Welcome to Blade Systems Insight 2010

4/18/2010 5:30:00 PM

Bill Sell and Jim Hall kick-off Blade Systems Insight

Speakers:

Bill Sell
Vice President & General Manager
Financial Technology Insight

Jim Hall
President
Blade Systems Alliance

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You Survived the Great Recession, Now What? Toward a Sustainable Strategy for Cost-Containment, Compliance, Continuity and Carbon Footprint Reduction

4/18/2010 5:45:00 PM

The economists say that the recession is over, but business IT still confronts the twin challenges of containing costs while improving services ("do more with less"). Considerable attention has been paid to server consolidation as a way to lean technology investments and to increase resource utilization efficiency. But Jon Toigo, a consumer advocate and industry watchdog, contends that "server rightsizing" alone will not be sufficient to emerge from the current downturn in a better position to compete in the global marketplace. Toigo argues that a strategic approach, founded on "purpose-built" infrastructure, infrastructure management and, most importantly, intelligent data management, are the real components of a sustainable strategy going forward. Borrowing from his extensive consulting work with business clients large and small, he will outline the steps you should be taking today to develop a sustainable strategy to cope with the "C-4" issues: cost, compliance, continuity and carbon footprint reduction. How companies prepare for the C-4 challenge will determine the winners and losers in a post-recession marketplace.

Toigo, the author of 15 books and thousands of articles and columns in the technology trade press, has gathered together data from infrastructure assessments performed in over 10,000 firms for his upcoming book, Making IT Matter. He shares his findings, and his opinions, in a session that you will be talking about throughout the Summit.

Speakers:

Jon William Toigo
CEO and Managing Principal
Toigo Partners International

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Enabling Business Growth through Next Generation IT Infrastructure based on Blade Technology

4/18/2010 6:30:00 PM

SITA faced the need to further standardize on anIT ecosystem in order to meet business demands of new and expandingprojects while reducing time to market and cost. Chris Lofton will take youthrough SITA's process in establishing a reference architecture based onBlade technology. Not only did SITA reduce cost at the project onset, butthey have continued to drive down recharges while enabling more newbusiness than in previous years.

Speakers:

Chris Lofton
Head of Technology Planning
SITA

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Keynote Presentation - Efficiency Across the Traditional Enterprise

4/18/2010 7:00:00 PM

An informative presentation on initiatives which can be implemented across organisations today to provide real business benefit, improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint. The session will also look at how to engage the business to enable the right behaviour and some of the mechanisms put into practice in Thomson Reuters. The presentation will look into the future and identify tools needed to further efficiency in the blade space and some of the cutting edge thoughts around efficiency in the industry. Highlights include:

Comparing Blade Systems

4/19/2010 8:15:00 AM

Still on the fence about which blade systems to purchase? Get an objective opinion. Using its Forrester Wave methodology, principal analyst James Staten will show you where the top vendors' solutions differ and a clear way to evaluate which solutions are right for your situation. Are you a candidate for Cisco's UCS system? Is Virtual Connect better than Dell's PAN Manager? Get the facts to make a more informed decision.

Speakers:

James Staten
Principal Analyst
Forrester Research

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Solutions Panel Discussion: Virtualized Networks - 2010 and Beyond

4/19/2010 9:00:00 AM

Virtualization cuts across all that you find in today's data center. So does the application of blade servers, as a key technology enabler. By compressing multiple workloads onto a single physical server, virtualized applications allow data centers to save tremendous amounts of money on hardware, power, cooling and floor space. End users are discovering that virtualization has the potential not only to improve the balance sheet, but also to strengthen competitive advantage. Come learn from industry leading experts on tools, techniques, and approaches. Walk away with best practices for transforming your IT infrastructures through virtualization.

Speakers:

Dan Kusnetzky
Vice President of Research Operations
451 Group

Rob Peglar
Vice President, Technology
Xiotech

Paul Prince
CTO, Enterprise Product Group
Dell Inc.

Botond Kiss
Worldwide Business Line Manager
IBM BladeCenter

Mike Lance
Vice President of Product Marketing
NextIO

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Group Learning Sessions & Case Study Presentations

4/19/2010 9:45:00 AM

Part of the unique immersive education process at the Blade Systems Insight program is the Group Learning presentations linked with peer networking and information exchange.

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Sailing Through the Maelstrom

4/19/2010 11:15:00 AM

The real problems for IT managers aren't about technology. Year after year, technology does its part, giving us fantastically rapid improvements in computing and communications. No, the real IT problems are all about people, economics, and how we get value out of IT. So how do the tech goodies we're talking about--blades, virtualization, cloud, and efficient datacenters--help? What else do you need to do? Most important, how can you get to smooth sailing, despite the maelstrom spinning around you?

As a bonus, those attending this keynote will also learn some advanced kung fu, the best modern firefighting techniques, and the secret to happiness. Yes, really.

Speakers:

Jonathan Eunice
Founder and Principal IT Advisor
Illuminata

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ROI of Blade Servers

4/19/2010 12:00:00 PM

IT executives are more frugal than ever, and unless a project can deliver reduce costs or other tangible benefits, the investment won't get considered, prioritized, or approved. Can blade systems deliver a quantifiable return on investment (ROI) and pass this crucial test? Tom Pisello, ex-Managing VP Gartner and ROI / Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) expert will examine the business case for blade solutions, presenting a methodology that can be used to quantify the potential payback from blade investments. Mr. Pisello will demonstrate how blade solutions deliver lower cap-ex and op-ex total cost of ownership compared to the racked, stacked and wired world of traditional servers. Methods to quantify tangible benefits such as energy and space efficiency, and manageability savings will be presented, as well as methods to consider the "softer" benefits of blades including business agility and flexibility. Attendees will leave with tools to calculate their own blade project's TCO / ROI savings.

Speakers:

Tom Pisello
CEO
Alinean

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Lunch, Birds of a Feather and One-on-One in the Meeting Zone

4/19/2010 12:30:00 PM

Clean, reliable utility power is the backbone to ensuring your enterprise runs smoothly, so that means concerns about power carry a lot of weight. What issues are just around the corner? What has the industry been doing to become more efficient? What problems have you had, and what could you have done to avert them?

Join Chris Loeffler and John Schwing from Eaton Corporation for an open discussion addressing today's pressing power problems, and find out what lies ahead for an industry hungry for power but limited in resources.

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Group Learning Sessions & Case Study Presentations

4/19/2010 2:30:00 PM

Part of the unique immersive education process at the Blade Systems Insight program is the Group Learning presentations linked with peer networking and information exchange.

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True Facts About Virtualization

4/19/2010 3:45:00 PM

Recent research has shown that nearly 90% of IT organizations have implemented or plan to implement server virtualization. But if you think this technology is going to shrink your data center, slash your costs and re-grow hair, think again. Virtualization is a large topic, much more than just implementing virtual servers or virtual clients. It can be complex and choosing the right form of virtualization for applications and complete workloads can mean the difference between success and failure. That said, the right kinds of virtualization can work wonders to improve IT efficiency and flexibility. Dan Kusnetzky, often quoted industry analyst and author, looks at the realities of this increasingly sophisticated environment and offers guidance to help IT executives make smart choices. Audience members will learn:

Solutions Panel - Skyrocketing Data Center Energy Use?

4/19/2010 4:30:00 PM

Data center energy efficiency reduction practice has typically started with computing components using as little electricity as possible. Fact is up to a third of the total energy consumed by a typical server is wasted before reaching there. A typical data center consumes over half of its energy for powering and cooling. Our exchange will focus on practical ways for streamlining the infrastructure and load equipment, with the goal of providing answers for eliminating waste.

Speakers:

Harkereet Singh
Global Head of Energy & Sustainable Technology
Thomson Reuters

Paul Prince
CTO, Enterprise Product Group
Dell Inc.

Chris Loeffler
Program Manager, Distributed Power Solutions
Eaton Corporation

Steven Carlini
Sr. Director, Data Center Global Solutions
APC by Schneider Electric

Jim Hall
President
Blade Systems Alliance

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Group Learning Sessions & Case Study Presentations

4/19/2010 5:05:00 PM

Part of the unique immersive education process at the Blade Systems Insight program is the Group Learning presentations linked with peer networking and information exchange.

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Keynote Presentation: TwinBlade: 94% Power Efficiency & 480 Cores in 7U

4/20/2010 8:30:00 AM

In the keynote entitled "TwinBlade: 94% Power Efficiency & 480 Cores in 7U", Raphael will address the challenges that today's IT managers face and present the best solutions for them. He will also share the lessons learned from developing the SuperBlade server systems and successful deployments at CERN for the well-known Large Hadron Collider (LHC), Georgia Institute of Technology and PRACE

Speakers:

Raphael Wong
Director
Supermicro

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Solutions Panel Discussion: Resilient, Secure, Dynamic - What's Next?

4/20/2010 9:00:00 AM

Resilient data center architectures will evolve, like dynamic switching, already commonplace in telecom. But wait, data networks are static, requiring intervention. The data center of the future must move beyond focus on systems architecture and virtualization. Resiliency will evolve into a model that creates focus on dynamic business priority matching. The key to success is information security, filling the gap between current practices and new. Yes, focus on energy efficiency, infrastructure optimization, and operations management are integral. Information security initiatives, second to virtualization, on 2010 IT priorities, will set this evolution in motion.

Speakers:

Kash Shaikh
Senior Manager, Data Center Switching
Cisco

Jim O'Connor
Chief Engineer Advanced Systems RAS & Quality
IBM

Mitchell Kemp
VP Application Modernization and Security
Unisys

Chad Attlesey
Chief Technology Officer / Co-Founder
Hardcore Computer

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Group Learning Sessions & Case Study Presentations

4/20/2010 9:45:00 AM

Part of the unique immersive education process at the Blade Systems Insight program is the Group Learning presentations linked with peer networking and information exchange.

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CIO Round Table Discussion

4/20/2010 11:15:00 AM

This session, moderated by Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP) Past President Deborah Lovell will explore some of the most pressing issues facing your peers - from budget woes to disaster planning, from staffing and training issues to keeping up with the best new and emerging technologies. Our experts on the panel work in a number of major technology-buying sectors and bring a variety of experiences to the table for this discussion of best practices and suggestions on how you can improve and manage to excellence.

Speakers:

Jeff Main
Managing Director, Information Technology
Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation

Jerry Lotto
Director of HPTC
Harvard University

John Parkinson
CTO
TransUnion LLC

Beth Pirrie
Association President
Association of Information Technology Professionals

Deborah Lovell
Founder/CEO
Marketing Resource Group

George Chernenko
Vice President, Data Centers
Nomura Securities International

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Awards

4/20/2010 1:00:00 PM

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What we Learned at Blade Systems Insight

4/20/2010 1:15:00 PM

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