January 25th, 2005

As another year of AMP Technology opens, we're proud to have special guest ActiveGrid and the start of the Search Engine Optimization Series, presented by NYPHP's resident Search Engine Optimization - SEO - John Andrews. Join New York PHP in its third year as we get an exclusive look at ActiveGrid's new technology, and John kicks off the SEO Series, explaining the magic of search engines and how PHP helps shape the dynamic web.

ActiveGrid Technology Overview
Enterprise PHP and the Certified LAMP Stack

California based ActiveGrid recently introduced an enterprise PHP platform. With strategic partners such as MySQL and key media recognition by Yahoo!, ZDNet, cnet and others, ActiveGrid's technology enables large companies with the critical components of scalability, stability, and reliability, while using open source and LAMP.

With the introduction of the Grid Application Server, ActiveGrid leverages the experiences of technology leaders and brings PHP and the LAMP platform to new heights. By combining the best of open source and commercial ideals, Transaction Grid Computing provides functionality and flexibility never before seen in LAMP or commercial enterprise platforms.

Join Founder & CEO Peter Yared and VP of Marketing & Business Development Jeff Veis to get an exclusive look at the technical workings of the Grid Application Server. Peter and Jeff will also be doing a live demo of the ActiveGrid Application Builder, the graphical next generation development environment currently in development and slated for Open Source release in February.

As CTO at NetDynamic, a leading J2EE application server company, then CTO of Sun's Application Server Division, and CTO of Liberty Alliance, Peter brings enterprise insight to PHP and ActiveGrid.

Don't miss this New York PHP exclusive presentation, as ActiveGrid takes open source to a new level with PHP, and sponsors free drinks after the meeting.

PHP SEO Series, Part I
Website optimization, Search Engine Optimization and PHP

Website optimization is a process of optimizing a website to achieve specific objectives. Websites have traditionally been optimized for search engine placement using SEO tactics, and for eCommerce using marketing and copywriting tactics. Lately more and more businesses are turning to optimizers as a means of achieving new goals of branding, dissemination, and competitiveness - especially Return on Investment (ROI).

Unfortunately, new websites are rarely designed with appropriate optimization goals in mind. Usually website optimizers have to redesign, rebuild, or heavily modify existing sites to achieve optimization goals. For PHP-based websites, this can create serious challenges for the programmers and designers. For non-PHP sites, it usually means adding server-side features, and PHP is the tool of choice for today's top professional optimizers.

John Andrews is an independent professional Website Optimizer with 9 years of experience planning and building goal-oriented websites using LAMP technologies. This introductory presentation will establish a framework for understanding the needs and goals of website optimization, and set the stage for further discussions as NYPHP begins to optimize the NYPHP.org website.

Through a series of presentations, John will prepare the PHP programmer, site designer, or webmaster for the kinds of challenges that can be expected should a site be considered for optimization. He will demonstrate common problems, as well as typical solutions implemented by professional optimizers. He will discuss on-page factors, and highlight how some "best practices" are actually hostile to the search engine spiders and crawlers. He will show the potential for site-based factors, and demonstrate the importance of off-site factors for specific goals.

John will emphasize certain PHP programming methods which can help prepare a site for the actions most often pursued by professional website optimizers, making the optimization process less stressful and more fun for all involved. Several examples will be provided from the NYPHP website, as well as others.

Help kick off another amazing year for New York PHP and the AMP community. Learn solutions to the often daunting tasks of enterprise and large scale deployments, and get a leg up on the little known but vital aspects of web development, design, and SEO.

As PHP moves into the next generation of Internet computing, join New York PHP to see how it's solving enterprise problems and optimizing your site for search engine exposure.

Thanks to Dan Krook and Platinum sponsor IBM for providing a great presentation space with seating for plenty.

As a service to our community, New York PHP meetings are always free and open to the public.