The Event

In3 – 2002 will bring together some of the key visionaries in the open systems, standards and certification world, and will seek to push forward the boundaries of business information provision, to achieve critical advantage through integration. A number of key themes will be discussed:

Information Integration

There is a need for integrated information, and integrated access to that information, in order to support the many different business processes, both within an enterprise and spanning the key interactions of the enterprise with its suppliers, customers, and partners. In3 – 2002 will seek to address this challenge, consider solutions and provide case-study examples of effective information integration.

Business Scenarios

There is also a necessity for IT customers and suppliers to share a common understanding of the requirements of customers for interoperable IT solutions, so that the supply side in particular will be able to construct the business case for creating the interoperable solutions, in both applications and infrastructure products, that genuinely address those requirements. In3 – 2002 will focus upon business scenarios that facilitate effective customer/supplier communication, and enable the management of your systems architecture for business benefit.

Certification / Standards

The Open Access Conference Series is ideally positioned to facilitate effective dialog between the buy side and supply side of the IT industry. The Open Group is unique in underpinning the results of IT standards efforts - both its own and those of worldwide standards bodies - with world-class product certification programs. In3 – 2002 will outline the critical role of standards and certification in enabling systems integration and enhancing business practices. In3 - Integrated Information Infrastructure – 2002 can help your business:

• Improve business process performance
• Decrease its costs
• Improve effectiveness of business operations
• Improve effectiveness of information technology organization
• Improve management efficacy
• Reduce risk

The Vision

The Open Group is delivering a vision to "catalyze the creation and delivery of the Integrated Information Infrastructure (In3) that serves all stakeholders".

For too long, IT customers have had to pay for the failure of IT suppliers to get their products to work together effectively. IT customers have often had no choice but to pay for ‘integration services’ that simply consume development budget today and increase maintenance costs down the road. The alternative being to accept a negative impact on business.

At the same time, IT suppliers have had to deal with large lists of requirement statements from customers, which are often vague and ambiguous with respect to the need for common standards. This has resulted in the implementation of some features that had no market value, and others that didn’t actually fulfil the real needs of the customer, and all at enormous costs.

We believe that open standards can help, but they must be the right standards addressing the right areas. Within its Open Access Conference Series, The Open Group is offering a unique opportunity for customers, suppliers and integrators to come together, and will provide leadership to identify and ensure development of global information technology standards and certification practices.

The first of these events, In3 - Integrated Information Infrastructure – 2002, will provide the foundation for the accomplishment of this vision.