Global Expert

Global Expert is an excellent service offered by The Foundation for Research, Science & Technology.

The Global Expert program uses a knowledge network of more than 20,000 pre-screened and qualified experts from leading universities, research institutions and corporations around the world to help NZ companies identify skill sets difficult to locate in NZ.

Such a requirement for Pingar became apparent during the two-day SharePoint Conference in Wellington, last week. I have started the engagement with Global Expert today.

As to the two days last week, I have not yet had the opportunity to post on them. Except to say that I will return next year. Almost 250 people attended the Conference. It attracted a very impressive selection of international speakers. With the upcoming launch of SharePoint 2010, next year's event can only be so much bigger.

Congratulations to the organisers of this inaugural event. All were volunteers from the NZ SharePoint Users Community. I hope that next year, Pingar might be able to make a more visible and viable contribution.

To Wellington (with boots)

It's time once more for a trip to Wellington. This time to the NZ SharePoint Users Conference.

There is a seriously busy agenda in store. 7 sessions a day. Plus a lot of networking.

I am looking forward to it. Talking product for two days is not something I am used to. Soooo much time has been spent in recent weeks with professional advisers and others. As well as travel.

The forecast? Very cold, windy and wet. Welcome to our capital city!

SharePoint Update

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a note about hoping to go to the 2009 Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas in October.

Well, we've gone one better.

Pingar has taken a stand, so it's four days of leather wear (that's standing on my feet) at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center. Before then, the challenge is working out all the issues relating to the stand equipment, collateral, presentation materials etc. And shipping it half way around the world. Lovely!

Closer to home, I have also registered for the two-day New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference 2009 in Wellington in July. It appears to have an excellent panel of speakers. It will be good to mix with some of NZ's leading SharePoint community members.

Before then, I am meeting up with some developers in Hong Kong who are working on part of our SharePoint solution. So right now, SharePoint is up there on my application roadmap. Together with Microsoft Server 2008,Visual Studio, .Net Framework..........

Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009

Back to earth with a bang. No, I did not fall off!

An email overnight arrived containing details of the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009. It is slated for October 19 - 22, in Las Vegas. I hope to be there.

I've not blogged too much before about Pingar and the SharePoint potential. Developing an enterprise solution is right up there in terms of Pingar's roadmap and SharePoint is an obvious collaborator. It squares up nicely with our Microsoft engagement and provides a neat 'route to market'.

In July, there is the two day inaugural New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference, to be held in Wellington. Connecting with the NZ SharePoint community is an obvious first step, so I expect to be there to.

I expect to blog more in the future as this strategy evolves. Employees in enterprises often face exactly the same challenges as consumers in the 'Cloud'. Finding data in a fast readable format is as important in business as it is in the 'consumer' world. Addressing this enterprise need, is a key milestone for the team at Pingar.