Conference
touted as both "highly educational and
fun."
The second
annual MultiSpeak Solutions Conference was held at the Marriott
Century Center in Atlanta, Georgia June 25-27.
Sponsored
by Booth & Associates and Southeastern
Reprographics, the conference was attended by software vendors
and utility representatives from across the country.
The conference
began Wednesday with a general information session presented
by Gary McNaughton (Cornice Engineering). Questions
were encouraged and topics included clearing up any misconceptions
of what MultiSpeak is (or isn't), which provided
everyone
with a solid
understanding
of the fundamentals surrounding the Initiative.
Dan Hooks
(Edgcombe-Martin County EMC) presented "Lessons Learned" during
the morning session Thursday. This informative utility
perspective was followed by a demonstration of LiveData's Integration
Server appliance. Their MultiSpeak 2-compliant server allows
MultiSpeak connectivity to many legacy systems and will serve
as the testing harness for MultiSpeak 2 compliance testing.
Thursday
afternoon provided utility attendees with a chance to visit
with over 20 vendors at their individual display exhibits.
This educational time provided vendors a chance to demonstrate
their products and answer questions.
The
conference was concluded Friday morning after separate
roundtable discussions
were held among the Conference attendees. Utility and vendor
delegates were also elected to the first MultiSpeak Advisory
Board during
these meetings. The Advisory Board will serve to help enhance
the quality of the MultiSpeak Initiative for all participating
members, striving to provide the best solution for vendors
and
utilities
across the country.
The 2003
Advisory Board members are as follows:
Utility:
Dan Hooks, Edgecombe-Martin County EMC (NC)
Chad Knutson, Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative (IA)
Felisha Ward, Southside Electric Cooperative (VA)
Greg Wolven, WIN Energy REMC (IN)
Vendor:
Brett Cohen, LiveData
Luis Malavé, Milsoft Utility Solutions
Bob O'Connell, ESRI
Jo Pitts, TVD, Inc.
Presentation slides,
as well as the "MultiSpeak User's Guide" is available
for download here.
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