Hundreds of Big Data and Cloud Computing Experts to Gather in San Francisco on June 17 and 18

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Hundreds of enterprise IT experts from around the world will come together in San Francisco on June 17 and 18 when the Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) will host Forecast 2013, ODCA's premier cloud computing and big data event. Forecast is where the ODCA Board of Directors, which includes IT leaders from BMW, Capgemini, China Unicom, Deutsche Bank, Disney Technology Solutions and Services, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Inc., National Australia Bank (NAB), NTT Data, T-Systems, Terremark and UBS will gather with ODCA members and industry to collaborate on moving enterprise ready cloud implementations based on ODCA usage models forward. Forecast is taking place at the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco's Union Square.

"Enterprises worldwide are leveraging ODCA usage models as the foundation for cloud implementations that are open, interoperable and secure," said Marvin Wheeler, executive director, Open Data Center Alliance. "Forecast is ODCA's once-a-year event where attendees learn about best practices for building and deploying enterprise ready cloud implementations, share cloud and big data success stories, and get the latest information on ODCA usage models. We look forward to welcoming the global cloud and big data communities to San Francisco on June 17 and 18."

Harper Reed, Obama Campaign CTO, is the Forecast 2013 luminary speaker. Reed is expected to discuss his extensive experience in developing and managing successful cloud and big data implementations, his views on the current state of the cloud and data management, and his passion for building paradigm-shifting technologies. Reed joins Mario Mueller, BMW's Vice President of IT Infrastructure and Chair of the Open Data Center Alliance, who is keynoting the event. Mueller will discuss how BMW is using ODCA usage models to implement its cloud strategy.

Forecast includes interactive sessions on top-of-mind cloud deployment issues such as compute infrastructure as a service (CIaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software defined networks (SDN), platform as a service (PaaS) and cloud security, as well as a wide range of unique and interactive panel discussions such as Hypervisor and Virtual Machine Interoperability in the Enterprise Cloud, Getting all that Value out of Big Data in the Cloud, and Building Cloud-Aware Applications. The complete agenda, speaker's list and registration information is available on the Forecast 2013 website.

ODCA will issue news at Forecast 2013. Industry analysts, journalists and bloggers interested in meeting with ODCA leadership in San Francisco are welcome to contact Russ DeVeau at [email protected] to receive a media pass to attend the two-day event.

About The Open Data Center Alliance
The Open Data Center Alliance^(SM) is an independent IT consortium comprised of global IT leaders who have come together to provide a unified customer vision for long-term data center requirements. In support of its mission, the Alliance has delivered the first customer requirements for cloud computing and big data documented in Open Data Center Usage Models which identify member prioritized requirements to resolve the most pressing challenges facing cloud adoption. ODCA is led by a twelve member steering committee.  Intel serves as technical advisor to the Alliance. More information about Alliance publications and membership can be found at the organization's website: www.opendatacenteralliance.org, and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Twitter, and YouTube.

Contact:
Russ DeVeau
Open Data Center Alliance
908-251-1549 – mobile/text
[email protected]

SOURCE Open Data Center Alliance