CLOUD CONFEX

Day 1 0830-0900 Registration 0900-0915 Welcome remarks from the Organiser 0915-0930 Welcome remarks from the Conference Chair 0930-1010 Keynote Address: Where Is The Cloud Today? The State of Cloud Computing in the Real World: Adoption, Approaches and Attitudes We re reaching an interesting stage in the evolution of the cloud: One where hype needs to become reality and the technology needs to deliver on its promise of adding strategic value to a business. But for all the online chatter and expert forecasts, do we have a realistic picture of where organisations are with the cloud today? This session will be an honest picture of the reality of cloud in the Middle East and globally. the dominant market players? and delivering new levels of possibilities success? If not, what is? services and how they must mature to enable the market to grow ow cloud computing has evolved so far

Tue-Wed,
16-17 October

1010-1110 Panel session: Calculating The Cloud What is the real cost of hosting your servers in the cloud? Cloud computing has been hailed for its ability to shift expense from capital to operational budgets. Yet operational decisions can be complex, there can be many unforeseen costs, and cloud solutions could cost more in the long run preventing companies from getting real business value out of cloud computing, and impacting on the overall cost-benefit analysis of cloud services. Panelists will share their experiences and provide insights to help you plan ahead and avoid gotchas that can blow holes in your budget. 1110-1140 Networking coffee break 1140-1220 Presentation: Mitigating risks with clear Service Level Agreements (SLAs) While the idea of a service level agreement is not new, it is not well understood in the context of cloud computing. While all cloud computing providers offer a contractual service level agreement, most are written to protect the vendor rather than the customer. End users need to begin demanding Service Level terms based on governance and their requirements. alignment: availability, transaction time, storage, and performance business, and making a small list of critical metrics to reflect in your SLA subscription and what will incur further cost wherever possible rs to add extra service features, how will these providers affect your scope?

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1220-1300 Presentation: Brokering the Cloud together multiple services Cloud Brokerage is an emerging trend in the broader cloud computing industry. In a cloud environment with countless different service offerings to be evaluated, integrated with, and managed, the specialized expertise of a Cloud Services Broker (CSB) will help IT managers fully capitalize on what the cloud has to offer. But like so many areas of cloud computing, there is confusion about both the terms and the very nature of this concept. Just what is the value add of a cloud broker? potential to commoditize the computing utility? the necessary scale and ecosystem to succeed? e cloud broker model represent the most promising cloud approach? How and why? difference between CSBs and traditional IT services offerings?

Is their backup and archive strategy in alignment with yours? Can it be verified? What questions should you ask and what Tue-Wed, answers should you demand?

16-17 October

1440-1520 Presentation: Fast Track to the Private Cloud Transitioning from a traditional or virtualized data center to a private cloud architecture Most large enterprises in the Middle East are already either inside, in the process of adopting, or looking to get into the private cloud. But building a full-blown private cloud is not for the meek, and the challenges are tremendous. Even organisations that have taken the necessary first step of extensively virtualizing and consolidating resources and systems, have work remains to achieve a full-blown private cloud. Just how do you get a private cloud off the ground? Hear a real world case study. and what is not? advantage of the cloud? share capacity between them? ying a comprehensive and realistic deployment scenario for your organisation

1300-1400 Lunch 1400-1440 Presentation: Choosing the Right Cloud Provider Things to ask your cloud provider before entering the cloud Despite all the hype you might hear, no single vendor today provides all of the software required to build and manage a real private cloud. Moving any system to the cloud is tough enough on its own; selecting the right solution provider is even more daunting. If choosing a cloud provider can feel like choosing a spouse, these guidelines can help you make the right choice. business partner infrastructure in the protection of your data- physically and procedurally requirements within your specific industry?

1520-1540 Coffee break 1540-1620 Presentation: From Connectivity to Integration Integrating across cloud boundaries seamlessly and automatically As organisations seek to take advantage of cloud computing, integration (often referred to as the ugly part of cloud) has emerged as a critical struggle. Companies are realizing that in order to gain the maximum value from these new cloud-based solutions, integration is crucial. In fighting this battle, new forms of complexity rapidly emerge and must be mastered for the promised benefits of cloud computing to be achieved. This session examines best practices and latest technologies in tackling integration challenges. Application integration, cloud integration and data integration: Are they one and the same?

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How do you integrate your systems in a consistent and manageable way without introducing operational complexity and new security risks? Leveraging cloud-based services to encapsulate legacy applications Integrating delivery services across environments to ensure operational consistency and realize the full benefits of automation Day 2 0845-0915 Registration

Tue-Wed,
16-17 October

0915-0930 Welcome remarks from the Conference Chair 0930-1030 Keynote panel: Big Data Changes Big Things CIO? Big Data is already beginning to steer commercial strategies and shifting markets, and its competitive value is becoming one of the most crucial discussions in the boardroom today. Despite the hype, CIOs are still wrapping their arms around the large amounts of is now moving from technical curiosity to real-life implementation for mainstream organisations, but are CIOs ready for this? What new expertise is needed? technology leaders are thinking in terms of their big data strategies, how they are enabling these strategies, and what opportunities this has presented their enterprises. 1030-1100 Coffee break 1100-1140 Presentation: BI Heads to the Cloud Improving business analytics performance using cloud-based environments The cloud holds a massive potential to change the way BI is delivered. As more enterprises move their BI needs in to the cloud, cloud data mining will be a must-have capability. But while shifting business intelligence and analytics off-premise can make financial sense, doing BI in the cloud carries some particular risks. Where will cloud-delivered analytics be a game-changer? How the cloud is revolutionising data analytics and data warehousing? Setting a firm information management principles in place before making the switch to cloud BI Integration challenges with existing systems and most importantly, customizations of the cloud BI solutions

1620-1720 Panel session: Cloud Ecosystem Shaping the future of cloud computing The benefits of the partner ecosystem model for cloud computing is just being realised and appreciated. Vendors realise that in order to reach their objectives, they need partners. Customers are attracted to a cloud ecosystem's promise of service continuity, while ecosystem builders and participating providers also mutually benefit from an expanded footprint, broader service portfolio and quicker time to market without heavy capital investment. What are the challenges that vendors face in propagating the growth in the Middle East? How will cloud computing soon change the way solution providers think about acquiring new customers? How is the ecosystem helping propagate the growth of Cloud Computing in the Middle East and internationally? How should the current partner ecosystem change? How will the cloud ecosystem benefit every stakeholder esp. the enterprise customers?

1720 Closing remarks

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What results can companies expect from implementing a cloud BI solution? Case studies of end users moving their data warehousing and data analytics infrastructure in to the Cloud

Tue-Wed,
16-17 October

1140-1220 Presentation: The Big Data-Cloud Convergence Solving big data challenges in the cloud Big data in the cloud is now one of the major talking points for enterprises looking to harness these new technology solutions. Cloud computing is going to be an integral tool for delivering big data, so goes the marketing message. But the reality is that this comes with a number of major integration challenges. This session will investigate the promises of storing and processing data in the cloud. What are the main differences between the big data service on silo system environments and the cloud-based big data service? How do you actually get terabytes of data into the cloud, manipulate it and bring it back to your own infrastructure securely and reliably? Volume, Velocity, Variety: What are the techniques, tools and technologies you can use to maintain equilibrium between these three factors? What technologies can help enterprises analyze big-data from a cloud environment while providing limitless scaling? and similar to existing data warehousing, analytics, and BI? 1220-1300 Presentation: The Hybrid Choice Optimising the mix of hybrid clouds: Will Hybrid Clouds Blend? The hybrid cloud combines the best features of the different platforms, but moving to a hybrid cloud environment -- even if you have already been using public clouds and/or private clouds -- introduces more complexity and less visibility. The reality of building a bridge that effectively leverages the strengths of both architectures is ending up to be a greater challenge than many anticipated. How do you make the hybrid cloud work? If you have a private cloud and want to move to a hybrid cloud environment, what are some alternatives to consider?

How can applications and workloads be effectively deployed in a hybrid situation? How do you maintain synchronization between these different environments? How do you handle the issue of applications and application infrastructure moving between the different cloud environments, since there are different virtual machines for different platforms? Security challenges of hybrid cloud infrastructures

1300-1400 Lunch 1400-1440 Presentation: All About The Data Securing the confidentiality, integrity, availability of your data in the cloud As demand for cloud services surges and cyber threats become more acute, the biggest concerns companies have with regards to the cloud is the security of their data. The greater the adoption of cloud software services in your organisation, the greater the data exposure you face. It is imperative that companies become aware of risks to corporate data distributed in the cloud. Is there anything you can do to manage or mitigate the risk? What happens to your data on the way to the servers- and what happens stored in the cloud? Where exactly is your data located in the cloud and how many others share that same storage? What happens to your data when it crosses borders? What laws are available that protects your data? ble for keeping your data protected? What happens if your data is lost? Is there a back-up? Data lock-in: Can you retrieve your data after terminating your contract?

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1440-1520 Presentation: Real World Case Study: Gulf Air How Gulf Air transitioned to the Cloud and achieved business performance and enhanced customer service Gulf Air was one of the first airlines to go to the cloud. It has successfully moved its 170 interlinked legacy applications onto a private cloud, but whilst it has reduced both existing IT and management costs and helped the company avoid some previously inevitable future costs, the biggest driver of the programme and able to meet the demands of the rapid growth of the disaster recovery in a remote site independent of the main cloud so critical business applications and data can be virtually accessed and made available to business with minimal intervention. Hear all about it here. 1520-1600 Presentation: Cloud Performance Cloud Management Strategies: Successfully managing your business-critical cloud Once you move your core IT systems into private or public cloud networks, your work isn't over. Managing your cloud infrastructure can be a lot of work. You need to integrate with an architecture defined by your cloud provide, and this means also modifying your internal processes and control systems. Whatever form cloud computing takes within your organization, here are best practices to ensure that your cloud

Tue-Wed,
16-17 October

1600-1700 Panel session: The Standards Battlefield Weighing the cloud computing standards dilemma The lack of industry standardization is a dilemma that seems to be growing. There is a standards "battlefield" emerging, with consumers on one side seeking neutrality, true portability and avoidance of lock-in, and providers on the other side seeking to grow their market share with their unique brand of cloud computing service, and differentiating their offerings among a growing marketplace consisting of hundreds of providers. Hear from key industry groups talk about their progress in establishing clear and open standards that can help maintain an environment that provides as much flexibility in the future as possible. This session will also look at the need for cloud interoperability, outline the key areas where standards are needed and work is being done, and set out the main challenges that the industry now faces. 1700 Closing remarks

What are the factors driving complexity in managing daily operations of the Cloud environment? What are the common pitfalls of many virtualization projects and cloud deployments? Operations Management: Setting policies around the management of cloud-based systems Investing in application performance management tools built for composite applications and virtualized environments Tracking performance as cloud deployment expands