11:30 a.m. PT  Thursday, October 8, 2009 (US WEBCAST)

Facebook has grown into one of the largest sites on the Internet today
serving over 200 billion pages per month. The nature of social data
makes engineering a site for this level of scale a particularly
challenging proposition. In this presentation, I will discuss the
aspects of social data that present challenges for scalability and will
describe the the core architectural components and design principles
that Facebook has used to address these challenges. In addition, I will
discuss emerging technologies that offer new opportunities for building
cost-effective high performance web architectures.

"Thriving as a Tech StartUp in an UpStart economy - Beating the economic blues", the first Northern StartUp 2.0 event of 2009 will be held on 28th Jan 08 at Howarth Clark Whitehill, Manchester, UK. Visit http://www.nwstartup20.co.uk/jan09 to purchase a ticket.

2009 series of events will start with a lighthearted subject. Discussing how tech companies can survive, reposition and emerge as champions ready for exit when the economic turnaround takes place in 24 to 36 months from now.

It all started with sub-prime mortgages followed by prestigious banks going under worldwide resulting in low liquidity and economic contraction. Large companies are cutting down costs and headcounts with significant hits on R&D. In most cases all R&D spend has been frozen or cancelled. This is a great time for tech startups to innovate, prove concepts and be there strong when the economy recovers.

Whilst the last three years saw the emergence of web 2.0 startups with no clear focus on revenue generation, the current economic climate is forcing these startups to think otherwise. The startups with the right strategy will emerge, grow and have the opportunity to acquire struggling startups.

The doors open at 6pm. We are fortunate to welcome a number of new speakers:

1. Mike Butcher - editor of TechCrunch UK, the ultimate authority on tech startup news in the UK and Ireland - Mike will be staying overnight in Manchester, so come prepared with your 60s if you want coverage on TechCrunch
2. James Brocket - CEO of Calibreone, the company that produces quarterly review of tech investments. See their reports at http://www.edocr.com/tags/calibreone
3. Ed French - Venture Capitalist at Rising Stars. Ed will speak on the impact to venture capital and what he is looking for in
4. Neil Parkin - Business Link North West. Large chunk of government funding will be channelled through BusinessLink/NWDA



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Opportunities:

1. Sponsor this event for £500.00+VAT
2. Startup4Slaughter - would you like this slot (cost £50 + VAT for two people)
3. Speaker: Tech founder/CEO - tell us your story if you had to drastically change your strategy to suit the credit squeeze