Containers for Cloud-Native Apps, VMWare on Cloud, & Learn How to Build a Bot

Want to learn more about how to use Containers in a cloud-native environment? How about moving easily and securely your VMWare environment to the cloud (https://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/solutions/ibm-vmware/)? And of course, we will end with a hands-on lab where I will show you how to build your own conversation bot on the ever-popular messaging platform Slack (https://slack.com/) using Watson Conversation API (https://www.ibm.com/watson/developercloud/conversation.html).

Normally, we only do two topics per Meetup, but due to popular demand, we have decided to do three! Each talk will be 20 minutes long with 5-10 minutes for Q and A. Come out to learn, and enjoy some free pizza and beverages.

Agenda

6:30 - 06:45 p.m. - Arrive and get comfy. Refreshments and pizza provided.

6:45 - 7:15 p.m. - Khalid Ahmed (STSM, Chief Architect - Infrastructure Software at IBM Platform Computing) (https://twitter.com/khalida9031) - Containers

Khalid will share on emerging container technologies and their role in supporting an agile cloud-native application development model. He will discuss the basics of containers compared to traditional virtualization, review use cases, and explore the open-source container management ecosystem.

7:15 - 7:45 p.m. - Jim Sanders (Cloud Advisor & Architect @IBM) (https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jrsanders99) - VMWare

Jim will discuss how you can move your VMware workloads to the cloud through a common platform for management, networking, and security. Key components include: IBM Cloud (bare metal), vSphere, VSAN, VMware NSX, Automated deployment, and life cycle management.

7:45 - 8:20 p.m. - Helen Lam (Cloud Advisor & Developer @IBM) (https://twitter.com/helenflam) - Watson Conversation Lab

I will show you how to build your own conversation bot, deploy to Bluemix, and integrate with Slack. Bring your laptops if you would like to participate, this is hands-on! Sign up for Bluemix (https://console.ng.bluemix.net/registration/?target=%2Fdashboard%2Fapplications) prior to the Meetup to participate and access the Watson Conversation API. Bluemix is free for 30 days. If you are a startup, apply for the Global Entrepreneurship Program (https://developer.ibm.com/startups/) for free cloud credits.

8:20 - 8:45 p.m. - Network and refreshments.

9:00 p.m. - Meetup ends!