I’m not sure what the answer to that question is, but that’s why I’ll be at Cloud Connect to find out.  I plan to attend the panel discussion from the keynote stage covering the hot topic of open source, which will be moderated by the highly acclaimed venture capitalist, Ann Winblad, Co-founder and Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.  Ann most recently was quoted in Wall Street Journal’s All Things D around IBM’s announcement that all of its cloud services and software will be based on an open cloud architecture. Good news for IBM customers, bad news for VMware’s vCloud or Citrix’s CloudStack, and representative that OpenStack is a key component to the software-defined data center.  As such, it only makes sense to bring an expert to the stage, from a firm that has had a long-term investment interest in open source software and open standards, to further discuss.  Ann will be joined by panelists from Citrix, CloudOps and Red Hat on Thursday, April 4 during the event.  Join me and we can find out together if clouds are indeed, the gateway drug.

But we can’t stop there because besides the excitement of welcoming Ann Winblad to the main stage, Cloud Connect also just announced their expanded keynote line-up, which includes the likes of Margaret Dawson of HP Cloud Services, Jim Davies of Mitel, Kit Colbert of VMWare and more. An impressive line-up of industry visionaries helping shape the cloud computing industry today.  And with a finger on the pulse of all key cloud computing trends – like big data, open source and PaaS – Cloud Connect has a new addition to the program: DEPLOYCON 2013, produced by Rishidot Research LLC, will be a one-day workshop on Tuesday covering all things PaaS.  DEPLOYCON is intended to bring together CIOs, enterprise managers, IT and developers to discuss how organizations can better leverage Platform Services to enable IT transformation to agile IT.

It’s a chocked-full line-up and will most likely make for a jam-packed schedule.  Cloud Connect is just over two weeks out, happening the first week of April, and with so much happening in the industry, you don’t want to miss it.  Time to start building your schedule now!

Joylyn Tanner
Senior Communications Manager
UBM Tech

Tags: Citrix cloud cloud adoption cloud computing cloud connect CloudOps OpenStack Wall Street Journal

What do names like VMware, Oracle, Cisco, and IBM all have in common? They are participating in Cloud Connect Silicon Valley 2013. The Conference and Expo program is filling up with leading industry players making Cloud Connect Silicon Valley the must attend cloud event for 2013!

Industry heavy hitters SoftLayer, Red Hat, VMware, Oracle, Rackspace and Citrix will be taking center stage at this year’s Conference and Expo. With all the news recently surrounding these key players the Expo will be nothing short of exciting. Issues including hybrid cloud management, security, and open cloud will be pushed front and center.

The Cloud Connect Conference also boasts some notable sessions including speakers from Netflix, Amazon Web Services, and Citrix to name a few. Here’s our list of the top 5 must attend sessions:

1. Netflix and Amazon Web Services Case Study: Strategy and Economics of the Cloud

• Jinesh Varia, Technology Evangelist, Amazon Web Services
• Adrian Cockcroft, Director, Architecture, Netflix

2. Delivering Enterprise Applications and User Access in the Cloud

• Lori MacVittie, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, F5 Networks

3. Managing Data in the Mobile Cloud

• Jesse Lipson, VP of Data Sharing, Citix

4. Juicing the Cloud: Getting the Most Out of Your Application

• Wayne Walls, Developer Advocate, Rackspace

5. Softening the Network: Virtualization, the Final Frontier

• Steve Riley, Technical Leader, Riverbed Technology

That is just a snapshot of the topics and speakers that will be covered. Preview the full Conference lineup here. Early Bird registration ends in two weeks, register now and save yourself $500 on Conference Passes.

We look forward to seeing you in April!

Tags: amazon web services Citrix cloud cloud computing cloud connect F5 mobile Netflix private clouds Rackspace