The 31st annual Gartner Data Center Conference, hosted this week at The Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, rolled out an eight-track agenda of sessions and lots of analysis from Gartner researchers. The large crowd of about 3,000 was on hand for presentations, workshops, presentations and use case studies from peers and vendors as well as one-on-one meetings with Gartner staff.
Our photo feature depicts the activity during the first day of the conference and the opening evening of the exhibit hall.
Ray Paquet, Managing VP, Gartner, spoke about rethinking infrastructure and operations to reduce costs. He drew from hyper-scale computing companies, such as Google and Facebook, and noted that by 2017, major public cloud architecture will be the common architecture in enterprises. The key features of cloud computing include horizontal scaling, lower capital outlay, higher tolerance for hardware failure and "share nothing" infrastructure. Cost savings result from using "skinless servers," locating data centers near affordable power sources, free cooling, and using visualization only as needed. (Photo by Colleen Miller.)
Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who made news in 2009 when he landed a bird-strike-damaged U.S. Airways plane on the Hudson River, gave a keynote talk on leadership and training. Working now as a safety consultant, he takes lessons learned from aviation safety and applies them to other industries, such as health care and patient safety. His new book, "Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America's Leaders," includes interviews with leaders from all walks of life, both the famous and not-so-famous. He emphasized the need for continual training, learning from experience and the importance of 'human skills' when working with a team. (Photo by Colleen Miller.)
A group in the hallway waits for their one-on-one meetings with Gartner analysts who study a wide array of topics in the IT and data center sector. (Photo by Colleen Miller.)
The conference also provides opportunities to dive into Gartner research. (Photo by Colleen Miller.)
On to the opening of the Exhibit Hall, with Day 1: More Gartner Data Center Conference Highlights.