I’ve been absent from my typical blogging routine getting my material finalized for two Gartner upcoming US-based summits in June 2012.
The first is Gartner’s Infrastructure and Operations Management Summit being held in Orlando the week of June 4th. This conference is focused on infrastructure and operations solutions for managing desktops, servers, and mobile devices – virtual, physical and employee-owned. As IT operations and information security are fundamentally intertwined (the foundation of a secure system is a well-managed system), I was selected to participate in four sessions:
1) On Monday afternoon, I’ll be joining my colleague, Tom Bittman, to host a workshop on Cloud computing titled “Crafting a Cloud Computing Strategy” where information security will be a key element of the overall strategy.
2) On Tuesday morning, I’ll be hosting a roundtable to discuss issues related to virtualization and security, including the most recent research on securing VDI/HVD environments and the various options available.
3) On Tuesday afternoon, I’ll be copresenting a session on options for supporting remote and mobile users using various forms of virtualization and containerization with my colleague on the mobile side, Phil Redman. The session is titled “ VDI and Other Virtualization Strategies to Securely Support and Manage a Dynamic Workforce”
4) On Wednesday, I’ll be presenting a session titled “Securing Cloud Computing Environments, Private and Public” which spans how to address security concerns from the virtualized data centers to public cloud computing environments.
The second conference is the following week of June 11th. This is Gartner’s US-based Information Security Summit held annually in Washington DC. This will be the 18th year of this conference and it is a must-attend event if you are an information security professional. At this conference, I will be involved in several presentations and roundtables:
1) On Monday morning, I’ll be holding a roundtable discussion on Application Security Concerns. Roundtables provide an interactive forum for the participants to share their experiences in a session where I’ll moderate and provide the latest Gartner research including the latest dynamic application security testing solutions.
2) On Monday afternoon, I have the pleasure of interviewing Michael Dell in one of our mastermind keynote sessions. Dell is making a significant push into information security (most recently with its purchase of SonicWall) and Michael Dell will be there to share his vision and strategy for Dell moving forward in security, cloud and mobile.
3) On Monday afternoon following the Michael Dell interview, I am presenting a session titled “Big Data and Security: Integrating Security and Operations Data for Improved IT Intelligence” that explores the intersection of Big Data and Information Security.
4) On Wednesday afternoon, I’ll be copresenting a session titled “ Security 2020: Technology, Business and Threat Discontinuities that will Reshape Information Security” with my colleague Lawrence Pingree. This session will take a look into the future of information security infrastructure and how it must change over the next 7-10 years to securely support emerging business and technology infrastructures while at the same time, adapting to and protecting from next-generation advanced threats.
5) On Thursday morning, I’ll be presenting a session titled “How to Securely Deploy and Manage Whitelisting to Counter Advanced Threats” that will deliver a deep dive on the current state of the market for application control/whitelisting solutions for desktops and servers and discuss best practices for successful deployment.
That’s why my blogging activities had to be set aside for a few weeks – I was working hard to bring you the latest and greatest content in the above roundtables, presentations and discussions.
Also note that attendees of both conferences are able to schedule one one one appointments with any of the analysts at the conference. This gives you the opportunity to discuss your specific requirements and issues with the analyst directly. My recommendation would be to get your 1-1s scheduled as soon as possible on the first day of the event (or the day before if you are attending workshops) to make sure you get your preferred analyst and time slot.
I look forward to seeing you in person at one or both of these conferences next month!
