Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PCATS Announces 2006 Winter Meetings

November 22, 2005 – Alexandria, VA.  The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards announced today that its 2006 Winter Meetings will be held the week of January 30, 2006, at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel, St. Petersburg, FL.   The schedule calls for the business committees of PCATS to meet on January 30 and 31, 2006 and for the PCATS technical committees to meet on February 1 and 2, 2006.

The business committees of Membership, Certification, and Implementation will be reviewing progress made in 2005 and setting forth their work plans for 2006.  The past Winter Meeting sessions have exhibited a high degree of energy and enthusiasm and active participation by the attendees.

The technical committees of EB2B, Device Integration, POS Back Office, and Retailer Financial Transactions are expecting to accomplish a major amount of work during the sessions and to lay plans for their ongoing work.

John Hervey, executive director of PCATS, stated, “Attendance at these meetings has been building each year and we fully expect to top last years attendance of over 100 by approximately 25%.”  Hervey continued, “In addition, to the working meetings there is a lot of networking time built into the schedule.  There will be a poolside reception and dinner on January 30^th and on the 31^st we are planning a dinner cruise on Tampa Bay.”  

Susan Hilaski, PCATS Director of Standards Implementation, stated, “We are working on completing a lunch time speaker program for each day of the meetings.  We are excited to announce that David L. Brock, Founder and Director of The Data Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be the luncheon speaker on Wednesday, February 1, 2006.David is Principal Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and co-founder and a Director at the Auto-ID Center (now Auto-ID Labs and EPCglobal).  The Center was an international research consortium formed as a partnership among more than 100 global companies and five leading research universities.  David is also Assistant Research Professor of Surgery at Tufts University Medical School and Founder and Chief Technology Officer of endoVia Medical, Inc., a manufacturer of computer controlled medical devices.  Dr. Brock holds bachelors’ degrees in theoretical mathematics and mechanical engineering, as well as master and Ph.D. Degrees, from MIT.   Hervey concluded, “Due to the large turnout we expect we are recommending that anyone contemplating attendance make their hotel reservation before the room block expires on December 31, 2005.  Reservations may be made online at: http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/private_groups/sptshhf_pca/index.jhtml#top. “ Registration for the meetings is required and be done online at: https://www.sporg.com/registration?link_type=reg_info&form_id=32512. For additional information send an email to info@pcats.org.   

###

 About PCATS

The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS) is composed of over 160 members representing major companies, both supplier and retailer, in the petroleum marketing and convenience industry.  PCATS mission is to develop, maintain and help members implement a variety of technology standards.