I will be in Tampa (April 7th) and Orlando (April 8th) next month hosting a free three-hour Gartner/Burton Group virtualization seminar. If you are interested in attending, here is the session information and registration details.

Burton Group senior analyst Chris Wolf will break down today’s most pressing challenges affecting client and server virtualization. Regardless of whether you have a mature virtualization deployment or are just starting down the path toward virtualization, this seminar will have something for you. In three fast-paced hours, the following topics will be covered, with ample time afforded to Q&A and interactive discussion.

Desktop Virtualization: What the Vendors Aren’t Telling You

In the emerging client virtualization market, it can be difficult to assess vendor platforms due to a lack of defined and accepted standards. In this session, Chris Wolf shares Burton Group’s benchmark for evaluating server-hosted virtual desktop solutions, including criteria for evaluating deployment, management, performance, integration, and user experience. The session concludes with a close look at the factors that make or break the virtual desktop ROI, and key 2010 initiatives organizations should pursue to move from a device-centric to a user-centric application delivery model.

Attendees will leave this session with:

• Practical guidance and industry best practices for getting started with client virtualization
• Strategies for modularizing physical desktops to ease an eventual transition to virtual desktops
• Insight into architectural decisions that make or break the ROI case
• A detailed list of evaluation criteria to use in request for information (RFI) and request for proposal (RFP) documents
• Insight into factors that differentiate features that appear similar on vendor data sheets

Server Virtualization, Mobility, and Cloud: New Beginnings

In 2010, server virtualization has continued to cement its place as the default platform for x86 server applications; however, server virtualization has yet to reach the panacea as the modern day mainframe touted by vendors. In this session, senior analyst Chris Wolf explores the current capabilities of server virtualization platforms in support of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), while focusing on product and infrastructure shortcomings that have prevented virtual infrastructure and cloud-based IT service delivery from reaching its full potential.

Special focus will be devoted to the following topics:

• Best practices for security, performance, and resiliency
• The practicality of supporting multi-tenant environments on shared physical infrastructure
• Shortcomings in virtual infrastructure metadata and programmatic interfaces that are holding back innovation
• Practical steps for building self-service delivery
• Feasibility of public cloud IaaS offerings and their impact on long term IT infrastructure decisions

For questions or registration information for the Orlando seminar, please contact Matt Hanson at matthew.hanson@gartner.com.

For questions or registration information for the Tampa seminar, please contact John Walters at John.Walters@gartner.com.

I hope to see you there!