If you’re attending Synergy this year and wanted to stop by one of my sessions, I thought I would post them here. I’m participating in four sessions at this year’s conference:

Geek Speak Tonight!

Date / Time: Tuesday May 11, 4:30 pm – 6:45 pm

Room:Moscone West Convention Center – Moscone 2000-2002

Speakers: Shawn Bass, Simon Crosby, Rick Dehlinger, Martin Duursma, Chris Fleck, Stephen Greenberg, Michael Harries, Alexander Ervik Johnsen, Harry Labana, Brian Madden, Brad Pedersen, Rene Vester, Chris Wolf

Session Description:

A series of open, lively discussions led by respected industry thought leaders will kick off Synergy, giving you a chance to start the conference with a breath of fresh, unfiltered air.
Topics include:

CTPs and CTOs on the future of desktops
4:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
The desktop is primed for unprecedented change in the near future. Join a high-powered discussion and debate among CTPs and CTOs on exactly how that future will unfold.

Cloud computing: what makes it successful and what’s on the roadmap?
5:15 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Cloud computing is the term du jour in our industry. Where is the real activity happening? How will the cloud unfold over the next few years? How will the cloud affect you? Where are the opportunities for Citrix customers and partners? Join us for a discussion on cloud computing’s hot areas and risks, and what’s coming next.

XenDesktop 4: a new look at the VDI landscape
6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.

Last year, Shawn Bass stirred the pot again by stating there were still some deficiencies in the various VDI solutions on the market. Twelve months have passed and Citrix has introduced XenDesktop 4. What does the VDI landscape look like today?

The Debate is Raging – Concurrent vs. User Based Licensing Models

Session Number:SYN512E

Track: Geek Speak Live!

Date / Time: Wednesday May 12, 1:00 pm – 1:45 pm

Room: Solutions Expo Hall – Lounge

Speakers: Stephen Greenberg, Joe Shonk, Chris Wolf

Session Description:

With the advent of application virtualization and cloud computing solutions, licensing has become a key factor in project cost modeling and technical implementations. A clear understanding of the available options, and how and where to apply them, are critical. This panel of industry experts will present and debate the various licensing models and use cases, and contrast their views with current industry practices. Topics will include the available types of license models and their relative merits, common challenges posed by licensing in planning and implementing products and the experts’ views on industry standards and their feedback to the major vendors.

Server-hosted Virtual Desktops: What the Vendors aren’t Telling You

Session Number: SYN313

Track: Desktop Virtualization

Date / Time: Wednesday May 12, 4:30 pm – 5:20 pm

Room: Moscone West Convention Center – Moscone 2003-2005

Session Type: Breakout

Speakers: Simon Bramfitt, Chris Wolf

Session Description:

Many organizations are planning or implementing server-hosted virtual desktop solutions. 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, Burton Group analysts Chris Wolf and Simon Bramfitt share the 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 breakdown and scorecards of popular solutions, including the current Citrix and VMware products.

Heterogeneous Virtual Infrastructures – Practical Solutions for Managing Multi-hypervisor Environments

Session Number: SYN207

Track: Datacenter and Cloud

Date / Time: May 13, 2:00 pm – 2:50 pm

Room: Moscone West Convention Center – Moscone 2014

Session Type: Breakout

Speaker: Chris Wolf

Session Description:

While standardizing on a single virtual infrastructure sounds ideal, many enterprises face the reality of managing multiple virtual infrastructures both inside and outside their datacenters. Multiple virtual infrastructures may reside across business units (i.e., server and desktop), departments, or sites. In addition, client hypervisors (e.g., VMware Player, Microsoft Virtual PC, and Sun VirtualBox) further compound hypervisor and VM image management.

In this session, you will learn:

• Strategies, architectures, and tools for managing heterogeneous virtual environments
• Common interoperability pitfalls and workarounds
• About security, data protection and recovery