Please plan to join fellow CIO Forum members and invited guests at the meeting of the Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum on February 16, 2006. The Forum provides an environment committed to fostering excellence in business and Information Technology. It is a non-profit organization founded by CIO's for CIO's. The topic for the February meeting is "Wireless and Handhelds: Management and Deployment within the Enterprise". Please join us to hear presentations and dialogue with two outstanding industry leaders in wireless technology.

The first speaker, Steve Visconti, Senior Director, Cisco Systems - Wireless Networking Business Unit, will discuss "Wireless Technology: Trends, Standards and Architectures". Mr. Visconti will focus on the planning, management and deployment of wireless infrastructures so the network takes full advantage of the capabilities of wireless in the business solution. "The increase in performance and applicability is only the beginning . Developing commercial and technical trends promise to provide far greater wireless LAN performance, which will in turn allow for a broader array of applications and services. Increasing economies of scale, robust competition, and more refined process technology will significantly lower the cost of wireless LANs, which will in turn lead to a dramatic increase in the number of wireless LAN users, particularly in the enterprise." The presentation will offer, on the CIO management level, overviews, guidance and insights related to architectures such as Hot Spot, Enterprise, MESH, and WiMax; overview of current IEEE standards, deployment strategies, examination and critique of trends and experiences in use of wireless technology in the enterprise, including utilizing wireless in remote offices and in applications in manufacturing, retail business, VoWLAN, and Outdoor Campus and Metro.

The second speaker, Mark Muratore, Senior Solutions Engineer, Sprint/Nextel, will address how the advent of WiFi/WLAN and WWAN technologies are revolutionizing the concept of "office", the workplace and the workforce. One key topic for discussion is how these two different wireless technologies are used in manufacturing environments versus how they fit into field force environments. Both the benefits and dangers of mobility to an enterprise are also examined. From the benefit side, the presentation looks at what applications and tools are being adopted to enable mobility as a tool that helps an enterprise improve new customer capture, customer loyalty, revenue growth and cost reduction. Along with benefits come dangers, and with the growth in demand for remote access to corporate networks, issues concerning how to address control, visibility, security and cost are also examined. The presentation provides a view of current best practices that allow an enterprise to begin to fully integrate wireless technology into the fundamental business communication and computing platform.

The meeting starts at 8:00 AM and is held on campus at Towson University. Brunch and lunch are provided. The meeting runs until noon, with lunch following. Pre-registration is required. Meeting logistics will be emailed to you after you register. We would love to have you participate. To register, please contact Catherine Swift at CSwift@towson.edu or 410-704-4252.

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