collaborative Learning Communities -Benefits for Teachers, Students and Parents”  with Todd Schmid

We all know that supporting effective communication and collaboration between and among administrators, teachers, students and parents can be an overwhelming challenge. But an effective technology solution can help to create a cohesive, unified community in which communication and collaboration are fostered and supported to achieve outstanding results. The development of rich, dynamic collaborative communities has been shown to produce a variety of results, including:

·         enhancing literacy and 21^st century skills among students,

·         less teacher isolation; greater satisfaction, higher morale, and lower rates of absenteeism,

·         increased commitment to the mission and goals of the school and district,

·         higher likelihood that teachers will be well informed, professionally renewed, and motivated to inspire students, and

·         shared responsibility for student development and success.

This session will use real-world examples of how school districts such as Hillsborough County, Broward County and others are using FirstClass as their district-wide platform for communication and collaboration to enhance both teaching and learning.

Boca III & IV

9:00-9:50 AM

Solution Session 2: SAS “Data Driven Performance Management and the Education Business Model” with Jacin Suskin

Imagine that all decisions affecting funding and budget in the K-12 environment – district operations, state and federal reporting, No Child Left Behind, classroom instruction, teacher recruitment, an individual student’s learning plan, etc. – could be made using accurate, reliable data.

There’s certainly no shortage of data in today’s education systems. However, data is often scattered across many different databases and is difficult to access. Plus, it’s possible that you uncover different results from each data source. Issues such as poor data quality, funding shortfalls and accountability requirements have forced educational professionals to recognize the importance of having clean, accurate data to drive efficiency and improved student achievement. Join us to see how educational professionals can:

·         Use data integration and data quality techniques to transform and combine disparate data sources – resulting in consistent, reliable and accurate information

·         Analyze massive amounts of data using analytics to uncover previously unknown patterns and trends so that interventions can be implemented proactively rather than reactively

·         Assemble a comprehensive, integrated view of the organization, analyze data on student performance, finances and grants, teacher recruitment and retention, and daily operations

·         Create a portal where key decision makers view a customized dashboard to track key performance indicators, access timely reports at their fingertips, and submit ad-hoc queries that satisfy their information needs

See how data driven performance management can enable educational professionals to ensure continuous funding streams and operational efficiencies through trustworthy data, streamlined reporting, and a sound performance management strategy.

Boca V & VI

9:00-9:50 AM

Solution Session 3: CISCO “Cisco Unified Communications in Education” with Bill Moran, Unified Communications CSE

Explore the benefits that Cisco Unified Communications offers to the education industry. Review the transformation of communications with parents, administrators and educators and the requirements of communications in 21st century schools.

Boca VII

9:00-9:30 AM

Theatre Session 1: aal “Decision Assistant, the Fully Customizable Dashboard” with Sean Pollock and Todd Coulombe

At one time school districts needed to have data repositories of student data solely to report back marks, and student results. Now, to be proactive as an education provider, districts need to anticipate upcoming issues and hone their education business rules to match trends shown by their data.

Join aal as we discuss Decision Assistant^™, the latest suite to complement aal’s robust Student Information System, eSIS^®.

Decision Assistant, enables your decision makers to focus on trends and indicators critical to their responsibilities through a fully customizable dashboard. Every user can individualize their own view to show their chosen data at a glance in real time, all this without the overhead and cost of a Data Warehouse solution.

Boca VIII

9:30- 10:00 AM

Theatre Session 2: GroupLink Corporation  “My HelpDesk can beat up your help desk”  with Casey Trujillo

Can a help desk solution really increase your IT staff’s productivity?  Can it transform your users from tech dependant to self-sufficient?  Can it produce the critical reports you need? 

Come listen to Tom Ingram from Escambia School District of Florida talk about how his help desk solution has transformed his IT staff into heroes in the eyes of his end-users and upper management.

GroupLink^® Corporation’s everything HelpDesk^™ is a complete, mobile, web-based and user-friendly help desk solution built upon ITIL best practices.  Whether deployed for government, education, healthcare, financial services, or other I.T. service support functions, this everything solution helps you be an “I.T. Hero” while reducing your total I.T. cost of ownership (TCO).  This product was designed for Microsoft, Novell and Linux environments, and allows powerful integration with Microsoft and Novell technologies such as: Outlook, Exchange, ADS, OES, eDirectory, GroupWise, ZENworks and Linux. 

Boca VII

10:00-10:30 AM

Theatre Session 3: Mistletoe Technologies  “Securing the Networks from Within - A Look at Educational Networks” with Vatsal Mehta

Security threats are equally possible from within the network - as they are from outside of the network. Many internal security breaches with monetary implications are not reported or disclosed.

With the higher performance requirements of educational networks - traditional approaches to internal security need to be constantly evaluated when thinking about network and services upgrades. A single compromised host with high performance computing and network access can cause far more damage than tens of low performance compromised hosts.

We present topologies and technical innovations to monitor and mitigate access to critical resources in a high performance educational network through distributed analytics - while maintaining cost, power and rack space  efficiency.

Boca I & II

10:20-11:10 PM

Solution Session 4: Parature  “Deliver A+ Service to Your Faculty, Staff & Students While Reducing Costs” with Cody Benson of Brenau University

Colleges and universities, today, are facing a generation of students, faculty and staff who rely on cutting edge technologies.  These institutions are consistently challenged by the hundreds of questions submitted by students and staff on a daily basis and the burden of answering them within required timeframes. In addition, the rising occurrence of online class participation has driven the need for effective and efficient support to the forefront. 

In this session, you will learn the most common support challenges that plague colleges and universities and discover the solutions that allow you to optimally support your students, faculty and staff. 

·         Attend this exciting and informative session to gain the insight you need to:

·         Reduce your support calls and emails by up to 80%

·         Decrease repetitive questions

·         Enable self-service for faculty, staff and students

·         Reduce your issue resolution time by up to 50%

·         Provide 24/7 online support

·         Reduce the cost of support significantly

Boca III & IV

10:20-11:10 PM

Solution Session 5: EMC “Changing the Economics of Server and Storage Consolidation” with Brad Bunce, Director of Celerra Product Marketing

Join Brad Bunce, director of Celerra product marketing, for an overview of the NS20 integrated multi-protocol storage platform.  He outlines the many environments the NS20 supports, including file serving, Microsoft SQL Server and Exchnage applications - as well as EMC VMware environments.You'll get a high-level view of the NS20's distinguishing features, the challenges it addresses, and the key benefits of the system - including its ease-of-use, scalable performance, and uncompromising availability.

Boca V & VI

10:20-11:10 PM

Solution Session 6: Edline “Palm Beach County and Edline - An Easy, Efficient and Effective Portal Solution” with Marge Abrams, Edline Vice President and Gary Weidenhamer, Manager of Educational Technology at Palm Beach County School District

In less than 3 months, Palm Beach County successfully deployed Edline’s website and portal solution three years ago. This session will demonstrate how Palm Beach has expanded the ways it provides critical information and resources to families with a single sign-on. Palm Beach improves student achievement and increases parent involvement by providing parent access to critical and comprehensive information such as grades, attendance, homework, calendars, class, club and team news. The portal also gives home access to essential resources used by the district, such as FCAT Explorer, Riverdeep and on-line text books.  Edline also offers a complete online learning environment to support the needs of large school districts with online gradebooks, online testing systems, discussion boards, web lockers and digital drop boxes.

Caribbean Ballroom VI

10:30- 11:30 AM

Premier Solution Session 2: Hewlett Packard “The HP Digital Classroom” with Phillip Cutrone, Solutions Business Manager

Enhancing Teacher Productivity
The HP Digital Classroom brings together interactive learning solutions, computer hardware, educational software, wireless networking and professional services in a customized program that can empower teachers to:

·         Adjust to distinct learning styles

·         Collaborate with other teachers and students

·         Monitor test results and respond to student questions

·         Improve student engagement and achievement by integrating technology in the classroom

·         Distribute homework assignments

·         Access a variety of resources for planning lessons

·         Communicate with parents and administrators

·         Decrease the burden of administrative tasks

Keeping Students Engaged In & Out of School
It’s important to note that the HP Digital Classroom addresses the way students want to learn. As students grow increasingly at ease with blogs, social networking and the retrieval of information online—87 percent of U.S. teens use the Internet—it’s evident they’ve embraced personalized learning. With products that range from notebook PCs to digital whiteboards, printers, wireless projectors and interactive response technology, HP can support teachers as they seek to not only improve their own productivity, but to engage students in schoolwork and raise achievement in the classroom.

Boca VIII

10:30-11:00 AM

Theatre Session 4: Information Builders ” Dashboards & Scorecards” with Dan Haug, Public Sector Account Executive

Over the past year or two organizations have started to adopt dashboards and scorecards as their preferred way of viewing performance information. A dashboard or scorecard interface makes it easy for a majority of users to quickly find, analyze, and explore the information they need to perform their jobs on a daily basis.  While dashboards monitor and measure processes to inform users "what" they are doing, scorecards chart progress toward objectives by telling users "how well" they are doing.  Come to this session to learn and see examples of how Information Builders can help deliver these types of interfaces for your organization.

Boca VII

11:00-11:30 AM

Theatre Session 5: Aruba Networks “The All Wireless Education Enterprise” with Tony Naples

Aruba Networks presents The All Wireless Education Enterprise Learn how upcoming technologies will effect your future deployments from District Headquarters to Schools. See how off campus use by educators, administrators and students can securely enhance the learning experience. Everyone agrees that mobility increases the value of information; however few networks were built to support mobility, especially in the areas of Security, Scalability and Ease of Deployment. This seminar will address how to build networks for triple-play mobile applications from the ground up instead of retro-fitting your existing fixed network.

See how easy it is to add wireless networks in places where cabling is expensive or take too long to install. Learn the best practices of building mobile networks by addressing security issues up front and planning for scalability as the number of mobile devices explodes on your network. Finally, you will learn how to lower your total cost of network ownership by employing state-of-the-art capabilities designed for large-scale deployments.
At this event you'll discover:

·         Indoor/Outdoor MESH Network is Fast and Easy

·         A Fresh Approach to Increasing Security

·         Lowering Total Cost of Ownership through

·         Automated  Design,

·         Automated Installation

·         Comprehensive Support

Boca VIII

11:30-12:00 PM

Theatre Session 6:  United Data Technologies “LeftHand Networks, Changing the Rules of Storage Networking” Scott Sager, Regional Sales Manager

LeftHand Networks is the leader in open iSCSI SANs. Founded in 1999, the company pioneered the IP SAN market in 2001 with the introduction of SAN/iQ-powered solutions, SANs inherently better by design. Today, thousands of SAN/iQ® systems are running worldwide in production environments across numerous verticals including Enterprise, SMB, Healthcare, K12, Higher Education and Federal. 
Powerful and yet cost-effective, LeftHand iSCSI SANs are changing the rules of storage networking. Our customers are not constrained by high cost, high maintenance, vendor-specific systems. LeftHand SANs are easy to grow, easy to manage, and architected to meet their most urgent business needs:

·         Scalability Our storage networks scale performance along with capacity, from entry-level 6 TB SATA SANs to enterprise-class 100 TB SAS SANs

·         High Availability Integrated synchronous and asynchronous replication provide our customers with anytime, anywhere data access

·         Reliability SAN/iQ Network RAID spreads multiple copies of data across the network, allowing uninterrupted access to volumes even through the loss of an entire datacenter

·         Performance We deliver our iSCSI SANs on industry standard platforms, and focus our expertise on creating best-in-class features that keep your SAN at peak performance.

Our open approach gives customers the freedom to build enterprise-class storage solutions on their choice of hardware. Our SAN/iQ platform turns enterprise-class x86 servers like the HP ProLiant or IBM System xSeries into scalable network storage ideal for server consolidation and virtualization projects, Microsoft application environments, and disaster recovery solutions.

Caribbean Ballroom I & II

12:00-1:45 PM

Luncheon Keynote: “If There Is One Thing We Know For Sure….” Mitch Benson, Worldwide Director of Education Solutions of Microsoft

Connecting our communities of students, teachers, professors, parents and partners with one another, and to the schools and universities they call home, has never before been so critical.  New technologies are driving new demands… and new behaviors are driving the need for ongoing innovation.  Time may not be on our side - the “feedback loop”  of demand and behavior is being accelerated and fueled by the use of ICT.  How we choose to employ emerging tools, and engage with the new models of interaction and relationships they support to meet and shape the demands of the students in our care will define our generation.  Do we know this new generation?

Boca VIII

2:00 – 5:00 PM

CIO Meeting

Caribbean Ballroom VI

2:00-3:00 PM

Premier Solution Session 3: IBM IBM Internet Security Systems: “The Evolving Threat” with Sean Brantley, Global Technology Security Business Development Manager

The Threat has evolved!  Life used to be simple. You knew your enemies: Viruses, worms, and trojans.

Now, life is more complex. With the significant new attack vectors and methods introduced over the last year, 2006 has seen an evolutionary leap in the threat landscape. Plus, today's hackers seek money instead of fame. They adapt threats to compromise your legacy defenses.

This presentation will discuss an innovative approach that protects customers “Ahead of the Threat.”

Boca VII

2:00-2:30 PM

Theatre Session 7: Sophos “Network Security: Only as Good as Your NAC” with Jeff Gaffny

Ten years ago, technology in education was tremendously different than what we see today. The internet was just gaining popularity; the first version of AOL instant messenger was launching but was rarely used in schools; cell phones were just a mobile version of a cumbersome landline phone; there were no iPods or social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook; and P2P networks like Kazaa or Skype didn’t exist. The evolution of these products and their presence in today’s educational environment is staggering. Network Access Control (NAC) is steadily becoming a critical element of every organization’s security model, no matter what its size. By implementing a flexible and dynamic NAC solution, educational institutions are able to effectively combat today’s threats, while being adequately equipped to protect against tomorrows.

Boca I & II

2:00-2:50 PM

Solution Session 7: Midrange Support & Services, Inc. “Deploying Voice Over IP (VoIP) to Enhance Security and Communications in Education” with Steven Marinak

K-12 districts, community colleges and universities are under new pressures to safeguard their students, teachers, administrators and their data.   Utilizing Internet Protocol (IP) systems has proven to be one of the best practices chosen by school administrators to solve these issues.  In the IBM/ 3Com Solutions Session, we will examine the history of communication and safety, and show you how to greatly improve student safety and enhance communications with parents, students and educators while making the successful move to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) environment.  

Join IBM and 3Com for an informative and non-technical Solutions Session that speaks to the core issues surrounding security and communications demonstrating how VoIP can help solve these issues to make the school a safer, more streamlined place. The transition from a legacy (PBX) phone environment to VoIP presents a unique opportunity for school districts to integrate safety applications, such as malicious call tracing and recording, right into the school's infrastructure. Discover budget-savings methods to perform absentee notification.  Learn about key communication trends in Education and how "best in breed" institutions are deploying technology to conform with state and local regulations (E-911, No Child Left Behind reporting.). Understand the steps necessary to replace calling trees and manual parent-teacher interactions with sophisticated, automated homework hotlines and emergency notification systems. Give teachers powerful communications tools, and parents piece of mind that they can interact with the school to obtain the information they need quickly and accurately.

Boca III & IV

2:00-2:50 PM

Solution Session 8: Dynamix Group “OUR HATS OFF TO YOU!” Mike Ostrowski, Southeast Region General Manager, Ascendant Technologies

The school districts in Florida have spent years developing the most comprehensive, fully integrated   school district management system in the Education Industry! Your legacy  applications are secure and built on the most stable and highly reliable technology in the world.  They have never been hacked, never had a virus, and have never been down for an extended period of time.  You did a great job, now let us show you how you can protect and substantially enhance the investment you have made over the last 20+ years. DynamixGroup, Inc. and IBM have partnered together to help the school districts in Florida continue to have the best solution at a reasonable cost. We are committed to delivering  you with the newest  WebSphere and HATS technology  for a small fraction of the cost and time it would take to start all over again! Below is a list of just some of the enhancements we have made!

·          The  Log in Screen now looks like a web login screen

·         Users no longer have to depend on knowing the panel numbers

·         We have drop down menus with panel choices, yet the power users can still type in the panel numbers

·         Users can now navigate to other panels by clicking on the tabbed tables

·         Users can pick from a list instead of having to know the code

·         Casual users can view information without having to navigate the TERMS menu

·          Panels can be combined on one web screen

Boca V & VI

2:00-2:50 PM

Solution Session 9: Dell “Dell Technology and Security Options for the Classroom” with Dell and Enterasys Team

Please join Dell Inc. and Enterasys Networks for breakout session.  We will provide an update on Dell technology for the classroom and security options that are applicable to K-12 and Higher Education.  There will be a hands-on demonstration to show how teachers and faculty can easily control network access in the classroom. 

Boca VII

2:30-3:00 PM

Theatre Session 8: StoreVault, a NetApp Division “Simplifying Your Storage” with James Frank, Channel Development Manager
Universities, Colleges and Schools all share an ever-increasing need for data storage. This need for more storage is fueled by new administrative applications, rich-media files.
Common problems include:
Funding – Budget for IT investment in K-12 and higher education is always an issue.
Migration from paper-based storage to online storage
Server growth is mushrooming - Servers are growing exponentially.
Data storage Backup windows are becoming unmanageable
IT staffing challenges - Maintaining storage for separate application servers has become complex.
Online communications applications growth - E-mail, Web-based service and applications.
Disaster Recovery - Educational institutions face growing pressure to protect vital information.

Boca Foyer

2:45-3:15 PM

Ice Cream Novelty Break

Boca VII

3:00-3:30 PM

Theatre Session 9: Gaggle,Net, Inc. “Email Archiving and the New Open Records Laws”  with Mike Kessler, Vice President

According to the new federal rulings passed by the Supreme Count in December, 2006, school districts are required to archive all electronically stored information, including email, which could be considered evidence in the event of a lawsuit.  All electronically stored information will be subject to legal discovery during a lawsuit and failure to produce these records would put your district in violation of the state and federal open records laws.

Many companies are providing archiving solutions for school districts in light of these new laws, but often their terminology can be confusing and difficult to understand.  In this session, come learn the essentials about email archiving and what features you should consider when choosing an email archiving solution.  This session will cover different types of archiving available, the importance of spam and virus protection as it relates to archiving, and much more.

Come learn about the new Open Record Laws and how you can update your district’s email archiving policy.

Boca VI

3:30-4:00 PM

Theatre Session 10:  Blackboard Inc., “Enhancing Instructional Delivery and Curriculum Management using Blackboard”

Come find out why Blackboard has truly become the recognized standard for delivering the most effective and efficient e-Learning solutions to the K-12 community. Tried and proven, Blackboard provides a central online hub that unifies four key pillars of teaching and learning.
Instructional Delivery and Curriculum Management
Professional Development
Communication and Community
Evaluation and Assessment

We will discuss how Blackboard has helped teachers work with students demonstrating a wide range of abilities and rates of progress by customizing learning paths for their students. Whether you are supplementing a physical classroom, providing a blended teaching approach, or a pure virtual learning experience, Blackboard will help enhance the teaching and learning experience.

Boca I & II

3:10-4:00 PM

Solution Session 10: Microsoft “Using Technology to Address eDiscovery, Records Management, and Compliance in Today’s Environment “ with Steve Gilmer, Business Manager for Collaborative Technologies

Over the past several decades, educational organizations have created a huge volume of unstructured content that includes documents, e-mail messages, videos, instant messages, Web pages, and more. This content often exists in a state of unmanaged chaos that prevents an organization from properly using these valuable assets for better knowledge sharing, improved communications, increased process efficiency, and meeting eDiscovery and compliance requirements. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) from Microsoft is a key component of an organization's infrastructure that can help organizations overcome these challenges. In this session, you will come to understand what the trends are across the industry; what users are asking for in the area of enterprise content management, specifically in regard to eDiscovery and records management (i.e. document retention, information access, etc.); and how the Microsoft platform can help you easily extend content management to every information worker in an organization through integration with familiar tools like the Microsoft Office system.

Boca III & IV

3:10-4:00 PM

Solution Session 11: Oracle “Protecting Social Security Numbers and other sensitive information within the education environment” with Ted Sherrill, Director of Regulatory Compliance & Security

Educational institutions are under attack from hackers and data theft criminals.  This has resulted in education institutions representing over 40% of US breaches of identity.  There are also state and potentially federal privacy regulations which institutions must comply.  This presentation will cover how Oracle is helping Florida education institutions understand their risk around sensitive data and how to take back control of this data from the application vendors security configurations and restrictions.  Oracle offers a unique solution that can eliminate the use of SSN and other Personally Identifiable Information throughout the Higher Education institution.   This solution can be implemented for any Application, including Legacy systems.

Caribbean Ballroom VI

3:30  -4:30 PM

Premier Solution Session 4:Insight Public Sector “E-Mail Data Management, Protection and Compliance” with Michael Wilkerson, Messaging and Compliance Specialist at Symantec

With the increasing pressure on Schools with E Discovery, to protect and manage data has intensified with the recent Federal Regulation with regards to unstructured data and the reliance on email to communicate and exchange documents. Many Schools now consider email to be mission critical. So, how do Schools protect their email data when email is expected to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week? And what if a legal challenge requires IT to find files and email? With little extra time to maintain backup windows, IT administrators are challenged to meet stringent business requirements. Also, in spite of exponential data growth and increasing user demands for data recoverability, IT budgets remain flat. Symantec Enterprise Vault software answers these challenges.

Boca I & II

4:20-5:10 PM

Solution Session 12: AirWave Wireless, Inc.  “Making Wireless Networks Work in K-12” with David Beattie, Director of Sales, Southeast and Jeremy Haltom, Network Engineer

Best management practices, and the right monitoring, management and reporting tools, enable school districts large and small to implement wireless networks easily and with minimal disruption.

More and more schools and school districts are implementing wireless networks to expand the availability of the internet and educational technology, to streamline operations and expand lab use, to a enable one-to-one programs, improve school security, and implement paperless administration. Based on the experience gained assisting school districts large and small throughout the state and nation, the presentation will discuss best practices for WLAN management, monitoring, troubleshooting, and security which extend school infrastructure life, ease demands on network staff, and improve wireless delivery of curricular activities to students.

Caribbean Ballroom VI

4:30- 5:30 PM

Premier Solution Session 5: Apple “The Next Cat from Apple: OSX (Leopard)” with  Jeff Rummel, Southeast Consulting Engineer &  Server Manager, Apple, Inc

With more than 300 new features added to Apple's operating system (AKA: "Leopard"), the seamless integration of information has reached an efficiency level unsurpassed by others.  In this exciting"sneak peak" we'll quickly explore a few of these features and then jump ahead to reveal the introduction of Apple’s award-winning UNIX® based server operating system, OS X server.  This powerful new server solution gives organizations the ability to share files, schedule meetings and events, exchange instant messages, send and receive mail on the Internet, access the organization’s network remotely, publish podcasts, and host websites, wikis, blogs and much more.    The more you understand about Apple the more excited and impressed you'll become.

Boca VII

4:30-5:00 PM

Theatre Session 12:  AverMedia Technologies “How to Apply Document Camera Technology in the Classroom” with Steven Kass, Document Camera Product Trainer

Steven Kass, a Product Trainer for AVerMedia Technologies and former High School teacher will be demonstrating the benefits and uses of AVerVision Document Cameras, and providing specific applications for the K-12 classroom.   Mr. Kass will be demonstrating how to use a variety of document camera features for an assortment of classroom subjects and lesson plans, and describing the benefits of using visual technology.    Learn how to fully utilize the features of a document camera, and how to apply them to your lesson plans or classroom demonstrations to add a large visual effect.  Mr. Kass will be covering basic document camera functions as well as advanced features for specific classroom settings including Math, Science, Language Arts and more.  

Caribbean

Foyer

5:30- 6:30 PM

Reception

Caribbean Ballroom

I & II

6:30- 8:15 PM

Banquet Sponsored by Hewlett Packard and Sencilo Systems

Boca Foyer and

Boca Patio

8:30- 10:30 PM

Tuesday Night Event- Casino Night Sponsored by Insight Public Sector

Boca Foyer and

Boca Patio

10:30-11:30 PM

Auction with Guest Auctioneer, Bob Paxton

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Caribbean Foyer

7:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Registration & Information

Caribbean Foyer

7:45 – 8:45 AM

Continental Breakfast Sponsored By SP Snapshot

Caribbean Ballroom I & II

8:45 – 9:45 AM

KeyNote Address:  “Leadership in Change Management:  Keys to Strategic Thinking” Dr. Lujan,Provost CalPoly Pomona

Dr. Lujan will address the tendency toward complex data driven solutions; the tendency toward information overkill; the desire for reactive comprehensive versus proactive strategic thinking and also discuss the fact that while we want to think comprehensively, we spend and change incrementally.

Boca VIII

9:00 AM- 12:00 PM

CIO Meeting

Boca I & II

10:00-10:50 AM

Track Session A–  Planting and Picking E-content in The Orange Grove, Susie Henderson and Cathy Alfano of the Florida Distance Learning Consortium

Presenters will provide a brief overview of The Orange Grove K20 Digital Repository and a demonstration of how to use existing resources and contribute new resources to the Repository.  Opportunities to establish individual district or institution collections and receive additional training and information will be discussed.

Boca III & IV

10:00-10:50 AM

Track Session B – Florida’s EdPass Initiative : Streamlined Enrollment and  Professional Development for Teachers, Bruce Chaloux with SREB and John Opper with Florida Distance Learning Consortium

The Southern Regional Education Board has developed a rapid admissions/registration system call VESA (Visiting Electronic Student Authorization).  VESA permits students to quickly and easily enroll in online courses without the usual extended admissions process.  VESA has been effectively deployed in a special Katrina hurricane relief program for students along the Gulf Coast.  And now VESA is coming to Florida.  In cooperation with the Florida Distance Learning Consortium, a pilot project (EdPass) to utilize VESA for Florida’s k-12 educators is underway.  Courses from selected institutions, in Florida will be available to Florida educators.  Teachers will be able to easily search for, find, and complete the admissions/registration process for these courses online and in a matter of minutes from Consortium’s distancelearn.org website.  Learn more about this project, how the EdPass system works, and how your teachers can pursue their professional requirements at Florida colleges and universities quickly and easily.

Boca V & VI

10:00-10:50 AM

Track Session C-  Addressing the Challenge of Business Resiliency and Recovery with Mikal Haney, System Manager of NWRDC and Randy Stephens, Eastern Sales Executive, IBM

This presentation will focus on the recent events both domestically and internationally that have changed the face of disaster preparedness.  The speaker will cover the three sources of business interruption and discuss how leading edge businesses are addressing these new issues.  Solutions for Educational Institutes that are proactive as well as reactive will be discussed.

Boca I & II

11:00-11:50 AM

Track Session A– Uses of SSNs in Student Data Systems, Jay Pfeiffer of the Department of Education

The use of Social Security Numbers within student data systems is controversial.  Yet it is an important part of being able to effectively manage data systems, especially when they are used in conjunction with other administrative data to provide, verify, and evaluate services.  This presentation will discuss the importance of Social Security Numbers in the student data systems as well as the importance of limiting their use. Presenters will provide potential solutions to assure that these data are protected.

Boca III & IV

11:00-11:50 AM

Track Session B-  Copyright and the World of Technology: An Update, Gary Becker

New and emerging technologies offer continuing challenges in regard to copyright and the use of protected materials.  This session will provide an overview of recent changes in the law and interpretations as well as providing an opportunity for attendees to pose questions directly related to their concerns.  

Boca V & VI

11:00-11:50 AM

Track Session C– Managing Networked Computers - One District's Experience, George Vensel, Director of Technology, and Gordon Nicolai, Network Manager of Manatee County Schools

A school district with 20,000 plus computers, 6,000 of them assigned to students in a one to one laptop project, presents some big problems for the tech teams supporting them on a daily basis.  The imaging of the one to one laptops alone can overwhelm support staff.  Throw in students changing settings, inappropriate software, licensing issues, frequent security and software updates, a mix of Macs and Windows operating systems, and you can drive a network team crazy.  Manatee County is meeting this challenge by deploying a cost effective cross platform computer management system. Learn about where we have been, how we are doing now, and where we are headed next.

BOCA VII

11:00-11:50 AM

Track Session D-  Learning By Doing: Integrating Tech Into Required School Curricula, Tim Coluzzi, Vice Principal at Cypress Bay HS in Broward County and Dale Rickard, Director of Technology and Curriculum at Madison County Elementary School, Madison County Schools, introduced by  Ben Sender, National VP of Professional Development & Curriculum Writing at JDL Horizons

Broward County Schools, one of the nation's leading urban school districts, and Madison County Schools, an innovative rural school district, will present two powerful examples of how teachers and students can use the new technologies to increase motivation and retention, improve achievement and hone 21st Century literacy skills through project-based learning. These highly successful programs used in-class mentors who enhanced the regular Florida "required curriculum" with highly interactive hands-on activities designed to demonstrate how to use Internet and other cutting edge technologies to meet the most critical objectives of the FCAT standards in the core subjects.  Although this project-based approach can be used at all grade levels, these two demonstrations will cover the Elementary and high school levels. Both programs started in single schools but have been so successful, they have already begun to penetrate and influence the full learning communities of the two school districts. Without many changes or adjustments the multi-disciplinary professional development approach can be effective in raising the quality of teaching and learning in any one or a combination of the core school subjects.  One of the most exciting new options in this project-based program is the capacity to have the students connect to, and work with, students in other districts and nations.

Caribbean Ballroom I & II

12:00-1:45 PM

Luncheon Keynote: “Open Education: The Engine of Innovation in the 21st Century” Michael King, IBM

Mr. King has been with IBM for over 20 years in various executive and management positions.   He is currently the worldwide leader for the IBM Education Industry.   In this role, he leads IBM’s strategy, marketing and sales across schools and higher education.   He has held a variety of roles in the Education Industry, including Global Solution Executive and Higher Education marketing executive.   He served as the lead market manager for learning in IBM, launching important corporate solution initiatives in Europe and globally, and was the Director of Alliances for IBM Learning Solutions.  Mr. King has held several sales and management positions in various industry segments across IBM.

Mr. King holds Bachelor’s of Science degrees in Physics and Engineering from Kansas State University and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.   He is a member of the Board of Directors of the IMS Global Learning Consortium standards organization and the California P16 Education Advisory Council.