About us
A free local community to everyone interested in data, SQL Server, and related technologies with a purpose of providing ongoing education to the community through local meetings, conferences, online events, and professional growth opportunities.
Interested in speaking? Submit your session abstract here: [Capital Area SQL Server User Group: Call for Speakers @ Sessionize.com](https://sessionize.com/capital-area-sql-server-user-group/)
We welcome both new and seasoned speakers with either shorter lightning talks or longer full-length sessions.
Meeting notes, event information, and useful docs are posted to my GitHub repository: EdwardPollack/CASSUG: Files and Notes for the Capital Area SQL Server User Group
Our code of conduct may be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x96eeant3loqu0f53rktn/Code-of-Conduct.docx
Upcoming events
6
Day of Data Albany 2026
Massry Center for Business and School of Business Accolades, Business Building, Albany, NY, USOVERVIEW
Day of Data Albany is a one-day, free technical conference for anyone working in data-driven industries.This is an immersive event focused on all things data, with a focus on the Microsoft data platform. Whether a regular data practitioner, student, or someone looking to get more involved with data engineering, this is the perfect place to start!
Topics include relational and non-relational databases, administration, analytics, machine learning & AI, and much more!
Day of Data Albany has sessions that range from student and beginner up through advanced and expert-level. This is an opportunity to learn from industry experts while meeting others who are passionate about data. Solve ongoing challenges while improving the scalabity, security, and availability of your applications!
Day of Data Albany is hosted by the Capital Area SQL Server User Group, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.Registration includes breakfast, lunch, coffee/drinks, and snacks. Attendees are encouraged to remain on-site for the day and make the most of the available speakers, vendors, and other enthusiastic attendees at Day of Data.
PRECON
We plan to offer a full-day precon on Friday, August 7th. Details coming soon.ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Further event information may be found here:
https://dayofdata.org/2026-08-08-dayofdata1144/
Interested in Sponsoring? This is an excellent opportunity to expand your reach and support technical training! Learn more here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/day-of-data-albany-2026-sponsorship-tickets-1981437352460Registration
Be sure to register for Day of Data Albany here:
Register for Day of Data Albany!
More information, including Q&A is available as well on the Eventbrite.Agenda
8:00 AM: Registration & Breakfast
Check in, collect your attendee bag, grab breakfast, and greet our vendors and other attendees.
8:30 AM - 11:30 AM: Morning Sessions
Technical sessions with our expert speakers.
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Lunch
Enjoy a delicious lunch while spending time with our speakers, vendors, and other attendees.
11:45 AM - 12:30 PM: Sponsor Sessions
Learn more about our sponsors and the products/services they offer - and try to win a cool prize!
12:30 PM - 4:45 PM: Afternoon Sessions
Technical sessions with our expert speakers.
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM: Raffles & Closing
Say farewell to a memorable event - and try to win some great prizes from our sponsors and organizers!21 attendees
August Monthly CASSUG Meeting
Troy Web Consulting, 135 Mohawk St, Cohoes, NY, USGreetings, data enthusiasts!
Our August meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 17th, at 5:30 pm! We will meet in person at: Troy Web Consulting, 135 Mohawk St, Cohoes, NY 12047.
Please RSVP if you are attending, so we can purchase an appropriate amount of food for everyone. Food will be a variety of Korean BBQ and sides from K-Plate in Troy. For this meeting, we are having a session from Ben Harris discussing multimodal agents.
Our meeting schedule is as follows:
5:30 PM: Food, soft drinks, and networking
6:15 PM: Chapter news and announcements
6:30 PM: PresentationWe usually wrap up between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM. Here are the details for our session:
Ben Harris: Can Multimodal Agents Build the Next Signal? Exploring the Limits of AI in High-Stakes Privacy Engineering
Everybody wants to know if autonomous AI agents are finally ready to write production-grade software. But what happens when we point a natively multimodal AI system at the ultimate engineering stress test: designing and implementing a post-quantum, Tor-routed privacy messenger aiming for the security bar set by apps like Signal?
Using Knot—an experimental Rust-first privacy messenger featuring a native Android application, slated for future public release at https://github.com/DolosLabs/Knot—as our conceptual benchmark, we’ll explore the theoretical capabilities and limits of AI in high-stakes privacy engineering. Because modern AI models are designed from the ground up to reason seamlessly across text, images, video, audio, and code, the scope of what an agent can build has fundamentally expanded. But cryptography and secure communications still don't do "almost right."
Instead of making definitive claims, we’ll investigate the architecture to see where agents might naturally excel and where they are likely to be tested:
- The Blueprint: Could an AI successfully combine post-quantum algorithms (like ML-KEM-1024) with classical tools (like X25519 and OPAQUE) to architect defenses against "harvest-now-decrypt-later" attacks?
- The Plumbing: Is it possible for an agent to correctly manage encrypted local storage (via SQLCipher and Android Keystore) alongside a complex hybrid Double Ratchet without breaking state across Tor streams?
- The Nuance: Can natively multimodal agents parse high-level protocol logic and design constraints—such as understanding simple UI mockups and transforming them into working Jetpack Compose code, implementing strict resource limits to prevent infinite loops, and grasping the subtle differences between message-level deniability and participation deniability?
Ultimately, this talk is an exploration of the unknown. We’ll map out the massive gap between generating a theoretical codebase and shipping a secure, deployable APK, and discuss whether multimodal AI agents have what it takes to eventually cross that divide.
4 attendees
Past events
164
