| Tuesday, April 27 |
| 11:30 AM–12:30 PM |
The last few years has seen a great growth in the deployment of virtualized servers and storage. We are now seeing the deployment of software based application delivery appliances such as WAN optimization controllers (WOCs) and application delivery controllers (ADCs). These devices hold the promise of fundamentally changing application delivery. The members of this PowerPoint-free session will discuss the pros and cons of these appliances. What kind of performance improvements will you experience with a virtualized appliance? How will these devices be managed? Do they work with all hypervisors? Are they integrated with other branch office or data center functionality? Are they certified with any major software or storage vendors? How are they priced vs. a traditional appliance?
Moderator - Jim Metzler, Vice President, Ashton Metzler & Associates Jim has a wide background in the IT industry. This includes being a software engineer, an engineering manager for high-speed data services for a major telco, a product manager for network hardware, a network manager at two Fortune 500 companies, and the principal of a consulting organization. In addition, Jim has created software tools for designing customer networks for a major IXC, and directed and performed market research at a major industry analyst firm. Speaker - Kenneth Salchow, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, F5 Speaker - Shawn Cooney, Co-Founder, Certeon Speaker - Greg Smith, Senior Director Product Marketing NetScaler Product Group, Citrix Systems Inc Greg Smith is the director of product marketing for Citrix System's Application Networking solutions. Greg joined Citrix through the company's acquisition of NetScaler in 2005, bringing more than 14 years of experience in engineering, product management and product marketing. He is responsible for the product marketing strategy for Citrix's Application Networking products, including Citrix NetScaler, Citrix WANScaler and the Citrix Application Firewall product lines. Speaker - Mark Urban, Director of Product Marketing, Blue Coat Speaker - Paul Nicholson, Director of Product Marketing, A10 Networks
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| Wednesday, April 28 |
| 3:15 PM–4:15 PM |
When discussing virtual desktops, most people think of virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI) based on server virtualization technologies. However, there are a number of methods for delivering, provisioning and managing virtual desktops. This session will examine a range of technologies that can be used to deploy and manage virtual desktops, and how to match these technologies with user requirements.
Speaker - Barb Goldworm, President and Chief Analyst, FOCUS
Barb Goldworm is president and chief analyst of FOCUS (www.focusonsystems.com), a research, analyst and consulting firm focused on systems, software and storage, with an emphasis on virtualization and improving IT agility, TCO and ROI. A frequent keynote speaker, columnist, and author, Barb has spent thirty years in the computer industry, in various technical, marketing, sales, senior management, and industry analyst positions with IBM, Novell, StorageTek, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), and multiple successful startups. In addition to the current virtualization tracks at Interop, Barb also created and chaired Interop's Network Storage Track. She has been one of the top ranked expert speakers at SNW and Data Center Decisions and has been a regular speaker for TechTarget, Ziff-Davis and hundreds of other virtualization events and webcasts. She is also virtualization chair for Blade Systems Insight, and chaired the 2007 Server Blade Summit. Barb also has been a regular expert columnist since the 1990s for publications including Network World, ComputerWorld, TechTarget SearchServerVirtualization and others. She serves on multiple advisory boards and is a frequent judge for awards such as Best of VMworld, and Product of the Year. She has published hundreds of articles, business and technical white papers and market research reports on virtualization, systems, software, storage networking and systems management. She recently published the book, "Blade Servers and Virtualization: Transforming Enterprise Computing While Cutting Costs" (Wiley & Sons), available on Amazon.com. Barb started her career with virtualization in the 1970s with IBM's VM/370, and spent a decade in technical roles as a software developer, systems architect, systems engineer, and software development manager. After another decade in product management, marketing and sales, up through VP of marketing and sales, Barb has spent the last ten years as an analyst, consultant, author and speaker.
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| Thursday, April 29 |
| 9:00 AM–10:00 AM |
Most IT organizations are taking IT resources such as servers, applications and storage out of branch offices and placing them in centralized data centers. This raises some critical questions: How can IT organizations overcome the impediments to the broad deployment of virtual desktops? Should the next generation branch office be serverless? What type of device(s) needs to still be in the branch office and how is it managed? What techniques can be used to overcome the performance issues? The speakers on this panel will answer those questions and will present alternative designs for your next generation branch office.
Moderator - Jim Metzler, Vice President, Ashton Metzler & Associates Jim has a wide background in the IT industry. This includes being a software engineer, an engineering manager for high-speed data services for a major telco, a product manager for network hardware, a network manager at two Fortune 500 companies, and the principal of a consulting organization. In addition, Jim has created software tools for designing customer networks for a major IXC, and directed and performed market research at a major industry analyst firm. Speaker - Apurva Dave, Vice President of Product Marketing, Riverbed Technology Apurva Davé, Vice President, Product Marketing and Alliances, for Riverbed Technology, is responsible for planning, directing and implementing all facets of Riverbed’s product marketing activities. He works closely with Riverbed customers and the company’s executive team, defining product rollouts and positioning, and is intimately involved with Riverbed’s cloud computing initiatives. Previously, Apurva served as Director of Product Marketing for Fast Forward Networks and Inktomi. He holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an AB in Computer Science from Brown University. Speaker - Abhinav Bisarya, Product Marketing Manager, Juniper Networks Speaker - Shashi Kiran, Senior Manager, Cisco As part of Cisco’s Borderless Networks Initiative, Shashi Kiran heads the Enterprise Routing and WAN Optimization Marketing team for the Network Systems and Security group at Cisco. In this position he is responsible for defining the vision and strategic execution for the network as a platform focusing on various technologies that have a play in the branch and WAN.
In his 15-year career, Shashi has held various roles in the areas of Product Line Management, Marketing, Business Development, Sales and Network Engineering focusing on areas of Security, Routing, Metro Ethernet and hi-touch services for Enterprise and Service Provider networks. Prior to Cisco he has worked with Nortel, Euclid Networks and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (Dept.of Electronics, India). He also was an honorary consultant and columnist for the Network Magazine, Indian edition from 1997-2001. To propagate Network awareness in the 1990s, he devised India’s first e-mail based course on Internetworking that was subsequently syndicated in leading IT magazines.
Kiran has been involved in contributing to standards bodies primarily in security and routing areas and frequently speaks at Industry events. He holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration in addition to a few industry certifications. Speaker - Todd Logan, Windows Server Technology Specialist, Microsoft Todd Logan, MCSE, MCSA, MCDST, CWNA, Security+, is a Windows Server Technology Specialist for Microsoft specializing in virtualization. Todd was a technical trainer for ten years prior to joining Microsoft. He is a published author on topics relating to Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, and wireless technologies. He also created a series of technical certification videos for CBT Nuggets, Inc.
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| 10:15 AM–11:15 AM |
Desktop and application virtualization hold the promise of solving many of the desktop management problems that have been plaguing IT since PCs first began to multiply in corporations in the early 1980s. How can these various technologies help reduce desktop and application management nightmares? Where should they fit into an overall desktop management strategy? What benefits can be gained and what pitfalls can be avoided? What is involved in evaluating, planning and implementing them? Learn about implementing virtual desktops and application virtualization and streaming, and evaluate how you might incorporate these types of solutions into your desktop and application management strategy.
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| 11:30 AM–12:30 PM |
You have heard good things about VDI, but is there really a business case for moving to a virtual desktop infrastructure? Whether you are just starting to evaluate desktop virtualization or have started implementing virtual desktops, building a business case for your next phase can help you get the investment dollars you need to move forward. This session will give you the information you need to begin to create that business case and help your management understand how desktop virtualization can reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO), including your ongoing OpEx costs.
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