Just got back from a Day Trip to Needham!

Needham, you ask?

Yes, the Sheraton Needham is this year's location for the Connect OpenVMS Boot Camp. I took a day to visit the site and get to know the staff and the facility. This year's Boot Camp will be in a newly remodeled facility - the Sheraton is upgrading and renovating this facility this Summer - we will be the second group into the Hotel after the remodel. All of the public spaces are getting a work over - the Lobby, the Ballroom, the conference rooms. New computer-friendly environments are being developed in the Amphitheater (space for 50) as well as the Board Room and Directors Room (each can handle 16). We expect to use one of the latter two for our computer hands on lab sessions.

We will be only offering wireless access to the Boot Camp network this year for our attendees. Please come prepared for using wireless access. There will be no hardwired access points available this year.

Needham is about 16 miles out the Mass Pike from Logan International. It is less than a 20 minute drive or ride on the shutttle. Just off the I95/Route 128 just off exit 19A.

We are pretty much going to "own" the Sheraton the week of 18-22 September for the Boot Camp. As there are fewer rooms and smaller public spaces you can expect a much more intense and more intimate experience. The "Trophies" sports bar and "Bullard's" restaurant are both just off the Lobby. We expect to take over part of the Lobby for registration and networking. A quick ride in the elevator or a jaunt up the stairs brings you to the second floor foyer where there are 5 conference rooms. Down the first floor corridor to the Ballroom Foyer and you are at the Ballroom - of course. And if your go across this Foyer from the entrance to Dover and through the door and down a half flight of stairs you head to the 4 meeting rooms in the Executive Level - also accessible via the hall leading past the Lobby Elevators - a big circle! General session in the Ballroom, a session in the Amphitheater, a couple sessions on the second floor conference rooms and then back to the Ballroom for Lunch...

If this all sounds a bit confusing do not worry. There will be many staff and management from the Sheraton making sure you know how to get where your next session is located.

In the middle of all of this is an open air courtyard we hope to utilize - weather permitting. Hey, it is New England so anything can happen as far as the weather. It is also a great shortcut to the stairs up to the second floor conference rooms from the Ballroom.

We know we are expecting at least a C7000 chassis with some "i2" blades as well as a rx2800 i2 server. We will also have a hands on lab with up to 16 laptops configured for access to the servers or for local demonstrations and experimentation.

We are still soliciting sessions and look forward to any who wish to contribute. We would like to get the sessions finalized by early July. Please make sure you have either submitted your planned session or encouraged the speaker of your choice to do so as well. We have a great team reviewing these sessions and working to integrate them into a cohesive program - Sue Skonetski, Michelle Popejoy, Anders Johansson and Ray Turner are all helping on the Content Committee again this year.

If you as a member of the OpenVMS Community have any suggestions, requests or desires for content or format or even Keynote Speakers this year please contact us NOW!

Folks, we look forward to seeing all of you at the Boot Camp in September! Put it on your calendar!

See you there!

Thanks!

Bill.

Yes, that is right. The 2011 Connect OpenVMS Boot Camp will soon be here. The Boot Camp is scheduled for 18-22 September 2011 at the Sheraton Needham in Needham, Mass.

This is a new location for the Boot Camp. Instead of being located in Nashua, New Hampshire where it was born out of the VMS Ambassadors' Meetings the new venue is Southwest of Boston South of the I-95/Route 128 and I-90/Mass Pike Interchange. For those interested it is about half the distance from Logan International to the Sheraton Needham versus the prior trip up to the Radisson Nashua.

Planning is moving along nicely. The Call For Paper is on the Connect Worldwide website (www.connect-community.org). There are several interesting sessions already submitted.

Here is a peek at the current sessions:

• Using IP Networks as an OpenVMS Cluster Interconnect
• Using Perl to manage VMS systems
• A Method for Encrypted OpenVMS Network Backup
• Physical to virtual servers - From a technical and practical perspective
• OpenVMS Volume Shadowing Performance
• HP 3PAR Hands on Lab
• Using concealed devices and logical name tables for application environments.
• Long-Distance OpenVMS Cluster Update
• Improving OpenVMS security with System Detective

As you can see, the presentations are wide ranging and there will be many, many more submitted over the next month. The CFP closes on 15 June so if you have a topic you want to submit for consideration please do so.

There will be a Pre-Conference Seminar on Sunday, 18 September, focusing on OpenVMS Performance Topics - more details on that soon.

We hope to see you in Needham in September!

I'll add more soon - promise.

Yes, 2010 is just about behind us. Just 4 more days to go. Not much going on other than trying to get hours in on a project and starting some planning for the 2011 Connect OpenVMS Boot Camp.

Yes, I said it, OpenVMS Boot Camp! I can not say enough about the fact that I am happy to see Connect working to get the Boot Camp up and running this year. Sue Skonetski and the entire Program Committee should be commended for their efforts to relaunch this well respected event under Connect's auspices. The 2010 event was well received and its success has convinced Connect that it is appropriate to move forward with the 2011 Boot Camp.

I have no details as to the exact when or specific where as far as the event. I do know that it will be held in the September timeframe once again - it conflicts least with other HP events then. The general location is New England - sorry, no more detail than that for now - I wish I knew myself. More details will be coming out over the next few weeks.

Just sit back and relax and enjoy the fact that we are going to continue to have a Boot Camp event this coming year.

Please make sure to start putting this into your schedule and budget so you can attend and also participate!

As soon as we can we will get a call for papers site established and then publicize that and other information.

I have already had conversations with OpenVMS product management and they are looking forward to presenting at the Boot Camp. They are looking to emphasize migration to I64 and intend to focus many of their presentations in that direction.

If you have any thoughts, comments or requests I look forward to them. Your contributions and suggestions help make the Boot Camp the BEST OpenVMS event of the year!

Have a Happy New Year!

Bill.

Over the last couple months some of our OpenVMS Community members have been busy either porting new Open Source software to OpenVMS or in updating existing software with new versions. There have been at least 11 different packages and applications release in just the last two months. These include:

• Ant 1.7
• BZip2 1.0.6
• cdrtools 3.00
• Firefox V2.0-18
• JNA 3.2.2
• Jperf 2.0.2
• libffi 3.0.9
• Python/ctypes
• Rdesktop 1.3.1
• Snort V2.8-531A
• Universal Password Manager 1.6

Philippe Vouters has been one of the more prolific Community members in this recent effort. He is responsible for libffi as well as JNA and the Python/ctypes. Alexey Chupahin and Thierry Uso continue with expanding their contributions as well.

We should thank all of the Open Source on OpenVMS contributors for their efforts and dedication.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Visit http://www.OpenVMS.org for more information about available Open Source on OpenVMS.

Connect Worldwide is hosting two seminars on Tueday, 19 October, for Attunity, one of the 2010 Connect OpenVMS Boot Camp sponsors. You can find out more about the specific webinars here. The 09:00 EDT event is targetted for the EMEA region and the 14:00 EDT session is targetted at the Americas. The content should be generally the same. We will be recording these sessions and they will be available on the Connect website for those who can not attend the live events.

The technology being discussed is Attunity Stream for RMS and a specific implementation Attunity RMS-CDC for SQL Server Integration Services. A case study of implementation at Southeastern Freight Lines will be presented.

Several well respected members of the OpenVMS Community will be present during this event for a panel discussion. They include:

• John Apps, HP OpenVMS Ambassador/Consultant
• Hein van den Heuvel, HvdH Performance Consulting
• Brian Schenkenberger, Sr. VMS Software Specialist at TMESIS SOFTWARE

We look forward to seeing you at one of these two seminars.

Thanks,

Bill Pedersen