MOORPARK, Calif. – Credit union data processor XP Systems hosted approximately 650 attendees at its 24th Annual Customer Conference in Tucson, Arizona that featured a rock concert from one of its client credit unions. Made up of employees of Affinity FCU in Basking Ridge, N.J., The Affinity Experience played to an enthused crowd during the conference's welcome reception. The Affinity Experience band formed about a year ago after employees complained that the CU's annual off-site business planning session featured too much canned entertainment. "With 400 people here, I thought it would be hard to believe that I couldn't put a band together," said Kurt Snyder, vice president of information technology for Affinity FCU and drummer for the band. Snyder soon found there was plenty of musical talent at the CU, coming from front line staffers all the way up to CEO John Fenton who plays rhythm guitar in the six-person band. The band likes to play rock hits from the `60s and `70s from the likes of Steppenwolf, Bob Seger, Kiss, John Fogerty, and others. After the concert, XP did get right down to business. Attendees were given an overview of the financial strength of XP's parent company, Fiserv. Breakout sessions focused on everything to do with XP2, the core processor's new core system. Release 2 of XP was recently released. So far 220 XP credit union clients have converted to XP2. Attendees also learned about the new CAT ATM management system. Many products were on display in the technology lab and an exhibit hall featured hands-on demos from vendors. More and more so-called vendor conferences, like the XP users conference, are featuring exhibit halls full of vendors that partner with XP on complementary products. The next XP Systems' customer meeting will be its annual Technology Forum in Charlotte, N.C. in the Spring of 2005.