MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

Aligning Expectations with Resources: What's the Trick?

Biomedical Research Institutions Information Technology Exchange

St Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Memphis, TN

5–7 Sep 2012

Registration for the coming BRIITE meeting is now open. An early bird registration fee of $585 will be available until 15 August. After that, the regular fee of $685 will apply.

To register, visit:

Registration includes the meeting and all meals, including a reception/dinner both Wednesday and Thursday evening.

Lodging is not included in the registration fee. See below for information about the meeting hotel.

The Host Hotel for this year's BRIITE Meeting is The Madison Hotel. Special hotel arrangements for $129.00 per night (Sept. 5 & 6) have been made for BRIITE attendees.

Madison Hotel
79 Madison Avenue
Memphis, TN 38103

866-446-3674

To get the special BRIITE pricing, you MUST call the Madison Hotel direct at 866-446-3674 and reference St. Jude - BRIITE Meeting. The special rate will not be available through the hotel's on-line regisration system.

This block of rooms expires August 15, 2012 so make your reservations soon.

NOTE: The Madison Hotel is the venue for the Wednesday evening Reception/Dinner. Transportation from the Madison Hotel to St. Jude and the Banquet Dinner (Thursday evening) will be available.

The next BRIITE meeting will be held 5-7 Sep 2012 at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN.

Wednesday, 5 Sep, will be a travel day, with the first regular event of the meeting being a reception and dinner that evening. The last formal session of the meeting will end at 3:00 on Friday, 7 Sep 2012.

The topic of the meeting will be

Aligning Expectations with Resources: What's the Trick?

For several years now, research organizations have been faced with tight budgets and many of use have been asked, repeatedly, to do more with less. Yet the demand for IT services continues to grow at an accelerating pace.

With the cost of sequencing continuing to drop at a stunning rate, the number of projects that employ sequencing (either for research or clinical purposes) seems to grow even faster, producing huge demands on our networks and storage capacity. Other instruments also produce terabytes of data in single run, with the result that most research institutions are now managing hundreds of terabytes of storage and some are starting to move into planning for petabyte- scale storage.

It now takes hours to move a million-dollars worth of sequence data over the fastest campus networks. By 2020, the transfer time for a million-dollars worth of data may well be measured in weeks (or months).

Clearly, we are all facing the need for some of the largest IT upgrades in our institution's history, and yet we are also expected to be doing more with less — to be doing our part to hold down costs.

This kind of mismatch among needs, expectations, and resources cannot go on indefinitely.

If something cannot go on indefinitely, at some point it will stop. It may slow and stop gracefully, or it may stop with a crash, but it will stop.

In the case of run-away demand for IT services, the path to a graceful deceleration involves the alignment of expectations and resources. IT leaders must understand the true institutional priorities (and constraints). Instituional leaders must understand the true value, and the true cost, of IT services.

So, what's the trick? How to achieve this critical alignment?

Unfortunately, there is no simple trick. Some organizations have addressed the problem by developing new approaches to IT decision making — that is, formalizing IT governance. Others have relied upon their well established, solid working relationships between IT management and institutional leaders. Others are trying to make do with procedures that were successful in the past (but which may be showing signs of strain now).

Are expectations truly aligned with resources at your institution? Or, are you feeling increasing pressure from conflicting demands to support new science and clinical care while also keeping a lid on costs?

Come to BRIITE to learn about how your peers are dealing with this challenge. Come prepared to discuss how your institution has (or has not yet) achieved alignmeent between expectations and resources.

Also, come prepared to talk about the biggest challenge (technical or administrative) currently facing your IT unit. Storage? Security? Data-center capacity? This year we will have a special plenary session entitled "What's the Big Deal" in which attendees will be invited to present and discuss the most significant challenge they currently face.

Come to BRIITE to discuss the issues with your peers from other biomedical research organizations. Share your thoughts, concerns, and insights with others who are facing similar situations. Learn what your peers are doing to deal with the IT infrastructure challenges of the coming decade.

BRIITE was formed to offer IT professionals the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, offer technical tips, explore opportunities for collaboration. In the current environment, the opportunity to interact with peers and benefit from their collective experiences is even more valuable.

Join and participate in BRIITE to discuss the issues with your peers from other biomedical research organizations. Share your thoughts, concerns, and insights with others who are facing the same situation. Learn what your peers are doing to deal with the IT infrastructure challenges of the coming decade.

BRIITE was formed to offer IT professionals the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, offer technical tips, explore opportunities for collaboration. In the current environment, the opportunity to interact with peers and benefit from their collective experiences is even more valuable.