(March 20, 2003) - Through a commitment to show the future of technology and its possibilities for government, the Mayor's Office of Information Services welcomes a leader in Web services technology. Sean Rhody, editor-in-chief of Web Services Journal and a respected industry commentator and speaker, will discuss Web services, its application for local government and the future of the technology with City of Philadelphia IT leaders and managers on Friday, March 21, 2003.

"Keeping decision makers up-to-date on the latest technology and focused on the future is critical to the city's mission of providing excellent, efficient services," said Dianah L. Neff, Chief Information Office, Mayor's Office of Information Services. "The Internet is one of three platforms critical to the city's technology infrastructure."

MOIS, led by Neff, hosts regular meetings for city IT managers. MOIS is focused on managing, supporting and updating the current city IT infrastructure; running an online and phone help desk to meet the immediate IT support needs of city departments; and coordinating and facilitating the design and implementation of new IT and Web projects citywide and within each department.

Rhody is a partner with Computer Sciences Corporation, where he is the Web services advocate for the Consulting Group. He recently coauthored Beginning Java Web Services (Wrox).