The Network World Las Vegas Interop 2009 Planning Guide

PICK OF THE DAY: Sunday, May 17, 9:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Removing the uncertainty and doubt (but not the fear)

Businesses are pressured from the outside to meet security compliance standards such as the Payment Card Industry standards and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, but compliance doesn't necessarily mean security. In order to protect the most important data, businesses have to rank their most valuable assets and take steps to protect them.

This session proposes a methodology for assessing risk quantitatively, then managing it across an entire corporation. Following this model results in knowing what data is most at risk, what risks to mitigate and what risks to accept, and how to impose a cost-benefit analysis on risk management. Because it isn't practicable for all data can receive the most stringent security, how should businesses decide and justify the measures taken to protect different classes of data?

This session is run by Amit Yoran, who was director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security as well as the CEO of In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the CIA -- jobs that give him a unique insight into evaluating threats and finding measures to combat them. He is currently chairman and CEO of NetWitness.

Interop: 25 random things about Las Vegas
Interop soldiers on in the face of a bad economy, swine flu

Sunday, May 17, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Managing and securing mobile devices

This session will dig into the nuances and complexities of corporate mobile-device deployments. Run by Michael Finneran, a consultant who wrote "Voice Over Wireless LANs -- The Complete Guide", this course runs participants through a detailed checklist of deployment. But it also highlights security concerns that might not be apparent at the outset such as mobile-specific malware, frequency jamming and dissociation attacks. Finneran will recommend security measures per device type -- laptop, cell phone, PDAs and smartphones.

PICK OF THE DAY: Monday, May 18, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Energy camp

A range of experts from the Environmental Protection Agency to academia to industry analysts will detail how businesses can save money on energy costs by scrutinizing their network architectures and the products they buy.

This session will start with a discussion between presenters and the audience to determine what topics most interest those attending. The rest of the program will be tailored to meeting those needs.

Included among the presenters is Mike Raftney, the director and co-founder of the Cork Internet eXchange, a data center in Ireland that was built with energy efficiency in mind. Prof. Saifur Rahman of Virginia Tech is also presenting on IEEE power and energy standards that can drive cost savings.

Monday, May 18, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Virtualization day

Virtual environments have their own management and security concerns that vary depending on which vendor's virtualization software is employed and whether it is used on servers, desktops or both. This all-day series of sessions covers them all.