Donatelli keynote stands out at Forum
May 20, 2010
HP and the Connect user group are pushing for registrations at the HP Technology Forum & Expo, which starts June 21 in Las Vegas. The meeting's keynote schedules surfaced yesterday, a lineup that includes the new leader of HP's enterprise server business Dave Donatelli.
Recently arrived from HP storage rival EMC, Donatelli now leads the HP Enterprise Servers and Networking unit at Hewlett-Packard. This group includes the HP 3000 replacements suggested by HP, the Integrity and ProLiant models that host Unix and Windows, respectively. Donatelli is a computer industry exec with more than a quarter-century of experience with enterprise vendors.
The Tech Forum organizers have put his speech up for the first keynote of the conference's full day. If an HP executive's keynote speech is a motivator to spark your registration, you can look at a certain preview at HP's video Website. Two HP staffers, Louis Gombos and Becca Taylor, have been posting Twitter messages that outline the Top 10 Reasons to Attend the Tech Forum.
The HP video of Donatelli was taken from its Technology@Work customer event in Frankfurt, Germany during April. The event featured the introduction of the latest generation of Integrity servers. In years past, this kind of system announcement would have been featured at a user group event. But in some aspects the HP Technology Forum operates as a customer event, meaning that its messaging is aimed directly at the existing HP customer base, rather than the IT community in general.
Open events like Donatelli's keynote, as well as the networking that attendees establish during the Expo, represent the old style of user group conference. The many HP non-disclosure briefings and certification opportunities, as well as the majority share of speakers from HP, show the event's customer preference.
There was a time when an executive's keynote would generate news or clarify opinions at an HP user event. There's always a quote or three to carry away from 40 minutes of oratory. Training sessions are often of more benefit, from a tactical basis. Attendees can bring back HP's mission statements from the keynotes, plus some education from the Forum's HP partner keynoters. But the skills to implement the work behind those missions -- that happens in session rooms with a lot less multimedia splash than keynotes.
The keynoter schedule, as provided by the Expo's publicity arm, for planning purposes:
Monday, June 21
Tom Hogan - Executive Vice President, Enterprise Sales, Marketing and Strategy, HP
Jeffrey Katzenberg - Chief Executive Officer and Director, DreamWorks Animation
Diane Bryant - Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Intel
Tuesday, June 22
David Donatelli - Executive Vice President and General Manager, HP Enterprise Servers and Networking Business Unit
Diane Bryant - Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Intel
Jeff Benck - Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, Emulex
Microsoft - TBD
Wednesday, June 23
Prith Banerjee - Senior Vice President, Research, HP Director, HP Labs
Ann Livermore - Executive Vice President, HP Enterprise Business
Sanjay J. Poonen - Executive Vice President & General Manager of Worldwide Business User & LoB Sales SAP AG
Tod Nielsen - Chief Operating Officer, VMware
Monday is a different kind of Forum day than Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's keynoters don't include a executive VP of sales and marketing, but they do feature the enterprise server business leader and then the HP Labs director and Ann Livermore, who heads up all things enterprise at HP.
Registration (currently $1,495-$1,795 including discounts) for the 2010 event is at the Tech Forum's Website.