Joe Farah -- President and CEO of Neuma Technology 
Date: May 25 - 4:00 PM
Track: Best Practices
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Session Abstract: The Configuration Management industry has been making slow but steady progress through the past quarter century. The focus has been on integrating additional management components (Requirements Management, Problem/Issue Tracking, etc.) while at the same time dealing with issues such as ease-of-use, change management and geographically distributed development. Addressing these issues has, for many of the traditional CM tool vendors, not been easy. Second generation architectures are maxed out.

Enter the next generation of CM technology. The third generation begins with a focus on architecture.  The underlying requirements on which such systems are built ensure not only a successful implementation of CM and ALM solutions, but a much lower cost of ownership as well. Administration all but disappears, customization is much easier and more extensive, central repositories and workflow engines work together to provide the required process support and data navigation in a consistent manner.  In other words, third generation CM is not just about new features and functionality. It's about addressing the full ALM suite, reducing costs, eliminating risk and making the technology support you, rather than vice versa.

This presentation is aimed at those considering backbone lifecycle management changes. It identifies the key things to look for as the third generation of CM tools emerges. Among these is how the focus of today's CM consultants will change so that they can deliver more for less. It also gives a peak at what lies beyond.  Will existing technology give way to new players or will the existing CM market leaders continue to dominate the CM and ALM markets?

Speaker Bio: Joe Farah is the President and CEO of Neuma Technology. Since the late 1970s, he has helped to advance the field of Configuration Management. As author of Nortel's Program Library System (PLS), Joe introduced the concepts of Change Packages and 2D (Two Dimensional) Branching. In the early 1980s he pioneered stream-based change management and seamless integration of the ALM functions in the Software Management System (SMS) at Mitel.

Since the late 1980s, Joe has directed the evolution Neuma's CM+ technology, bringing additional Configuration Management process and functionality together with state-of-the-art hybrid repository technology. He continues to bring CM concepts and solutions to the wider community, both as a frequent participant in the CM community and in his role, at Neuma, of providing CM solutions for the Defense, Aerospace, and Telecommunications sectors, among others.

A software developer since the late 1960s, Joe holds a B.A.Sc. degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto, in Canada, and is a contributing editor for the column "CM: The Next Generation" for the CM Journal at CMCrossroads.com.