SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- QAD Inc. (Nasdaq: QADA) (Nasdaq: QADB), a leading provider of flexible, cloud-based enterprise software and services for global manufacturing companies, today announced that Neil Jacobstein, Bob Parker and Bob Kalka will headline the speaker lineup for its annual customer conference, QAD Explore, May 7-10, 2018 at the Sheraton Dallas in Dallas, Texas.
"We are very lucky to have secured three amazing speakers to bring their expertise to this year's
Explore," said QAD Chief Marketing Officer Carter Lloyds. "Advanced technologies are changing the way our customers manufacture. Neil Jacobstein is perfectly positioned to talk about the impact of AI in the context of manufacturing. His work explores technology innovation, disruption and the real-world applications of AI and robotics. His unique ability to make these concepts accessible and understandable makes for a powerful keynote. Neil Jacobstein, Bob Parker and Bob Kalka help to make this year's event the best Explore ever."
Jacobstein's keynote, Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, will explore the major developments in artificial intelligence and robotics, including deep learning, reinforcement learning, autonomous vehicles, robotic surgery, drones, personal assistants, biotech automation and the future of atomically precise manufacturing. He is the chairman of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Track at Singularity University and a distinguished visiting scholar in the Stanford University Media X Program, where his research focuses on augmented decision systems. He has 25 years of AI system building and technical R&D consulting experience with a long list of industrial and governmental partners. He has served as a technical consultant on AI research and development projects for NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army among others.
Parker is responsible for the global research direction of the Retail, Energy, Manufacturing and Financial industry practices at IDC, a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets. He will lead two main stage sessions including Navigating Technologies for Manufacturing. Parker has been in the research domain for more than 15 years. He joined IDC over 10 years ago after spending six years at AMR Research.
Kalka has been involved in the information security industry for most of his extensive career with IBM. He has held a number of leadership positions in product management, sales, business development, marketing management and product development. He is a frequent international speaker on the relationship of business with information technology, risk management, cloud computing and cognitive security, and has had numerous papers and articles published on these topics. He also holds a United States patent related to secure distributed computing software.
Explore is QAD's largest annual event where customers, partners, sponsors and QAD experts come together for a week of informative sessions, hands-on training, manufacturing industry-specific presentations and networking. The agenda provides updates on key trends in manufacturing, strategic developments in the industries QAD serves and information on new solution developments. Attendees will hear from over 75 speakers, including QAD executives and customers.
Explore features more than 45 workshops and hands-on training classes, many of which count toward APICS continuing education credits. The QAD Solutions Expo provides ample opportunities for sponsors and other members of the QAD community to exhibit, demonstrate and solicit feedback on their products and solutions.
Customers can register for the event at explore.qad.com/register. Registration extends through the event. Registration includes access to all sessions, invitations to the Welcome Reception and closing night off-site dinner, meals during the event, electronic access to all presentation materials and access to the Solutions Expo show floor.
For the latest updates on QAD Explore 2018, follow @QAD_Community on Twitter and join the conversation with #QADExplore.
About QAD – The Effective Enterprise
QAD Inc. (Nasdaq: QADA) (Nasdaq: QADB) is a leading provider of flexible, cloud-based enterprise software and services for global manufacturing companies. QAD Cloud ERP for manufacturing supports operational requirements in the areas of financials, customer management, supply chain, manufacturing, service and support, analytics, business process management and integration. QAD's portfolio includes related solutions for quality management software, supply chain management software, transportation and global trade management software and B2B interoperability. Since 1979, QAD solutions have enabled customers in the automotive, consumer products, food and beverage, high tech, industrial manufacturing and life sciences industries to better align operations with their strategic goals to become Effective Enterprises.
To learn more, visit http://www.qad.com or call +1 805-566-6000.
"QAD" is a registered trademark of QAD Inc. All other products or company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Contacts:
QAD Inc.
Scott Matulis
Public Relations
818-451-8918
publicrelations@qad.com
or
Evan Quinn
Analyst Relations
617-869-7335
industryanalyst@qad.com
Note to Investors: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding projections of revenue, income and loss, capital expenditures, plans and objectives of management regarding the company's business, future economic performance or any of the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations. Words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "could," "will likely result," "estimates," "intends," "may," "projects," "should," "would," "might," "plan" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks associated with our cloud service offerings, such as defects and disruptions in our services, our ability to properly manage our cloud service offerings, our reliance on third-party hosting and other service providers, and our exposure to liability and loss from security breaches; demand for the company's products, including cloud service, licenses, services and maintenance; pressure to make concessions on our pricing and changes in our pricing models; protection of our intellectual property; dependence on third-party suppliers and other third-party relationships, such as sales, services and marketing channels; changes in our revenue, earnings, operating expenses and margins; the reliability of our financial forecasts and estimates of the costs and benefits of transactions; the ability to leverage changes in technology; defects in our software products and services; third-party opinions about the company; competition in our industry; the ability to recruit and retain key personnel; delays in sales; timely and effective integration of newly acquired businesses; economic conditions in our vertical markets and worldwide; exchange rate fluctuations; and the global political environment. For a more detailed description of the risk factors associated with the company and factors that may affect our forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and, in particular, the section entitled "Risk Factors" therein, and in other periodic reports the company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission thereafter. Management does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law.
SOURCE QAD Inc.