2005 Events

Northern Virginia Software Symposium

Platinum Solutions will once again be attending the region's premier Java / Open Source developer's conference. We really look forward to the "No Fluff Just Stuff" tour each time it comes to town, and this fall's event promises not to disappoint.

More information on the Northern Virginia Software Symposium can be found at http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/.

"Platinum Training Series" Presents Bruce Tate

Following up on the success of February's private session with J2EE Expert/Spring Father Rod Johnson, we have invited noted author and frequent lecturer Bruce Tate to spend the day with our employees.

Bruce Tate is a father, kayaker, author and independent consultant in Austin, TX. He worked for 13 years at IBM, in roles ranging from a database systems programmer to Java consultant. He left IBM to work for several startups in roles ranging from director to CTO. He now is building his own consulting practice, with emphasis on lightweight development in Java and Ruby, and persistence strategies. He is the author of six books, including the best selling Bitter series, the Jolt-winning Better, Faster, Lighter Java, and the Spring Developer's Notebook.

Software Development Best Practices

The State of the Art in Workflow: Standards, Tools, & Integration Strategies

Workflow is the automation of a process during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of rules. This definition could apply to almost any non-trivial enterprise system. Developers now have the benefit of emerging workflow standards, and can choose from many powerful tools and engines. So why are most developers still “rolling their own” workflow systems within their applications? The truth is, workflow solutions can be complex and difficult to integrate, leading many developers to avoid the technology. However, there comes a “tipping point” were the benefits that workflow provides outweigh its complexity. In this presentation, Platinum Solutions will discuss workflow standards, will review and demonstrate OSS and commercial workflow engines, and will discuss where and when workflow makes sense. We will also discuss best practices for integrating a workflow solution into a J2EE environment while minimizing “vendor lock-in” and avoiding workflow pitfalls.

More information on the Software Development Best Practices conference can be found at http://www.sdexpo.com.

Virginia Tech Business Horizons Career Fair

Business Horizons is Virginia Tech's annual, student-run career fair, exclusively for students in the Pamplin College of Business

More information on the Business Horizons Career Fair can be found at http://www.businesshorizons.org/.

Virginia Tech Student Engineering Council Engineering Expo

Virginia Tech's annual Engineering Exposition (Expo) provides companies and students with the opportunity to meet on an informal basis and is one of the largest showcases of its kind in the country.

More information on the SEC Engineering Expo can be found at http://www.sec.vt.edu/expo2005/faq.php.

Platinum Solutions Annual Family Picnic

Platinum Solutions hosted its first annual family picnic at the Dulles Golf Center & Sports Park. The center features a driving range, batting cages, miniature golf, volleyball court and basketball. Families had the chance to mix and mingle and children were treated to face painting and a water balloon toss.

National Task Force on Missing Persons

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs is seeking ways to improve the quantity and quality of information entered into the federal databases. Platinum Solutions will present along with the FBI on the work we're doing for the Bureau's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP).

The Office of Justice Programs website is located at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov.

Northern Virginia Java Users Group (NOVAJUG) Core SIG

An important part of any software development process is getting reliable builds of the software. Despite it's importance, we are often surprised when this isn't done. Cruise Control stresses a fully automated and reproducible build, including testing, that runs many times a day. This allows each developer to integrate daily thus reducing integration problems.

A few minutes of setup, done at the beginning of a project, can save hours of pain for each release over the life of the project. This presentation will go over the benefits of using Continuous Integration and how to get your project set up with using Cruise Control.

See the NOVAJUG Web site for more information.

Northern Virginia Software Symposium

Platinum Solutions will again be making its semi-annual trip to traveling NFJS Symposium. The intimate setting of the NFJS series of symposiums allows for our staff to have face-to-face interaction with many of the leading thinkers in our industry. The Reston stop gives our staff a unique chance to do so in our own backyard. Scheduled to appear on this leg of the tour are industry heavyweights Jason Hunter, Dave Thomas, Bruce Tate, Andrew Glover and many others.

More information on the Northern Virginia Software Symposium can be found at http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/.

FBI ICSJU Advanced Homicide Investigations Training Seminar

The FBI's Indian Country Special Jurisdiction Unit (ICSJU) is sponsoring a course designed to provide advanced homicide training to FBI Special Agents, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Special Agents, and tribal law enforcement officers assigned to the investigation of violent crime matters in Indian Country (IC).

Platinum Solutions will be presenting on Thursday, May 5th between 1:00 and 3:00 pm.

TheServerSide Java Symposium

Platinum Solutions will again be making its annual trip to TheServerSide Java Symposium. Last year's event proved to be far more valuable than the large trade shows we'd attended previously. The intimate setting of this particular event affords all attendees a chance to interact "one on one" with some of our industry's biggest names.

More information on TheServerSide Java Symposium can be found at http://www.theserverside.com/symposium/.

Northern Virginia Java Users Group (NOVAJUG) Core SIG

Platinum Solutions will be presenting on W3C XForms at the February NOVAJUG Core SIG Meeting. In an effort to address many of the shortcomings of HTML forms, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sponsored the development of XForms. Rather than altering the existing forms language, the W3C membership agreed that a new approach was necessary. The result of their efforts has become XForms 1.0, an official Recommendation of the W3C. The presentation will provide a gentle introduction to XForms technology and help prepare the audience for the inevitable step forward.

See the NOVAJUG Web site for more information.

J2EE Expert/Spring Father Rod Johnson - Private Session

Rod Johnson will visit our office in Reston, VA to give the Platinum Solutions staff a day-long, private seminar. Rod is one of the world's leading authorities on Java and J2EE development. He is a best-selling author, experienced consultant, and open source developer, as well as a popular conference speaker. Rod is also the father of the Spring Framework, the open source project began in February 2003.

More information on Rod's work can be found at http://www.springframework.com/.

Technology Exposition, National Security Agency (NSA)

Platinum Solutions will be at the NSA National Business Park to highlight our current projects, placing a special focus on our work in the field of cryptology.

See the National Conference Services, Inc. (NCSI) Web site for more information.

FBI vs. Secret Service in Fund-raiser

As a benefit for victims of the Tsunami Disaster, members of the FBI and Secret Service have challenged each other to a friendly hockey game.

The event will be held at Skate Quest Ice Rink, Reston, VA at 3:30pm.