IBM to attend Warpstock '97

Oklahoma City, August 1, 1997 -- After a meeting with key members of the OS/2 Warpstock committee last week, representatives of the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) agreed to present their long term strategy for OS/2 at the 1997 OS/2 Warpstock convention. Commonly known as Warpstock '97, the inaugural event will be held October 25-26, 1997, in Diamond Bar, California.

James Koerner, manager of IBM's Personal Software Products division, will be on hand to address the audience and discuss the OS/2 Warp strategy, how customers can take advantage of Warp to move quickly to network computing, and why that is good for business.

"I'm pleased to have this opportunity to discuss our direction with this group. I am looking forward to speaking on OS/2 Warp's strength as an outstanding 100% pure Java development and deployment environment, Warp Server's role as a premier internet server, and how Project Bluebird will put our customers on the road to network computing," said Koerner.

On the show room floor, IBM representatives will demonstrate the latest developments of Bluebird, code name for the upcoming operating system solution that is targeted toward the emerging managed PC environment. Bluebird is intended to help customers start the transition of the OS/2 Warp family of products to network computing while still protecting their investments.

An off-floor discussion will also be provided to discuss the positioning of Project Bluebird.

Warpstock '97 focuses on a segment of the computing market considered essential to the long term health of OS/2 - the burgeoning small office/home office (SOHO). "This market is growing faster than any other segment, and it is more receptive to a marketing message which emphasizes the benefits of OS/2 - true preemptive multitasking, application crash protection, and rock solid system operation", Koerner added.

Warpstock 97, a major conference for OS/2 small office/home office (SOHO) and individual end-users, is an excellent forum for IBM, OS/2 SOHO and individual users, and OS/2 independent software vendors to align with this market segment's product requirements and to exchange ideas. The idea of an "OS/2 love-fest" was conceived as one result of The OS/2 Marketplace, a highly successful OS/2 vendors conference sponsored by the Phoenix OS/2 Society (POSSI).

Discussion about the event is ongoing on the internet's comp.os.os2.misc newsgroup, on commerical on-line services, and with centralized discussion on an Internet maillist. For more information, visit http://www.warpstock.org and join the Warpstock listserv. To subscribe to the Warpstock listserv, send an email to warpstock-request@warpstock.org with no subject and the words "subscribe" in the message body.

Further announcements about Warpstock will be forthcoming as planning for the event continues. Warpstock '97 is an ALL-VOLUNTEER effort; anyone committed to promoting OS/2 is invited to sign up and volunteer their time and skills to make Warpstock '97 a success. Volunteers should join the listserv to obtain information on available slots.

OS/2 is a registered trademark of the International Business Machines Corp.