10 Tracks

Security & Compliance

Ready for?—

• A security strategy that work for both small and large companies
• A priority audit of your security defenses and risk management
• A security architecture built around the three keys: people, process & technology
• Strategies that protect data and assets in ways that maximize the use of mobile networks
• Security management that maximizes regulatory compliance at minimal cost
• Records retention policy and practices that pay for themselves

Analyst

Andreas Antonopoulos, Senior Vice President & Founding Partner, Nemertes Research

Focus

Balancing the building blocks of security to create a ubiquitous, reliable, data and identity-centric defense

Challenge

Data theft is a highly profitable industry. In fact, Bad Guys, Inc. just had a record $100 million year. And they’re plowing their returns into sophisticated R&D to increase their assault on your information assets.

What’s worse: Mobility and ubiquitous connectivity make the traditional security perimeter extremely vulnerable.

Today’s hyper-connected enterprises require technologies, strategies and architectures not even imagined in the wired world. Quick-strike tools as responsive as your enterprise is mobile. Layered as deep as your core is critical.

Security that’s visionary because your budget is tight. Effective because the threats are devastating. And as practical because your operation is lean.

Takeaways

• Next-generation threats and attacks
• Prioritizing your security defenses
• Understanding risk management
• Building a security infrastructure
• Right-sizing your security strategy
• Security dynamics for the mobile network
• Turning logs into security monitors
• Protecting data beyond the perimeter
• Assessing internal vs. outsource ops
• Creating corporate awareness and training
• Maximizing compliance at minimal costs
• Establishing a retention policy that works

Technologies

• Malware
• Phishing
• SPAM
• Data Leakage Prevention
• Network flow analysis
• Identity Management
• Firewalls
• Encryption at rest and in transit (VPN)
• Intrusion Prevention
• Log and event management (SIEM)

Data Center Infrastructure & Management

Ready for?—

• Engineering that provides a decade of data center power
• A comprehensive who-does-what-and-why
• plan for managing your data center
• Must-have technologies for current and future-ready data centers
• The strategic blueprint for locating your data centers
• The architecture of next-generation data center management

Analyst

Johna Till Johnson, President & Senior Founding Partner, Nemertes Research

Focus

Consolidation. Integration. Optimization: Implementing the technologies of next generation data center

Challenge

If your data center was designed pre-Internet, you are at a competitive disadvantage. Technologies such as virtualization, blade computing, and next-generation switching and routing compel a total rethink across the enterprise.

• How can apps deliver split-second response now that servers reside hundreds and thousands of miles away from users?
• Which routers and switches are tested and proven to meet the exponentially increased capacity demanded by today’s network architecture?
• Can next-gen data centers be outsourced? Safely? Securely? Fully compliant?
• Is the dream of a “green data center” fading as the cost of energy for HVAC spirals up?
• When disaster strikes are back-ups an adequate recovery / continuance plan?
• Will expensive frameworks such as ITIL actually advance data center management?

Takeaways

• Hosted and outsourced data centers
• Green data centers
• Power optimization
• Backup, recovery & bandwidth optimization
• Redundancy and compliance
• Consolidation and cost optimization
• Data center architecture, technology, and management
• ITIL and the next-generation data center
• Data center infrastructure and management

Technologies

• Application acceleration
• Storage, information lifecycle management
• Next-generation routing and switching
• Virtualization
• HVAC and power management
• DR/BCP
• ITIL, management

Enterprise Mobility

Ready for?—

• Strategies to integrate / orchestrate wireless
• Apps that maximize mobile’s advantages
• Tools that improve customer response times
• Measurable gains in efficiency &productivity

Analyst

Craig Mathias, Principal, The Farpoint Group

Focus

Managing mobility: Gaining value from wireless communications and collaboration

Challenge

Access to information, and the ability to act on it rapidly regardless of location, are two essential capabilities in today’s hyper-competitive business world. Capabilities that mobile computing and dynamic communications make easily available to any enterprise of any size. So what’s the secret to making enterprise mobility a competitive advantage in a commodity world? Strategic management. Developing the skills and insights to synchronize and orchestrate the entire spectrum of wireless tools to deliver measurable differences in responsiveness, customer service, productivity, and bottom line returns.

Takeaways

• The Big Picture of Wireless: Picking the right tool for the job
• WLAN opportunities, constraints, and applications
• WLAN architectures and the role of MIMO
• Fixed/Mobile and Mobile / Mobile Convergence (FMC and MMC)
• Understanding wireless wide-area broadband
• Future direction and opportunities

Technologies 

• 3G/Broadband Wireless
• WiMAX
• Voice over IP over WiFi (VoFi)
• Bluetooth and Beyond: Ultra-Wideband Wireless Personal-Area Networks
• RFID and RTLS
• Wireless Web services
• 4G Wireless networks

SaaS, Cloud Computing & Managed Services

Ready for?—

• Secrets on how to leverage SaaS, Cloud Computing and Managed Services to support your day-to-day operations and achieve your IT/business objectives
• How SaaS, Cloud Computing and Managed Services can align IT operations with the corporate objectives
• Key questions to ask when out-tasking specific IT/application responsibilities to a SaaS, Cloud Computing or Managed Service provider
• Hidden benefits/costs of SaaS, Cloud Computing and Managed Services
• Best practices for successfully utilizing these ‘on-demand’ solutions

Analyst

Jeff Kaplan, Founder, THINKstrategies

Focus

Education to better understand and deploy ‘on-demand’ solutions: Ascending the learning curve quickly as the SaaS, Cloud Computing and Managed Services market rapidly evolves.

Challenge

Software-as-a-Service and Cloud Computing is the new frontier of IT and is also creating renewed interest in Managed Services. SaaS is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 22.1% through 2011. A third of the organizations recently surveyed by THINKstrategies and Cutter Consortium are already using SaaS and another 37% are considering SaaS this year.

Are you ready for? —

• The key advantages/disadvantages of SaaS, Cloud Computing and Managed Services?
• How does SaaS differ from the Application Service Providers (ASPs) of the past?
• What defines cloud computing and what separates it from utility computing? How managed services differ from IT outsourcing?
• The important ways organizations leverage SaaS, cloud computing and managed services?
• The crucial criteria for selecting the most effective SaaS, Cloud Computing and Managed Services providers?

The combination of rapidly changing business requirements and evolving enabling technologies are accelerating the adoption of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing and Managed Services across organizations of all sizes to address a widening array of IT and business needs.

Takeaways

• Metrics for evaluating end-user needs and business unit demands
• How to evaluate SaaS and cloud computing alternatives
• Vendor selection criteria unique to SaaS and cloud computing
• Service level standards to expect?
• The new customer/vendor relationship SaaS creates
• Keys to success in utilizing these solutions Technologies
• SaaS
• Cloud/Utility Computing
• On-Demand Enterprise Applications
• Managed Services
• Managed Security Services
• Managed Storage Services
• Managed Desktop/Server/Network Services

Securing the Core

Ready for?—

• The four key components of every smart NAC solution
• How to turn IDS and IPS into risk reduction tools instead of time sinks
• Where Security Event Information Management (SEIM) adds the most value
• When Unified Threat Management makes sense, and when it doesn’t

Analyst

Joel Snyder, Senior Partner, Opus One

Focus

Securing the Core: the Evolution of Network Security

Challenge

The perimeter of the network, the traditional firewall at the edge, and scanning tools such as anti-virus/anti-malware systems, are well understood and easy-to-implement technologies. Now it’s time for network security teams to turn inward and change the network from a “free for all” utility inside of the organization to a secure and reliable one. The idea is to focus on risk mitigation and solving real business problems.

Four security technologies are bubbling to the top as leading candidates to help organizations reduce risk and increase internal network security: NAC (network access control), IDS/IPS (intrusion detection/intrusion prevention systems), SEIM (security event information management), and UTM (unified threat management).

This session will provide a deep-dive on these four technologies, putting them into perspective, and showing where they do and don’t fit into today’s enterprise networks. With a focus on inside-the-firewall security and risk reduction, we’ll give you a roadmap for core network security that will help you decide what you need---and what you don’t need---in your own network.

Takeaways

• Where NAC came from, and where it’s going
• What components make up a NAC solution and how to pick your own solution
• Where IDS and IPS are different, and where they are the same
• How successful IPS deployments get that way
• What to do with the security information being generated in your network
• How to add value by correlating and aggregating security information
• Why UTM is a hot technology---even if you are an enterprise

Technologies

• End-point security and security posture assessment
• Management of policy and access controls
• IDS/IPS and vulnerability assessment
• Security Information Management
• User Authentication and 802.1X
• Access control and firewalling
• Unified Threat Management and Next Generation Firewalls

Network & Application Acceleration

Ready for?—

• Criteria for determining effective branch office optimization
• Benchmarks for measuring true front-end performance of apps
• Pros and cons of implementing branch office optimization in the router
• Cost/benefits of managed-service providers
• The demands of next-generation of apps
• The interaction of security and network and application acceleration

Analyst

Jim Metzler, President, Ashton Metzler & Associates

Focus

Deploying Next-Generation Network and Apps Acceleration: Dynamic Solutions for Competitive Business Advantages

Challenge

Until a few years ago, acceptable application performance was an unknown, unmanaged metric. Today, roughly two thirds of network driven organizations demand management of that key driver of success. As crucial as it is complex, most network organizations struggle to become proficient at it.

Because network managers are confronted by a confusion of solutions and tools, most network and application optimizations are merely superficial and tactical—quick fixes. What’s needed is an architecture for acceleration that makes broad strategic deployments not only understandable, but sensible.

This track is the right first step. Starting with the established fundamentals of compression, caching and protocol acceleration, it will help you build a cost benefit case. You’ll see how to benchmark your application requirements. Evaluate managed service providers. Identify and isolate the most productive network and application optimizations. And determine, design, and build customized solutions that deploy the best available combination of scalable tools..

Takeaways

• Factors driving application optimization
• Determining application requirements
• Evaluating managed service providers
• Building a strong business case
• Identifying the need for optimization
• Taxonomy of branch office optimization
• Selection criteria for branch office solutions
• Selection criteria for application front endss

Technologies

• Compression
• Caching
• Differencing
• Protocol acceleration
• QoS
• Server offload
• Web 2.0
• Security
• Router Optimization)

Network Management

Ready for?—

• The rise of the network manager in the corporate structure
• The business case for investing in network management
• The new dynamics of automated QoS
• Deep packet inspection at multigigabit speeds
• Command and control best practices
• The new role of the Network Operations Center (NOC)

Analyst

Jim Metzler, President, Ashton Metzler & Associates

Focus

The Vital Role of Network Management: A Strategy for Implementing Effective Automation and Control

Challenge

The power of network management in general, and the influence of the network manager in particular, is rising.

Historically, network managers worried primarily about networking issues at the physical layer. Overseeing functions such as installing and managing the physical wiring in a building or connecting a switch or a router to the network. A focus primarily on network availability.

Today, the role of the network manager has been transformed. While connectivity is still vital, the network is as likely to be wireless as wired.

The two capabilities that help network managers succeed are automation and control. Automation to free up scarce resources to perform sophisticated, value-added functions. And control that allows the IT organization to determine traffic priorities and enforce access to resources.

Takeaways

• The enterprise-essential executive: A job description of the new network manager
• The expanding corporate discipline
• The new role of network management
• How top network managers establish their market value
• The shape of next-generation network operation centers (NOCs)
• Managing the changing IT infrastructure
• The rise of automations

Technologies

• Application Performance Management
• Network Availability and Performance Management
• Analytics
• CMDB (Configuration Management Database)
• ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)
• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
• Virtualization

Next-Generation WAN Services

Ready for?—

• Optimize MPLS services for maximum application performance
• Evaluate Ethernet services for the metro and WAN environments
• Implement strategies for maximizing resiliency and supporting Web services
• Integrate wireless services into the WAN
• Solve international and geographical challenges for WAN service deployment

Analyst

Johna Till Johnson, President & Senior Founding Partner, Nemertes Research

Focus

Advanced Communications Services: Getting from Where We are Now to What’s Next

Challenge

Enterprises today face an increasingly complicated network-services landscape. Today’s Ethernet options offer new managed services, greater simplicity, higher bandwidth, and reduced costs. But they come at a price: A whole new set of service-delivery complexities including:

• The struggle to mix and match the right services from the right providers for the right locations.
• The quest to deliver reliable, real-time services to support converged services including voice and video.
• The challenges of designing a routing and switching architecture to support highly resilient, highly-scalable networks.
• The need to deliver fail-safe services to support such crucial initiatives as data center consolidation, network delivered services, and web-based applications
• The desire to employ new options for wireless and mobile connectivity that offer opportunities ranging from improved backups to alternatives to traditionalaccess technologies.

Takeaways

• Evolution and application of Ethernet services for metro and WAN
• Optimization of WAN services to maximize application performance
• Geographic obstacles and opportunities for next-generation WAN services
• Optimizing routing architectures for resiliency and scalability
• Designing next generation WANs to support Web services and wide area file services
• Opportunities and challenges of fixed and mobile 3G/4G wireless servicess

Technologies

• MPLS
• Ethernet/VPLS
• Quality of Service (QoS)
• WAN optimization
• WiMAX and 3G/4G Wireless Services
• Wide Area File Systemst

Virtualization

Ready for?—

• Better utilize your servers
• Increase operational efficiency
• Speed up server provisioning
• Prepare for virtualization for thin-client desktops
• Cut energy costs
• Use SAN replication for disaster recovery

Analyst

Andreas Antonopoulos, Senior Vice President & Founding Partner, Nemertes Research

Focus

Beyond Consolidation: Virtualization for IT & Business Agility

Challenge

Virtualization has been a factor in several contexts throughout the history of computing. And now the current incarnation
of server virtualization is changing the IT landscape—especially in the data center.

At its simplest, virtualization is used for server consolidation and to maximize the utilization of IT resources. But virtualization goes much further than that. By virtualizing servers, storage, networking and security, IT leaders are transforming IT and introducing flexibility, portability and operational efficiency. This track shows you how to join them.

Going beyond consolidation, this track examines the broader set of solutions virtualization offers: Disaster recovery and continuity. Data center migrations. Image standardization. Test Q+A. And virtual desktops.

Takeaways

• The business case for virtualization
• 10 instructive virtualization solutions
• SAN and NAS for virtualization
• Power savings with virtualization
• On-demand provisioning and management
• Service orchestration
• Backup, migration and recovery
• Server image standardization and TCO
• Virtualization and security
• How to better utilize servers
• Increasing operational efficiency
• Speeding up server provisioning
• Revisiting the thin-client desktop
• Reducing energy costs with virtualization
• SAN replication disaster recovery plan
• Winning back the maintenance window
• Minimizing the server footprint
• Dual-purposing expensive blade servers
• Employing virtualization as a security tooll

Technologies

• Server virtualization:
• Hypervisor and Para-virtualization
• Virtualization platforms:VMWare, Xen, Microsoft, SWsoft
• Live server migration
• Storage virtualization
• Network virtualization
• Security virtualization
• Virtual Desktop – thin client

VoIP, Video & Unified Communications

Ready to?—

• Cut through the UC confusion
• Tap the best practices for practical management of converged networks
• Meet the VOIP security challenges
• Tap the potential of UC merged with business processes and applications
• See how hosted and managed services save money and improve service deliveryy

Analyst

Irwin Lazar, Principal Analyst & Program Director, Nemertes Research

Focus

Setting the Stage for Unified Communications

Challenge

How best to?—

• Manage deployments from a performance and resiliency perspective
• Meet staffing and organizational challenges as voice, data and application teams converge
• Incorporate mobile and remote users into a unified strategy
• Secure installations
• Deliver unified messaging capabilities
• Evaluate and integrate hosted and on-premises solutions
• Leverage emerging high-definition and telepresence-based video conferencing systems.

The answers are emerging from a new paradigm called “unified communications” which brings new opportunities to integrate and consolidate communications applications and services through a common set of interfaces.

When married with business processes, UC offers the ability to increase business agility and responsiveness, while improving productivity, increasing revenue, and cuttingcosts.

Takeaways

• Best practices management for real-time communications including voice and video over IP
• Understanding and planning for UC
• Effective VoIP security strategies
• Staffing in the world of convergence
• Evaluating hosted and managed services for VoIP and PSTN access
• Integrating business applications and processes with communications systems and servicess

Technologies

• Voice over IP
• Unified communications
• Video, web and audio conferencing
• Presence and instant messaging
• Unified messaging
• VoIP Security
• SIP trunking and hosted VoIP services