Dear Focal Pointers,

On behalf of Gerry Cohen, CEO of Information Builders, I am excited to announce that Summit 2012 will be held on June 3-7 (Sunday-Thursday) at the Gaylord Palms hotel in Kissimmee, Florida. The hotel has been totally renovated since we were there last, with brand new rooms, outlets, entirely new outdoor space with new pools and more than $60 million dollars in renovations! The room rate is $120.00 per night which is a great deal.
Check the Hotel Rates.

Our Annual Summit User Conference is the best way to perfect your organization's information strategy, from business intelligence (BI) to data integration to data integrity, and beyond. The industry’s premier educational event in business intelligence (BI) and integration, our annual Summit User Conference offers the most comprehensive training available on Information Builders WebFOCUS, FOCUS, and iWay Software solutions.

During five days of product and technology presentations, case studies, hands-on product labs, valuable one-on-one sessions, networking, and more, you will gain the knowledge you need to grow your business for years to come. The registration fee is the same as last year and well worth it.

Call for Papers is open until January 15th, 2012 - Submit your Case Study!
Share your knowledge and showcase your successes at Summit 2012. Information Builders welcomes presentations on your success with technology implementations, as well as discussions about industry trends, key business strategies, best practices, efficiencies, and techniques.
* Presentations chosen will receive one complimentary standard pass. Submit today!

Online Registration is now open. Use your existing or expiring Edpacks towards Summit.

I sincerely hope you'll join us for what is already shaping up to be an extraordinary event!

Thanks,

Gerald D. Cohen
President and CEO
Information Builders

Kathleen Butler
Customer Care and Communications Manager
Information Builders

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kathleen Butler,

Greetings,

I think it is great that Summit 2012 is going to be held early June 2012 in Florida. I am also glad to learn that another Focalpoint webinar is upcoming on WebFOCUS 8 and the BI Portal.

Since we've been hearing about WF 8 and the change in architecture for some time, and there is no firm date yet on the release (though it does seem somewhat "imminent"), I would like to formally request that WebFOCUS 8 be released at least 2 months in advance of the 2012 Summit.

In the past, IBI has coordinated the rollout of a new release with the annual Summit event (I seem to recall at least version 7, version 7.6 and version 7.7). Since Summit represents the absolute BEST value for education and networking for customers (our organization has been very pleased and I can attest that it is an incredible conference), we really need to get our hands into WebFOCUS v8 months before the conference in order to maximize the benefits of having the product gurus, FOCUS wizards and customers all together at this wonderful annual event.

If IBI coordinates the release of WF 8 to right before the conference, then we do not get the benefit of working with the new product and the opportunity to get questions resolved.

Please consider the timing of the upcoming GA release of WebFOCUS 8 and get it into customer's hands with enough lead-in time to be able to truly maximize the benefit of the Summit conference. For some of us, it may be the determining factor in whether we can attend or not.

Best Regards,

Dan in Omaha

University of Nebraska at Omaha