I ran into a nice fellow, Burr Sutter from BravePoint, at last monday's .NET User Group meeting. I seems he is forming an Atlanta chapter of the International Association of Software Architects (IASA). This is a platform-agnostic group that is interested in moving this emerging field forward - and they don't care if you are J2EE, .NET, or WebSphere, or any other platform advocate. The basic concepts and issues are the same, and we can all share the many flavors of kool-aid without any name-calling. At least thats the idea...

I for one plan on attending these meetings as often as I can. The kick-off meeting announcement goes something like this:

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International Association of Software Architects - IASA announces the opening of the Atlanta Chapter.

IASA Atlanta has an established network of Atlanta's most elite software engineers, executives and architects.  Please join us on August 10,
2005 for our
first public meeting for a discussion on Enterprise Architecture.

Topic: Enterprise Architecture
Speaker: Angela Yochem, Vice President, Portfolio Architecture - SunTrust Banks, Inc.
Description:
Angela Yochem will talk about the responsibilities, complexities and significant challenges of Enterprise Architecture in today's enterprise. A facilitated panel discussion will follow, featuring some of the industry's notably impactful enterprise architects.

Whether you consider Enterprise Architecture to be an effort, a team, a diagram of systems, a method of governance or otherwise, this event provides an excellent forum for discussion and examination of the field of Enterprise Architecture.

Panelists:
Les Phillips, Enterprise Architect - UPS Supply Chain Solutions
Jason Chambers, Principal Architect - Delta Air Lines
Patrick McClellen, Senior Technical Architect - SunTrust Banks
Andrew McSherry, Vice President of Technology Services - Fujitsu

Location: MATRIX Resources
115 Perimeter Center Place, NE
Suite 250
Atlanta, GA 30346
Directions:
- I-285 Exit 29 Ashford-Dunwoody Road (East of 400)
- Pass Perimeter Mall on your left
- Turn left at the 4th traffic light onto Perimeter Center West.
- The 3rd driveway on right will be marked SOUTH TERRACES and 115 Perimeter

Center Place.
- Turn right into the curving driveway and enter parking garage.
- Feel free to park in any unmarked space on any floor. Visitor
parking is also available on the 2nd level, but is limited to a
maximum of 2 hours.

Time: 6:30 to 8:30 PM

Contact:
Burr Sutter - burrsutter@gmail.com
Phone: 770-714-3292
Website: www.iasarchitects.org

IASA Atlanta is open to all professional software architects regardless of
development platform.