Please plan to join CIO members and invited guests at the February 21 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum. The topic for this meeting is "Practical Uses of Convergence". This is the second part of a two part series on Collaboration and Convergence.

Jim Robshaw, IT Director, Cisco Systems, Inc. will provide a segue from the Collaboration meeting in which he discussed "Cisco's Perspective on Collaboration: Vision and Internal Cisco Initiatives" to a presentation on a successful convergence architecture to support collaboration initiatives within Cisco. The presentation on convergence will address some of the key challenges in the deployment and organizational readiness areas that go in to a successful convergence architecture/deployment. The highlights of the presentation will be taking a multi-step approach in seeking the converged network that we are all striving for. Most successful converged networks start with a solid 3-5 year plan that is constantly evolving over time. Mr. Robshaw will take us through the steps that Cisco took in order to successfully deploy a sound data infrastructure capable of carrying Voice & Video and Mobility - making it a true Quad-Play.

In the second half of the meeting a panel of IT executives will discuss their experiences, benefits realized, lessons learned, process and business improvements and current challenges in the practical use of convergence in their organizations from four distinct business sector perspectives. The panelists are Marion Mullauer, VP & CIO, Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc. and panel chair; J.P. Athey, Director Global Operations & Network Services, Constellation Energy; Rob McFeaters, Director, Technology Management, PHH Arval; and Richard Wagner, Director of Emerging Technologies within Marriott International's Telecommunications organization. The panelists will discuss how separate technologies and applications have been combined into convergent networks to enable sharing of resources, improving interactions in more efficient ways, creation of sound infrastructures capable of sufficient underpinning for collaboration initiatives and technological advances looming on the horizon.

This meeting is a Roundtable Plus meeting. Only CIO members, guest CIOs and guests invited by CIO members for this roundtable will be attending. Vendor members and Towson University academia do not participate in this type of meeting. The roundtable format will be used and all participants will have signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Staff members who are guests of our CIO members are bound by the NDA signed by the CIO member.

Please join our members at the meeting! The meeting starts at 8:00 AM and ends by 1PM. Brunch and lunch are provided. Pre-registration is required. Meeting logistics including agenda, directions to the meeting place and parking information will be emailed to you after you register. For registration for this meeting, please contact: Bonnie Lawson at blawson@towson.edu or 410-704-4252.

To make inquiries about this meeting or about membership in the Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum, please contact: