AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2006 burst into life this morning as Jesse James Garrett, the 'Father' of the term AJAX, delivered a keynote address in which he described in vivid detail the genesis of the term just 18 months ago. One member of the audience, in the minutes before the keynote began, looked around and - noting the packed room even though it was early morning in Santa Clara - summed up the mood of the Conference: 'This is getting good...'

Garrett, Director of User Experience Strategy and a founding partner of San Francisco-based Adaptive Path, declared right at the outset that AJAX is basically about "breaking the nature of the Web" - meaning Web 1.0, the Web of linking documents/

Today, information architects around the world depend on the tools and concepts Garrett has developed, including the widely acclaimed "Elements of User Experience" model. He is co-founder of the Information Architecture Institute, the only professional organization dedicated to information architecture. He is also a frequent speaker and writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including New Architect, Digital Web, and Boxes and Arrows.

His clients at Adaptive Path include AT&T, Intel, Crayola, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, and National Public Radio. Since starting in the Internet industry in 1995, Jesse has had a hands-on role in almost every aspect of Web development, from interface design and programming to content development and high-level strategy.