Open Data Center Alliance announces initial Forecast speaker lineup featuring Intel, NTT Data, T-Systems and UBS

Industry leaders Citrix, Dell and Emerson Network Power latest to sponsor cloud computing conference

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Jul 16, 2014, 10:00 ET

PORTLAND, Ore., July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA), the global organization where members work together to advance the deployment of enterprise cloud solutions and services that are interoperable, secure and free of vendor lock-in, today revealed a first look at the lineup of speakers and sessions for its Forecast 2014 conference. Now in its third year, Forecast will be held September 22-24 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Forecast aims to bring enterprise data center and cloud services executives to the stage to share best practices and engage directly with event attendees. ODCA board members Reyk Bederke of T-Systems, Hiroshi Honjo of NTT Data, and Correy Voo of UBS will share their insights in building enterprise-class cloud environments. In addition, Shannon Poulin, data center vice president at Intel Corporation, will provide a keynote on his company's vision for acceleration of enterprise cloud services.

For the first time, Forecast will feature a hackathon focused on cloud-aware application development. The event will bring together teams of developers competing to create an application based on ODCA's best practices for cloud application development specifically designed for a nonprofit organization. Sponsored by HP and Intel, teams of developers will be challenged to create an application on-site at Forecast that will help nonprofit organizations match volunteers with their organizational needs. Applications will be judged by an independent panel with an awards ceremony capping the Forecast conference. Representatives from the nonprofit community will be on hand to provide input on usability and participate in the judging process. For information about participating as a hackathon participant or nonprofit advisor, contact Bette Clem at [email protected].

The Forecast agenda also includes six proof of concept (PoC) sessions and seven ODCA U sessions from companies like Appnomic, Infosys, Moogsoft and National Australia Bank. PoC sessions are technical examinations of solutions delivered to align with ODCA usage model requirements. ODCA U is a series of courses designed to provide a deep dive on ODCA usage model requirements and learn directly from the IT leaders who crafted the organization's publications.

Some of the biggest names in cloud computing have signed on to sponsor Forecast 2014. The newest premium sponsors to join the lineup are Citrix, Dell and Emerson Network Power. Diversity Limited, Mission Critical Magazine, Cloud Strategy, and The WHIR have signed on as media sponsors, while the Asia Cloud Computing Association, Distributed Management Task Force, and Storage Networking Industry Association have joined as collaborative sponsors. Other premium sponsors are Appnomic, Capgemini, Intel, Hitachi, HP, SAP, Verne Global and VMware. For more information about sponsorship, contact Julia Torresan at [email protected].

Forecast was created by enterprise IT executives, for enterprise IT executives to help accelerate adoption of cloud computing and business analytics based on ODCA's usage model requirements.

Attendees will have access to a global brain trust of enterprise cloud experience and leave with the tools they need to accelerate cloud deployment in their own companies. See the complete Forecast 2014 agenda and register for the conference here.

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. The organization is led by a 14-member steering group, which includes representatives from BMW, Capgemini, China Unicom, Infosys, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Inc., National Australia Bank (NAB), NTT Data, SAP, T-Systems, UBS, Verizon Terremark and The Walt Disney Company. Intel serves as technical advisor to the alliance. ODCA hosts a Flash Webinar Series every other Tuesday at 8:00am US PT. These public events are one of the best ways to get to know ODCA usage models from the ODCA members who worked on creating the documents. View the calendar and register to attend the webinars on the ODCA Flash Webinar page. More information about ODCA publications and membership can be found at the organization's website: www.opendatacenteralliance.org, and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Twitter, and YouTube.