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Top Ten Highlights for Exchange 2008

1. Exchange 2008 was an international meeting place with a varied audience of over 600 participants. With Progress technologies in use in over 140 countries, holding Exchange in Paris allowed representation from more countries than ever before including Russia, Turkey, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Luxemborg, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, South Africa, Estonia, the Netherlands, France, Kazakhstan, Poland, as well as the United States.
2. Both SOA novices and specialists were fascinated by Forrester’s latest SOA data and keynote, Randy Heffner’s insight indicating that the reality lives up to the hype when it comes to SOA setting the right foundation for the future digital age as well as extending businesses today. In the General Session Randy Heffner, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, discussed how SOA is now main stream, how application vendors can use SOA to extend legacy systems, improve application flexibility and deliver business agility. But, most importantly, he recommended next steps whether you are a novice or expert. Progress’ own David Olson followed showing how the Progress SOA Portfolio and OpenEdge prepare you for the world that Randy describes and specifically how OpenEdge developers can use SOA to extend the reach of their applications to new users and opportunities.
3. More people than ever went hands-on with OpenEdge Architect and the Advanced GUI in pre-conference workshops. Both were a resounding success with the OpenEdge Architect workshop helping developers learn how to use the OpenEdge flagship development environment effectively and efficiently. During A Taste of the Advanced GUI workshop participants got an introduction to the Advanced GUI coming later this year in OpenEdge 10.2A.
4. Technical sessions on the new OpenEdge Structured Error Handling were among the best attended. Over two hundred people attended the two sessions on the new Structured Error Handling feature introduced in OpenEdge 10.1C. Session presenters Sarah Marshall, Progress, and Peter van Dam, Future Proof Software, provided the basics of using this new capability and how-to’s on migrating an application to Structured Error Handling without breaking any code. The sessions were extremely well received with attendees excited to add this functionality to their applications. Learn more about these and other technical sessions.
5. Pegger of the Year, Tim Kuehn, named during the General Session. Tim Kuehn, a longstanding OpenEdge consultant and active PEG participant, was announced as the Pegger of the Year by members of the PEG Advisory Board. Tim has been a Progress user and PEG participant for over 8 years.  Congratulations Tim!
6. Customer presentations were standing room only, particularly on the Advanced GUI. Benelux partners Tony Vertenten, Intris, and Erwin in ‘t Veld, CCS, and Progress consultants Roland de Piper and Eric Debeij, explained how Intris and CCS are developing applications using the Advanced GUI and how it affects their software engineering processes. A large part of their effort leverages iMo, a set of tools developed between Progress Professional Services and several partners. This fascinating talk literally filled the room. In fact, several Progress employees left to make room for additional customers. Learn more about other customer stories.
7. Extraordinary opportunities to network. Exchange brings customers together and provides many opportunities to network with peers and Progress employees. Sunday’s Poster Fair at the Welcome Reception broke the ice and got the conference started with more than 20 posters on all kinds of topics (from the Progress Racetrack Demo to Apama and transforming applications to OpenEdge 10). The Expo receptions and booths at the Expo got folks together informally to deliver fascinating demos of all Progress products and services as well as a number of partners. Learn more about special events and the Expo.
8. The Virtual Expo – A new feature of Exchange. With the debut of the Virtual Expo exhibitors had another avenue to reach out to the Progress community. And, attendees enjoyed this completely online, cyber, exposition where they can view exhibitors products and services at their leisure, through 30 June. Check it out!
9. OpenEdge Roadmap lead the pack of forward-looking Roadmap and interactive Info Exchange sessions. Progress development and product management offered several popular forward-looking sessions on topics like the SOA Portfolio, Integration, Development, Middleware, Platforms and Deployment. With over 170 attendees, the OpenEdge Roadmap was the most attended session of Exchange. Customers learned about the future of Progress products, asked interesting questions and had far-reaching discussions on all topics.
10. The Exchange Community in Paris and beyond! Paris - what a great setting to debate and learn about the latest tips, techniques and new directions. And, the outing on Tuesday night and a quick jump on the metro led you to quickly realize the excitement of being just outside one of the most vibrant cities on earth. But don't let it end there. Stay connected with others in the Progress community using social web sites. Enjoy photos from Paris.