Forums

We arrange regular forums for senior staff, IT and operations managers at medium-to-large design practices. Our forums help stimulate ideas and the exchange of knowledge and experience.

The forums are informal, and provide a rich setting in which the participants can meet others who manage or who are engaged in IT operations. Recent attendees have included participants from Gensler, 3DReid, Hamiltons, Allies and Morrison, Wilkinson Eyre, Weston Williamson, Jestico & Whiles, Fletcher Priest and Hopkins Architects.

The next forum will be on 24 November 2009 from 4-6pm.

Nick Grace from RapidForm talks about rapid prototyping at the April 09 forum
Nick Grace (RCA/RapidForm) talks about rapid prototyping at the April 09 forum

The next forum: Open Source and Cloud Computing

This forum, on Open Source and Cloud Computing, will provide an introduction to these subjects and to stimulate debate on their potential use to improve collaboration and to reduce costs at design companies.
The forum will be held on Tuesday 24 November 2009 from 4-6pm at 17 Portland Place, W1B 1PU. To attend, please email info@campbell-lange.net or call 020 7631 1555.

Speakers

  • Ian Annis, Global Support Director, Red Hat
  • Richard Davies, CEO, Elastic Hosts

What is Open Source?

Open Source software is typically created through a peer production process between individuals and businesses cooperating over the internet. Open Source software as exemplified by Linux has been held up by Peter Day, the BBC Business Correspondent, as not only a remarkable new technology platform, but also as a model for collaboration and innovation. We will discuss why Goldman Sachs, Cisco and countless other companies have moved their core services to Open Source software and what Open Source can do for design companies. See Peter Day's column and podcast here.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing offers the potential for design businesses to move their core software and computing services to internet-based providers who can scale these services to meet variations in demand. Cloud Computing promises to completely change how businesses use and maintain their computing services, with the potential to dramatically decrease infrastructure costs and substantially increase the potential for people to work together flexibly. Find more about Cloud Computing by reading Ars Technica's article.

To attend, please email info@campbell-lange.net or call Campbell-Lange Workshop on 020 7631 1555.

Past forums

September 2009 Forum: Can information systems improve business?

The September 2009 forum was held on the 29th of September from 4-6pm at the Building Centre, London WC1. » more

June 2009 Forum: Social media and information reuse

The June 2009 forum was held on the 16th of June from 4-6pm at the Building Centre, London WC1. » more

Our recent article in BD magazine on the subject of the forum, "Social media and information reuse", can be found in the articles section of this site.

April 2009 Forum: A blueprint for IT at Design Companies

The April 2009 forum was held on the 21st of April from 4-6pm at the Building Centre, London WC1. » more

Late February 2009 Forum : Hamiltons' IT

This forum for IT Managers was hosted by James Tansley, IT Director, at Hamiltons' offices in London W2 6ET. » more

February 2009 Forum : Virtualisation Comparison

Our practical, hands-on comparison between VMWare, Xen and Parallels virtualisation technologies was held on Tuesday 3 February 2009. IT Managers from several Central London design companies attended. » more

November 2008 Forum : Operations for Design Companies

This forum for senior staff at design companies was held at the Saatchi & Saatchi Agency on Charlotte Street on 18 November 2008. » more

October 2008 Forum : Disaster Recovery

We held this forum, which was attended by a group of nine IT Managers, at our offices in W1. The discussion of Disaster Recovery was structured around a web-based questionnaire that most attendees and some other respondents had filled in prior to the event. » more

August 2008 Forum : Jestico & Whiles IT Services and Management Review

Darren Carroll,the IT Manager at Jestico & Whiles, where we held the forum, discussed their specific systems and their approach to IT operations. » more

March 2008 Forum : Service Level Agreements

Mark Adams, the Technical Manager at CLW, chaired a discussion on using Service Level Agreements to help control IT processes. » more

December 2007 Forum : Virtualisation

James Tansley from Hamiltons Architects gave an excellent address on their move to VMWare ESX technology and NetApp storage. » more

September 2007 Forum : Backup

This forum involved a general discussion of backup approaches and technologies. » more

July 2007 Forum : IT Services Evaluation and Management

Paul Cash, the MD of Partners in IT, gave a talk about his company's approach to dealing with continual change and innovation in IT. » more

May 2007 Forum : Email archiving, storage and document retrieval

Will Yandell of Union Square made a presentation, which was followed by a discussion of document management. » more