Last week, from December 5th-9th, myself and Slavek Licehammer, Evolveum’s Engineer and Global Leader for Academia, attended the Technology Exchange conference organized by Internet2 in Denver, CO.
I was appropriately tagged a “first time attendee” so in case I was found aimlessly wandering around the hotel premises, Internet2 staff would be quick to point me in the right direction.
On the other hand, it was Slavek’s 7th time at this conference, so I was in good hands in his company.
During the first day, we attended presentations under the guidance of REFEDs, where we learned about needs of research and education identity federations worldwide.
The following two days were filled with presentations, panel discussions, and demos from universities, the InCommon Catalysts, Internet2, and other presenters. There were a couple of discussions that grabbed my attention, especially surrounding introducing TAP components (which midPoint is a part of) to management. I was able to speak to many attendees about this throughout the event, and I am pleased to report that Evolveum has been working hard and will continue focusing on creating more case studies, collecting references, and creating other materials that could help universities when they evaluate midPoint.
Slavek had an especially busy schedule on Tuesday. He led a session titled “Advancing midPoint with IGA Principles”, where he started a thought-provoking dialogue about extending the use of midPoint and starting to plan an IGA early in the process. Slavek was also part of a panel discussion that was attended by midPoint users from universities, namely the University of Montana, NDSU, UWO, Illinois State University, and Evolveum’s partner ProvisionIAM. I believe it was very well received by the audience, as they had a chance to hear end users’ perspectives of using midPoint.
I was excited to be a part of the presentation “The InCommon Catalysts for the Community”, from which universities could learn about companies participating in this program and activities we do for the community.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Slavek, in collaboration with Cirrus Identity and ProvisionIAM, presented a demo about leveraging IAM to manage Zoom licenses. A video will be uploaded to our YouTube channel soon, so stay tuned!
Last year, during the online ACAMP agenda setting, Ann West & Tom Burton from Internet2 did such a good job painting a picture about how this usually takes place, so I was looking forward to Thursday morning to see it in action. And did they deliver! I felt the excitement in the room and the collaboration among participants. The ACAMP meetings were held in smaller groups, allowing for a more intimate setting and deeper discussions.
Apart from the sessions, I truly enjoyed the networking opportunities during breakfasts, lunches, and drink receptions. I was delighted to finally meet our customers and partners.
Knowing we would only be in Denver for a very limited time, we wanted to make the most out of it. On Sunday, I hiked to the summit of Chief Mountain in the morning and was taken aback by the beauty of the Rockies! In the afternoon, we strolled around the downtown area.
On Tuesday, we went to an NBA game with a group of conference attendees to see the Denver Nuggets play the Dallas Mavericks. We thoroughly enjoyed it and all the entertainment that went along with it. Denver lost by 1 point, so you can imagine how tense it was!
We also had a lovely time having dinners and drinks with customers and partners.
I am happy to see that the world is slowly getting back to normal, as these in-person interactions can hardly ever be replaced by technology. We are grateful for our partnership with Internet2 and for being part of the InCommon community.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone next year!