CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 22, 2005 -- On April 20 Information Technology experts from around the world will gather at MIT to address a central and overriding issue: extracting valuable information from the huge volume of distributed data in today's IT environment.

The MIT "IT Innovation: Emerging Priorities" conference will be held at MIT's Kresge Auditorium on April 20-21, 2005. The conference will feature MIT faculty as well as two industry keynotes representing technology companies that have successfully reinvented themselves to keep up with a changing marketplace. Doc D'Errico, VP, Integration and Interoperability at EMC Corporation, will discuss strategies for effective information lifecycle management: the process of aligning IT infrastructure with corporate needs based on the changing value of information as it passes through an organization. And, Michael Bell, Apple Computer's VP, CPU Software and Wireless Technology, will discuss how consumer electronics companies often forget about the "consumer" part of the equation.

MIT talks include Prof. Vincent Chan, Director, Laboratory for Information Decision Systems, who will discuss the Laboratory's breakthroughs in optical and wireless communications; Professor Srini Devadas, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, who will describe Integrated Security for the Expanding Internet (ISENET); and, database guru and MIT Professor Michael Stonebraker will tell us why the coming fragmentation of DBMS technology may be a good thing. In the realm of healthcare, Isaac Kohane, Director of Boston Children's Hospital Informatics Program, will discuss the challenge of a comprehensive genomic and patient record database. Also on the cutting edge, MIT Media Laboratory's Rosalind Picard will demonstrate the latest in affective computing research -- the progress in getting computers to recognize and react to human emotion.

The more subtle aspects of how enterprise needs drive IT requirements will be addressed by two strategists. Jeanne Ross of the MIT Center for Information Systems Research will explain how IT governance and enterprise architecture must come before all the other technology panaceas can spin their magic. MIT Media Lab's Michael Schrage, meanwhile, will focus on the importance of managing the "iterative assets" involved with prototyping and modeling in order to achieve the goal of "hyperinnovation."

This wide range of talks will preview emerging applications and present new strategies for information management that will empower organizations to solve problems and explore new markets. For more information see the online conference agenda and brochure at http://ilp-www.mit.edu/events/IT2005/.

The registration fee for this program is $1,450. Registration is online only at: http://ilp-www.mit.edu/events/IT2005/.

About the MIT Industrial Liaison Program

The Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) is industry's chief gateway to MIT, enabling companies worldwide to harness MIT resources to address current challenges and to anticipate future needs. The ILP helps company managers monitor MIT research developments, identify and arrange expert consultations with MIT faculty, license MIT-owned intellectual property, and facilitate corporate objectives through sponsored research at MIT. The professional staff of Industrial Liaison Officers facilitates customized interactions for nearly 200 multinational companies. For more information please see the ILP Web site at http://ilp-www.mit.edu/.

SOURCE MIT Office of Corporate Relations

Web Site: http://ilp-www.mit.edu/

Michael Lawson
617-452-3053