LSUS to host presentations by IBM senior architect
09/28/05

Mark Hicks, an IBM senior enablement architect, will discuss “open standards” and “Eclipse” in separate presentations hosted by the LSUS Computer Science Department Tuesday (Oct. 4). He will discuss “open standards” from 10:25 to 11:15 a.m. and “Eclipse” from 1 to 4 p.m. Both talks will be in Room 211 of the LSUS Technology Center.

Hicks earned a Master of Business Administration degree from LSUS after receiving a B.A. degree in history from the University of Connecticut. He also holds professional certifications in accounting and operations management and has more than a dozen IBM product certifications. He is an IBM certified eBusiness Advisor, Designer and Technologist, and also holds Sun, RedHat, Linux and Microsoft certifications.

In his open standards presentation, Hicks will address what it means to be open in today’s IT environment, the challenges and benefits of using “open” or “closed” technology, the meaning of “open standards” and “open source,” as well as why anyone should care.

The Eclipse 3.0 integrated development environment is an open source extensible framework that enables software developers a platform for employing rapid application development tools. Hicks’ briefing will cover the history of Eclipse as well as a review of its architecture and functional capabilities.

The presentations are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Marjan Trutschl, an LSUS assistant professor of computer science, at 797-5131 or mtrutschl@lsus.edu . Related information is also available at http://labi.cs.lsus.edu/IBM .