Microsoft Dynamics AX Technical Conference moves to February to coincide with AX 2012 R3 release

The upcoming Microsoft Dynamics AX Technical Conference, which was scheduled for November 12-14, has been rescheduled to February according to a new blog post from the Microsoft Dynamics Events Team. 

According to the post, the move was made so the presenters at the event could refer to or demonstrate the production version Dynamics AX 2012 R3.  Here's a portion of the announcement:

"Our goal with the event has always been to provide deep technical content for the new features and functionality of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, as well as provide conference participants the opportunity to interact with the Microsoft Dynamics AX R&D team. To ensure the most optimal learning, all product presentations will be using the release-to-market version of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3.  The February event dates now coincide with the current release schedule."

The event will also be changing venues, moving from Redmond to the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue, Washington.

At WPC 2013, Microsoft advised that R3 would be available in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2013, with the next major release, Rainier, due in Q4 of calendar year 2014.

These changes in the event don't necessarily  suggest a delayed release of AX 2012 R3. While the release could hit a delay, as software releases are known to do, it's also understandable that running a major event like the AX technical conference just before a semi-major software release could tie up key members of the R&D team just as they need to make a final push to get the release wrapped up by the end of the year.   Alternatively, one could speculate that ...