​Agenda​

​5:30 - 6:00: Refreshments / Networking

​6:00 - 6:30:

• ​Intro to wx.data/IBM Open Source

• ​Intro to Cassandra & the latest in Cassandra 5

​​6:30 - 7:15: Demo's for hands-on Cassandra-based projects

• ​Configure and stand up C* cluster w/K8ssandra

• ​Full Stack Cassandra-backed Application Demo / Repo

​7:15 - 7:45: Expert Q&A Panel

​7:45 - 8:00: Wrap-Up / Networking

​BONUS: If you want some serious hands-on time, please join us in the afternoon by signing up HERE!

​Speaker info/background - Coming Soon

​Gil Isaacs, Solutions Architect, IBM watsonx

​Gil Isaacs is a seasoned technology leader known for helping organizations unlock real business value through innovative cloud, event-driven, and open-source AI solutions. With deep experience bridging the gap between complex technical challenges and strategic outcomes, he’s empowered teams across startups and enterprises alike to think bigger and build smarter. A respected voice in tech communities and frequent contributor on topics like DevOps, SaaS architecture, cloud and AI transformation, Gil brings energy, clarity, and practical insight to every stage.

​Madhavan Sridharan, Principal Solutions Architect, IBM watsonx

​Madhavan partners with customers to design and implement modern, composable data architectures. He helps organizations leverage open-source data platform technologies such as Apache Cassandra, Apache Pulsar, Apache Kafka, PostgreSQL, and OpenSearch—integrated with scalable compute engines like Apache Spark and Presto. Through a context-driven architectural approach focused on semantic understanding, intent awareness, and explainability, he enables enterprises to transform complex data ecosystems into platforms where data is accessible, understandable, and actionable for business outcomes.

​James Colvin, Solutions Engineer, IBM watsonx

​James is a customer-facing technologist with 15+ years of experience driving large-scale database and AI initiatives. Over the past 8 years he’s helped organizations design, deploy, and optimize Apache Cassandra-based systems and build AI-powered applications at scale with DataStax’s cloud and enterprise data platforms. Since DataStax’s acquisition by IBM in 2025, he’s continued to empower developers and operators as a Solutions Engineer at IBM, focused on scalable data architectures, developer experience, and real-world AI use cases. He regularly shares insights on distributed systems, GenAI, and developer tooling with the tech community through talks, articles, and open source contributions.

​Mangat Rai, Solutions Engineer, IBM watsonx

​Mangat is a seasoned technology leader with nearly two decades of experience in solutions engineering, specializing in helping organizations solve complex technical challenges and drive meaningful outcomes. His work bridges deep technical understanding with strategic customer engagement, enabling teams to adopt and scale modern data platforms effectively. At the Cassandra User Group, Mangat brings practical insight into how distributed systems and real-world engineering intersect to solve today’s toughest data problems.