Interop New York 2008 Speaker List

Networks and services may be converging, but divergence in mobile subscriber units continues to be the rule. Today?s mobile handsets feature a broad range of form factors, operating environments, expansion options, and user interfaces, challenging enterprise IT managers, network planners, operations staff, and users to carefully define requirements and ask the right questions before a purchasing decision is made. This session will look at the key new mobile and wireless products aimed at business users, and will feature demos of products you?ll want to see.

It?s often the case that overall operational management of mobile users, the devices they carry, and the networks they depend upon do not get the attention they deserve. And yet the ultimate success of enterprise mobility, as well as the minimization of operational expense and the maximization of return on investment, depend upon a solid management strategy for mobile operations. This session will examine these key elements of mobility management and explore the options today - as well as those on the horizon.

IT Professionals bear the challenges and complexities that tend to keep IT departments reactive and tactical rather than proactive and strategic. Most organizations do not have time, resources or budget to acquire, deploy, learn and manage large-scale solutions. Using non-integrated tools from multiple vendors or proprietary, hardware-based solutions can be problematic. Automation of periodic IT tasks is essential to efficient resource utilization and is key to helping IT departments focus on strategic planning and alignment with the goals of the business. This session dives into your IT issues and how IT automation management can vastly improve your operations.

Today?s networks are highly complex, dynamic environments. Managing them can be very time consuming. Change and configuration management and routine administrative tasks are just some of the activities that consume valuable time. It is imperative that IT organizations find more efficient ways to manage their networks. Automation may offer relief, but will the ?cure" be worse than the problem? In this session, you will learn about new technologies that are available to help simplify the challenge of automating network management. You will also learn about best practices that you can apply in your company to improve productivity while reducing costs and risks.

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 for 2008, 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

What 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

It seems as though 3G just arrived, but, in reality, 3G is over 10 years old. Meanwhile, 4G is now on the way in the form of both Mobile WiMAX and Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems and technologies. This session will review the key 3G technologies now available, and frame the advances embodied in 4G. We?ll also discuss the definition of 4G - which is still the subject of some debate - and rollout plans. Lastly, we will explore what may be a key battle shaping up between Mobile WiMAX and LTE.

Controlling power costs is a hot topic in the data center. However, most organizations have far more PCs than servers, and controlling power management policies across many PCs with different usage patterns is much harder than managing power usage in the highly centralized and controlled data center environment. In this session, you will learn about the challenges and solutions for managing PC power consumption, such us how to identify usage patterns, manage user expectations, control policies and report on your success to upper management. The ROI is substantial, and can be proven, as long as you have the right tools. This session will show you how to save money for your company through implementing a simple power management solution.

Ever think that wireless and mobile are so big, complex, and evolving so quickly that figuring it all out is a full-time job? In this session, you?ll have the opportunity to meet the top analysts who do just that ? predict the future of everything related to mobility. And, of course, whenever you get two or more analysts together, it?s a sure bet that there will be heated debate driven by a detailed knowledge of the industry, technology, and markets. We?ll allow plenty of time for questions from the audience, so join us as we kick off MBX 2008 with a lively discussion of the issues, and what?s next for wireless.

The data center is at the center of IT innovation with many exciting - but also confusing - developments. The session will provide a unifying vision, and a wealth of information and practical advice for companies seeking to build new data centers, planning for growth in existing data centers and transforming their operational practices. Based on hundreds of in-depth interviews with IT executives, this session provides an unbiased, insightful and unique view of best practices from real data centers around the world.

The Green Data Center sounds easier than it is. What are the various components of a green data center and how can companies make their existing data centers ?greener?? What is the impact of green IT on the bottom line? Green is not just about the production of energy or the use of alternate sources; it is about energy strategies, energy efficiency, energy management and cost reduction. It?s about sustainable computing and competitive advantage. It?s about the bottom line as well as environmental responsibility and stewardship. How do you model the cost of electricity across all IT equipment? And how can you convert that cost model into a green ROI? Panelists will discuss strategies, technologies, challenges, cost models and case studies to help demystify green IT.

Will Ethernet unify the storage and data networks into one single fabric? Or does storage need its own network to deliver high performance? Will storage be carried over FCoE or iSCSI, or some other protocol? Or will fiber channel continue to grow and evolve? Panelists will discuss these and other issues around next-generation data center networks, take audience questions and present case studies to support their claims.

Build or Buy? This is the most common question related to the data center. Where do you put your IT equipment? Many choices are available today ? building a new data center, converting an existing space, co-location, server and virtual server hosting or even ?in the cloud." Which of these approaches is best for your business? This panel will discuss the various options and look at the balance between flexibility, cost and control that they offer.

What is service oriented architecture (SOA)? Is it really happening or is it just vendor hype? Are we witnessing a revolution in software design, integration and interoperability? For many, SOA sounds suspiciously familiar, evoking the same over-promised vendor-hype of previous failed integration attempts such as CORBA. Is SOA more than web services? Are companies really deploying service-oriented architectures, or are they just using the word as a shorthand for SOAP interfaces and a bit of ESB? Panelists will debate the hype vs. reality of SOA in today?s enterprise.

The Green Data Center sounds easier than it is. What are the various components of a green data center and how can companies make their existing data centers ?greener?? What is the impact of green IT on the bottom line? Green is not just about the production of energy or the use of alternate sources; it is about energy strategies, energy efficiency, energy management and cost reduction. It?s about sustainable computing and competitive advantage. It?s about the bottom line as well as environmental responsibility and stewardship. How do you model the cost of electricity across all IT equipment? And how can you convert that cost model into a green ROI? Panelists will discuss strategies, technologies, challenges, cost models and case studies to help demystify green IT.

There's a slow, inexorable exodus going on. First bursty seasonal computing, then storage, then eventually all but specialized tasks are moving out of the corporate data center and into the cloud. But this big migration is a gradual one. There are times when it doesn't yet make sense to embrace on-demand computing. We'll chart the course of a migration into the cloud with some of the industry's sharpest innovators in on-demand provisioning and deployment.

As recently as a decade ago, the majority of LANs were based on shared media. Today, they are based on switching and are designed for two key parameters: speed and availability. However, there is a growing interest in implementing more services, such as security, in LAN switches. This session will help IT organizations determine what functionality belongs in each class of LAN switch. To achieve that goal, this session will look at how the functionality that gets deployed in access and backbone switches either enables or inhibits IT organizations from being able to easily support key initiatives, such as mobility and unified communications.

Build or Buy? This is the most common question related to the data center. Where do you put your IT equipment? Many choices are available today ? building a new data center, converting an existing space, co-location, server and virtual server hosting or even ?in the cloud." Which of these approaches is best for your business? This panel will discuss the various options and look at the balance between flexibility, cost and control that they offer.

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

Attend the 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 the 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.

If you are deploying video conferencing as a mission critical communications service, you must navigate a variety of challenges. Deploying a network to support video conferencing and/or telepresence requires understanding real-time traffic, Quality of Service, bandwidth management and specialized test tools. The right agreements for service must be worked out with the WAN service provider. Security issues must be addressed to manage video security and not violate network security. Supporting business-to-business calling, especially with telepresence, requires a new model of WAN service provider deployment. This session will shed light on how to approach each of these challenges, and will provide a forum in which to explore the solutions available to fit your specific needs.

When it's your application on their infrastructure, you have a hard time knowing what's happening. On-demand computing environments often hide details from application operators as a result of their virtualization. New computing means new management. This panel of experts and innovators looks at emerging best practices for managing applications when they're running in the cloud.

Discuss cloud computing, social networks and mobility in an informal, collaborative setting.

Over the last few years a lot of resources have been devoted to developing myriad techniques to ensure acceptable application performance. For example, several vendors have deployed products to optimize the performance of the WAN and of servers. What can IT organizations expect to see over then next year? This session will explore some of the possibilities including topics like: is storage optimization likely to happen, and if so, will anybody care? Will functionality such as symmetric and asymmetric application acceleration merge? Should you build the network you need to support applications or can applications dynamically control the network resources they need?

Social networking is a hot topic these days, mostly fueled by consumer applications such as Facebook and MySpace. Facebook alone has been catapulted to "web platform" status with thousands of third party applications being built around an open API. How will businesses leverage this social networking phenomenon? Are we creating value with social networks in business? Or are we simply creating more distractions?

A debate is brewing - what is the best software environment for mobile devices? Is a robust operating system required, along with support for third-party applications, or will a more contained and manageable smartphone platform ultimately be preferred? How can software for mobile devices be economically and reliably developed? What are the security and management requirements for mobile devices? How will information be managed and distributed in a highly-mobile world? This session has the answers.

Is there still a good reason why a mobile browser need be less capable than its desktop counterparts? Perhaps. But with mobile access to the web today just as important as mobile voice service, and with enterprises adopting web services as a fundamental IT strategy, there?s now a clear requirement for mobile browsers that support desktop functionality - but in a compact package. This session includes a discussion of required features, demos of the latest mobile browsers, as well as a debate attempting to define best approach to user interface strategy and implementation.

Discuss cloud computing, social networks and mobility in an informal, collaborative setting.

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

Attend the 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 the 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 last couple of years SOA and Web services has been over-hyped. Now Web 2.0 is also over-hyped. Because of the hype, it is easy to dismiss these application development architectures as irrelevant. That would be a serious mistake. Both of these architectures are just in the early stages of influencing how applications are developed and applications build using either architecture are likely to run poorly and be difficult to manage. The panelists on this session will detail the management and performance issues associated with SOA and Web 2.0 and give their insight into what you can do to avoid them.

Increasing complexity, manual processes, plus operational tools that are difficult to use and are not integrated can cause significant problems for enterprises, including excessive downtime, large-scale errors, loss of data, and compliance problems. IT and business executives face many challenges in trying to solve these problems, while keeping labor costs down, providing adequate service levels, and driving operational efficiency. This is especially true in critical IT functional areas such as Service Level Monitoring, Event Lifecycle Management, and End-User Service. Meanwhile, tremendous advances have been made in automating IT functions. Today?s tools have become quite sophisticated and ?intelligent." This session will explain how IT Automation can provide a large measure of relief. You will learn how automation can help you reduce IT costs, deliver higher levels of service and ensure more efficient resource utilization. You will also learn what types of tools you should consider when planning to automate various IT functions.

Despite its 100-plus year history, wireless today is benefiting from a level of innovation unmatched in any other area of high technology. New developments appear at a remarkable rate, with the accompanying marketing hype. However not all new developments are ultimately successful or even meaningful. This session will explore a number of key technology directions in basic wireless technologies and provide an analysis of which wireless technologies are going to matter in the long run.

To date, technology analysts have quite properly focused on the social and business aspects of Enterprise 2.0 technologies. And yet, Enterprise 2.0 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 Enterprise 2.0 technologies, and provide a framework for customers to evaluate the marketplace based on their own needs.

Is there still a good reason why a mobile browser need be less capable than its desktop counterparts? Perhaps. But with mobile access to the web today just as important as mobile voice service, and with enterprises adopting web services as a fundamental IT strategy, there?s now a clear requirement for mobile browsers that support desktop functionality - but in a compact package. This session includes a discussion of required features, demos of the latest mobile browsers, as well as a debate attempting to define best approach to user interface strategy and implementation.

With the web now forming the basis not just for publishing, but also for B2B and B2C m-commerce as a platform for applications, it?s critical to understand the technologies of the mobile web. Also, businesses need to know how to extend their web strategies to mobile users. That?s what this session is about. We?ll explore how new web applications can be effective on mobile platforms, and the key tools and technologies required to be successful in making next-generation web applications mobile.