Session 1 - Industry view: IT as a Strategic Asset

Stephen Ibaraki will provide the introduction to the day, setting the context for the remainder of the discussion. He’ll talk about aligning IT to the business goals.

Session 2 - The Business Advantage of the Microsoft Platform

As you look at aligning IT with your organization’s strategic business goals, your platform choice becomes key.  In this session, you will hear about how Microsoft-based platforms provide enhanced security, reliability, and interoperability with legacy technologies. You’ll see what the Microsoft Open Source lab in Redmond is doing. You’ll get a view into the roadmap of our server products including Windows “Longhorn” Server and the role of virtualization.

Session 3 - Optimizing your Application Platform

What happens when your infrastructure can’t meet your organization’s business needs? Challenges arise with system availability, user satisfaction and productivity, information visibility, and application backlogs. In this session, we’ll focus on aligning the application platform at all levels to turn these challenges into business opportunities. You’ll see how your IT department can take advantage of a scalable and flexible BI foundation; how to establish greater connectivity and interoperability; how to help development teams to code more rapidly and responsively; and how to empower end-users with productivity-boosting applications.