Keynote I: Deep Blue in Retrospect
Monty Newborn

Abstract
Over a decade has passed since IBM’s Deep Blue stunned the world by defeating the then human world chess champion, Garry Kasparov. The purpose of this talk is to reconsider Deep Blue’s achievement and subsequent milestones in the world of computer chess. Following Deep Blue’s retirement, there has been a succession of better and better chess programs. Today, there is little doubt that the world’s best chess programs are stronger than the world’s best humans. We have seen a steady progression of talent, from Deep Blue to Fritz and Junior and Shredder to Hydra and Rybka and Zappa and Naum and ….

There have been three major man-machine matches after Deep Blue’s victory: Fritz and Kramnik (2002), Kasparov and Deep Junior (2003), and Fritz and Kramnik (2006). The first two ended in ties. The third was won by Fritz. The talk will discuss these matches. There have also been annual world championships for chess programs, and there have been several multi-game matches between some of the top programs. These will be discussed, too.

Biography
Monty Newborn received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1967. He was an assistant professor and then associate professor at Columbia University in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1967-1975. In 1975, he joined the School of Computer Science at McGill University and was with the School until retiring in 2008, serving as its director from 1976-1983. He has been an ACM Fellow since 1994. His research focused on search problems in artificial intelligence where two areas were of particular interest: chess-playing programs and automated theorem-proving programs. He has published seven books on these subjects and a number of research papers as well. He served as chairman of the ACM Computer Chess Committee from 1981 until 1997. In that capacity he organized the first Kasparov versus Deep Blue match (known as the ACM Chess Challenge) in 1996. The following year he served as head of the officials at the second Kasparov versus Deep Blue match won by Deep Blue. Through the 1970s and 1980s, his chess program Ostrich competed in five world championships, coming close to winning in 1974. Octopus and Theo, two automated theorem-proving programs developed over the last fifteen years are the current focus of his work. They both competed in the recent 2006 World Championship for ATP Systems in Seattle, Washington. Octopus, a multiprocessor version of Theo, ran on 133 PCs in the School's laboratories during the competition, searching in parallel for proofs of theorems chosen by the competition's organizers. In the 2004 competition, Octopus performed admirably, solving more theorems among those that no entry had seen before than any other entry. Octopus and Theo finished best of the North American entries.

Keynote II: The Innovator’s Journey: Fulfilling the Promethean Promise
Andres Fortino

Abstract
The story of the rise and influence of electronic commerce is founded on innovation. It rides the foundational innovation of computer networks and the technology of the Internet and it has pushed the frontiers of the use of the Internet with its own relentless innovative march. And the field needs to stay innovative to survive and to keep adding value. It is safe to say that the two, e-commerce and innovation, are synonymous. Innovation is people adding value by implementing new ideas. At the heart of that definition is the individual. Understanding the journey of the innovator is fundamental to fostering the innovation that will keep e-commerce vital and profitable. Joseph Campbell has shown us that since ancient times myths teach us profound lessons on the path of heroes that fulfill certain roles in society. One such role, the innovator, has a deep tradition in myths of all societies. It is well to understand these myths and what the lessons they teach us about the innovator’s journey. By observing the characteristics of the path and the motivation of the individual, we are better positioned to educate innovators, to nurture them so they are productive in our firms, to recognize them when we are ready to employ them and to clear a path to be innovative when they are ready to implement an idea. Many ancient myths and stories of heroes in the west are available to study the innovator’s journey. The myth of Prometheus and the story of Odysseus are two powerful examples. In the east we see the classic Chinese story Journey to the West and the myth of the Yellow Emperor containing powerful lessons as well. In this paper we will examine these myths to teach us the elements of the innovator’s journey and what lessons we may learn to nurture innovation and innovators who benefit our firm and to educate the future innovators who, we trust, will push the frontiers of e-commerce.

Biography
Dr. Fortino is Associate Provost of Polytechnic Institute of NYU. He holds bachelors and masters degrees in electrical engineering from City College of New York and a PhD in electrical engineering for CUNY. Before joining Polytechnic University he served as Dean of the Marist College School of Management. He worked for IBM Corporation in semiconductor research and development. He holds two patents and ten invention disclosures. He has more than 40 years of experience in the information technology industry and in academic administration. He holds a PE license in electrical engineering as well as a Master Electrician’s license. He is a founding member of the Society for Information Management and the CIO Roundtable. He is a member of the Academy of Management and is a Senior Member of IEEE. The author of eight books, Dr. Fortino has published over forty papers and made over eighty technical presentations. His major interests are innovation and technology management.

Industry Keynote: Marina Bay Sands Project
Thomas Dillon

Abstract
The Marina Bays Sands Integrated Resort will be the iconic building that Singapore is to be remembered by, the reason to come, the reason to come back… Complete with a large world class casino, 2600 + hotel rooms, close to 1,000,000 square feet of convention space, 2 showrooms, lounge acts, museum, Crystal Pavilions and Singapore’s best retail shopping area.

The technology map that supports a dynamic IR is dynamic and secure – displaying the diversity of an infrastructure (network, closets, computer rooms, power…) and applications that ride on the secure infrastructure. We will walk through the network architecture and redundancy planning which represent the complexity of the technology solution. MBS plans on utilizing state of the art technology to maximize the capabilities of new technologies for Voice and Data as well as Message Bus Technology to integrate applications – while keeping data security at the forefront.

Biography
Tom Dillon CHTP (Certified Hotel Technical Professional) is a graduate of UNLV (Nevada Las Vegas) with a degree in Computer Technology.

Tom Dillon is the Vice President for IT-Asia for the Las Vegas Sands Corp. In this role he is responsible for overseeing new projects (as they relate to IT) in Singapore and Macau as well as IT Operations for existing properties located in the region He manages teams of IT members that are responsible for selection, integration and installation of Data/Voice Networks, security as well as a countless of applications that comprise what has best been described as a “City within a City” for these mega resorts.

Prior to his time with the Venetian Group, Tom worked for 24 years with Hilton Hotels Corporation (stateside) where he led a team in charge of new technologies.

Invited Talk: Operational Transformation: Theory and Application
Chengzheng Sun

Abstract
Operational transformation (OT) is a technology for supporting advanced collaboration functions and applications. OT was originally invented for consistency maintenance and concurrency control in collaborative editing of plain text documents. Two decades of research has extended its functionalities and expanded its applications to include group undo, conflict resolution, operation notification and compression, group-awareness, HTML/XML document editing, collaborative office productivity tools, and collaborative computer-aided digital media design tools. Recently, OT has been adopted as a core technique behind its collaboration features in Google Wave, which is taking OT to a new range of web-based applications and services, such as e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, wiki, and social networking, and creating a new wave of collaborative computing. This tutorial will give an overview of OT theories and applications, and discuss the opportunities and challenges of OT in the new wave of collaborative computing. The tutor is a leading researcher on OT, with over 15-year experiences in designing OT algorithms and building OT-based collaborative applications.

Biography
Dr Chengzheng Sun is a professor in the School of Computer Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore (http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/czsun).

He obtained a Ph.D in computer engineering from National University of Defense Technology, China in 1987, and a Ph.D in computer science from University of Amsterdam in 1992. From 1988 to 1993, he worked as a research scientist and a senior software engineer in University of Amsterdam, Philips Research Labs Eindhoven, and the ACE software company in The Netherlands. From May 1993 to June 2005, he worked at Griffith University in Australia and became a full professor and Chair of Internet Computing in 1999. He has been associated with NTU Singapore since July 2005.

His current research focuses on collaborative Internet computing, which lies at the intersections of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, distributed systems, human-computer interaction, and software engineering. His work has made important contributions to the theory, implementation and application of the operational transformation technology and collaborative editing systems. He has published extensively in major international journals and conferences, and delivered seminars and tutorials on collaborative technology widely at major international conferences, universities, and industry research labs, including a recent Google Tech Talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84zqbXUQIHc).