| | |
| Track A: Servers and Operating Systems Track | Server technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, and server vendors are undergoing significant transformations. The margin-rich midrange Unix market is losing ground to the thin-margin x86 Windows and Linux market segments. The IBM mainframe continues to show incredible resiliency. The broad adoption of server virtualization technology is changing the way that data centers – and server vendors – do business. New form factors, chip/OS commoditization, multi-core and multi-thread technologies and fabric architectures all represent potential disruptive challenges to the status quo. The many facets of server infrastructure, server utilization and server sprawl have become top-of-mind issues for many data center executives. This track looks at the latest server developments and technologies that are addressing these concerns. Most data centers reflect a heterogeneous environment; this track takes a detailed look at each segment of the complex server marketplace, including the Windows, Unix, Linux and z/OS markets. | A |
| Track B: IT Operations Track | IT infrastructure and operations management professionals have never been under so much pressure — for 24/7 availability and extreme quality of service, while at the same time reducing cost; to manage constant change from internal and external sources; to align IT services with the business requirements; and to implement business practices through process definition and maturity, such that they can make business-level decisions on IT service pricing, packaging, sourcing and other trade-offs. At the same time, new architectures are coming that have the potential to drastically disrupt and alter IT processes. While the disruption could eventually result in positive outcomes, without planning, it could also result in chaos. This track focuses on IT operations management trends and disruptions, to enable our clients to get ahead of the curve, rather than being overwhelmed and frozen to the point of inaction, as well as practical, prescriptive advice on “how to” achieve excellence and contribute business value now. | B |
| Track C: Storage Track | Few challenges, if any, in the IT infrastructure rival the complexity associated with the storage infrastructure. Whether it is the issue of increasing storage capacity requirements, improved storage networking, disciplined storage management or real-time storage, storage is at the forefront of many of the issues that data center and IT operations executives face. Managing the cost of supporting the growing amount of electronic information is a big issue. Demand for storage continues to explode, and organizations must wrestle with the issues surrounding managing all this data – how best to archive it, retrieve it, secure it, share it and manage it. Vendors and technologies are changing at a rapid pace. Emphasis will be placed on the key technology trends that users can expect to assist them in creating cost-effective and efficient storage infrastructures during the next five years. | C |
| Track D: Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery Track | Business continuity management and disaster recovery have evolved significantly during the past 20 years. The Gartner CIO surveys, as well as our own Data Center Topic Survey, continue to indicate that business continuity management, risk management and disaster preparedness rank uppermost in the concerns of both CIOs and data center management. The growing number of worldwide terrorist attacks, the 2003 power outages, the 2005 London bombings, the U.S. 2005 hurricane season and so on are driving expanded scenario planning, public/private sector coordination and an increased focus on legislating BC into business operations. As a consequence, data center executives are faced with ever greater demands for ensuring continuity. Recent events have emphasized the need for continuity plans to be centered around people, rather than solely around assets. This track explores all aspects of implementing sound business continuity plans. | D |
| Track E: Virtualization Track | Virtualization is much more than a technology – it is a fundamental change in much of your IT thinking. The pressure on IT to improve the utilization levels of assets and reign in the labor component in budgets is resulting in many new products being brought to market. We will analyze the risk and rewards in next-generation virtualization technologies – and how to avoid creating new problems down the road. Along with examining the newest technologies, we look at other challenges that virtualization brings with it, such as new concerns with security, software licensing models, management of the growing virtual environment, the impact on disaster recovery and its impact on storage. | E |
| Track F: Best Practices Track | This “all-encompassing track” focuses on completing the corporate data center agenda with a well-rounded assortment of best-practice presentations on a diverse set of topics of critical importance to data center and IT operations executives – including security, staffing, networking, SLAs, change and asset management, infrastructure consolidation and client computing architectures. | F |