"We are all on a wild ride. The Web and the Internet have changed everything, pushing all of us to contribute to fundamental changes the University needs to make in the way it does business," said John Bruno, UC Davis Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology, at the kick off to this summer's University of California Computing Services Conference (UCCSC).

On two of the hottest days this July, more than 300 University of California technical professionals -- an attendance record -- flocked to Freeborn Hall for the annual conference, hosted this year by UC Davis. Now in its 18th year, this two-day conference (July 24-25) is held at a different campus each year and is designed specifically for UC technical professionals.

"We had record attendance at the conference this year, nearly doubling the past record," says Alice Harrison, project manager for this year's conference. "I was surprised, especially since the conference was held at premier beach locations [UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz] the past couple of years. I didn't think the Central Valley could compete against that kind of draw."

This year's program was packed with timely technical issues and hot topics such as portals, wireless technology, XML, Web management and programming, Windows 2000, and a four-hour Windows NT security presentation that drew nearly 70 people. With 36 presentations in all and Network Operations Center and Data Center tours throughout the event, there were plenty of options for the conference attendees. One attendee wrote on a survey, "Really liked the tour. Appreciated the fact that there were many time slots to take the tour. This enabled me to attend as many sessions as I could."

This annual conference is the only time set aside for UC technical professionals to gather and discuss common challenges, compare project goals, and share success stories. During "Campus Reports," one person from each campus gave a 10-minute status report on their campus' computing environment and changes.

"The campus reports are very revealing," says Pat Kava, UCCSC project sponsor. "Every year we find that each campus is facing the same sorts of challenges and using similar technologies in similar ways, and we are reminded that we aren't alone. This year, it was also encouraging to realize that UC Davis is at the forefront of the UCs when it comes to the effective use of technology."

In an effort to keep communication among technical professionals flowing throughout the year, a listserv (uccampus-share@ucdavis.edu) and Web site (http://uccampus-share.ucdavis.edu/) were established this year. To subscribe to the listserv and share computing information of interest UC-wide (such as project ideas, security issues, recruitment), send a message to listproc@ucdavis.edu. Leave the subject line blank. The body of the message should consist of a single line formatted as follows: subscribe uccampus-share (your first name) (your last name).

To view notes from the presentations and survey information gathered at the conference, see http://uccsc.ucdavis.edu/. Next year's conference will be held at UC Los Angeles. Details will be available in Spring 2001.