Cocktails & Networking

Using up-to-date data from the 451 Research M&A KnowledgeBase, the session will break down some of the year's key M&A trends, discuss implications for the technology sector in general and dive more specifically into trends for the hosting and cloud segments.

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Multicloud/hybrid IT environments are the new reality of the digital era, and there is a massive vendor landgrab underway as enterprises determine the “right mix” of IT environments for their applications. This demand for more venues and the release of new, innovative cloud services is increasing IT complexity, driving enterprise use of cloud-native frameworks, tools and services. The objective is digital transformation, and the aim is to harness complexity so enterprises gain a competitive edge through their applications, without letting the vast range of options becoming entangled and impossible to manage – just as bees effectively manage complexity within a hive. But does the emergence and management of this complexity bring evolution or revolution to enterprise IT?

Services Provider partners play a pivotal role in customers digital transformation and developing a strong cloud MSP practice is critical to success in owning the customer engagement lifecycle over the longer term. But for many partners this means embarking or accelerating on their own transformative journey. In this session Harish Iyer, the global lead for Microsoft’s Partner Datacenter Transformation for One Commercial Partner group will share his thoughts and insights based on engaging with over 300 services providers, Telcos and outsourcers from around the globe.

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Often taken for granted, trust plays an important role in the relationships between enterprises and cloud and security service providers. And although most organizations plan to consume an increasing volume of cloud and security services, trust remains a critical aspect for these deployments to be successful. But trust is complicated - it is difficult to define, hard to gain, and easy to lose. For some enterprises, it is all about a lack of trust in cloud and security services, but for others, the problem is an abundance of misplaced trust in service providers or in their own cloud and security teams. In this session, we will explore the past and how it affects trust in today’s world, how cloud and security service providers are building trust with their customers, and how organizations are adapting to these disruptive business models.

Network interconnection has long lingered on the edges of consideration in application design and deployment, but enterprises and service providers continue to ignore it at their peril. If you expect to use a cloud or SaaS service and want to remain competitive, you’d better be sorting out interconnection capabilities. As with any network service, there are penalties for going too big or staying too small. Unlike traditional services, modern interconnection can break the tight links between distance, capacity and cost. We’ll look at what’s changing with different cloud access types, facilities options and expectations about transition and transformation in application needs. This session will dig into interconnection considerations and outcomes by exploring:

• • Does where you’re going determine how you’ll get back?
• • Five interconnection mistakes that you can’t afford to make.
• • Microservices and DevOps – do you really need to go there?

Software-defined networking with intelligent automation is already revolutionizing the delivery of private cloud and multi-cloud services with dramatic improvements in agility and operational efficiency. As clouds become increasingly distributed, edge computing drives deeper into the network and applications become ever more dynamic, the demands on datacenter networks continue to grow. This session examines the emerging requirements for datacenter networks and the innovations needed to meet them, from open networking and next-generation SDN with deep slicing to automation and machine learning.

In the age of digital transformation, there is mounting pressure for enterprises to adopt hybrid strategy and for service providers to deliver an integrated cloud experience. Deployment across both on and off premises is the new normal, which is easier said than done. It can be difficult to determine where and how workloads can best be deployed, to both maximize business outcomes, while keeping workloads secure and compliant. Join us for a conversation about the research surrounding secure hybrid cloud strategy and how to enable enterprises to get the most out of their IT investment while reducing the risk threshold.

There have never been more female entrepreneurs then there are today, and there have never been more female entrepreneurs in technology, representing opportunities for those developing and selling new tools and services. Yet hurdles around gender diversity and parity still exist. How can cloud and IT service providers and investment firms help to overcome these challenges, and encourage diversity across portfolios by promoting women in cloud. And what benefits can this diversity bring to the wider market?

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Attendee 1:1 meetings with 451 Research analysts.