The 21st century business model requires a 21st century IT model. After decades of mainstream IT evolution to modern game changers like smart phones, cellular networks, GPS, massive storage, caching and eventing, we are finally in a position to achieve this modern model. But it requires ubiquitous connectivity at the edge, networks that can scale, integration fabrics that can be event enabled with customer location and product specific rules, and information that can be readily available. Organizations that manage to this framework will dramatically improve their business agility, reduce the risk of the journey, and increase their probability of success. But despite best intentions and capable leadership, this framework for some organizations is a strategic “blind spot” -- a subject that is obscure or unintelligible to otherwise sharp and intelligent people. Simply put, some organizations don’t recognize the critical nature -- at this particular point in history -- of truly modern IT to business survival. Those that do will live another day to compete, and those that don’t — well, they just don’t see the consequences coming. Join us for this keynote address from one of the field’s most seasoned practitioners and CIOs as he details the steps any IT executive, manager and professional can take to eliminate the blind spot.

Three major trends are driving enterprise infrastructure to accommodate consumerized technologies. First, with so many devices in the market, users are becoming more demanding and want something different than the traditional enterprise choices. Second, company executives perceive bring-your-own-device programs to yield cost reductions. And third, cloud computing creates the desire for organizations to build IT with flexible computing power. All of this conspires to challenge the IT infrastructure organization’s traditional methodologies, policies and practices. In this session, understand how the CIO of a global organization with demanding technology users is not only balancing these trends, but strategically transforming and adapting its IT infrastructure for consumerized apps and endpoints.

A substantial amount of infrastructure and storage deployed today was built for the needs of 20 years ago -- a predictable world long before explosive data growth, virtualization, and cloud computing changed the landscape. Today’s unpredictable workloads require a different architecture to keep up with end-user expectations, while converged data centers demand new levels of efficiency and agility that can only be achieved by eliminating legacy storage silos. In this session, learn how you can optimize current infrastructure while building out new virtual, cloud, and big data application stacks by using converged storage -- a modern approach that includes scale-out design, storage federation, deduplication and other innovations designed from the ground up to power the next era of IT.

ICF International advises government entities and businesses on issues related to health, human services, and social programs, as well as defense and homeland security, energy and climate change, and the environment. With more than 50 offices in Beijing, London, Moscow, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, and the US, ICF needed to modernize its technology stack to address its diverse businesses and customers around the globe. Join us as their CIO describes their profitable, IT turnaround journey leveraged by cloud strategies and virtualization.

Those of us managing IT infrastructure need to drive cost and efficiency AND enable the business to scale and grow. We need to deliver solutions and value AND build a ‘practical’ path to the next generation information center. And, if that weren’t enough, whatever we propose and deploy needs to be “cloud ready,” handle the expected surge of “big data,” AND prepare our organizations for the future. But do we -- and our respective organizations -- fully understand how big these challenges are? Let’s not kid ourselves. The requirements are daunting, but they can be met through careful planning. Join us for this session as we explore the challenges — along with practical advice on how to think them through.

As a top-ten bank and the fifth largest credit card issuer in the United States -- Capital One has adopted a corporate strategy of “always on” -- a mission to be available anytime, anywhere for any customer constituencies. Going well beyond just online access, this strategy requires a uniquely-aligned technology mission and data center strategy that not only supports continued growth, but adapts to mergers and acquisitions along the way. In this session, learn from Capital One’s senior executive at the heart of these strategic technology decisions -- and how Capital One is making technology investments for the future.

Operating in more than 90 countries with 150,000 enterprise users, it’s no wonder Shell Oil Company maintains a very large, globally complex infrastructure to manage geological data for its diverse oil and gas businesses -- not to mention technology support of its business processes. With that much data at stake, Shell has to proactively capitalize on new technology developments that can add business value through its global cloud, storage, hosting and data center footprint. Learn more about how they continuously manage for the future in this session.

IT infrastructure enables, and is often integrated, with just about every business process in the enterprise, but for those who manage these complex technology synapses, the job of innovating is often much larger than any one leader, group or program. Innovation is also a challenge when infrastructure is pressed with the day-to-day uptime and project delivery requirements. To move innovation forward, the organization needs to embrace it and make it part of the culture. How can innovation become part of IT infrastructure, and how can it apply – on an ongoing basis -- to solving challenges? Learn how one of the world’s most well-known companies practices IT innovation for success.

It’s long been known that IT teams deliver better service and solutions if they know the business, but what techniques do organizations use to embed IT teams in the business? To give them not only a better understanding of how the business works, but how critical IT finances are to the overall operation? Learn top tips and strategies from a CIO who manages a diverse set of IT business lines.

The IT skills enterprises need at this very moment are changing beneath our feet. We’re moving to a world of IT professionals who are jack-of-all-trades that can have a relationship with the business – and moving away from vertical specializations. Moreover, IT infrastructure professionals now need to work with compute, network and storage as a portfolio instead of in traditional silos. All of this means that fewer people are available that are nimble enough to handle the new skill sets and their unique combinations. At the same time, more teams are managed virtually, requiring new skills and working relationships. What does this mean for the IT staff of the future? Join us as our panel of experts discuss what this means for the manager of teams, and those on them.

Located on an 18,000-acre plot larger than Manhattan, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is proud to be an airport ... and a business ... and a city. Successfully providing technology services for all three means starting with the customer — whether it’s the traveler, the airport’s numerous tenants, or the countless internal business customers demanding a huge diversity of technology solutions. That approach to technology planning — and its always-on, customer-focused mandate -- requires not only a modern IT infrastructure for enablement, but a world-class one at that. All of which explains why PC World named DFW the number one airport in the United States for tech-savvy travelers. Join us for this inspiring session to learn how DFW accomplished this great feat for one of the world’s largest — if not busiest -- airports.