Training: What do you want ?

Many companies are well into the third year of budget restrictions, which makes it tough to stay ahead of the learning curve.

One way to keep up is to attend free Network World seminars that examine emerging technologies. So far this year, our tours have covered voice over IP, wireless LANs and storage. Still to come are events focused on developments in WANs, LANs and data centers (the complete list).

Regarding the latter, in September we launch the New Data Center Technology Tour as a direct result of surveying past seminar attendees about top concerns. The response that kept showing up was the need to consolidate resources and automate tasks without compromising security.

The seminar, led by Andrew Schroepfer of Tier 1 Research, will explore how to re-architect networks to gain efficiency. Topics will include centralizing resources such as servers and storage, use of offload devices to optimize for performance, security options and tools, and management wares that provide better visibility into network resources.

Besides Schroepfer’s keynote presentation, the event will feature presentations by Cisco, Concord Communications, EMC, Force10 Networks, Foundry Networks, Inkra Networks, Nauticus Networks and NetScaler.

This and the other seminars will take us deep into fall, and, it is already time to look ahead to the 2004 schedule. That’s where you come in. We need your input.

What topics would you like to see addressed? Some of the feedback we’ve received already called for more of a focus on managing enterprise-wide communications.

So we’re putting together a tour called Messaging in the Enterprise scheduled for early next year in which we will address pressing issues, including getting a handle on spam and allowing access via wireless devices.

How do you best deal with unsolicited e-mail and extend support to mobile devices without jeopardizing security?

But what else is on your list? What technologies are you and your staff wrestling with? And what learning environment works best for you? Do you need more access to your peers so you can learn from their experiences, do you want to hear more from key analysts, or do you prefer concentrated vendor presentations that help you quickly sort through the options?

Here’s your chance to request the training that best suits your needs. E-mail me your responses.