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Press Release: March 14, 2005

O'Reilly Media, Inc. Launches the 2005 O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference to Survey the Landscape of Location Technologies

Sebastopol, CA--Location-aware technologies like GPS, RFID, WLAN, cellular networks and networked sensors are enabling an ever-growing array of capabilities, from local search, mapping, and business analytics to enterprise integration, commercial applications, and software infrastructure. The first O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference has been created to explore the emerging consumer and enterprise ecosystems around location technologies--ecosystems that can radically change the way we work and play. Where 2.0 will take place June 29-30, 2005 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, California.

The right technology at the right time is critical, even for companies considered to be outside the technology sector. We have reached a turning point in location technologies: the data has been collected, the tools are in place, and now these transformational applications can be deployed. Companies first to market with the fruits of these new technologies are reaping the greatest rewards.

Where 2.0 is the only gathering that focuses on helping attendees set a new course for enterprise growth, efficiency, and service, whether the customer is internal or external. IT decision-makers and infrastructure players, top level product and marketing managers, and technology innovators from a variety of industries such as retail, insurance, energy, data management, transportation, health care, and more will explore:

  • Enterprise Integration
  • - Strategic issues of integration: selling location technology to executive management, IT, and everyone else
    - Deploying and integrating location technology with other enterprise systems
    - What role standards play
    - Managing data quality within location-aware systems

  • Location determining technologies: RFID, WiFi, networked sensors, GPS, and cellular
  • - What's real now and what's coming in the near future
    - Integrating location-specific data into enterprise systems/enterprise solution platforms (WebSphere, Oracle Application Integration, Microsoft .NET, SAP NetWeaver, open source options)

  • Business Value
  • - How consumers are pushing businesses to become more location-aware
    - Localizing on-line experience: what's required and what's the business value?

  • Applications
  • - Risk management
    - Asset tracking
    - Logistics/ Supply chain
    - CRM
    - Operational analytics

    David Rumsey, founder of the David Rumsey Map Collection and president of Cartography Associates, has been confirmed as the conference's first featured speaker. Complete conference program details and registration information will be available in mid April.

    "We're working with Dave Sonnen, a mainstay of the geospatial industry, to create the Where 2.0 conference and explore the trends, technology, and troublemakers in this new location space," said conference program co-chair Nathan Torkington. "From mobile to local search to business analytics, we'll explore the new business models and competitive advantages from adding location to a business."

    Adds conference co-chair Sonnen, "We'll also have a deep and spirited debate about the cultural/social side of location-determining technology. On one hand, every time you use a cell phone or use a credit card, 'they' know where you are. So, location-determining technology is essentially ubiquitous and invisible. On the other hand, when some group decides to use location information in a visible way, the rules and social acceptance change."

    Where 2.0 is the newest addition to the O'Reilly conference calendar, which also includes the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Web 2.0, and the O'Reilly Open Source Convention. O'Reilly conferences bring together forward-thinking business and technology leaders, shaping ideas and influencing industries around the globe. For over 25 years, O'Reilly has facilitated the adoption of new and important technologies by the enterprise, putting emerging technologies on the map.

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    About O’Reilly

    O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

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