Strengthen Your Skills to Deploy Better Solutions at the Only GIS Conference Created by Developers, for Developers

Redlands, California—ESRI, the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, invites software developers from around the world to participate in the 2008 ESRI Developer Summit, held March 17–20, 2008, at the Wyndham Hotel and Palm Springs Convention Center in California. With more than 1,200 developers expected, attendees will benefit from the opportunity to network with other geospatial developers while learning and discussing the latest technologies and best practices for effective and efficient GIS development.

            During the summit, visiting GIS, mapping, and spatial developers will be able to access a broad spectrum of valuable resources. From learning the fundamentals and meeting one-on-one with ESRI staff to attending in-depth technical presentations and discovering what's next for ESRI software, attendees will have their unique needs met with the event's breadth of sessions and activities.

"The Developer Summit is a great opportunity for attendees to meet and talk with ESRI development staff," says Jim McKinney, ArcGIS program manager, ESRI. "We'll have both representatives and complete teams from all parts of the ArcGIS family of products presenting sessions and interacting with attendees."

Developers will also hear from keynote speaker Alan Cooper, pioneering software inventor, programmer, designer, and theorist—and widely known as the "father of Visual Basic". Cooper will address the many stereotypes of managing software development in the increased complexity of today's business and information technology environments. His presentation will offer listeners the chance to "wake up and smell the software." Given that many users complain about ease of use, performance, and instability, Cooper believes it's time for software developers to fundamentally rethink the development process.

From the complimentary presummit seminars to the in-depth technical presentations, this three-and-one-half-day gathering offers more than 50 hours of job-critical training. Attendees will meet and collaborate with experts and peers to learn how to

·         Build and deploy GIS functionality and business logic wherever it is needed—on desktops, the Web, and mobile devices.

·         Create high-performance data management applications with less effort and less code.

·         Get help with current projects.

·         Launch and develop strategies and action plans.

Senior ESRI staff will lead the Plenary Session, offering attendees insight into the ArcGIS platform including the architecture, product vision, and developer options. Between activities, visitors will have a place to socialize, check their e-mail, and follow up on hot topics and ESRI products in the Community Center, Tech Talk areas, and at the ESRI Showcase product islands.

Developers and software architects interested in the ESRI developer platform are encouraged to attend. To find out more or to register for the 2008 summit, visit www.esri.com/devsummit.

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About ESRI

Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. ESRI applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. ESRI is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at www.esri.com.