Interop New York 2009 Speaker List

"Smartphone" really doesn't cover it anymore - essentially every handset today, after all, is pretty smart. We're really looking, however, at an explosion of alternatives in mobile operating environments that define platforms, with vendors now competing even on the number of apps they support. IT, of course, doesn't care about volume here - it's more about having the right apps and a platform that's cost-effective and easy to manage. This session will explore the key directions in both mobile operating systems and strategies for mobilizing IT using these powerful new handsets.

Get ready for the shift from traditional video conferencing islands to video enabled unified collaboration. Focusing on managing your network, this session offers critical suggestions for deployment, management and provisioning to provide the highest levels of scale, reliability and performance across the continuum from desktop, group systems and immersive telepresence.

In this session we will explore personal video conferencing, showing how this rapidly growing segment can provide a great meeting experience. Multiple models for how personal video conferencing can be deployed will be discussed and demonstrated by vendors. Session attendees will be able to understand the different deployment models, see the user interface and the video quality provided by each solution, and quiz both the consultant and the vendor panel on how these tools can be best used in their specific business applications.

Video conferencing places significant demands on the enterprise network both in terms of how the traffic needs to be treated (priority and QoS) and in the bandwidth needed to support good video. Designing the right network solution to support an enterprise video conferencing deployment is critical to getting early positive feedback on using a video capability which will affect its uptake as a business tool. This session will look at the technical details of designing, testing and managing an enterprise network to support high quality video conferencing and telepresence communications.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

Initially, hosted software was heavily standardized. But as they targeted enterprise customers, those customers demanded ways of customizing their applications. The answer? Give customers the ability to extend the applications themselves. Today, many SaaS providers offer rich software ecosystems that include third-party marketplaces, development languages, and cloud computing platforms.

When companies develop software, they usually pick a language and an operating system. But maybe it's time to pick a SaaS platform instead. This panel of SaaS providers talks about the platform-as-a-service model and how enterprises can tailor SaaS subscriptions to their particular needs while moving development efforts into the cloud.

Cloud computing is predicted as a natural extension of Web 2.0 with emphasis on openness, interoperability, and better IT economics. There is also an increasingly dark lining to this silver cloud in the form of personal data privacy risk and new business liabilities as a result of cloud dependence. This session not only helps draw the cloud as a business movement but illustrates the inherent data risks of even being there. The session will also highlight the growing global compliance risks and costs as they consider Web 2.0 and cloud computing for their enterprise.

Traditional video conferencing vendors and a set of recent market entries are pushing a wide variety of video conferencing solutions all the way from high end Telepresence suites to software solutions running on the PC desktop. Which technologies will provide the right communications solution for the needs of your enterprise? This session will help the enterprise decision makers sort through the vendor offerings and hype and focus on the right size, right bandwidth and right features to meet their visual communications needs.

In this session we will explore personal video conferencing, showing how this rapidly growing segment can provide a great meeting experience. Multiple models for how personal video conferencing can be deployed will be discussed and demonstrated by vendors. Session attendees will be able to understand the different deployment models, see the user interface and the video quality provided by each solution, and quiz both the consultant and the vendor panel on how these tools can be best used in their specific business applications.

Video conferencing places significant demands on the enterprise network both in terms of how the traffic needs to be treated (priority and QoS) and in the bandwidth needed to support good video. Designing the right network solution to support an enterprise video conferencing deployment is critical to getting early positive feedback on using a video capability which will affect its uptake as a business tool. This session will look at the technical details of designing, testing and managing an enterprise network to support high quality video conferencing and telepresence communications.

Network Access Control takes "defense in depth" all the way to the desktop. With NAC on your network, every connection can be authenticated and controlled, helping to reduce the risk of malware or malicious people taking hold on the network. Because NAC is the hot buzzword right now, the products can be confusing and the vendors contentious. However, NAC represents the most significant change in the way that networks are secured since the invention of the firewall. Network managers are now being given the tools to create a strong link between users, end systems, desktop workstations, laptops, and access to network resources.

With components of end-point security, authentication and access control, these emerging NAC architectures and products offer almost endless options. Your job is to select the right components and pieces to match your own requirements.

This full-day seminar will cover the concepts behind NAC, giving you the tools to understand both single-vendor solutions and multi-vendor NAC architectures from Cisco, Microsoft and the Trusted Computing Group. We'll discuss specific issues in deploying NAC in enterprise networks, and cover key strategies you can use to ensure successful NAC planning and deployment. During the day, a panel of leading NAC experts will the debate issues and take your questions.

Course Agenda

NAC Architecture and End Point Security * NAC basics, including an overview of problems NAC is supposed to solve -- compared to the problems it actually solves * In-depth information on NAC's key components of authentication, end-point security, access control, and management

Design and Deployment of NAC Solutions * What it takes to put NAC into a production network * Five main steps of a NAC deployment

NAC Product Architectures * An overview of industry-leading NAC solutions, presented in a vendor-neutral way * How Microsoft, Cisco, and other NAC vendors are working together -- and how they are working against each other

NAC Panel * Audience-led Q&A of NAC technical experts on NAC deployment, architecture, and real-world lessons learned. This is not a marketing pitch. This is your chance to ask NAC veterans about how NAC works in the real world.

NAC Enforcement Strategies * Where should NAC enforcement go in your network, and what are the pros and cons of each NAC enforcement strategy?

Nine Hard Questions about Network Access Control * Hard questions you should be able to answer about your chosen NAC solution, or hard questions you may want to ask your potential NAC vendors

Who Should Attend
* Network managers interested in learning about how NAC will affect network architectures, and in building higher security into networks * Security architects interested in pushing security from the perimeter deep into the network with full access control and authentication of end users * Desktop managers looking to enforce security policy compliance and get on top of regulatory issues with tighter controls

You Will Learn
* What NAC is, and the underlying technologies that make it happen * NAC enforcement options, and when to use various options * NAC architecture and solution choice strategies * Implementation issues * Solid strategies for adding NAC, and pitfalls to avoid

Along with its many benefits, the move to a virtual infrastructure brings new challenges to managing the data center. These challenges include virtual server sprawl (largely due to the ease of provisioning virtual servers), capacity and performance management of the virtualized infrastructure, and troubleshooting problems across the virtual and physical environment. While network and systems management toolsets have been around for decades, are they able to handle a virtual world? Hundreds of new tools have emerged to specifically address virtualization management, while existing tools are evolving with new virtual capabilities. Learn about how both of these types of tools can be implemented to help you with the long-running challenge of successful end-to-end management.

Wireless is a notoriously difficult space for engineers, caught between the unforgiving laws of physics and the economic requirements inherent in designing, building, and manufacturing products. And yet, talented researchers and developers continue to push throughput, range, and reliability, all the while lowering costs and power requirements. This session will provide an update on the latest developments in wireless, including gigabit wireless LANs, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA, the basis of most 4G technologies), and advanced antennas. If you want to know what's next in wireless, and what it will mean to you, this is the place.

Cloud computing is seldom clearly defined. On the one hand, clouds are a business model that's as old as outsourcing itself: let someone else do things you don't want to, reaping economies of scale and economies of skill. On the other hand, clouds are a set of technologies that improve reliability, distribute workload, and handle vast data sets quickly. This presentation looks at both perspectives, as we try to define what's just managed hosting, what's just virtualization, and what's truly a cloud.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

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.

"Smartphone" really doesn't cover it anymore - essentially every handset today, after all, is pretty smart. We're really looking, however, at an explosion of alternatives in mobile operating environments that define platforms, with vendors now competing even on the number of apps they support. IT, of course, doesn't care about volume here - it's more about having the right apps and a platform that's cost-effective and easy to manage. This session will explore the key directions in both mobile operating systems and strategies for mobilizing IT using these powerful new handsets.

Enterprises have invested money in disaster recovery (DR) for years, while small and mid-sized companies with limited budgets simply hoped and prayed that nothing disastrous would happen. Today, companies of all sizes are leveraging virtualization to create cost-effective DR implementations. This session discusses why and how so many companies are utilizing virtualization to implement successful disaster recovery plans.

In a cloud environment, you don't rack and stack servers any more; instead, you click and drag them. This relieves IT operators of many physical chores, but it creates a new one: server sprawl.

To deal with this, most cloud operations teams rely heavily on scripts that automate common functions such as setting up servers or migrating configurations. Those scripts, however, are often tailored to a particular cloud platform—so the same tools that were supposed to liberate IT have inadvertently locked it into a particular cloud environment. If scripting and automation are keys to the success of cloud models, they're not getting the attention they deserve. This panel looks at scripting best practices, automation, and standardization.

In a cloud environment, you don't rack and stack servers any more; instead, you click and drag them. This relieves IT operators of many physical chores, but it creates a new one: server sprawl.

To deal with this, most cloud operations teams rely heavily on scripts that automate common functions such as setting up servers or migrating configurations. Those scripts, however, are often tailored to a particular cloud platform—so the same tools that were supposed to liberate IT have inadvertently locked it into a particular cloud environment. If scripting and automation are keys to the success of cloud models, they're not getting the attention they deserve. This panel looks at scripting best practices, automation, and standardization.

This intensive workshop offers a critical, independent evaluation of SharePoint, detailing the platform's strengths and weaknesses culled from customer experiences and hands-on testing. Through presentations and discussion, the workshop helps you figure out how, where, when, and why to use SharePoint -- and reviews how well SharePoint "fits" into different types and sizes of enterprises with different business objectives.

The workshop will also prepare you for developing a SharePoint strategy for your enterprise, empowering business and technology managers to reach a common assessment of what SharePoint can and can't do effectively for your enterprise. This course will enable you to confidently assess and plan any effort to extend SharePoint beyond a set of departmental installations into an enterprise-wide platform.

Course Outline * What Is and Isn't SharePoint 2007 * How SharePoint 2010 Changes the Picture * SharePoint Architecture for Business Managers * Evaluating SharePoint's Core "Six Pillars" * Evaluating SharePoint for Social Computing * SharePoint as an Application Development Platform * Enterprise Architecture and Operations * Evaluating the SharePoint Ecosystem * Best Practices and Looking Forward

Who Should Attend and What You'll Learn
* Business analysts -- to learn what SharePoint does and doesn't offer out of the box, and what are the likely costs * Enterprise architects and IT managers -- to better guide business colleagues about choices and impacts before they try to dive into SharePoint unawares by understanding architectures, governance, critical 3rd-party modules employed at the enterprise level * SharePoint project managers, senior architects, and lead developers -- to understand what you're about to get into, with respect to architectures, licensing, and functionality, as well as different approaches for customizing and extending SharePoint * SharePoint evaluation teams -- to level-set understanding and terminology among the team, and make more informed choices about whether and where to employ SharePoint * Information and Knowledge Managers -- to compare SharePoint against other information and knowledge management tools in your enterprise, as well as what key investments need to be made to up-size SharePoint for the enterprise * Consultants -- to understand where SharePoint works well, and where it does not, as well as how to improve SharePoint implementations through better governance and 3rd-party tools * Anyone who wants to understand the impact of SharePoint 2010 on any existing deployments

Microsoft has released the long-awaited beta for its next version of SharePoint. The new platform brings significant changes in some areas, and more cosmetic enhancements in others. As an enterprise customer, how should you respond? If you have not yet made an enterprise-wide commitment to SharePoint, should you wait until the 2010 release to evaluate your options? If you already widely deployed SharePoint 2007, when and why should you upgrade? How does SharePoint 2010 address key shortcomings in the current platform around governance, performance, and interoperability? Tony Byrne, founder of CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne will deliver a fast-paced tour of your options.

To date, technology analysts have quite properly focused on the social and business aspects of social software. And yet, social software tools (including collaboration suites, pure-play blog / wiki / social-networking products, and revamped portal products from major vendors) differ quite substantially in maturity, approach, and support. This session will share customer research from noted evaluation firm CMS Watch on leading social software technologies, and provide a framework for customers to evaluate the marketplace based on their own needs

Consumer use of social messaging services such as Twitter is on the rise. The tools are likely already in use today, unbeknownst to IT. Do these new messaging technologies pose a threat to business or are they an opportunity to create value through increased communication and collaboration? What is the role of social messaging in unified communications and collaboration and does the rise of public social messaging services render investments in unified communications moot? Join us for a look at the future of social messaging in the Enterprise.

Technologies like virtualization and automation tools are cornerstone to the next generation data center - but without the proper processes and staff skills to manage them, tomorrow's data center will be no better off than today's. Likewise, even the right people and process fall short without sufficient technology investment that can minimize labor intensive tasks. With that in mind, the next generation data center is a collection of people, process and technology that support one another. This panel discussion will identify the key people, process and technology considerations to help data center managers plan for the next generation data center today.

With video conferencing products constantly evolving, organizations need to understand how these tools can promote global communication today and tomorrow. This session features Linda Carr, a 20 year veteran in large scale IT/Intra/Inter/Network and SAN environments, discussing her best practices for deploying video communications in a global environment. This session will cover real-world applications of video from telepresence to the desktop, video ROI, and tips on deploying a video network on your existing infrastructure, keeping your organization communicating face-to-face while watching your bottom line.

Historically the way that networks have assisted applications was by providing sufficient bandwidth. However, recently vendors have started to integrate functionality such as SSL processing and WAN optimization into network devices. Now we are beginning to see a movement to provide APIs directly to the switchs' and routers' operating systems and to also run portions of an application directly on switches and routers. The panelists in this session will discuss the spectrum of functionality that is being integrated into network devices as well as the pros and cons of doing so.

Many enterprise applications have to run in-house for legislation and privacy. Others run best in hosted environments, closer to shared data and customers. There's a third class of applications that can run in-house or on-demand, depending on pricing and performance constraints.

As companies define their IT strategies, these "hybrid clouds" will become increasingly important. If such systems can dynamically move workload between on-demand and on-premise environments, customers can optimize their use of computing resources while respecting data privacy concerns. This panel of innovators in hybrid clouds looks at the promise - and obstacles - of a technology that may finally unlock enterprise cloud adoption.

IT and operations managers who have gone mobile know that the benefits are great, but so are the challenges involved. This session will examine the tactical options for integrating mobility into existing network and system operations processes. From unified wired/wireless management to mobile device management, collaborative systems, and security across the entire network and user value chain, this panel will address key opportunities, examine best practices, and offer actionable advice on how to leverage integrated management to get the most from mobility today and tomorrow.

Many users have decided that Apple's iPhone is the right device for them - but is it the right device for mobile IT? While its roots are undeniably in the consumer space, many iPhones are in fact today being used in business. But how does the iPhone really stack up against the competition and enterprise IT requirements? With so many alternatives, is an iPhone-centric strategy really the right direction? This lively debate will explore the opportunities - and issues - inherent in the iPhone and its competitors, and help you prepare a checklist of key requirements for future handset deployments.

Historically the way that networks have assisted applications was by providing sufficient bandwidth. However, recently vendors have started to integrate functionality such as SSL processing and WAN optimization into network devices. Now we are beginning to see a movement to provide APIs directly to the switchs' and routers' operating systems and to also run portions of an application directly on switches and routers. The panelists in this session will discuss the spectrum of functionality that is being integrated into network devices as well as the pros and cons of doing so.

A new threat vector has emerged that easily bypasses network security constructs and can destroy a brand. Armed with a Web browser, the new class of attackers can circumvent authentication mechanisms, steal identities and otherwise take advantage of vulnerable Web applications. And yet, companies depend on these websites for revenue, branding and business-to-business commerce. Addressing risk requires a two-pronged approach that enables business as usual while protecting against the new class of threats.
This session includes:
* Live demonstration of Web application hacking * Making a business case for application security * The key steps/technologies for risk management * Real-world examples

Clouds promise computing platforms that are as simple and flexible as other utilities. IT managers are re-examining projects that weren't feasible a few short years ago. They're behind a huge number of startups freed from the tyranny of up-front costs, and they're giving enterprises new ways to experiment. But that's not why clouds are interesting.

The real promise of on-demand computing is what it makes possible: an interconnected web of services that powers the latest mobile applications, delivering information when and where we need it, connecting people and business to one another. It's a network effect on a global scale, offering pervasive computing on an unprecedented scale. This presentation looks at the long-term drivers of cloud computing, and offers some tantalizing thoughts on what it can become.

Initially, hosted software was heavily standardized. But as they targeted enterprise customers, those customers demanded ways of customizing their applications. The answer? Give customers the ability to extend the applications themselves. Today, many SaaS providers offer rich software ecosystems that include third-party marketplaces, development languages, and cloud computing platforms.

When companies develop software, they usually pick a language and an operating system. But maybe it's time to pick a SaaS platform instead. This panel of SaaS providers talks about the platform-as-a-service model and how enterprises can tailor SaaS subscriptions to their particular needs while moving development efforts into the cloud.

Cloud computing is seldom clearly defined. On the one hand, clouds are a business model that's as old as outsourcing itself: let someone else do things you don't want to, reaping economies of scale and economies of skill. On the other hand, clouds are a set of technologies that improve reliability, distribute workload, and handle vast data sets quickly. This presentation looks at both perspectives, as we try to define what's just managed hosting, what's just virtualization, and what's truly a cloud.

Many enterprise applications have to run in-house for legislation and privacy. Others run best in hosted environments, closer to shared data and customers. There's a third class of applications that can run in-house or on-demand, depending on pricing and performance constraints.

As companies define their IT strategies, these "hybrid clouds" will become increasingly important. If such systems can dynamically move workload between on-demand and on-premise environments, customers can optimize their use of computing resources while respecting data privacy concerns. This panel of innovators in hybrid clouds looks at the promise - and obstacles - of a technology that may finally unlock enterprise cloud adoption.

In a cloud environment, you don't rack and stack servers any more; instead, you click and drag them. This relieves IT operators of many physical chores, but it creates a new one: server sprawl.

To deal with this, most cloud operations teams rely heavily on scripts that automate common functions such as setting up servers or migrating configurations. Those scripts, however, are often tailored to a particular cloud platform—so the same tools that were supposed to liberate IT have inadvertently locked it into a particular cloud environment. If scripting and automation are keys to the success of cloud models, they're not getting the attention they deserve. This panel looks at scripting best practices, automation, and standardization.

Experts agree that the IPv4 address space will be depleted in about two years. In this session, John Curran, the president and chief executive officer of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), will identify the challenges that IPv4 depletion presents to networks and the Internet community as a whole, and how organizations can prepare for these challenges. The session will discuss the considerations for IPv6 adoption, as well as how to get involved in the community-driven public policy process that dictates how the remaining IPv4 address space is allocated.

Consumer use of social messaging services such as Twitter is on the rise. The tools are likely already in use today, unbeknownst to IT. Do these new messaging technologies pose a threat to business or are they an opportunity to create value through increased communication and collaboration? What is the role of social messaging in unified communications and collaboration and does the rise of public social messaging services render investments in unified communications moot? Join us for a look at the future of social messaging in the Enterprise.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

The vast majority of workers currently reside in branch offices and access applications over a relatively low-speed, high-latency WAN. This use of the WAN causes many applications to perform badly. To mitigate the impact of the WAN on application performance, many vendors have developed a solution referred to as a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC). In this PowerPoint-free session, leading WOC vendors will be asked questions to identify the similarities and differences between their products.

Virtualization is not new. What is new is the great interest in deploying server, storage and desktop virtualization. While each of these forms of virtualization can provide significant business value, each has the potential to significantly complicate the task of ensuring acceptable application performance. In this session, vendors from different areas of IT will identify network technologies, designs and best practices that enable IT organizations to enjoy the benefits of virtualization without enduring the potential pitfalls.

Many users have decided that Apple's iPhone is the right device for them - but is it the right device for mobile IT? While its roots are undeniably in the consumer space, many iPhones are in fact today being used in business. But how does the iPhone really stack up against the competition and enterprise IT requirements? With so many alternatives, is an iPhone-centric strategy really the right direction? This lively debate will explore the opportunities - and issues - inherent in the iPhone and its competitors, and help you prepare a checklist of key requirements for future handset deployments.

While wireless communications and mobile computing continue to evolve rapidly, we're now at the point where leading IT departments have sufficient experience to establish and implement best practices. This session will feature advice from IT managers that are making cost-effective and productive use of mobile IT devices, technologies, and systems today. Come learn what works - and what doesn't - and gain valuable insight into what needs to be in your mobility arsenal today and going forward.

Many users have decided that Apple's iPhone is the right device for them - but is it the right device for mobile IT? While its roots are undeniably in the consumer space, many iPhones are in fact today being used in business. But how does the iPhone really stack up against the competition and enterprise IT requirements? With so many alternatives, is an iPhone-centric strategy really the right direction? This lively debate will explore the opportunities - and issues - inherent in the iPhone and its competitors, and help you prepare a checklist of key requirements for future handset deployments.

The old adage that "you can't manage what you can't measure" is relevant to any IT project, green or not. So before re-architecting your data center or purchasing new energy-saving IT equipment, measure your green IT baseline - an annual estimate of the energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and financial costs of operating IT. Not only will this data offer a practical green IT starting point by exposing your most eco-taxing assets, but without it you cannot accurately quantify and report the benefits of your greening efforts to senior management. This panel discussion will offer IT professionals practical steps to measuring the energy consumption of IT assets within and outside of the data center - the first step to greener IT.

Learn how SIEM and real-time, in memory, analytics combine to capture, correlate and respond to network attacks and insider abuse. See automated responses to network attacks, policy violations, inappropriate web browsing and USB device usage. Hear how mid-sized enterprises use SIEM to meet regulatory compliance initiatives and gain network control.

Wireless is a notoriously difficult space for engineers, caught between the unforgiving laws of physics and the economic requirements inherent in designing, building, and manufacturing products. And yet, talented researchers and developers continue to push throughput, range, and reliability, all the while lowering costs and power requirements. This session will provide an update on the latest developments in wireless, including gigabit wireless LANs, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA, the basis of most 4G technologies), and advanced antennas. If you want to know what's next in wireless, and what it will mean to you, this is the place.

What next after virtualizing servers, optimizing data center power and cooling, implementing PC power management policies, and enforcing duplex printing? As organizations mature in the greening of their IT, understanding the future of green IT technologies is essential to continue to drive down costs and environmental impacts. To move beyond the low-hanging fruit, this panel discussion will evaluate emerging green IT technologies from desktop virtualization and 10 Gigabyte Ethernet (GbE), to Software-as-a-Service, data center colocation and clean energy.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

What next after virtualizing servers, optimizing data center power and cooling, implementing PC power management policies, and enforcing duplex printing? As organizations mature in the greening of their IT, understanding the future of green IT technologies is essential to continue to drive down costs and environmental impacts. To move beyond the low-hanging fruit, this panel discussion will evaluate emerging green IT technologies from desktop virtualization and 10 Gigabyte Ethernet (GbE), to Software-as-a-Service, data center colocation and clean energy.

IT organizations have typically focused on designing and managing individual technology domains and hoped that if each domain was performing well, that the application was performing well. Realizing that hope is not a strategy, many leading edge IT organizations have begun to take an approach to design and management that cuts across domains. The panelists in this session, all of whom work in IT organizations, will discuss what their organization has done from a design and management perspective to ensure acceptable application delivery.

The ticking time bomb for IT organizations is that today roughly seventy five percent of IT resources are consumed maintaining the status quo and that percentage creeps up every year. If IT organizations don't make some fundamental changes they will soon not be able to provide any new value added functionality. Automation holds the promise to both improve quality and free up resources. Most IT organizations have made only modest attempts to automate as they are fearful of loosing control over IT. The members of this panel will discuss what explicit functionality IT organizations can safely automate.

Technologies like virtualization and automation tools are cornerstone to the next generation data center - but without the proper processes and staff skills to manage them, tomorrow's data center will be no better off than today's. Likewise, even the right people and process fall short without sufficient technology investment that can minimize labor intensive tasks. With that in mind, the next generation data center is a collection of people, process and technology that support one another. This panel discussion will identify the key people, process and technology considerations to help data center managers plan for the next generation data center today.

Many organizations lack an overall sense of the best practices for deploying and securing web applications. Despite security practices addressing vulnerability types present within the OWASP and WASC threat classifications, a number of common mistakes are still being made. We will look at five common mistakes that are made when securing web applications and the impact of design flaws on the overall security of an application. Issues such as client-side trust relationships, failure to properly secure application redirection mechanisms, and other elements that can quickly undermine the security of an application, even when diligent security practices are in place will be addressed.

Replicating data over a WAN sounds pretty straight-forward, but it turns out that there are literally dozens of different approaches, each with its own pros and cons. Which approach is the best? Well, that depends on a wide variety of factors! This class is a fast-paced crash course in the various ways in which data can be replicated, and the pros and cons of each major approach. We trace the data path from applications to disk drives and examine all of the points along the way wherein replication logic can be inserted. We look at host based replication (application, database, file system, volume level, and hybrids), SAN replication (disk arrays, virtualization appliances, caching appliances, and storage switches), and backup system replication (block level incremental backup, CDP, and de-duplication). This class is not only the fastest way to understand replication technology it also serves as a foundation for understanding the latest storage virtualization techniques.

Deduplication (dedupe) and single instance storage (SIS) are perhaps the hottest topics in the storage industry. EMC just acquired a dedupe startup for over two billion dollars! Meanwhile, all of the leading backup vendors are scrambling to integrate dedupe into their products. But this is just the beginning of a major new technology trend! Dedupe offers benefits not just for backups, but also for cloud storage, archiving, virtual desktops, and even primary storage for high performance production servers and VMs.

This session is broken into three parts: 1) The first section discusses the fundamental technology of dedupe, revealing both the shortcomings of current approaches and the opportunities for new solutions. 2) The second section focuses on dedupe for backups. We illustrate different ways to integrate dedupe into backup systems as well as revealing non-dedupe approaches that might deliver similar results at lower costs. 3) Lastly, we describe applications for dedupe and SIS in rich media archives, virtual desktops, and primary storage.

Morning Focus
Managing and Securing Mobile Devices

Enterprises are depending more and more on mobile applications to increase productivity and responsiveness. However cellular charges are growing faster than any other element in the networking budget and organizations need to develop policies that ensure they are getting the best return on that investment. Along with controlling the costs associated with mobility, networking departments will have to develop systems and procedures to allow them to manage, maintain, and secure the growing number of laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices that are now becoming an important part of their responsibility. Security is a major part of that concern. With incidents like the TJX security failure, the requirement to secure mobile networks and devices has become a major issue for the enterprises.

This workshop is designed to help enterprise IT departments to define their mobility requirements and develop systems and policies to manage the growing assortment of mobile devices users are demanding. The program will feature a discussion of the overall task of managing mobility solutions, the vulnerabilities inherent in each of the major wireless technologies, and the best practices for addressing them.

Course Outline
? Mobile Device Management ? Mobile Security Overview ? New Wi-Fi Security Issues ? Cellular 2.5/3G Security Elements ? PDA/Smart Phone Security

You Will Learn
This workshop is designed to help managers understand the management and security issues involved in the full range of wireless networks and mobile devices.

Afternoon Focus
Next Phase Planning for Wireless LANs: 802.11n, Voice over Wireless LANs, and Fixed Mobile Convergence

Enterprise wireless LANs have gone from being a convenient network access mechanism to a critical part of the network infrastructure. Centrally-controlled WLAN switching systems have become commonplace, and we are now in the midst of a major upgrade as to the new higher-capacity 802.11n radio link. To ensure that the upgrade delivers the full benefit, buyers will need to understand the different 802.11n implementations, new network design factors, core network capacity, security requirements, testing, frequency planning, and access point powering.

This workshop is designed to bring you up to speed on the major developments in wireless LAN technology and applications. While it features a brief overview of WLAN technologies, the program assumes a fundamental understanding of the basic concepts and focuses on planning issues for the developing areas in WLAN technology.

Course Outline
? WLAN Fundamentals ? The 802.11n Radio Link ? Voice over Wireless LANs ? Fixed-Mobile Convergence and Mobile Unified Communications

You Will Learn
This program will provide a comprehensive, vendor-neutral description of client and infrastructure requirements for WLAN voice, and the range of options for implementing FMC.
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Who Should Attend
Wired and wireless network managers and security specialists who need a clearer understanding of the challenges involved in the developing areas of mobility and the current best practices for dealing with them

Mobile device management - extending management control all the way to the end-user's handheld - is one of the most exciting and yet challenging opportunities in mobile IT today. And it begs some key questions. Who should own the handheld device? What security and acceptable-use policies make sense? Should mobile device management be a user or carrier service? How can unified and converged services be managed? This session will debate these issues and offer alternatives for enterprises across all industries.

Virtualization is causing the convergence of server, storage, and network platforms. At the same time, fewer CAPEX dollars coupled with rising energy costs is promoting data center managers to incorporate energy efficient and highly utilized IT equipment in the data center. This session will help data center managers understand virtualization's role in convergence and plan for a more efficient and highly utilized server, storage and network environment.

The performance gap between processors and storage results in extremely poor CPU utilization and the storage industry's mechanical solutions are insufficient to address a problem that is growing worse. Learn how solid state storage creates a new performance tier that sits between RAM and hard disk that closes this gap.

Some companies have embraced cloud computing whole-heartedly, putting all their IT resources in the cloud. The tradeoffs are clear: less control and customization, in return for a turnkey solution that benefits from the operator's economies of scale.

This panel looks at what can be run on demand, and whether this is a marketing pipe-dream or an inevitable reality. We'll consider what kinds of organizations can rely solely on cloud-based software and servers, and what a company needs to change in order to never buy another server.

Enterprises are now leveraging cloud storage services at a rapid pace and are looking for qualified answers on how using a cloud platform can increase efficiency and ROI simultaneously. The old models of purchasing expensive storage systems or using large amounts of tape are prehistoric. Adapting a new approach to storage is necessary in today's tough economic climate as budgets continue to be slashed and performance upkeep is critical . This session will enable users to learn about the benefits and economies of scale as they relate to developing/implementing a cloud storage solution. A focus will be placed on performance, cost-effectiveness, user experience, and customer service/satisfaction.

Mobile device management - extending management control all the way to the end-user's handheld - is one of the most exciting and yet challenging opportunities in mobile IT today. And it begs some key questions. Who should own the handheld device? What security and acceptable-use policies make sense? Should mobile device management be a user or carrier service? How can unified and converged services be managed? This session will debate these issues and offer alternatives for enterprises across all industries.

Mobile device management - extending management control all the way to the end-user's handheld - is one of the most exciting and yet challenging opportunities in mobile IT today. And it begs some key questions. Who should own the handheld device? What security and acceptable-use policies make sense? Should mobile device management be a user or carrier service? How can unified and converged services be managed? This session will debate these issues and offer alternatives for enterprises across all industries.

Managing, prioritizing, and remediating all the vulnerabilities in an information technology environment traditionally has been a time consuming, manual, laborious and costly ongoing activity. With the emergence of a suite of standards known as SCAP, it is now possible to identify, evaluate, assess, and report on vulnerabilities automatically. Hear a case study from one company that has saved multiple man-years of effort, annually, automating this process using simple tools using with these new standards.

There have been some important developments which have been emerging regarding storage access in the data center and Fibre Channel technology in particular. This session will focus on those developments and explore how Fibre Channel virtualization components mesh with both server and storage virtualization solutions. These include N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) and Fibre Channel's use of Virtual Fabric technology. This session also examines current developments in Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and the use of Converged Network Adapters along with the Data Center Bridging aspects of new Ethernet switch technology to enable a common Ethernet backbone for Fibre Channel SAN traffic as well as the more traditional LAN traffic.

Feeling bewildered by a slew of new acronyms, technologies and concepts describing virtualization? Need a high-level overview of what the different types of virtualization mean to you and your business? Do you want to get your arms around server virtualization, hypervisors, OS virtualization, hardware assists, virtual desktop architectures, application streaming and isolation, and where all the various virtualization vendors fit? This is the session for you.

As virtualization implementation progress, the key to realizing the full potential of virtual infrastructures is though advanced management, optimization and automation. This session is a primer on advanced management capabilities such as dynamic workload balancing, high availability, disaster recovery, capacity and performance management, and automated policy-based workflows. It will discuss the value of implementing advanced management features and describe the landscape of solution vendors, from start-ups to long-time industry leaders.

Along with its many benefits, the move to a virtual infrastructure brings new challenges to managing the data center. These challenges include virtual server sprawl (largely due to the ease of provisioning virtual servers), capacity and performance management of the virtualized infrastructure, and troubleshooting problems across the virtual and physical environment. While network and systems management toolsets have been around for decades, are they able to handle a virtual world? Hundreds of new tools have emerged to specifically address virtualization management, while existing tools are evolving with new virtual capabilities. Learn about how both of these types of tools can be implemented to help you with the long-running challenge of successful end-to-end management.

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.

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.

Enterprises have invested money in disaster recovery (DR) for years, while small and mid-sized companies with limited budgets simply hoped and prayed that nothing disastrous would happen. Today, companies of all sizes are leveraging virtualization to create cost-effective DR implementations. This session discusses why and how so many companies are utilizing virtualization to implement successful disaster recovery plans.

The Mobile Business Conference will commence with a lively debate among the thought leaders working in mobility today. This session will cover all the bases - wireless communication, mobile computing, management, security, and strategies for success, with an eye towards renewed economic growth in the coming year. Ample time will be reserved for questions from the audience. This is your opportunity to speak with the key thought leaders who spend their day (and usually much moreoften weekends) working on the most important issues and opportunities in mobile IT.

Given the combination of the economic malaise and the sensationalism that surrounds topics such as cloud computing and server virtualization, it is possible to surmise that nothing of significance is happening in the networking space. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venture capitalists and others have been funding significant investments in a wide range of networking technologies and the results of those investments are beginning to hit the market. The panelists in this fast paced session will discuss some of the most promising emerging technologies. Attend this session to get an early look at what could be significant networking breakthroughs.

Video conferencing places significant demands on the enterprise network both in terms of how the traffic needs to be treated (priority and QoS) and in the bandwidth needed to support good video. Designing the right network solution to support an enterprise video conferencing deployment is critical to getting early positive feedback on using a video capability which will affect its uptake as a business tool. This session will look at the technical details of designing, testing and managing an enterprise network to support high quality video conferencing and telepresence communications.

Given the combination of the economic malaise and the sensationalism that surrounds topics such as cloud computing and server virtualization, it is possible to surmise that nothing of significance is happening in the networking space. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venture capitalists and others have been funding significant investments in a wide range of networking technologies and the results of those investments are beginning to hit the market. The panelists in this fast paced session will discuss some of the most promising emerging technologies. Attend this session to get an early look at what could be significant networking breakthroughs.

A new threat vector has emerged that easily bypasses network security constructs and can destroy a brand. Armed with a Web browser, the new class of attackers can circumvent authentication mechanisms, steal identities and otherwise take advantage of vulnerable Web applications. And yet, companies depend on these websites for revenue, branding and business-to-business commerce. Addressing risk requires a two-pronged approach that enables business as usual while protecting against the new class of threats.
This session includes:
* Live demonstration of Web application hacking * Making a business case for application security * The key steps/technologies for risk management * Real-world examples

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

Most IT organizations are consolidating their data centers at the same time that they are virtualizing their servers and implementing applications that require exceptionally low levels of latency. As a minimum, this creates an "all of your eggs in one basket" phenomenon that drives the need for higher levels of availability and throughput. It also creates an environment in which IT resources are dynamically provisioned and de-provisioned and applications signal the network to request resources. This panel will discuss how you need to redesign your data center network to cope with the existing and emerging requirements.

Though 802.11n was only recently ratified by the IEEE, Wi-Fi products based on the draft standard have been shipping for well over 2 years. The differences between 802.11n and legacy 802.11a/b/g are clearly evident as the technology has become broadly deployed in new and legacy Wi-Fi replacement scenarios. This session explores the lessons learned from the past two years during over 1000 installations executed by Xirrus as a Wi-Fi equipment provider. Site surveys, network design, client considerations, performance expectations, interoperability, and backwards compatibility will all be investigated. The goal of the session is to provide real world insight for those making the move to 802.11n, whether as an upgrade or enabling wireless for the first time.

Network Access Control takes "defense in depth" all the way to the desktop. With NAC on your network, every connection can be authenticated and controlled, helping to reduce the risk of malware or malicious people taking hold on the network. Because NAC is the hot buzzword right now, the products can be confusing and the vendors contentious. However, NAC represents the most significant change in the way that networks are secured since the invention of the firewall. Network managers are now being given the tools to create a strong link between users, end systems, desktop workstations, laptops, and access to network resources.

With components of end-point security, authentication and access control, these emerging NAC architectures and products offer almost endless options. Your job is to select the right components and pieces to match your own requirements.

This full-day seminar will cover the concepts behind NAC, giving you the tools to understand both single-vendor solutions and multi-vendor NAC architectures from Cisco, Microsoft and the Trusted Computing Group. We'll discuss specific issues in deploying NAC in enterprise networks, and cover key strategies you can use to ensure successful NAC planning and deployment. During the day, a panel of leading NAC experts will the debate issues and take your questions.

Course Agenda

NAC Architecture and End Point Security * NAC basics, including an overview of problems NAC is supposed to solve -- compared to the problems it actually solves * In-depth information on NAC's key components of authentication, end-point security, access control, and management

Design and Deployment of NAC Solutions * What it takes to put NAC into a production network * Five main steps of a NAC deployment

NAC Product Architectures * An overview of industry-leading NAC solutions, presented in a vendor-neutral way * How Microsoft, Cisco, and other NAC vendors are working together -- and how they are working against each other

NAC Panel * Audience-led Q&A of NAC technical experts on NAC deployment, architecture, and real-world lessons learned. This is not a marketing pitch. This is your chance to ask NAC veterans about how NAC works in the real world.

NAC Enforcement Strategies * Where should NAC enforcement go in your network, and what are the pros and cons of each NAC enforcement strategy?

Nine Hard Questions about Network Access Control * Hard questions you should be able to answer about your chosen NAC solution, or hard questions you may want to ask your potential NAC vendors

Who Should Attend
* Network managers interested in learning about how NAC will affect network architectures, and in building higher security into networks * Security architects interested in pushing security from the perimeter deep into the network with full access control and authentication of end users * Desktop managers looking to enforce security policy compliance and get on top of regulatory issues with tighter controls

You Will Learn
* What NAC is, and the underlying technologies that make it happen * NAC enforcement options, and when to use various options * NAC architecture and solution choice strategies * Implementation issues * Solid strategies for adding NAC, and pitfalls to avoid

Many enterprise applications have to run in-house for legislation and privacy. Others run best in hosted environments, closer to shared data and customers. There's a third class of applications that can run in-house or on-demand, depending on pricing and performance constraints.

As companies define their IT strategies, these "hybrid clouds" will become increasingly important. If such systems can dynamically move workload between on-demand and on-premise environments, customers can optimize their use of computing resources while respecting data privacy concerns. This panel of innovators in hybrid clouds looks at the promise - and obstacles - of a technology that may finally unlock enterprise cloud adoption.

Historically the way that networks have assisted applications was by providing sufficient bandwidth. However, recently vendors have started to integrate functionality such as SSL processing and WAN optimization into network devices. Now we are beginning to see a movement to provide APIs directly to the switchs' and routers' operating systems and to also run portions of an application directly on switches and routers. The panelists in this session will discuss the spectrum of functionality that is being integrated into network devices as well as the pros and cons of doing so.

Mark Templeton, CEO, Citrix
Transforming Enterprise IT: From the Datacenter to the Desktop
Today's business environment is forcing the enterprise computing model to continually evolve. IT departments are challenged to create a flexible yet low cost computing architecture, one that balances installed software with SaaS offerings, while providing users a high definition experience on any device, over any network connection, in any location. The need to understand and separate the reality from the hype of in-demand technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing further challenges IT leaders as they strive to innovate, while keeping costs under control, maintaining information security and remaining agile to support the needs of the business. Come hear Mark Templeton share his vision for transforming IT including:
? Simplifying computing by empowering IT to manage one instance of everything in a central location - one desktop OS, one copy of each application, one instance of each server workload ? Harnessing the power of virtual appliances to deploy network load balancing, acceleration and security capabilities on-demand; removing limits posed by legacy hardware-only approaches ? Using desktop virtualization as the mainstream way desktops are delivered to all workers, from mobile knowledge workers to centrally located task workers and everyone in between ? How to leverage cloud services in enterprise computing today, and which areas are not yet ready for prime time

Marie Hattar, VP of Networking and Security, Cisco
Business Transformation in a World without Borders
The consumerization of technology is changing the way we work and interact, more dramatically than ever before. Borders that once existed around location, device, or application are disappearing—or at the very least, blurring. Our workspace is no longer defined by walls in the office. In addition, applications are more pervasive and complex and video usage is on the rise. Marie Hattar, Cisco VP of Network Systems and Security Solutions, will discuss how a borderless network architecture can help business and IT transform, and how processes based on mobility, video, collaboration and virtualization can be accelerated in secure, game-changing ways. In addition, Marie will demo a key Cisco security innovation that helps IT professionals ensure network security in a borderless world.

As Vice President of Network Systems and Security Solutions at Cisco, Marie Hattar is responsible for setting and developing a strategic vision for the Borderless Network Architecture, which comprises products and services that span switching, routing, mobility, security, and application acceleration. Under her guidance, her organization creates and advances solutions to help employees, partners, and customers—essentially anyone—connect securely, reliably and seamlessly, regardless of location or device.

David Pogue, Personal Technology Columnist, New York Times
David Pogue is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. Each week, he contributes a print column, an online column, an online video and a popular daily blog, "Pogue's Posts." David is also an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News, and he appears each week on CNBC with his trademark comic tech videos.

In this session we will explore personal video conferencing, showing how this rapidly growing segment can provide a great meeting experience. Multiple models for how personal video conferencing can be deployed will be discussed and demonstrated by vendors. Session attendees will be able to understand the different deployment models, see the user interface and the video quality provided by each solution, and quiz both the consultant and the vendor panel on how these tools can be best used in their specific business applications.

Given the combination of the economic malaise and the sensationalism that surrounds topics such as cloud computing and server virtualization, it is possible to surmise that nothing of significance is happening in the networking space. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venture capitalists and others have been funding significant investments in a wide range of networking technologies and the results of those investments are beginning to hit the market. The panelists in this fast paced session will discuss some of the most promising emerging technologies. Attend this session to get an early look at what could be significant networking breakthroughs.

Many users have decided that Apple's iPhone is the right device for them - but is it the right device for mobile IT? While its roots are undeniably in the consumer space, many iPhones are in fact today being used in business. But how does the iPhone really stack up against the competition and enterprise IT requirements? With so many alternatives, is an iPhone-centric strategy really the right direction? This lively debate will explore the opportunities - and issues - inherent in the iPhone and its competitors, and help you prepare a checklist of key requirements for future handset deployments.

IT organizations have typically focused on designing and managing individual technology domains and hoped that if each domain was performing well, that the application was performing well. Realizing that hope is not a strategy, many leading edge IT organizations have begun to take an approach to design and management that cuts across domains. The panelists in this session, all of whom work in IT organizations, will discuss what their organization has done from a design and management perspective to ensure acceptable application delivery.

Enterprises get a free ride from Internet service providers and use appliances built for the internal network to serve Internet facing services. This impacts their ability to provide 100% uptime on their websites, e-commerce portals, and implement their disaster recovery plans. Automatic failover and global server load balancing will make websites perform faster and be more reliable. Learn how to take advantage of managed DNS to speed your application, reduce capital costs, and scale.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

The Mobile Business Conference will commence with a lively debate among the thought leaders working in mobility today. This session will cover all the bases - wireless communication, mobile computing, management, security, and strategies for success, with an eye towards renewed economic growth in the coming year. Ample time will be reserved for questions from the audience. This is your opportunity to speak with the key thought leaders who spend their day (and usually much moreoften weekends) working on the most important issues and opportunities in mobile IT.

Should your communications functions (or some subset of them) be outsourced and run out of the cloud? What models for cloud-based communications are being devised by service providers? By equipment vendors? By new players such as Amazon and Google? Are we heading toward hybrid systems that draw features and functions from a mix of premises-based and cloud-based systems? This session will identify the state of the art.

Cloud computing has the potential to be a management nightmare. IT organizations that implement private clouds need to ensure that when they migrate a virtual machine (VM) to another server that the VM retains the same security, storage access and QoS configurations and policies it had previously. In the case of public cloud services there are at least three separate management domains: the enterprise, the WAN service provider and the various cloud computing service providers. Effective management requires that detailed, consistent management data be gathered from each of the management domains. This panel will outline what IT organizations must do to effectively manage cloud computing.

In today's business world, green IT is no longer an abstract or fringe topic. Recent research indicates that green IT adoption is high and is driven by a number of motivations, primarily financial. By using more energy-efficient IT and business processes, organizations can reduce both the operating and capital costs of owning and operating IT - not to mention harmful environmental impacts. To help IT professionals save money with green IT, this session will review the state of green IT, where organizations are focusing their time within and outside of the data center, and offer real life examples of green IT in action.

The landscape for open source security tools is constantly changing and covers a myriad of aspects of the security world. We will discuss the current "state of the union" in the world of open source security tools, including the latest-and-greatest advancements, what is coming on the horizon, where there is room for improvement, and proposing some new ideas and concepts to address the greatest weaknesses in the realm of open source security tools.

Corporate networks extend beyond office walls. Users access the Web from laptops or mobile devices in airports, hotels and more, and continue to leverage their personal devices for business. This sparks heightened security concerns in the enterprise. This panel explores the expanding corporate perimeter and how to ensure that even while employees roam, sensitive corporate data is not compromised.

Wireless is a notoriously difficult space for engineers, caught between the unforgiving laws of physics and the economic requirements inherent in designing, building, and manufacturing products. And yet, talented researchers and developers continue to push throughput, range, and reliability, all the while lowering costs and power requirements. This session will provide an update on the latest developments in wireless, including gigabit wireless LANs, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA, the basis of most 4G technologies), and advanced antennas. If you want to know what's next in wireless, and what it will mean to you, this is the place.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

Given the combination of the economic malaise and the sensationalism that surrounds topics such as cloud computing and server virtualization, it is possible to surmise that nothing of significance is happening in the networking space. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venture capitalists and others have been funding significant investments in a wide range of networking technologies and the results of those investments are beginning to hit the market. The panelists in this fast paced session will discuss some of the most promising emerging technologies. Attend this session to get an early look at what could be significant networking breakthroughs.

"Smartphone" really doesn't cover it anymore - essentially every handset today, after all, is pretty smart. We're really looking, however, at an explosion of alternatives in mobile operating environments that define platforms, with vendors now competing even on the number of apps they support. IT, of course, doesn't care about volume here - it's more about having the right apps and a platform that's cost-effective and easy to manage. This session will explore the key directions in both mobile operating systems and strategies for mobilizing IT using these powerful new handsets.

Compliance and eDiscovery are two of the biggest challenges facing IT today. Information continues to grow exponentially - and with it - the need to comply with industry and government regulations and prepare for eDiscovery while keeping costs down. This session will discuss the situation in which many companies today find themselves—trying to reconcile records management, compliance and governance requirements and manage these requirements with tools that are available today. In particular, it will look at classification, archiving and retention policy management to proactively address compliance, and as tools to treat eDiscovery requests as a repeatable business processes.

According to a recent FOCUS survey, "Managing the Virtual Environment", backing up the virtual environment is IT's biggest virtualization pain point. The application data contained within each virtual machine is only part of what needs to be backed up. This session will cover best practices for backup in the virtual environment and will discuss capabilities available to assist and simplify your backup process.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

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.

Downtime in the datacenter industry is very costly. This session will cover the causes and costs of downtime in facilities. We will evaluate ways that implementing best practices in a comprehensive management system can reduce downtime and ultimately save money. Join us for a discussion on intelligent facilities best practices.

Articles often describe the value that virtualization technologies can bring to IT but what is it really like to implement virtualization? Does it really offer the benefits that the vendors are touting? What are the "gotchas" to avoid? Does desktop virtualization really work? Hear about the experiences of those who have implemented various virtualization solutions. Find out what strategies worked and which ones didn't. Listen to accounts of life in the trenches, and learn what to consider for your next steps in your own implementations of virtual infrastructure.

The ticking time bomb for IT organizations is that today roughly seventy five percent of IT resources are consumed maintaining the status quo and that percentage creeps up every year. If IT organizations don't make some fundamental changes they will soon not be able to provide any new value added functionality. Automation holds the promise to both improve quality and free up resources. Most IT organizations have made only modest attempts to automate as they are fearful of loosing control over IT. The members of this panel will discuss what explicit functionality IT organizations can safely automate.

Some companies have embraced cloud computing whole-heartedly, putting all their IT resources in the cloud. The tradeoffs are clear: less control and customization, in return for a turnkey solution that benefits from the operator's economies of scale.

This panel looks at what can be run on demand, and whether this is a marketing pipe-dream or an inevitable reality. We'll consider what kinds of organizations can rely solely on cloud-based software and servers, and what a company needs to change in order to never buy another server.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

Many enterprise applications have to run in-house for legislation and privacy. Others run best in hosted environments, closer to shared data and customers. There's a third class of applications that can run in-house or on-demand, depending on pricing and performance constraints.

As companies define their IT strategies, these "hybrid clouds" will become increasingly important. If such systems can dynamically move workload between on-demand and on-premise environments, customers can optimize their use of computing resources while respecting data privacy concerns. This panel of innovators in hybrid clouds looks at the promise - and obstacles - of a technology that may finally unlock enterprise cloud adoption.

"Smartphone" really doesn't cover it anymore - essentially every handset today, after all, is pretty smart. We're really looking, however, at an explosion of alternatives in mobile operating environments that define platforms, with vendors now competing even on the number of apps they support. IT, of course, doesn't care about volume here - it's more about having the right apps and a platform that's cost-effective and easy to manage. This session will explore the key directions in both mobile operating systems and strategies for mobilizing IT using these powerful new handsets.

Should your communications functions (or some subset of them) be outsourced and run out of the cloud? What models for cloud-based communications are being devised by service providers? By equipment vendors? By new players such as Amazon and Google? Are we heading toward hybrid systems that draw features and functions from a mix of premises-based and cloud-based systems? This session will identify the state of the art.

Video conferencing places significant demands on the enterprise network both in terms of how the traffic needs to be treated (priority and QoS) and in the bandwidth needed to support good video. Designing the right network solution to support an enterprise video conferencing deployment is critical to getting early positive feedback on using a video capability which will affect its uptake as a business tool. This session will look at the technical details of designing, testing and managing an enterprise network to support high quality video conferencing and telepresence communications.

Many enterprise applications have to run in-house for legislation and privacy. Others run best in hosted environments, closer to shared data and customers. There's a third class of applications that can run in-house or on-demand, depending on pricing and performance constraints.

As companies define their IT strategies, these "hybrid clouds" will become increasingly important. If such systems can dynamically move workload between on-demand and on-premise environments, customers can optimize their use of computing resources while respecting data privacy concerns. This panel of innovators in hybrid clouds looks at the promise - and obstacles - of a technology that may finally unlock enterprise cloud adoption.

Is it possible for all mobile broadband needs to be addressed by a single technology? Or will success demand a converged, multi-radio approach? This is one of the most important questions facing enterprise mobility over the next few years, and the answer will likely dictate enterprise purchases well into the future. This session will debate the alternatives - femtocells, mobile unified messaging, public-access Wi-Fi, and the future of enterprise computing and communications.

In this session we will explore personal video conferencing, showing how this rapidly growing segment can provide a great meeting experience. Multiple models for how personal video conferencing can be deployed will be discussed and demonstrated by vendors. Session attendees will be able to understand the different deployment models, see the user interface and the video quality provided by each solution, and quiz both the consultant and the vendor panel on how these tools can be best used in their specific business applications.

Articles often describe the value that virtualization technologies can bring to IT but what is it really like to implement virtualization? Does it really offer the benefits that the vendors are touting? What are the "gotchas" to avoid? Does desktop virtualization really work? Hear about the experiences of those who have implemented various virtualization solutions. Find out what strategies worked and which ones didn't. Listen to accounts of life in the trenches, and learn what to consider for your next steps in your own implementations of virtual infrastructure.

In a cloud environment, you don't rack and stack servers any more; instead, you click and drag them. This relieves IT operators of many physical chores, but it creates a new one: server sprawl.

To deal with this, most cloud operations teams rely heavily on scripts that automate common functions such as setting up servers or migrating configurations. Those scripts, however, are often tailored to a particular cloud platform—so the same tools that were supposed to liberate IT have inadvertently locked it into a particular cloud environment. If scripting and automation are keys to the success of cloud models, they're not getting the attention they deserve. This panel looks at scripting best practices, automation, and standardization.

Containerized data centers are receiving as much hype as cloud computing and green IT. While the benefits compared to "brick and mortar" facilities seems straight forward - reduced capital spend, operating expenses and time-to-build - data center managers need to understand the realities of these emerging data center architectures. This panel discussion will help data center managers evaluate and approach containers by understanding their economics, key considerations and real-life customer examples.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

Over the past few years newsworthy disasters from Tsunamis and floods to simple blackouts have struck around the world with seemingly greater frequency. While the Wall Street crowd has dedicated disaster recovery sites and dark fiber links, those of us with somewhat more limited budgets have to be a bit more creative. This session will explore cost effective disaster recovery planning, from assessing your organization's needs to selecting products and vendors to help implement your plan.

Topics Covered
* The Elements every DR plan must have * Data Protection * Application Availability * A place for users to work * Distance: The key to data protection * Determining recovery point and time objectives for your applications * Matching technologies to needs and budgets * How Virtualization supports Disaster Recovery * How Disaster Recovery support Business Continuity Planning * How to keep from fighting the last war

It's only been in the past couple of years that terms like "netbook", "smartphone", "smartbook", and "mobile internet device", to name just a few, have been part of the IT lexicon. No longer, however, are a notebook and a cell phone alone sufficient; these are really just a starting point for key decisions that will affect both productivity and the bottom line. This mini-tutorial will examine the key alternatives and issues in mobile computing and communications today, and help you define the right toolset for your organization.

"Smartphone" really doesn't cover it anymore - essentially every handset today, after all, is pretty smart. We're really looking, however, at an explosion of alternatives in mobile operating environments that define platforms, with vendors now competing even on the number of apps they support. IT, of course, doesn't care about volume here - it's more about having the right apps and a platform that's cost-effective and easy to manage. This session will explore the key directions in both mobile operating systems and strategies for mobilizing IT using these powerful new handsets.

While wireless communications and mobile computing continue to evolve rapidly, we're now at the point where leading IT departments have sufficient experience to establish and implement best practices. This session will feature advice from IT managers that are making cost-effective and productive use of mobile IT devices, technologies, and systems today. Come learn what works - and what doesn't - and gain valuable insight into what needs to be in your mobility arsenal today and going forward.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

Mobile device management - extending management control all the way to the end-user's handheld - is one of the most exciting and yet challenging opportunities in mobile IT today. And it begs some key questions. Who should own the handheld device? What security and acceptable-use policies make sense? Should mobile device management be a user or carrier service? How can unified and converged services be managed? This session will debate these issues and offer alternatives for enterprises across all industries.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

When it comes to cloud challenges, data is the elephant in the room. The laws of physics, and the state of bandwidth today, mean that processing needs to happen near data—and this limits enterprises' ability to migrate their applications. Anyone who wants to understand clouds needs to know how they handle data. This panel looks at how some of the industry's biggest on-demand computing platforms handle huge amounts of data quickly and reliably, as well as which innovations wrought in the cloud can be applied to the enterprise data center.

Most IT organizations are consolidating their data centers at the same time that they are virtualizing their servers and implementing applications that require exceptionally low levels of latency. As a minimum, this creates an "all of your eggs in one basket" phenomenon that drives the need for higher levels of availability and throughput. It also creates an environment in which IT resources are dynamically provisioned and de-provisioned and applications signal the network to request resources. This panel will discuss how you need to redesign your data center network to cope with the existing and emerging requirements.

IT organizations have typically focused on designing and managing individual technology domains and hoped that if each domain was performing well, that the application was performing well. Realizing that hope is not a strategy, many leading edge IT organizations have begun to take an approach to design and management that cuts across domains. The panelists in this session, all of whom work in IT organizations, will discuss what their organization has done from a design and management perspective to ensure acceptable application delivery.

Given the combination of the economic malaise and the sensationalism that surrounds topics such as cloud computing and server virtualization, it is possible to surmise that nothing of significance is happening in the networking space. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venture capitalists and others have been funding significant investments in a wide range of networking technologies and the results of those investments are beginning to hit the market. The panelists in this fast paced session will discuss some of the most promising emerging technologies. Attend this session to get an early look at what could be significant networking breakthroughs.

The ticking time bomb for IT organizations is that today roughly seventy five percent of IT resources are consumed maintaining the status quo and that percentage creeps up every year. If IT organizations don't make some fundamental changes they will soon not be able to provide any new value added functionality. Automation holds the promise to both improve quality and free up resources. Most IT organizations have made only modest attempts to automate as they are fearful of loosing control over IT. The members of this panel will discuss what explicit functionality IT organizations can safely automate.

The vast majority of workers currently reside in branch offices and access applications over a relatively low-speed, high-latency WAN. This use of the WAN causes many applications to perform badly. To mitigate the impact of the WAN on application performance, many vendors have developed a solution referred to as a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC). In this PowerPoint-free session, leading WOC vendors will be asked questions to identify the similarities and differences between their products.

Cloud computing has the potential to be a management nightmare. IT organizations that implement private clouds need to ensure that when they migrate a virtual machine (VM) to another server that the VM retains the same security, storage access and QoS configurations and policies it had previously. In the case of public cloud services there are at least three separate management domains: the enterprise, the WAN service provider and the various cloud computing service providers. Effective management requires that detailed, consistent management data be gathered from each of the management domains. This panel will outline what IT organizations must do to effectively manage cloud computing.

Virtualization is not new. What is new is the great interest in deploying server, storage and desktop virtualization. While each of these forms of virtualization can provide significant business value, each has the potential to significantly complicate the task of ensuring acceptable application performance. In this session, vendors from different areas of IT will identify network technologies, designs and best practices that enable IT organizations to enjoy the benefits of virtualization without enduring the potential pitfalls.

Historically the way that networks have assisted applications was by providing sufficient bandwidth. However, recently vendors have started to integrate functionality such as SSL processing and WAN optimization into network devices. Now we are beginning to see a movement to provide APIs directly to the switchs' and routers' operating systems and to also run portions of an application directly on switches and routers. The panelists in this session will discuss the spectrum of functionality that is being integrated into network devices as well as the pros and cons of doing so.

Cloud computing is seldom clearly defined. On the one hand, clouds are a business model that's as old as outsourcing itself: let someone else do things you don't want to, reaping economies of scale and economies of skill. On the other hand, clouds are a set of technologies that improve reliability, distribute workload, and handle vast data sets quickly. This presentation looks at both perspectives, as we try to define what's just managed hosting, what's just virtualization, and what's truly a cloud.

Initially, hosted software was heavily standardized. But as they targeted enterprise customers, those customers demanded ways of customizing their applications. The answer? Give customers the ability to extend the applications themselves. Today, many SaaS providers offer rich software ecosystems that include third-party marketplaces, development languages, and cloud computing platforms.

When companies develop software, they usually pick a language and an operating system. But maybe it's time to pick a SaaS platform instead. This panel of SaaS providers talks about the platform-as-a-service model and how enterprises can tailor SaaS subscriptions to their particular needs while moving development efforts into the cloud.

This mini-tutorial is designed to give you a quick but comprehensive overview of mobile broadband technologies. We'll explore the latest Wi-Fi developments and standards, and also dig into cellular and wide-area technologies including EV-DO, HSPA, LTE, and WiMAX. We'll also present a roadmap for the availability of very-high-throughput products, systems, and services, and discuss the key issues that, even with the amazing technological advances of the past decade, remain as challenges for the enterprise.

Wireless is a notoriously difficult space for engineers, caught between the unforgiving laws of physics and the economic requirements inherent in designing, building, and manufacturing products. And yet, talented researchers and developers continue to push throughput, range, and reliability, all the while lowering costs and power requirements. This session will provide an update on the latest developments in wireless, including gigabit wireless LANs, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA, the basis of most 4G technologies), and advanced antennas. If you want to know what's next in wireless, and what it will mean to you, this is the place.

Is it possible for all mobile broadband needs to be addressed by a single technology? Or will success demand a converged, multi-radio approach? This is one of the most important questions facing enterprise mobility over the next few years, and the answer will likely dictate enterprise purchases well into the future. This session will debate the alternatives - femtocells, mobile unified messaging, public-access Wi-Fi, and the future of enterprise computing and communications.

When it comes to cloud challenges, data is the elephant in the room. The laws of physics, and the state of bandwidth today, mean that processing needs to happen near data—and this limits enterprises' ability to migrate their applications. Anyone who wants to understand clouds needs to know how they handle data. This panel looks at how some of the industry's biggest on-demand computing platforms handle huge amounts of data quickly and reliably, as well as which innovations wrought in the cloud can be applied to the enterprise data center.

Articles often describe the value that virtualization technologies can bring to IT but what is it really like to implement virtualization? Does it really offer the benefits that the vendors are touting? What are the "gotchas" to avoid? Does desktop virtualization really work? Hear about the experiences of those who have implemented various virtualization solutions. Find out what strategies worked and which ones didn't. Listen to accounts of life in the trenches, and learn what to consider for your next steps in your own implementations of virtual infrastructure.

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.

Enterprises have invested money in disaster recovery (DR) for years, while small and mid-sized companies with limited budgets simply hoped and prayed that nothing disastrous would happen. Today, companies of all sizes are leveraging virtualization to create cost-effective DR implementations. This session discusses why and how so many companies are utilizing virtualization to implement successful disaster recovery plans.

Articles often describe the value that virtualization technologies can bring to IT but what is it really like to implement virtualization? Does it really offer the benefits that the vendors are touting? What are the "gotchas" to avoid? Does desktop virtualization really work? Hear about the experiences of those who have implemented various virtualization solutions. Find out what strategies worked and which ones didn't. Listen to accounts of life in the trenches, and learn what to consider for your next steps in your own implementations of virtual infrastructure.

Most IT organizations are consolidating their data centers at the same time that they are virtualizing their servers and implementing applications that require exceptionally low levels of latency. As a minimum, this creates an "all of your eggs in one basket" phenomenon that drives the need for higher levels of availability and throughput. It also creates an environment in which IT resources are dynamically provisioned and de-provisioned and applications signal the network to request resources. This panel will discuss how you need to redesign your data center network to cope with the existing and emerging requirements.

The face of security threats is constantly changing and organizations struggle to keep up. Cloud-based reputation services add a dynamic layer of protection by analyzing and scoring IP addresses, email messages and URLs—blocking suspicious traffic before it reaches your network. Learn about the anatomy of reputation services, how scores are assigned, why performance is improved and what you can do to take advantage of this exciting technology.

Virtualization is causing the convergence of server, storage, and network platforms. At the same time, fewer CAPEX dollars coupled with rising energy costs is promoting data center managers to incorporate energy efficient and highly utilized IT equipment in the data center. This session will help data center managers understand virtualization's role in convergence and plan for a more efficient and highly utilized server, storage and network environment.

The old adage that "you can't manage what you can't measure" is relevant to any IT project, green or not. So before re-architecting your data center or purchasing new energy-saving IT equipment, measure your green IT baseline - an annual estimate of the energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and financial costs of operating IT. Not only will this data offer a practical green IT starting point by exposing your most eco-taxing assets, but without it you cannot accurately quantify and report the benefits of your greening efforts to senior management. This panel discussion will offer IT professionals practical steps to measuring the energy consumption of IT assets within and outside of the data center - the first step to greener IT.

Technology has advanced in all the aspects necessary to enable HD quality video conferencing over the Internet. So why are we still breaking natural workflow to utilize fixed room Telepresence? Participants will be able identify both challenges and actionable solutions for implementing personal telepresence solutions for a more effective tele-workforce.

The Mobile Business Conference will commence with a lively debate among the thought leaders working in mobility today. This session will cover all the bases - wireless communication, mobile computing, management, security, and strategies for success, with an eye towards renewed economic growth in the coming year. Ample time will be reserved for questions from the audience. This is your opportunity to speak with the key thought leaders who spend their day (and usually much moreoften weekends) working on the most important issues and opportunities in mobile IT.

When your current data center facility has reached its capacity, will you maintain ownership - or turn the reigns over to someone else? And how will you make this decision? While you can choose to build your next data center, data center managers should get up to speed on alternative ownership models like leasing, hosting and cloud computing. This session will evaluate the flexibility, cost and control options of these various ownership models to help IT leaders determine their data center ownership strategy into the future.

IT organizations have typically focused on designing and managing individual technology domains and hoped that if each domain was performing well, that the application was performing well. Realizing that hope is not a strategy, many leading edge IT organizations have begun to take an approach to design and management that cuts across domains. The panelists in this session, all of whom work in IT organizations, will discuss what their organization has done from a design and management perspective to ensure acceptable application delivery.

Containerized data centers are receiving as much hype as cloud computing and green IT. While the benefits compared to "brick and mortar" facilities seems straight forward - reduced capital spend, operating expenses and time-to-build - data center managers need to understand the realities of these emerging data center architectures. This panel discussion will help data center managers evaluate and approach containers by understanding their economics, key considerations and real-life customer examples.

Many users have decided that Apple's iPhone is the right device for them - but is it the right device for mobile IT? While its roots are undeniably in the consumer space, many iPhones are in fact today being used in business. But how does the iPhone really stack up against the competition and enterprise IT requirements? With so many alternatives, is an iPhone-centric strategy really the right direction? This lively debate will explore the opportunities - and issues - inherent in the iPhone and its competitors, and help you prepare a checklist of key requirements for future handset deployments.

Containerized data centers are receiving as much hype as cloud computing and green IT. While the benefits compared to "brick and mortar" facilities seems straight forward - reduced capital spend, operating expenses and time-to-build - data center managers need to understand the realities of these emerging data center architectures. This panel discussion will help data center managers evaluate and approach containers by understanding their economics, key considerations and real-life customer examples.

This new, updated Workshop will provide you with the tools and information you need to create both a strategic plan and an implementation plan for Unified Communications (UC) in your operations. UC is much more than IP Telephony - UC enables your business to cut costs and to increase efficiencies by streamlining or even eliminating communications time and cost. It is possible to save money in both IT and Operating budgets and to improve both customer service levels and business process efficiency. This one-day workshop will assist you in organizing these opportunities into a coherent and cost-justified plan for your enterprise.

Course Outline

This InterOp UC Workshop will answer these questions:
* What is Unified Communications (UC)? * What are the new technologies that make UC possible? * What are the personal productivity applications for UC? * What are the business process applications for UC? * How can we find the best UC applications for our enterprise? * What are communications "hot spots" and how do we find them? * How do we design and plan for a UC application? * What technologies do we need to buy for our UC applications? * What are the technology reference designs for the UC systems? * What are the services statements of work needed for UC applications? * Who are the major suppliers of UC technologies? * What are the UC Options from suppliers of IP Telephony, Desktop, Applications, Mobility? * What are the UC solution offerings from the top suppliers? * What are the implications of UC applications for my network? * How do we determine the Savings and ROI of a new UC application? * How can we organize the best applications into a multi-year UC Plan?

Who Should Attend
This course will support the job responsibilities, leadership requirements and business development goals for the following roles: * IT Director/Supervisor: Communications, Messaging, Applications or Network * Telecom Director/Supervisor: Communications, Applications or Network * IT Strategic Planning Director/Supervisor * Director/Supervisor of Business Analysis (IT or Line of Business/Operating Unit)

You Will Learn
At the end of the workshop, attendees will have an understanding of: * How to investigate and evaluate UC solutions * How to create a cost-saving and/or benefit-justified plan based on those solutions * How to proceed with the selection and implementation of the appropriate technologies, services and change management for high-return Unified Communications investments.

The workshop will include a UC Planning Toolkit in electronic form for all attendees.

Technologies like virtualization and automation tools are cornerstone to the next generation data center - but without the proper processes and staff skills to manage them, tomorrow's data center will be no better off than today's. Likewise, even the right people and process fall short without sufficient technology investment that can minimize labor intensive tasks. With that in mind, the next generation data center is a collection of people, process and technology that support one another. This panel discussion will identify the key people, process and technology considerations to help data center managers plan for the next generation data center today.

Getting blamed for performance problems? Don't let the foundation of your network be the bottleneck! This workshop covers how to troubleshoot Ethernet and switched networks. In most cases, networks are designed and installed, but never thoroughly tested to make sure they are performing as they were designed. The instructor will review the operation of Ethernet and the types of errors that typically occur. Ethernet topics include Ethernet Signaling, Fast Link Pulse, CRC/Alignment Errors, Collisions and Fragments. The switching portion of the course examines the basics of switch and spanning tree operation. This overview provides the basis for covering troubleshooting techniques in the switched environment. Plan to leave this course with the skills necessary to successfully test and troubleshoot the physical and data link layers of today's Ethernet networks.

Course Outline
* Overview of Ethernet operation * Impact of Ethernet Errors * Measuring network performance * Troubleshooting Ethernet networks * Overview of Switching technologies * Packet capture and analysis in switched environments * Troubleshooting tool matrix, what to use and when

Who Should Attend
This course is intended for network administrators, designers, and analysts that are responsible for Ethernet networks.

You Will Learn
Students will be prepared to test existing Ethernet networks to determine if they are operating properly and how to quickly isolate and resolve problems - should they exist.

Packet capture and analysis, network utilization and error monitoring, throughput measurement - these can all be done using free Open Source tools available today on the Internet! This workshop focuses on a handful of tools that can be used for troubleshooting a wide variety of network and application problems.

The instructors will take attendees through a series of trace files from real networks to show how protocols should and should not work. How and where to capture packets will be covered.

Filter examples for Wireshark and configuration examples for MRTG will be provided as part of this course. The attendees will leave the class with the tools and skills necessary to begin troubleshooting problems upon returning to work. A CD containing each of the tools will be provided, along with same trace files.

Course Outline
* Open Source Troubleshooting Tools, Best of the Best * Packet Capture and Analysis using Wireshark * The Basics of Protocol Analysis * Measuring Network Throughput with Iperf * Monitoring SNMP devices using MRTG

Who Should Attend
This course is intended for network administrators, designers and analysts that are responsible for determining why network and applications are not running as fast as they should.

You Will Learn
Attendees will learn how to capture and analyze packets, measure network throughput and monitor network utilization all using Open Source tools.

Mobility has introduced an entirely new - and very challenging - set of issues into network, operational, and line-of-business management. Sure, it's great to be out where the action is without leaving your IT arsenal behind, but how should mobile workers, access, devices, and applications be managed so as to maximize benefits while minimizing costs? This mini-tutorial will explore these issues in depth, and will also present a perspective guiding the remainder of the track.

IT and operations managers who have gone mobile know that the benefits are great, but so are the challenges involved. This session will examine the tactical options for integrating mobility into existing network and system operations processes. From unified wired/wireless management to mobile device management, collaborative systems, and security across the entire network and user value chain, this panel will address key opportunities, examine best practices, and offer actionable advice on how to leverage integrated management to get the most from mobility today and tomorrow.

Mobile device management - extending management control all the way to the end-user's handheld - is one of the most exciting and yet challenging opportunities in mobile IT today. And it begs some key questions. Who should own the handheld device? What security and acceptable-use policies make sense? Should mobile device management be a user or carrier service? How can unified and converged services be managed? This session will debate these issues and offer alternatives for enterprises across all industries.

Containerized data centers are receiving as much hype as cloud computing and green IT. While the benefits compared to "brick and mortar" facilities seems straight forward - reduced capital spend, operating expenses and time-to-build - data center managers need to understand the realities of these emerging data center architectures. This panel discussion will help data center managers evaluate and approach containers by understanding their economics, key considerations and real-life customer examples.

The ticking time bomb for IT organizations is that today roughly seventy five percent of IT resources are consumed maintaining the status quo and that percentage creeps up every year. If IT organizations don't make some fundamental changes they will soon not be able to provide any new value added functionality. Automation holds the promise to both improve quality and free up resources. Most IT organizations have made only modest attempts to automate as they are fearful of loosing control over IT. The members of this panel will discuss what explicit functionality IT organizations can safely automate.

Business Resiliency is the maturation and amalgamation of the individual processes of Crisis Management, Incident Response, Business Continuance, and Disaster Recovery into one succinct set of processes and capabilities that work collectively instead of independently. This combination allows organizations to have minimal disruption in the event of a business-impacting incident that affects the entire organization instead of one that involves specific information infrastructure areas. When evaluating these capabilities, it is important to understand that they only are as effective as the proactive planning and considerations that go into their development. Too often, planning accounts for only the most obvious considerations and does not incorporate crucial and essential considerations that have the most impact. This session will discuss the key elements of business resiliency and the considerations that should be made when developing or maturing this capability.

Information risk management security has evolved from a technical specialty into a core business function. The people, processes, procedures, and technologies that are utilized to protect information infrastructure are changing and maturing at a rapid pace. So too are the capabilities of the adversaries from whom you need to protect your information infrastructure. This session will discuss how your adversaries and threats they pose are evolving, and the emerging trends in information risk management security designed to protect your information infrastructure and data assets from them. The areas that will be discussed current leading practices and concepts including governance and organizational models, threat and vulnerability management and compliance concepts, and technological advances.

Mark Templeton, CEO, Citrix
Transforming Enterprise IT: From the Datacenter to the Desktop
Today's business environment is forcing the enterprise computing model to continually evolve. IT departments are challenged to create a flexible yet low cost computing architecture, one that balances installed software with SaaS offerings, while providing users a high definition experience on any device, over any network connection, in any location. The need to understand and separate the reality from the hype of in-demand technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing further challenges IT leaders as they strive to innovate, while keeping costs under control, maintaining information security and remaining agile to support the needs of the business. Come hear Mark Templeton share his vision for transforming IT including:
? Simplifying computing by empowering IT to manage one instance of everything in a central location - one desktop OS, one copy of each application, one instance of each server workload ? Harnessing the power of virtual appliances to deploy network load balancing, acceleration and security capabilities on-demand; removing limits posed by legacy hardware-only approaches ? Using desktop virtualization as the mainstream way desktops are delivered to all workers, from mobile knowledge workers to centrally located task workers and everyone in between ? How to leverage cloud services in enterprise computing today, and which areas are not yet ready for prime time

Marie Hattar, VP of Networking and Security, Cisco
Business Transformation in a World without Borders
The consumerization of technology is changing the way we work and interact, more dramatically than ever before. Borders that once existed around location, device, or application are disappearing—or at the very least, blurring. Our workspace is no longer defined by walls in the office. In addition, applications are more pervasive and complex and video usage is on the rise. Marie Hattar, Cisco VP of Network Systems and Security Solutions, will discuss how a borderless network architecture can help business and IT transform, and how processes based on mobility, video, collaboration and virtualization can be accelerated in secure, game-changing ways. In addition, Marie will demo a key Cisco security innovation that helps IT professionals ensure network security in a borderless world.

As Vice President of Network Systems and Security Solutions at Cisco, Marie Hattar is responsible for setting and developing a strategic vision for the Borderless Network Architecture, which comprises products and services that span switching, routing, mobility, security, and application acceleration. Under her guidance, her organization creates and advances solutions to help employees, partners, and customers—essentially anyone—connect securely, reliably and seamlessly, regardless of location or device.

David Pogue, Personal Technology Columnist, New York Times
David Pogue is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. Each week, he contributes a print column, an online column, an online video and a popular daily blog, "Pogue's Posts." David is also an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News, and he appears each week on CNBC with his trademark comic tech videos.

Online businesses thrive on visitor conversions, as seen through shopping cart purchases, entries in a wiki, visitor ad clickthroughs and so on. Traditionally, conversion rates have been measured exclusively in marketing departments, but more and more studies indicate that web performance has a significant impact on business goals. This session will explore these correlations with hard facts, and will help the all web performance specialists understand which data should be shared with the marketing team.

Enterprises have invested money in disaster recovery (DR) for years, while small and mid-sized companies with limited budgets simply hoped and prayed that nothing disastrous would happen. Today, companies of all sizes are leveraging virtualization to create cost-effective DR implementations. This session discusses why and how so many companies are utilizing virtualization to implement successful disaster recovery plans.

Network Access Control takes "defense in depth" all the way to the desktop. With NAC on your network, every connection can be authenticated and controlled, helping to reduce the risk of malware or malicious people taking hold on the network. Because NAC is the hot buzzword right now, the products can be confusing and the vendors contentious. However, NAC represents the most significant change in the way that networks are secured since the invention of the firewall. Network managers are now being given the tools to create a strong link between users, end systems, desktop workstations, laptops, and access to network resources.

With components of end-point security, authentication and access control, these emerging NAC architectures and products offer almost endless options. Your job is to select the right components and pieces to match your own requirements.

This full-day seminar will cover the concepts behind NAC, giving you the tools to understand both single-vendor solutions and multi-vendor NAC architectures from Cisco, Microsoft and the Trusted Computing Group. We'll discuss specific issues in deploying NAC in enterprise networks, and cover key strategies you can use to ensure successful NAC planning and deployment. During the day, a panel of leading NAC experts will the debate issues and take your questions.

Course Agenda

NAC Architecture and End Point Security * NAC basics, including an overview of problems NAC is supposed to solve -- compared to the problems it actually solves * In-depth information on NAC's key components of authentication, end-point security, access control, and management

Design and Deployment of NAC Solutions * What it takes to put NAC into a production network * Five main steps of a NAC deployment

NAC Product Architectures * An overview of industry-leading NAC solutions, presented in a vendor-neutral way * How Microsoft, Cisco, and other NAC vendors are working together -- and how they are working against each other

NAC Panel * Audience-led Q&A of NAC technical experts on NAC deployment, architecture, and real-world lessons learned. This is not a marketing pitch. This is your chance to ask NAC veterans about how NAC works in the real world.

NAC Enforcement Strategies * Where should NAC enforcement go in your network, and what are the pros and cons of each NAC enforcement strategy?

Nine Hard Questions about Network Access Control * Hard questions you should be able to answer about your chosen NAC solution, or hard questions you may want to ask your potential NAC vendors

Who Should Attend
* Network managers interested in learning about how NAC will affect network architectures, and in building higher security into networks * Security architects interested in pushing security from the perimeter deep into the network with full access control and authentication of end users * Desktop managers looking to enforce security policy compliance and get on top of regulatory issues with tighter controls

You Will Learn
* What NAC is, and the underlying technologies that make it happen * NAC enforcement options, and when to use various options * NAC architecture and solution choice strategies * Implementation issues * Solid strategies for adding NAC, and pitfalls to avoid

Some companies have embraced cloud computing whole-heartedly, putting all their IT resources in the cloud. The tradeoffs are clear: less control and customization, in return for a turnkey solution that benefits from the operator's economies of scale.

This panel looks at what can be run on demand, and whether this is a marketing pipe-dream or an inevitable reality. We'll consider what kinds of organizations can rely solely on cloud-based software and servers, and what a company needs to change in order to never buy another server.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

This tutorial focuses on specific steps you can take to improve your IT organization, business model, tools, staffing and skill levels, as well as your policies and operational procedures. In an environment of constant change, IT accountability has taken on new levels of urgency. IT departments regularly struggle with staffing levels, turnover, burnout, lack of credibility, or end-user and managerial dissatisfaction. If you're questioning how to satisfy the end user, control or cut costs, and still offer a balanced and fulfilling career progression to IT professional staff, we have answers for you.

Course Outline
? How to develop a new framework for the business of IT ? How to formalize policies and processes ? How to map the organization to new business models and processes ? How to re-engage your technology roadmap post recession ? How to manage customer expectations and set customer service levels ? How to develop end-user and IT buy-in ? How to build executive management commitment ? Know the critical success factors ? How to make it all happen

Who Should Attend
? Directors and managers of IT organizations or units< ? IT and IS professionals ? Anyone who needs to realign IT with the business

You Will Learn
Principles that can develop or enhance your own IT policies, processes, organization, and practices, thus creating a more effective IT business unit.

Initially, hosted software was heavily standardized. But as they targeted enterprise customers, those customers demanded ways of customizing their applications. The answer? Give customers the ability to extend the applications themselves. Today, many SaaS providers offer rich software ecosystems that include third-party marketplaces, development languages, and cloud computing platforms.

When companies develop software, they usually pick a language and an operating system. But maybe it's time to pick a SaaS platform instead. This panel of SaaS providers talks about the platform-as-a-service model and how enterprises can tailor SaaS subscriptions to their particular needs while moving development efforts into the cloud.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

The old adage that "you can't manage what you can't measure" is relevant to any IT project, green or not. So before re-architecting your data center or purchasing new energy-saving IT equipment, measure your green IT baseline - an annual estimate of the energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and financial costs of operating IT. Not only will this data offer a practical green IT starting point by exposing your most eco-taxing assets, but without it you cannot accurately quantify and report the benefits of your greening efforts to senior management. This panel discussion will offer IT professionals practical steps to measuring the energy consumption of IT assets within and outside of the data center - the first step to greener IT.

In this session we will explore personal video conferencing, showing how this rapidly growing segment can provide a great meeting experience. Multiple models for how personal video conferencing can be deployed will be discussed and demonstrated by vendors. Session attendees will be able to understand the different deployment models, see the user interface and the video quality provided by each solution, and quiz both the consultant and the vendor panel on how these tools can be best used in their specific business applications.

Network Access Control takes "defense in depth" all the way to the desktop. With NAC on your network, every connection can be authenticated and controlled, helping to reduce the risk of malware or malicious people taking hold on the network. Because NAC is the hot buzzword right now, the products can be confusing and the vendors contentious. However, NAC represents the most significant change in the way that networks are secured since the invention of the firewall. Network managers are now being given the tools to create a strong link between users, end systems, desktop workstations, laptops, and access to network resources.

With components of end-point security, authentication and access control, these emerging NAC architectures and products offer almost endless options. Your job is to select the right components and pieces to match your own requirements.

This full-day seminar will cover the concepts behind NAC, giving you the tools to understand both single-vendor solutions and multi-vendor NAC architectures from Cisco, Microsoft and the Trusted Computing Group. We'll discuss specific issues in deploying NAC in enterprise networks, and cover key strategies you can use to ensure successful NAC planning and deployment. During the day, a panel of leading NAC experts will the debate issues and take your questions.

Course Agenda

NAC Architecture and End Point Security * NAC basics, including an overview of problems NAC is supposed to solve -- compared to the problems it actually solves * In-depth information on NAC's key components of authentication, end-point security, access control, and management

Design and Deployment of NAC Solutions * What it takes to put NAC into a production network * Five main steps of a NAC deployment

NAC Product Architectures * An overview of industry-leading NAC solutions, presented in a vendor-neutral way * How Microsoft, Cisco, and other NAC vendors are working together -- and how they are working against each other

NAC Panel * Audience-led Q&A of NAC technical experts on NAC deployment, architecture, and real-world lessons learned. This is not a marketing pitch. This is your chance to ask NAC veterans about how NAC works in the real world.

NAC Enforcement Strategies * Where should NAC enforcement go in your network, and what are the pros and cons of each NAC enforcement strategy?

Nine Hard Questions about Network Access Control * Hard questions you should be able to answer about your chosen NAC solution, or hard questions you may want to ask your potential NAC vendors

Who Should Attend
* Network managers interested in learning about how NAC will affect network architectures, and in building higher security into networks * Security architects interested in pushing security from the perimeter deep into the network with full access control and authentication of end users * Desktop managers looking to enforce security policy compliance and get on top of regulatory issues with tighter controls

You Will Learn
* What NAC is, and the underlying technologies that make it happen * NAC enforcement options, and when to use various options * NAC architecture and solution choice strategies * Implementation issues * Solid strategies for adding NAC, and pitfalls to avoid

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day One of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

As the world of information technology changes, the skill set required to lead your IT organization continually evolves.

Attend Day Two of this intensive two-day CIO Boot Camp to learn firsthand from successful CIOs at billion-dollar-plus organizations. Hear about common mistakes, how to avoid making them and how to apply their lessons to your world.

Some companies have embraced cloud computing whole-heartedly, putting all their IT resources in the cloud. The tradeoffs are clear: less control and customization, in return for a turnkey solution that benefits from the operator's economies of scale.

This panel looks at what can be run on demand, and whether this is a marketing pipe-dream or an inevitable reality. We'll consider what kinds of organizations can rely solely on cloud-based software and servers, and what a company needs to change in order to never buy another server.

The vast majority of workers currently reside in branch offices and access applications over a relatively low-speed, high-latency WAN. This use of the WAN causes many applications to perform badly. To mitigate the impact of the WAN on application performance, many vendors have developed a solution referred to as a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC). In this PowerPoint-free session, leading WOC vendors will be asked questions to identify the similarities and differences between their products.

Cloud computing is seldom clearly defined. On the one hand, clouds are a business model that's as old as outsourcing itself: let someone else do things you don't want to, reaping economies of scale and economies of skill. On the other hand, clouds are a set of technologies that improve reliability, distribute workload, and handle vast data sets quickly. This presentation looks at both perspectives, as we try to define what's just managed hosting, what's just virtualization, and what's truly a cloud.

Many enterprise applications have to run in-house for legislation and privacy. Others run best in hosted environments, closer to shared data and customers. There's a third class of applications that can run in-house or on-demand, depending on pricing and performance constraints.

As companies define their IT strategies, these "hybrid clouds" will become increasingly important. If such systems can dynamically move workload between on-demand and on-premise environments, customers can optimize their use of computing resources while respecting data privacy concerns. This panel of innovators in hybrid clouds looks at the promise - and obstacles - of a technology that may finally unlock enterprise cloud adoption.

Given the combination of the economic malaise and the sensationalism that surrounds topics such as cloud computing and server virtualization, it is possible to surmise that nothing of significance is happening in the networking space. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venture capitalists and others have been funding significant investments in a wide range of networking technologies and the results of those investments are beginning to hit the market. The panelists in this fast paced session will discuss some of the most promising emerging technologies. Attend this session to get an early look at what could be significant networking breakthroughs.

Corporate networks extend beyond office walls. Users access the Web from laptops or mobile devices in airports, hotels and more, and continue to leverage their personal devices for business. This sparks heightened security concerns in the enterprise. This panel explores the expanding corporate perimeter and how to ensure that even while employees roam, sensitive corporate data is not compromised.

Virtualization is not new. What is new is the great interest in deploying server, storage and desktop virtualization. While each of these forms of virtualization can provide significant business value, each has the potential to significantly complicate the task of ensuring acceptable application performance. In this session, vendors from different areas of IT will identify network technologies, designs and best practices that enable IT organizations to enjoy the benefits of virtualization without enduring the potential pitfalls.

This workshop provides a technology overview of Voice over IP (VoIP), including the protocols, technologies and architectures at the core of VoIP products and systems. These include media transport like the real time transport protocol, quality of service technologies such as differentiated services and the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), signaling through the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), security, as well as firewall and NAT traversal using techniques like the Simple Traversal of UDP Through NAT (STUN) and Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE). The course does not provide a review of products on the markets or network design guidelines.

Course Outline
* Voice Coding * Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) * Quality of Service * SIP * Security * NAT and Firewall Traversal

Who Should Attend
Technologists or technology managers that want to understand how VoIP works "under the hood".

You Will Learn
After this Workshop, students will be able to identify the key technologies used within VoIP systems, understand how they fit together, and appreciate some of the complexities in developing VoIP networks.

Virtualization is taking the IT world by storm as it should. Virtualization of core datacenter services such as server operating systems, storage, networking, desktops and even applications is transforming the way organizations run IT. Virtualization reduces physical server footprints, eliminates complex physical network switching equipment, removes all issues around application operation and transforms the way we look at storage. In addition, it provides the best model ever for business continuity.

According to industry analysts, only a 20% of organizations around the world have moved to this new datacenter model. It's no wonder since it impacts almost every level of IT operations. But it's no longer a matter of if you move to virtualization, it's a matter of when, and when you do it, you should get it right the first time. This is why you need to attend this session.

That's because it will help you demystify the different aspects of virtualization by introducing you to each level of virtualization and how they fit together. It will also focus on the new division between resource pools (RP) and virtual service offerings (VSO) and follow with a detailed plan for the new virtual architecture, its benefits, its rules, its guidelines as well as the new management approaches required for this powerful new force in IT.

Course Outline

Part A - Architect Virtualization
* Virtualization Basics * Use a Five-Step Process * Architectures

Part B - Build your Virtual Infrastructure * Server Virtualization * Desktop Virtualization * Applications Virtualization

Part C - Convert to the Dynamic Datacenter * Create a Dynamic Datacenter * Update Management Practices

Who Should Attend
* Information Technology Management * Systems Administrators & Networking * Professionals * Network Operating System Technology Evaluators * Business Analysts and IT Consultants

You Will Learn
* How to select Appropriate Virtualization Solutions * How to build the Green Datacenter * How to work with Resource Pools and Virtual Service Offerings * How to work with Policy-based Workloads * How to work with Virtual Applications and Virtual Desktops * How to blend Virtualization Offerings to create the 21st Century Datacenter

Virtualization is taking the IT world by storm as it should. Virtualization of core datacenter services such as server operating systems, storage, networking, desktops and even applications is transforming the way organizations run IT. Virtualization reduces physical server footprints, eliminates complex physical network switching equipment, removes all issues around application operation and transforms the way we look at storage. In addition, it provides the best model ever for business continuity.

According to industry analysts, only a 20% of organizations around the world have moved to this new datacenter model. It's no wonder since it impacts almost every level of IT operations. But it's no longer a matter of if you move to virtualization, it's a matter of when, and when you do it, you should get it right the first time. This is why you need to attend this session.

That's because it will help you demystify the different aspects of virtualization by introducing you to each level of virtualization and how they fit together. It will also focus on the new division between resource pools (RP) and virtual service offerings (VSO) and follow with a detailed plan for the new virtual architecture, its benefits, its rules, its guidelines as well as the new management approaches required for this powerful new force in IT.

Course Outline

Part A - Architect Virtualization
* Virtualization Basics * Use a Five-Step Process * Architectures

Part B - Build your Virtual Infrastructure * Server Virtualization * Desktop Virtualization * Applications Virtualization

Part C - Convert to the Dynamic Datacenter * Create a Dynamic Datacenter * Update Management Practices

Who Should Attend
* Information Technology Management * Systems Administrators & Networking * Professionals * Network Operating System Technology Evaluators * Business Analysts and IT Consultants

You Will Learn
* How to select Appropriate Virtualization Solutions * How to build the Green Datacenter * How to work with Resource Pools and Virtual Service Offerings * How to work with Policy-based Workloads * How to work with Virtual Applications and Virtual Desktops * How to blend Virtualization Offerings to create the 21st Century Datacenter

Most IT organizations are consolidating their data centers at the same time that they are virtualizing their servers and implementing applications that require exceptionally low levels of latency. As a minimum, this creates an "all of your eggs in one basket" phenomenon that drives the need for higher levels of availability and throughput. It also creates an environment in which IT resources are dynamically provisioned and de-provisioned and applications signal the network to request resources. This panel will discuss how you need to redesign your data center network to cope with the existing and emerging requirements.

Virtualization is causing the convergence of server, storage, and network platforms. At the same time, fewer CAPEX dollars coupled with rising energy costs is promoting data center managers to incorporate energy efficient and highly utilized IT equipment in the data center. This session will help data center managers understand virtualization's role in convergence and plan for a more efficient and highly utilized server, storage and network environment.

While wireless communications and mobile computing continue to evolve rapidly, we're now at the point where leading IT departments have sufficient experience to establish and implement best practices. This session will feature advice from IT managers that are making cost-effective and productive use of mobile IT devices, technologies, and systems today. Come learn what works - and what doesn't - and gain valuable insight into what needs to be in your mobility arsenal today and going forward.

Is it possible for all mobile broadband needs to be addressed by a single technology? Or will success demand a converged, multi-radio approach? This is one of the most important questions facing enterprise mobility over the next few years, and the answer will likely dictate enterprise purchases well into the future. This session will debate the alternatives - femtocells, mobile unified messaging, public-access Wi-Fi, and the future of enterprise computing and communications.

While wireless communications and mobile computing continue to evolve rapidly, we're now at the point where leading IT departments have sufficient experience to establish and implement best practices. This session will feature advice from IT managers that are making cost-effective and productive use of mobile IT devices, technologies, and systems today. Come learn what works - and what doesn't - and gain valuable insight into what needs to be in your mobility arsenal today and going forward.

The vast majority of workers currently reside in branch offices and access applications over a relatively low-speed, high-latency WAN. This use of the WAN causes many applications to perform badly. To mitigate the impact of the WAN on application performance, many vendors have developed a solution referred to as a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC). In this PowerPoint-free session, leading WOC vendors will be asked questions to identify the similarities and differences between their products.

Some companies have embraced cloud computing whole-heartedly, putting all their IT resources in the cloud. The tradeoffs are clear: less control and customization, in return for a turnkey solution that benefits from the operator's economies of scale.

This panel looks at what can be run on demand, and whether this is a marketing pipe-dream or an inevitable reality. We'll consider what kinds of organizations can rely solely on cloud-based software and servers, and what a company needs to change in order to never buy another server.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

Is it possible for all mobile broadband needs to be addressed by a single technology? Or will success demand a converged, multi-radio approach? This is one of the most important questions facing enterprise mobility over the next few years, and the answer will likely dictate enterprise purchases well into the future. This session will debate the alternatives - femtocells, mobile unified messaging, public-access Wi-Fi, and the future of enterprise computing and communications.

Cloud computing has the potential to be a management nightmare. IT organizations that implement private clouds need to ensure that when they migrate a virtual machine (VM) to another server that the VM retains the same security, storage access and QoS configurations and policies it had previously. In the case of public cloud services there are at least three separate management domains: the enterprise, the WAN service provider and the various cloud computing service providers. Effective management requires that detailed, consistent management data be gathered from each of the management domains. This panel will outline what IT organizations must do to effectively manage cloud computing.

Many users have decided that Apple's iPhone is the right device for them - but is it the right device for mobile IT? While its roots are undeniably in the consumer space, many iPhones are in fact today being used in business. But how does the iPhone really stack up against the competition and enterprise IT requirements? With so many alternatives, is an iPhone-centric strategy really the right direction? This lively debate will explore the opportunities - and issues - inherent in the iPhone and its competitors, and help you prepare a checklist of key requirements for future handset deployments.

Virtualization is not new. What is new is the great interest in deploying server, storage and desktop virtualization. While each of these forms of virtualization can provide significant business value, each has the potential to significantly complicate the task of ensuring acceptable application performance. In this session, vendors from different areas of IT will identify network technologies, designs and best practices that enable IT organizations to enjoy the benefits of virtualization without enduring the potential pitfalls.

Along with its many benefits, the move to a virtual infrastructure brings new challenges to managing the data center. These challenges include virtual server sprawl (largely due to the ease of provisioning virtual servers), capacity and performance management of the virtualized infrastructure, and troubleshooting problems across the virtual and physical environment. While network and systems management toolsets have been around for decades, are they able to handle a virtual world? Hundreds of new tools have emerged to specifically address virtualization management, while existing tools are evolving with new virtual capabilities. Learn about how both of these types of tools can be implemented to help you with the long-running challenge of successful end-to-end management.

CIO/OFT believes the interactivity and personalization associated with next generation technology like social media networking and Web 2.0 tools will enable state agencies to bring communications to a new level engaging millions of people who spend their time on social media sites with personalized, interactive tools they have come to expect to get instantaneous information and to engage in our democracy. CIO/OFT continues to employ multiple strategies to expand and market the use of Web 2.0 technologies. This session will describe the tools used by CIO/OFT to do this, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube channel, Wiki and our Brainstorming Portal.

Cloud computing is gaining traction. But what about your legacy apps and infrastructure? Leading purveyors of cloud computing will conduct a mock "customer visit" with IT executives to explain how you can leverage existing investments while getting the benefits of the cloud.

Windows 7 is set to inherit the XP kingdom: attend this session and lean the security tricks needed to keep your kingdom safe. You'll understand Microsoft's new security model and how to make it work for you. Be dazzled by over 300 diagnostic tools built in Win 7, which can make you a Diagnostic Demon! Understand where the hidden folder system is that your files and programs are installed and where the registry hides your setting. (Hint: they don't exist in XP!) You'll learn unique optional security setting to really secure Win 7 so you comply with the Federal security regulations. None of these setting are on by default, all are deep screened and all increase your security for Free. Finish by constructing a self booting USB copy of Win 7 that can be used for enterprise rollout, diagnostic or just a great OS on a stick.

Using information gathered from multiple sources - including private discussions with developers, inside MS sources and personal investigation — this workshop will help you understand the next generation of Microsoft clients NOW!

Course Outline * MS Security history and why / what they changed. * Virtual Lies! * Hey Biba, what a theory like you doing in a place like this? * Diagnostics Delights of Win 7. * 5 security upgrades for just a click. * Live from your USB - It's Windows Seven!!! * Demonstration driven so bring you laptop with 7 or Vista

You Will Learn
* The basic security concept that Microsoft uses for their new product line. * What the UAC really does and how to tame it. * How to verbalize why your programs don't run with Win 7 and 5 different ways to fix your problem. * 3 great improvements that can be used to increase your security * How to make a self booting USB/CD for simple enterprise rollout, diagnostic or just a great OS on a stick.

Who Should Attend
* Technicians or supervisors who have to work with Windows 7 * Managers or Executives who need to make decisions about Windows 7 * Security professional who need to update their Windows 7 security knowledge

Most IT organizations are consolidating their data centers at the same time that they are virtualizing their servers and implementing applications that require exceptionally low levels of latency. As a minimum, this creates an "all of your eggs in one basket" phenomenon that drives the need for higher levels of availability and throughput. It also creates an environment in which IT resources are dynamically provisioned and de-provisioned and applications signal the network to request resources. This panel will discuss how you need to redesign your data center network to cope with the existing and emerging requirements.

Network Access Control takes "defense in depth" all the way to the desktop. With NAC on your network, every connection can be authenticated and controlled, helping to reduce the risk of malware or malicious people taking hold on the network. Because NAC is the hot buzzword right now, the products can be confusing and the vendors contentious. However, NAC represents the most significant change in the way that networks are secured since the invention of the firewall. Network managers are now being given the tools to create a strong link between users, end systems, desktop workstations, laptops, and access to network resources.

With components of end-point security, authentication and access control, these emerging NAC architectures and products offer almost endless options. Your job is to select the right components and pieces to match your own requirements.

This full-day seminar will cover the concepts behind NAC, giving you the tools to understand both single-vendor solutions and multi-vendor NAC architectures from Cisco, Microsoft and the Trusted Computing Group. We'll discuss specific issues in deploying NAC in enterprise networks, and cover key strategies you can use to ensure successful NAC planning and deployment. During the day, a panel of leading NAC experts will the debate issues and take your questions.

Course Agenda

NAC Architecture and End Point Security * NAC basics, including an overview of problems NAC is supposed to solve -- compared to the problems it actually solves * In-depth information on NAC's key components of authentication, end-point security, access control, and management

Design and Deployment of NAC Solutions * What it takes to put NAC into a production network * Five main steps of a NAC deployment

NAC Product Architectures * An overview of industry-leading NAC solutions, presented in a vendor-neutral way * How Microsoft, Cisco, and other NAC vendors are working together -- and how they are working against each other

NAC Panel * Audience-led Q&A of NAC technical experts on NAC deployment, architecture, and real-world lessons learned. This is not a marketing pitch. This is your chance to ask NAC veterans about how NAC works in the real world.

NAC Enforcement Strategies * Where should NAC enforcement go in your network, and what are the pros and cons of each NAC enforcement strategy?

Nine Hard Questions about Network Access Control * Hard questions you should be able to answer about your chosen NAC solution, or hard questions you may want to ask your potential NAC vendors

Who Should Attend
* Network managers interested in learning about how NAC will affect network architectures, and in building higher security into networks * Security architects interested in pushing security from the perimeter deep into the network with full access control and authentication of end users * Desktop managers looking to enforce security policy compliance and get on top of regulatory issues with tighter controls

You Will Learn
* What NAC is, and the underlying technologies that make it happen * NAC enforcement options, and when to use various options * NAC architecture and solution choice strategies * Implementation issues * Solid strategies for adding NAC, and pitfalls to avoid

Logging has quickly become an important requirement for governance risk and compliance and information security management. Unfortunately most organizations are overwhelmed by both the volume of logs they are examining and data included in them. In order to be an effective tool, an organization has to try to make sense of and derive business and technical value from their logs. If you could only choose five log-based metrics to assess the health of your information security, risk, and compliance posture, what would they be? This session will describe which logs and what log metrics will tell you the most and how to derive knowledge and value from them - even if you look for nothing else.

Enterprises have invested money in disaster recovery (DR) for years, while small and mid-sized companies with limited budgets simply hoped and prayed that nothing disastrous would happen. Today, companies of all sizes are leveraging virtualization to create cost-effective DR implementations. This session discusses why and how so many companies are utilizing virtualization to implement successful disaster recovery plans.

Along with its many benefits, the move to a virtual infrastructure brings new challenges to managing the data center. These challenges include virtual server sprawl (largely due to the ease of provisioning virtual servers), capacity and performance management of the virtualized infrastructure, and troubleshooting problems across the virtual and physical environment. While network and systems management toolsets have been around for decades, are they able to handle a virtual world? Hundreds of new tools have emerged to specifically address virtualization management, while existing tools are evolving with new virtual capabilities. Learn about how both of these types of tools can be implemented to help you with the long-running challenge of successful end-to-end management.

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.

Did you know that businesses have lost nearly one TRILLION dollars due to Cyber Crime? Are your employees at risk? How can you help protect your company assets and employees from the rampant growing problem of Cyber Crime? Attend ESET's Securing Our eCity workshop to learn proactive steps you can take to protect your enterprise.

How do you migrate from a mostly-decentralized, PBX-based TDM infrastructure to a converged IP network that can support Unified Communications? What elements of the UC systems should reside in the enterprise datacenter; in regional nodes; individual sites; or even individual endpoints? This session will offer different perspectives on the architecture of the future.

Mark Templeton, CEO, Citrix
Transforming Enterprise IT: From the Datacenter to the Desktop
Today's business environment is forcing the enterprise computing model to continually evolve. IT departments are challenged to create a flexible yet low cost computing architecture, one that balances installed software with SaaS offerings, while providing users a high definition experience on any device, over any network connection, in any location. The need to understand and separate the reality from the hype of in-demand technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing further challenges IT leaders as they strive to innovate, while keeping costs under control, maintaining information security and remaining agile to support the needs of the business. Come hear Mark Templeton share his vision for transforming IT including:
? Simplifying computing by empowering IT to manage one instance of everything in a central location - one desktop OS, one copy of each application, one instance of each server workload ? Harnessing the power of virtual appliances to deploy network load balancing, acceleration and security capabilities on-demand; removing limits posed by legacy hardware-only approaches ? Using desktop virtualization as the mainstream way desktops are delivered to all workers, from mobile knowledge workers to centrally located task workers and everyone in between ? How to leverage cloud services in enterprise computing today, and which areas are not yet ready for prime time

Marie Hattar, VP of Networking and Security, Cisco
Business Transformation in a World without Borders
The consumerization of technology is changing the way we work and interact, more dramatically than ever before. Borders that once existed around location, device, or application are disappearing—or at the very least, blurring. Our workspace is no longer defined by walls in the office. In addition, applications are more pervasive and complex and video usage is on the rise. Marie Hattar, Cisco VP of Network Systems and Security Solutions, will discuss how a borderless network architecture can help business and IT transform, and how processes based on mobility, video, collaboration and virtualization can be accelerated in secure, game-changing ways. In addition, Marie will demo a key Cisco security innovation that helps IT professionals ensure network security in a borderless world.

As Vice President of Network Systems and Security Solutions at Cisco, Marie Hattar is responsible for setting and developing a strategic vision for the Borderless Network Architecture, which comprises products and services that span switching, routing, mobility, security, and application acceleration. Under her guidance, her organization creates and advances solutions to help employees, partners, and customers—essentially anyone—connect securely, reliably and seamlessly, regardless of location or device.

David Pogue, Personal Technology Columnist, New York Times
David Pogue is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. Each week, he contributes a print column, an online column, an online video and a popular daily blog, "Pogue's Posts." David is also an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News, and he appears each week on CNBC with his trademark comic tech videos.

Some companies have embraced cloud computing whole-heartedly, putting all their IT resources in the cloud. The tradeoffs are clear: less control and customization, in return for a turnkey solution that benefits from the operator's economies of scale.

This panel looks at what can be run on demand, and whether this is a marketing pipe-dream or an inevitable reality. We'll consider what kinds of organizations can rely solely on cloud-based software and servers, and what a company needs to change in order to never buy another server.

The Mobile Business Conference will commence with a lively debate among the thought leaders working in mobility today. This session will cover all the bases - wireless communication, mobile computing, management, security, and strategies for success, with an eye towards renewed economic growth in the coming year. Ample time will be reserved for questions from the audience. This is your opportunity to speak with the key thought leaders who spend their day (and usually much moreoften weekends) working on the most important issues and opportunities in mobile IT.

Wireless is a notoriously difficult space for engineers, caught between the unforgiving laws of physics and the economic requirements inherent in designing, building, and manufacturing products. And yet, talented researchers and developers continue to push throughput, range, and reliability, all the while lowering costs and power requirements. This session will provide an update on the latest developments in wireless, including gigabit wireless LANs, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA, the basis of most 4G technologies), and advanced antennas. If you want to know what's next in wireless, and what it will mean to you, this is the place.

Network Access Control takes "defense in depth" all the way to the desktop. With NAC on your network, every connection can be authenticated and controlled, helping to reduce the risk of malware or malicious people taking hold on the network. Because NAC is the hot buzzword right now, the products can be confusing and the vendors contentious. However, NAC represents the most significant change in the way that networks are secured since the invention of the firewall. Network managers are now being given the tools to create a strong link between users, end systems, desktop workstations, laptops, and access to network resources.

With components of end-point security, authentication and access control, these emerging NAC architectures and products offer almost endless options. Your job is to select the right components and pieces to match your own requirements.

This full-day seminar will cover the concepts behind NAC, giving you the tools to understand both single-vendor solutions and multi-vendor NAC architectures from Cisco, Microsoft and the Trusted Computing Group. We'll discuss specific issues in deploying NAC in enterprise networks, and cover key strategies you can use to ensure successful NAC planning and deployment. During the day, a panel of leading NAC experts will the debate issues and take your questions.

Course Agenda

NAC Architecture and End Point Security * NAC basics, including an overview of problems NAC is supposed to solve -- compared to the problems it actually solves * In-depth information on NAC's key components of authentication, end-point security, access control, and management

Design and Deployment of NAC Solutions * What it takes to put NAC into a production network * Five main steps of a NAC deployment

NAC Product Architectures * An overview of industry-leading NAC solutions, presented in a vendor-neutral way * How Microsoft, Cisco, and other NAC vendors are working together -- and how they are working against each other

NAC Panel * Audience-led Q&A of NAC technical experts on NAC deployment, architecture, and real-world lessons learned. This is not a marketing pitch. This is your chance to ask NAC veterans about how NAC works in the real world.

NAC Enforcement Strategies * Where should NAC enforcement go in your network, and what are the pros and cons of each NAC enforcement strategy?

Nine Hard Questions about Network Access Control * Hard questions you should be able to answer about your chosen NAC solution, or hard questions you may want to ask your potential NAC vendors

Who Should Attend
* Network managers interested in learning about how NAC will affect network architectures, and in building higher security into networks * Security architects interested in pushing security from the perimeter deep into the network with full access control and authentication of end users * Desktop managers looking to enforce security policy compliance and get on top of regulatory issues with tighter controls

You Will Learn
* What NAC is, and the underlying technologies that make it happen * NAC enforcement options, and when to use various options * NAC architecture and solution choice strategies * Implementation issues * Solid strategies for adding NAC, and pitfalls to avoid

When it comes to cloud challenges, data is the elephant in the room. The laws of physics, and the state of bandwidth today, mean that processing needs to happen near data—and this limits enterprises' ability to migrate their applications. Anyone who wants to understand clouds needs to know how they handle data. This panel looks at how some of the industry's biggest on-demand computing platforms handle huge amounts of data quickly and reliably, as well as which innovations wrought in the cloud can be applied to the enterprise data center.

When it comes to cloud challenges, data is the elephant in the room. The laws of physics, and the state of bandwidth today, mean that processing needs to happen near data—and this limits enterprises' ability to migrate their applications. Anyone who wants to understand clouds needs to know how they handle data. This panel looks at how some of the industry's biggest on-demand computing platforms handle huge amounts of data quickly and reliably, as well as which innovations wrought in the cloud can be applied to the enterprise data center.

Does Unified Communications offer a return on investment, and if so, how do you determine this? What principles should guide your investments in new UC functionality? This session will offer concrete advice about the most cost-efficient ways to implement UC to bring near-term returns for your enterprise.

Does Unified Communications offer a return on investment, and if so, how do you determine this? What principles should guide your investments in new UC functionality? This session will offer concrete advice about the most cost-efficient ways to implement UC to bring near-term returns for your enterprise.

The vast majority of workers currently reside in branch offices and access applications over a relatively low-speed, high-latency WAN. This use of the WAN causes many applications to perform badly. To mitigate the impact of the WAN on application performance, many vendors have developed a solution referred to as a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC). In this PowerPoint-free session, leading WOC vendors will be asked questions to identify the similarities and differences between their products.

Along with its many benefits, the move to a virtual infrastructure brings new challenges to managing the data center. These challenges include virtual server sprawl (largely due to the ease of provisioning virtual servers), capacity and performance management of the virtualized infrastructure, and troubleshooting problems across the virtual and physical environment. While network and systems management toolsets have been around for decades, are they able to handle a virtual world? Hundreds of new tools have emerged to specifically address virtualization management, while existing tools are evolving with new virtual capabilities. Learn about how both of these types of tools can be implemented to help you with the long-running challenge of successful end-to-end management.

What next after virtualizing servers, optimizing data center power and cooling, implementing PC power management policies, and enforcing duplex printing? As organizations mature in the greening of their IT, understanding the future of green IT technologies is essential to continue to drive down costs and environmental impacts. To move beyond the low-hanging fruit, this panel discussion will evaluate emerging green IT technologies from desktop virtualization and 10 Gigabyte Ethernet (GbE), to Software-as-a-Service, data center colocation and clean energy.

IT and operations managers who have gone mobile know that the benefits are great, but so are the challenges involved. This session will examine the tactical options for integrating mobility into existing network and system operations processes. From unified wired/wireless management to mobile device management, collaborative systems, and security across the entire network and user value chain, this panel will address key opportunities, examine best practices, and offer actionable advice on how to leverage integrated management to get the most from mobility today and tomorrow.

Technologies like virtualization and automation tools are cornerstone to the next generation data center - but without the proper processes and staff skills to manage them, tomorrow's data center will be no better off than today's. Likewise, even the right people and process fall short without sufficient technology investment that can minimize labor intensive tasks. With that in mind, the next generation data center is a collection of people, process and technology that support one another. This panel discussion will identify the key people, process and technology considerations to help data center managers plan for the next generation data center today.

Containerized data centers are receiving as much hype as cloud computing and green IT. While the benefits compared to "brick and mortar" facilities seems straight forward - reduced capital spend, operating expenses and time-to-build - data center managers need to understand the realities of these emerging data center architectures. This panel discussion will help data center managers evaluate and approach containers by understanding their economics, key considerations and real-life customer examples.

Green IT is on the rise. While most green IT initiatives start in the data center, organizations are increasingly looking outside to distributed IT assets - and even outside of IT all together to reduce environmental of broader business operations. Likewise, Forrester is seeing enterprises evolve their green IT initiatives beyond just energy efficient hardware to encompass software, services and processes. And utilities and governments around the world are incentivizing green behaviors which can accelerate the ROI of technology investment. To understand the scope of green IT, this session will discuss the following: ? The state of green IT ? Understanding the economics of green IT and incentive programs ? Examples of green IT in action ? Recommendations for green IT success and call to action

The old adage that "you can't manage what you can't measure" is relevant to any IT project, green or not. So before re-architecting your data center or purchasing new energy-saving IT equipment, measure your green IT baseline - an annual estimate of the energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and financial costs of operating IT. Not only will this data offer a practical green IT starting point by exposing your most eco-taxing assets, but without it you cannot accurately quantify and report the benefits of your greening efforts to senior management. This panel discussion will offer IT professionals practical steps to measuring the energy consumption of IT assets within and outside of the data center - the first step to greener IT.

When your current data center facility has reached its capacity, will you maintain ownership - or turn the reigns over to someone else? And how will you make this decision? While you can choose to build your next data center, data center managers should get up to speed on alternative ownership models like leasing, hosting and cloud computing. This session will evaluate the flexibility, cost and control options of these various ownership models to help IT leaders determine their data center ownership strategy into the future.

What next after virtualizing servers, optimizing data center power and cooling, implementing PC power management policies, and enforcing duplex printing? As organizations mature in the greening of their IT, understanding the future of green IT technologies is essential to continue to drive down costs and environmental impacts. To move beyond the low-hanging fruit, this panel discussion will evaluate emerging green IT technologies from desktop virtualization and 10 Gigabyte Ethernet (GbE), to Software-as-a-Service, data center colocation and clean energy.

Virtualization is causing the convergence of server, storage, and network platforms. At the same time, fewer CAPEX dollars coupled with rising energy costs is promoting data center managers to incorporate energy efficient and highly utilized IT equipment in the data center. This session will help data center managers understand virtualization's role in convergence and plan for a more efficient and highly utilized server, storage and network environment.

The vast majority of workers currently reside in branch offices and access applications over a relatively low-speed, high-latency WAN. This use of the WAN causes many applications to perform badly. To mitigate the impact of the WAN on application performance, many vendors have developed a solution referred to as a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC). In this PowerPoint-free session, leading WOC vendors will be asked questions to identify the similarities and differences between their products.

Virtualization is not new. What is new is the great interest in deploying server, storage and desktop virtualization. While each of these forms of virtualization can provide significant business value, each has the potential to significantly complicate the task of ensuring acceptable application performance. In this session, vendors from different areas of IT will identify network technologies, designs and best practices that enable IT organizations to enjoy the benefits of virtualization without enduring the potential pitfalls.

The vast majority of workers currently reside in branch offices and access applications over a relatively low-speed, high-latency WAN. This use of the WAN causes many applications to perform badly. To mitigate the impact of the WAN on application performance, many vendors have developed a solution referred to as a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC). In this PowerPoint-free session, leading WOC vendors will be asked questions to identify the similarities and differences between their products.

Cloud computing is seldom clearly defined. On the one hand, clouds are a business model that's as old as outsourcing itself: let someone else do things you don't want to, reaping economies of scale and economies of skill. On the other hand, clouds are a set of technologies that improve reliability, distribute workload, and handle vast data sets quickly. This presentation looks at both perspectives, as we try to define what's just managed hosting, what's just virtualization, and what's truly a cloud.

Some companies have embraced cloud computing whole-heartedly, putting all their IT resources in the cloud. The tradeoffs are clear: less control and customization, in return for a turnkey solution that benefits from the operator's economies of scale.

This panel looks at what can be run on demand, and whether this is a marketing pipe-dream or an inevitable reality. We'll consider what kinds of organizations can rely solely on cloud-based software and servers, and what a company needs to change in order to never buy another server.

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.

The performance gap between processors and storage results in extremely poor CPU utilization and the storage industry's mechanical solutions are insufficient to address a problem that is growing worse. Learn how solid state storage creates a new performance tier that sits between RAM and hard disk that closes this gap.

IT and operations managers who have gone mobile know that the benefits are great, but so are the challenges involved. This session will examine the tactical options for integrating mobility into existing network and system operations processes. From unified wired/wireless management to mobile device management, collaborative systems, and security across the entire network and user value chain, this panel will address key opportunities, examine best practices, and offer actionable advice on how to leverage integrated management to get the most from mobility today and tomorrow.

The Mobile Business Conference will commence with a lively debate among the thought leaders working in mobility today. This session will cover all the bases - wireless communication, mobile computing, management, security, and strategies for success, with an eye towards renewed economic growth in the coming year. Ample time will be reserved for questions from the audience. This is your opportunity to speak with the key thought leaders who spend their day (and usually much moreoften weekends) working on the most important issues and opportunities in mobile IT.

While wireless communications and mobile computing continue to evolve rapidly, we're now at the point where leading IT departments have sufficient experience to establish and implement best practices. This session will feature advice from IT managers that are making cost-effective and productive use of mobile IT devices, technologies, and systems today. Come learn what works - and what doesn't - and gain valuable insight into what needs to be in your mobility arsenal today and going forward.

In a cloud environment, you don't rack and stack servers any more; instead, you click and drag them. This relieves IT operators of many physical chores, but it creates a new one: server sprawl.

To deal with this, most cloud operations teams rely heavily on scripts that automate common functions such as setting up servers or migrating configurations. Those scripts, however, are often tailored to a particular cloud platform—so the same tools that were supposed to liberate IT have inadvertently locked it into a particular cloud environment. If scripting and automation are keys to the success of cloud models, they're not getting the attention they deserve. This panel looks at scripting best practices, automation, and standardization.

Consumer use of social messaging services such as Twitter is on the rise. The tools are likely already in use today, unbeknownst to IT. Do these new messaging technologies pose a threat to business or are they an opportunity to create value through increased communication and collaboration? What is the role of social messaging in unified communications and collaboration and does the rise of public social messaging services render investments in unified communications moot? Join us for a look at the future of social messaging in the Enterprise.

Consumer use of social messaging services such as Twitter is on the rise. The tools are likely already in use today, unbeknownst to IT. Do these new messaging technologies pose a threat to business or are they an opportunity to create value through increased communication and collaboration? What is the role of social messaging in unified communications and collaboration and does the rise of public social messaging services render investments in unified communications moot? Join us for a look at the future of social messaging in the Enterprise.

Consumer use of social messaging services such as Twitter is on the rise. The tools are likely already in use today, unbeknownst to IT. Do these new messaging technologies pose a threat to business or are they an opportunity to create value through increased communication and collaboration? What is the role of social messaging in unified communications and collaboration and does the rise of public social messaging services render investments in unified communications moot? Join us for a look at the future of social messaging in the Enterprise.

The old adage that "you can't manage what you can't measure" is relevant to any IT project, green or not. So before re-architecting your data center or purchasing new energy-saving IT equipment, measure your green IT baseline - an annual estimate of the energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and financial costs of operating IT. Not only will this data offer a practical green IT starting point by exposing your most eco-taxing assets, but without it you cannot accurately quantify and report the benefits of your greening efforts to senior management. This panel discussion will offer IT professionals practical steps to measuring the energy consumption of IT assets within and outside of the data center - the first step to greener IT.

The traditional WAN firewall makes two flawed assumptions. One assumption is that the information contained in the first packet in a connection is sufficient to identify the application. The second assumption is that the TCP and UDP well-known port numbers are always used as intended. These are just two of the issues that suggest that the traditional WAN firewall cannot effectively support the current environment. In this session the panelists will describe the limitations of the traditional WAN firewall and identify what functionality firewalls need to implement to overcome these limitations.