In the past 10 years of SAGE-AU's existence, there has been a dramatic change in the role of Systems Administrators and how we are pereceived by our peers, employers and the public. E-Commerce and the Internet have been a large part of this change, increasing the need for system administration skills and expertise. At the same time, the skills and knowledge required by system administrators has also been changing. It is often difficult to "keep up" with the latest practices, let alone keep systems running as smoothly as we'd like. A large part of being a system administrator is professional development - maintaining and improving your existing skills, establishing technical contacts, and adding to your skillset.

The SAGE-AU Annual Conference represents the best source of in-depth technical and professional information available to System Administrators in the Asia Pacific region. The high calibre of material being presented is reflected in the fact that many of our speakers have written or co-authored the books that we, as sysadmins, use in our day-to-day tasks. Our tutorials represent a distillation of many hours of hard-earned experience in specific areas; the experts presenting these tutorials have worked "at the coal face" as system administrators themselves, and know the difference between theory, practice and what really happens .

Beyond tutorials, this year's technical program contains presentations on topical issues such as security vulnerabilities, legal and professional issues, and much more. Our successful Birds-of-a-feather (BOF) sessions will be running again, providing a forum for attendees to meet and discuss common interests not necessarily covered elsewhere on the program.

SAGE-AU represents a unique opportunity for system administrators to gain direct access to the experts in our field. We hope to see you there!

Kind Regards