Our own Ken Cotton will be expounding on this technology and the companies that “play” in this space.  Watch this space for more information.

This month we return to our standard date and location.  Please join us at Tokyo Union Church in Omotesando.

Learn how companies big or small can easily integrate Open Source Systems and Software into their IT infrastructure, gaining the following benefits:

Enhance security, scalability and stability
Significantly reduce IT expenditures
Free up computing infrastructure
Move away from commercial Lock-in

This talk is based on changes that Uemura implemented after joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, and is geared toward those in business or in charge of IT within their companies.

The information however, will benefit all who attend.

DATE:  Thursday, May 12 (second Thursday)
TIME:  7 pm ~ 9 pm, doors open at 6:30
VENUE:  Temple University Japan (Please note venue change for this meeting.)
COST:  2,000 yen

REGISTRATION: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/cont-ed/seminar
MAP: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/newsite/main/maps/index.html

Internationally recognized expert in standards oriented web design and cascading style sheets (CSS), Eric Meyer, Principal Consultant and founder of Complex Spiral Consulting, will be discussing how your company or website benefits from using Web standards to cut page weight in half, reduced bandwidth consumption and server load, make maintenance easier, speed up page-rendering and response times, and improve accessibility and support for mobile devices without the use of proprietary technology.  He will also focus on ways to use standards to speed up design prototyping and user interface testing using standards and CSS.

Please use the registration link so we can determine the room size.  TPC members—this is a regular TPC meeting so you only pay what you would normally pay for attending a TPC Meeting.

Carl Kay will discuss the huge opportunities available to entrepreneurs in Japan’s service sector industries.  Foreigners seem to be the first to notice that practices in Japan, including the strategic application of information technology, often lag the norms in other industrialized countries. Japan not only fails to export software, it is behind in implementing information technology strategically at home to deliver breakthrough service and value that could raise the quality of life here.

The poor state of the offerings to consumers in Japan in areas such as financial services, real estate brokerage, shopping malls, and hospitals is not likely to be news to members who have lived here for any length of time. What is surprising, however, is the number of foreigners who have built successful businesses here addressing these problems.

Foreigners are leading the way, and Kay will illustrate how the businesses portrayed in his book may be “weak signals” of important changes breaking out to the mainstream of Japan’s economy and society.

Carl Kay majored in Japanese at Harvard and in 1982 founded a company specializing in Japanese technical translation and software localization. Sixteen years later, he sold the company to Lionbridge. Since then Kay has been a consultant and angel investor. He is co-author with Tim Clark, publisher of the Japan Entrepreneur Report, of the new book Saying Yes to Japan: How Outsiders are Reviving a Trillion Dollar Services Market.