The Tenth Annual Standards Edge Conference | November 6-7

["Jane Harnad" <jane.harnad@oasis-open.org>]

[The following message is sent on behalf of the organizers of the Standards
Edge Conference]

You are invited to join us for the tenth annual Standards Edge conference,
co-sponsored by OASIS. The conference will take place on November 6-7, 2008,
in Brussels, Belgium. To register or for more information, please visit:
http://www.thebolingroup.com/procurementpower.  

Conference Description: "The Standards Edge: The Power of Procurement"

Is Your Future for Sale?  Procurement practices for Information and
Communications (ICT) products and services can determine how governments
link to one another, as well as how a government links to its citizens, how
businesses link to their supply and value chains, and how citizens can link
to each other. Seemingly innocuous buying decisions-once seen as mundane and
boring-determine when and how information and services can be accessed, the
cost of that access, and whether that access will be guaranteed in the
future.

Procurement is the hidden link in the electronic information and
communication chain. That link is threatened by:

.        Ineffective ICT standardization
.        Vendor lock-in and stifled market competition 
.        Uninformed technology choices 
.        Weak conformance testing and enforcement
.        Ineffective strategy coordination across companies, governments,
and regions
.        Technical barriers to trade 
.        Outdated government procurement policies and legislation

Please join us for the tenth conference in The Standards Edge series to
explore how procurement policies and practices in government and business
can address these threats. Topics addressed will include: 

.        Formulating effective government and corporate procurement policies
.        Roles of international organizations such as WTO and WIPO 
.        Using ICT standardization in procurement specifications 
.        Government and corporate case studies 
.        Government procurement policy recommendations

It is critical to address these issues now as governments, businesses, and
citizens build the ICT infrastructure that will become integral to the way
we learn, communicate, conduct business, and deliver social services.

Conference Sponsors:

.        AMD
.        Sun Microsystems
.        The Bolin Group
.        CEN/ISSS
.        Fraunhofer Institute
.        OASIS
.        OMG
.        TU Delft

Register early as seating is limited. To register or for more information,
please visit http://www.thebolingroup.com/procurementpower