At last week's TDWI conference in Chicago I got to do the usual round of vendor podcasts for BI Network. I'm not sure why they still ask me to do these, 'cuz I generally suck at them, but people keep showing up. This time they didn't videotape the proceedings. Fine by me since I was wearing brown, which makes me look "ruddy" according to my sister-in-law. Combine the ruddiness with the constant blushing I'm doing when I mispronounce people's names (sorry, Chris Modzelewski!!!) and I'll take the audio, thank you very much.

Anyway, I got to interview a stellar crew last week and thought I'd highlight them here:

I met Tommy Drummond, Informatica's VP of Data Quality Product Marketing for the first time. I can't believe I didn't know him already since we're kindred spirits in the data-as-corporate-asset clan. As Informatica announced new enhancements to its data quality offerings, Tommy talked about the theme of "timely and trusted data," as well as another announcement that I'm not supposed to mention yet but that I blogged about three weeks ago. Hel-LO! I will post no blog before its time.

The aforementioned Chris Modzelewski (just so you don't make the same mistake I did: Mod-zuh-LOO-skee) is the CEO and founder of ChartSearch. I usually don't have a dog in the BI tools fight but this numerical search and analysis platform is one to watch.

I played "stump the expert" with Sami Akbay, VP of Product Management and Marketing for GoldenGate and I lost. Sami and I had a range of on- and off-the-record conversations about what GoldenGate can do--at one point we drew our swords, er, pens, and started creating a data integration architecture for one of my clients. Turns out they should be using GoldenGate, and pronto. Here's to decreasing latency!

I also got to podcast with my buddy and esteemed data warehousing pioneer Kim Stanick, VP of Marketing for ParAccel. Kim and I go way back and it's always fun to hear what she's up to, which is a helluvalot judging from the rash of new announcements ParAccel unveiled last week.

Oh, and I got to change chairs and be a podcast guest, too, along with Baseline's new VP of Marketing, Tamara Dull. We chatted with Ron Powell about Tamara joining Baseline from BI tool powerhouse Noetix--Tamara knows a ton about BI--and announced the forthcoming Jill Dyche Data Governance Newsletter on BI Network. Watch both of those announcements bloom in the months ahead. And for future announcements, I'll be wearing a flattering shade of magenta. NOT!

Technorati tags: TDWI, Informatica, ChartSearch, GoldenGate, Paraccel, Baseline Consulting