This comprehensive seminar covers the increasingly related topics of IT security/compliance, network infrastructure, wireless/mobility, private/public/hybrid cloud, containers and DevOps. Scroll down to see the full agenda and click on links to see company information and speakers' biographies, who deliver concise, technical, educational and non-salesy talks. There is a Microsoft keynote from Yung Chou, a globally renown IT evangelist, subject matter experts presenting from Hewlett Packard, Brocade, ESET and Tanium, plus speakers from innovative startups Soasta, Mist, Glue and Network Box.

Content is pre-approved by Angelbeat and past attendees to maximize learning; click here to download presentation guidelines that are followed by all participants, which makes the program so worthwhile for IT Directors, Security Analysts, Enterprise Architects, Network & System Administrators, Data Center/Storage/Infrastructure Managers, CISO/CIO's, etc.


As one Walmart attendee states, "Of all the seminars I attend, your format is by far the best. Brief informative talks from vendors, followed by one-on-one time at their booth to find out more. I am out of the office for less than a day yet I have access to all the different solutions. This year I will follow up with two vendors." As another IT Director commented, "Thanks for hosting a very informative meeting with vendors that tied in well; it was an integrated picture of technologies that work together to create a complete infrastructure solution for the workplace."

Join your peers from American Airlines, 7-Eleven, Texas Instruments, TXU/Vistra Energy, Commercial Metals, Texas Health Partners, Pepsico, Dave and Busters, UT Southwestern Medical Center, HMS, CCS Medical, Citi, Capital One, Fidelity Investments, Nationstar, Experian, Daystar Television, Mohawk Industries, Greyhound Lines, BDF Law Group, PlainsCapital Bank, BBVA Compass, PDX, City of Dallas, Smith County, SMU, UT Arlington, Texas Wesleyan University and many more organizations who are confirmed attendees.

Every attendee receives meals including breakfast and lunch, free parking, complimentary Wi-Fi, plus 4 CPE credit hours towards your CISSP or other certification. There are drawings for gift cards and other prizes at the end.

Agenda

7:30 - 8:50: Registration Begins, Breakfast Served, Exhibit Area Open with Product Demonstrations, Time For Peer Networking/Interaction

8:50 - 9:10: The Importance of Web Application Firewalls for Today's Cloud-Based World, from Network Box
IT Security is in the news every single day, and everyone is fully aware of the need for better cyber protection. However many individuals are underestimating the scope, severity and frequency of attacks to web servers and web-based applications, while overestimating the ability of firewalls and IPS to protect these web servers and applications.

Without adequate safeguards, cybercriminals can unleash attacks that leverage the expanse and anonymity of the world wide web, to not just cripple a website but cripple it instantly. This can paralyze an entire corporate infrastructure in mere seconds, while giving hackers access to confidential and sensitive professional and personal data.

During this informative and technical discussion, Pierlugi Stella, CTO at Network Box, will discuss the functionality of its Web Application Firewall, and how/why it should be part of your defense-in-depth security platform.

9:10 - 9:30: Endpoint Security with Tanium
Tanium gives the world’s largest enterprises and government organizations the unique power to secure, control and manage millions of endpoints across the enterprise within seconds. Serving as the “central nervous system” for enterprises, Tanium empowers security and IT operations teams to ask questions about the state of every endpoint across the enterprise in plain English, retrieve data on their current and historical state and execute change as necessary, all within seconds.

Tom Gore, a trusted cybersecurity expert well-known in the Texas IT community, will discuss how his clients leverage the unprecedented speed, scale and simplicity of Tanium, to have complete and accurate information on every single endpoint. This enables them to effectively protect against modern day threats and realize new levels of cost efficiency in IT operations.

9:30 - 9:50: Multi-layered security architecture to protect data, applications and confidential information with ESET
It seems like every day the news is riddled with high profile data breaches. We all sit back and wonder, how could this have happened?

During this session Ben Reed, Senior Technical Content Strategist at ESET, will take a deep look into what the most common elements of a cyberattack. Discover, how easily hackers can penetrate most systems and what they do with your information after they get it. Finally, learn how using a layered security approach can help keep your data out of hands of cyber-criminals, and your business off the front page news.

9:50 - 10:10: Hyperconverged IT Infrastructure Strategies and Platforms with Hewlett Packard Enterprise
If you need to scale compute and storage resources quickly, or have remote sites without IT specialists on location, there is a solution for you. Hyper-converged solutions offer several advantages in their simplicity, cost reduction, scalability, resiliency and ease of management. They also support increased business agility via faster time to value. Hyper-converged systems are easier and faster to deploy than setting up separate components individually.

During this informative session featuring Doug Uyechi, Data Center/Cloud Architect at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, attendees will learn how the HPE Hyper Converged 380 ("HC380") platform acts as a VM vending machine. You can set up an HC380 in just 5 clicks and 15 minutes. Then VM’s can be deployed quickly and easily through a central console. The HC380 is comprised entirely of proven HPE components, from the server based on the popular DL380, to storage, storage virtualization, and OneView software.

10:10 - 10:30: Wi-Fi Network Architecture, End User Performance Requirements, Wireless/Mobile Security with Ruckus Wireless, now part of Brocade
By the end of 2013 there were more mobile devices than people on earth, and by 2020 it is predicted that 30 Billion devices will be connected to the internet. This is not surprising, given that every tablet, laptop and smartphone can only connect to the Internet via wireless, and the rapid adoption of Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) programs by organizations of all sizes.

This massive influx of devices has introduced a new era in the world of Wi-Fi. IT professionals are facing enormous challenges, balancing capacity, flexibility, financial and QoS requirements, while simultaneously evaluating new technologies like 802.11ac. Plus there is increased demand for machine-to-machine mobile communications, seamless management of wired & wireless network connections, and enhanced security to prevent Internet-of-Things (IoT) attacks (wifi-enabled thermostats and cameras were the source of the mid-October DDoS attack).

Fortunately experts from Brocade and Ruckus will help you understand these issues and offer practical solutions. They will demonstrate cloud-based management sytems that control remote access points, help you understand how different antennae designs can improve coverage, and why access points from different vendors, even if they operate under the same 802.11 standard, nonetheless have vastly different performance.

10:30 - 10:50: Smart Wireless for the Smart Device Era with Mist Systems
Wi-Fi isn’t new. But how we use wireless has evolved substantially in recent years thanks to new smart devices, new applications, new wireless technologies - and new user expectations. As Wi-Fi has become more prevalent, it has also become more business-critical.

This makes it essential to simplify Wi-Fi operations and ensure a consistent and reliable Wi-Fi experience across all users. At the same time, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has emerged as a nice complement to Wi-Fi, delivering high value indoor location-based services. With BLE, there is an untapped opportunity to better engage with employees and customers. The key questions then is "How do you build a modern wireless network designed to address the above?"

In this interactive session, David Gau of Mist will discuss this topic in more detail, covering how to:

- Design, implement, and operate a modern wireless network that takes advantage of both Wi-Fi and BLE
- Leverage machine learning and cloud technologies to minimize wireless OPEX through automation
- Use proactive insight and predictive recommendation to ensure a great experience for all Wi-Fi users
- Eliminate physical beacons and site surveys with enterprise-grade BLE
- Explore real use cases for indoor location services like wayfinding, proximity messaging, and asset tracking

Coffee/Snack Break, Exhibit Area Open, Peer Networking, Product Demonstrations

11:30 - 11:50: Cloud Analytics, DevOps, Using Big Data to Optimize Website Performance and OnLine Results, with Soasta
In today’s hypercompetitive online marketplace, providing high-performance end-user experiences is the only way to win. It’s a world where milliseconds can add up to millions of dollars – and one where performance is everything. But optimizing customer experience goes way beyond measuring speed and engagement.

During this informative and technical session, with highly-relevant content cutting across website infrastructure, Big Data, business analytics and DevOps, Buster Brown of SOASTA will discuss the value of a crystal-clear view that illustrates the relationship among IT performance, user behavior, and business results. You will learn about the contextual intelligence needed, to allow your website to perform at its best, in real time and at scale. SOASTA technology allows you to spend less time searching for performance intelligence – and more time putting it to work.

11:50 - 12:10: Multi-Vendor Network Infrastructure Complexity; How to Simplify with Glue Networks
Typical networks have become increasingly complex and require constant attention, especially when there is a multi-vendor architecture/configuration.

To greatly simplify network management, Glue Networks created Gluware, a software-based orchestration platform that reduces life cycle costs and boosts network agility. James Stephens from Glue Networks will demonstrate how network operations teams can simplify tasks like switch management, ACL, QoS, firewall rules and many other time consuming functions. Gluware makes the network work for operations - not the other way around.

12:10 - 12:40, continuing after lunch: Linux, Windows Server and Hyper-V Containers: What They Are, Which One to Use, Why and How, plus Integration with Azure Private/Public/Hybrid Cloud, with Microsoft
A container is an isolated and portable operating environment. It provides a mechanism for IT to deploy services in a portable, repeatable and predictable manner. Container technology is the next evolution in virtualization, and in addition to Linux, Windows now also offers two different types of containers for addressing various business needs.

In this session Yung Chou, world renown Technical Evangelist at Microsoft and a dynamic/engaging presenter, will examine the similarities and differences between a container and a virtual machine, review the requirements and walk through the processes and essential operations of enabling, creating, deploying and managing Linux and Windows containers and resources. Mr. Chou will also evaluate when to use which containers, why and how?

For those who are new to containers, his delivery serves as a jumpstart to accelerate your learning of containers. If you have already had some experience on Linux containers, his session familiarizes you with the specifics on Windows containers and helps bridge and extend your skills for bringing business value to both Linux and Windows communities.

Lunch is Served

After a break for lunch, Mr. Yung will conclude this session by highlighting the top five new features in Microsoft's Azure cloud platform for 2017, and how to integrate your organization's public/private/hybrid cloud and container strategies. Lots of valuable content for infrastructure, data center and DevOps professionals.

End of Event, Raffle Prize Drawings for gift cards and other great items!

FAQs

What are Angelbeat's privacy and optin/optout policies
Each attendee acknowledges/understands that financial support from Angelbeat sponsors allows him/her to attend this event at no cost, and that the sponsors will be given your contact information 2 days after the event for follow-up email and telephone communications. All sponsors are required to provide you with an opt-out option, allowing you to be removed from their database

However each attendee can opt-out of sponsor follow-up by informing Angelbeat staff at the event, or by emailing Angelbeat immediately after the event, but before Angelbeat releases the attendee list to the event sponsors.

If you have any questions regarding Angelbeat's privacy policies and how your contact information is used, please contact CEO Ron Gerber directly at 516-277-2057 or at rgerber@angelbeat.com.

Who is eligible to receive a free pass
There is no charge to attend for an end user IT professional who works in the telecom/network/storage/security/data center/desktop/purchasing departments of corporations (private and publicly-held, large and small), universities, school districts, government agencies, hospitals/healthcare providers, pharmaceuticals, insurers, manufacturers, retailers, financial services/banks, real estate, legal/accounting/services, transportation/logistic firms, etc. and use, support, approve and/or are involved in or influence the decision to buy the products and services offered by our sponsors.

All free attendees must be pre-approved in advance by Angelbeat. Angelbeat reserves the right to accept or reject a free pass request at its sole discretion. As a general policy Angelbeat does not offer free passes to individuals at companies that are looking to sell their products/services to the end user personnel described above, who attend our events at no charge. If you fall in this category and would still like to attend then the fee is $150/person. To sign up please click here, complete the pdf document that appears and fax it back to Angelbeat at 703-783-8015. If you are a non-sponsoring vendor/integrator/consultant and would like to attend but avoid paying this $150 fee, then you must be accompanied by one of your clients who has not previously registered, and is a CIO, CISO or IT Director that meets the end user criteria above. Full-time reporters from major newspapers, websites, television and radio stations can attend as our guest, but again must be approved in advance.

If you do not meet the above criteria and still try to register, then you will receive an automatic reply/confirmation from Eventbrite. However you will shortly receive another email from Angelbeat, rejecting and cancelling your registration.

What are my transport/parking options getting to the event
Detailed driving directions will be sent out to all attendees one week before the event. There is complimentary self parking.

What is the dress code
Suggested dress is business casual.

What if you have special dietary needs/restrictions
If you have special dietary needs/restrictions, then please email Angelbeat below. We will do our best to accommodate any and all requests.

What if I am a government employee and cannot accept free meals and/or win raffle prizes
If you are a government employee and cannot accept free meals, then you can pay Angelbeat $35/person, to cover the cost of breakfast. Please contact the event organizer at registration@angelbeat.com to arrange payment.

Each sponsoring company/exhibitor handles its own raffle prize drawing; Angelbeat itself has nothing to do with these prizes and attendees are not automatically entered for any raffle prize drawing. Since each attendee must individually signup to win a raffle prize, then government employees (who are not eligible to win these prizes) can simply not signup for the drawing.