In October, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) partnered with AFCEA Europe's TechNet International to hold its first Industry Conference in Rome at the Parco dei Principi Grand Hotel. The Italian Ministry of Defense organized the event with support from the chapter. Klaus-Peter Treche, general manager, AFCEA Europe, and vice president, EMEA Operations, and Koen Gijsberg, general manager, NCIA, both expressed thanks to the organizers in their concluding remarks. The main event featured a speech from Giovanni Alemanno, mayor of Rome. Full details on the three-day meeting are available on the AFCEA website.
The chapter also held a B2B Speed Dating Workshop the day before the Industry Conference. More than 20 companies and 40 delegates participated in the unique event. Lt. Gen. Pietro Finocchio, ITAF (Ret.), chapter president, introduced the workshop, which allowed companies participating in Industry Conference to make an introduction and explore possible partnerships with other companies from the European Union/NATO. Small-, medium- and large-size companies made presentations during the morning session, including U.S. companies Booz Allen Hamilton, CASK LLC and Raytheon Trusted Computer Solutions; U.K. company Logica; and Italian companies Expert System, Fox IT, ResiGroup, Seles SI and Eurolink Systems; along with many others from Germany and other countries.
A presentation by Cloud4Defence attracted a great deal of interest. Cloud4Defense is a network of companies, sponsored by the chapter, which has the scope to promote cloud computing within the public administration and homeland security. As stated by Leandro Aglieri, president of Cloud4Defence and a member of the AFCEA Scientific Committee, "Cloud Computing in Italy, given the current economic crisis, is inevitable, it is just to set the correct implementation involving industry reference in an organic and well governed project. Cloud4Defence stands as an ideal partner for public administration and defense." In the afternoon, several B2B meetings demonstrated the success of the formula. |
