As another edition of Symposium/ITxpo draws to a close, we'd like to thank everyone who helped make this an interesting and valuable event. We look forward to seeing you in Barcelona, Orlando or Sydney!

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12PM - Level 2 Attendee Meal Area

Please join us for this special lunch, where you can interact with your peers as well as Gartner analysts. The lunch will be set up in round-table discussions, organized by topic area and hosted by the following analysts:

Networking Subject Area
Participating Analyst(s)

Infrastructure & Operations
Jay Pultz Eric Paulak

Enterprise Architecture
Anne Lapkin Bill Rosser

Security and Risk Management
Vic Wheatman Christian Byrnes

Business Intelligence
Betsy Burton

Sourcing and Vendor Relationships
Chris Ambrose Allie Young

Applications Management
Kathy Harris

Business Management of IT
Mike Gerrard Colleen Young

Future of the IT Professional
Diane Morello

High Performance Workplace
Tom Austin

Financial Services
Mary Knox

Media
Jim Brancheau Andrew Frank Allen Weiner

Retail
Gale Daikoku

Healthcare
Wes Rishel

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This week you have heard a lot about Gartner’s new emphasis on helping to make specific IT roles successful. And we have launched a new set of products, called Gartner for IT Leaders, to meet that goal.

We believe that this presentation by Jay Pultz, vice president and distinguished analyst – and role service director for the IT I&O program - provides a great indication of the kind of advice we will be offering to IT roles. And this session is NOT a sales pitch! Jay’s session provides actionable advice in IT I&O processes, technology and management approaches. It also sums up some key points you’ve been hearing this week with regard to infrastructure and operations, so it's a particularly good session to attend as Spring Symposium winds down.

The session is in room 3014 at 11 AM PDT.

P.S. Right after the session, Jay will be at a table in the lunch area to talk to I&O leaders. Look for him!

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1. Conference registration will be open from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
2. Analyst One-on-One registration will be open from 7 a.m. - 5 p.m., with appointments from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
3. Breakfast will be available from 7 a.m. – 8 a.m.
4. Symposium sessions are scheduled for 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
5. A Networking Lunch with the Analysts will take place on Level Two at 12:00 p.m.
6. The replay theater will be open in room 3004 from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
7. Conference material ship back will be available on Level One from 7 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
8. The conference adjorns at 5:30 p.m.
9. Symposium/ITxpo moves to Barcelona from May 21 – 24.
10. Thanks for joining us at Symposium/ITxpo.

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Perhaps you haven't had a chance to see all the San Franscisco has to offer. Maybe your staying in town for an extra day. Either way check some of more creative ways to experiance The City By The Bay.

By GPS guided car
GoCar is the first-ever GPS-guided storytelling car.

By Limo
Hey you only live once, so live it up!

By Seaplane
Cover some ground in the air.

By Helicopter
Leave right from the wharf.

By Duck boat
By land or by sea.

What did we miss? Send some suggestions.

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If you missed a session, catch up at the Replay Theater in Room 3004, where the following presenations will be available tomorrow.

8:00 a.m.:Semantic Technologies: Improving Agility, Interoperability and Search
9:30 a.m.: Emerging Trends: 2010 to 2015
11:00 a.m.: Growing IT’s Contribution: The 2006 CIO Agenda
1:30 p.m.: Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2006
3:00 p.m.: The Scenario for IT Management and Organizations: The Years of Transition
4:30 p.m.: Open-Source Scenario 2006: Open-Source Meets the Mainstream

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You might want to check out the San Francisco Chronicle's list of the top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area.

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Some interesting feedback on this morning's Mastermind interview with Jonathan Schwartz can be found here and here.

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This is your last chance to visit the ITxpo show floor, which closes today at 4 p.m. Stop by if you have a chance -- dessert is being served.

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Posted by: Jay Pultz, VP Distinguished Analyst

Well, since I am now responsible for Gartner’s research for IT Infrastructure and Operations Leaders, I certainly hope so! But more importantly, I know so, for the sake of you, our clients -- and I&O leaders. But in talking to clients, given Steve Prentice’s presentation on the Future of Infrastructure, some wonder! So what’s the answer?

Well, to paraphrase the good Dr. McCoy of Star Trek, “It’s infrastructure, Jim, but not in a form that we know.”

When I first saw a draft of Steve’s pitch, even a jaded Gartner analyst like me was blown away. This is what we analysts refer to as “hair hurting” research: It makes you think so much that your brain expands to the point that your hair hurts!

We in I&O are used to major changes – take the move of compute power to individuals, for example. But this time, the future is being driven by four pervasive pairs of trends: commoditization and consumerization; tera-architectures and virtualization; new delivery models and development styles; and community and collaboration. This is a situation where societal and technological trends converge to create a “perfect storm."

Yes, Virginia, there is a future for I&O. But it is one in which services are a key if not dominant part of the infrastructure (I&O leaders will manage them) – with tighter links to business processes and applications, and IT professionals handling those knotty problems that can’t be automated. It won’t happen overnight; we have the time to adapt. But the starting point is: Recognize these changes will occur and start the long-range planning effort. Legacy is the boat anchor stymieing change. Another key message at Spring Symposium: decommission 10% of your legacy software annually.

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While Symantec CEO John W. Thompson did not face the persistent line of questioning that greeted Jonathan Schwartz, he did have to explain how the spate of acquisitions that have made his company the fourth largest software firm will also make it more relevant to clients.


Gartner analysts Neil MacDonald and Debra Curtis conducted an interesting poll at the beginning of the interview. First, they asked who used Symantec products. Most of the hands in the room were raised. Next, they asked who used Veritas products. Again, a majority of the hands were raised, a bit fewer than the first go around. Finally, they asked who saw the synergies between the two companies since the merger. One hand was raised. "And she doesn't work for me," Thompson quipped.

Nevertheless, Thompson was unapologetic about the pace of integration. "We've always said that integration would be a 12 to 24 month process. We're pretty far down the path of integrated products," he said.

Thompson is also confident that Symantec story will play well within today's enterprise. "Who's the buyer for information integrity? Ultimately, it's the CIO," he said.

Thompson added that Symantec will also soon be able to play an increasing role in configuration management, based on its acquisition of Relicore. "As far as active configuration management is concerned, watch this space," he said.

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New Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz faces a lot of questions about the future of the company of which he took the reins three weeks ago. During this morning's first Mastermind Keynote interview, Schwartz proved himself up to the task.


Schwartz faced persistent questioning from Gartner analysts Paul McGuckin and Daryl Plummer regarding Sun's future direction and quest for profitability. In response, Schwartz painted a picture that was both provocative yet somewhat cloudly. In short, Schwartz says Sun plans to continue to make the major R&D investments that have defined the company, while betting that its focus on innovation will continue to make it a relevant player in the enterprise.

"Revenue is a lagging indicator" of that effort, said Schwartz. He divided enterprises into two camps: organizations that view IT as a competitive weapon and companies that view IT as the competitive weapon. The former, he said, should be using commodity service platforms, while the latter should be using Sun. Demand within those organizations, in turn, should provide growth for they types of solutions Sun provides. "I don't have much to offer companies who don't view IT as the competitive weapon," he said.

Still, both Gartner analysts remained skeptical about the ability of that approach to translate into revenue growth and profitability. Schwartz remained unfazed, if a bit sarcastic, commenting that "I really sense the affection you have for Sun" and "Do I get to play the new guy card?"

BTW, Schwartz also shares a lot of his thinking in his blog.

Schwartz remained optimistic in the face of the grilling he received. "We've had three weeks of the new team, and I am thrilled to death," he said.

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12PM - Level 2 Attendee Meal Area

Please join us for this special lunch, where you can interact with your peers as well as Gartner analysts. The lunch will be set up in round-table discussions, organized by topic area and hosted by the following analysts:

Networking Subject Area
Participating Analyst(s)

Infrastructure & Operations
Jay Pultz Eric Paulak

Enterprise Architecture
Anne Lapkin Bill Rosser

Security and Risk Management
Vic Wheatman Christian Byrnes

Business Intelligence
Betsy Burton

Sourcing and Vendor Relationships
Chris Ambrose Allie Young

Applications Management
Kathy Harris

Business Management of IT
Mike Gerrard Colleen Young

Future of the IT Professional
Diane Morello

High Performance Workplace
Tom Austin

Financial Services
Mary Knox

Media
Jim Brancheau Andrew Frank Allen Weiner

Retail
Gale Daikoku

Healthcare
Wes Rishel

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1. Conference registration will be open from 7 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
2. Analyst One-on-One registration will be open from 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., with appointments from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
3. Breakfast will be available from 7 a.m. – 8 a.m.
4. Face-to-Face sponsor registration hours will be open from 11:45 a.m. - 3 p.m., with appointments available during the same hours.
5. ITxpo will be open from 11:45 a.m. – 4 p.m. Dessert will be available from 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
6. Symposium sessions are scheduled for 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m.
7. The Mastermind Keynote interviews will feature Jonathan Schwartz, president & CEO, Sun Microsystems, at 8:30 a.m., followed by John W. Thompson, chairman & CEO of Symantec at 9:30 a.m.
8. An ITxpo refreshment break will run from 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.
9. Solution provider sessions will be held at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.
10. Conference material ship back will be available on Level One from 12:p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

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…Boogie Oogie Oogie till you just can't boogie no more (thank you, Taste of Honey) at the Celebration of the 70s party this evening beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Yerba Buena Room at the Marriott. It's sure to be a groovy happening, with plenty of period music (by The Cheeseballs!! The Bay Area's top cover band!!!)and special treats to set the mood. Hustle on down to the Registration Desk to score companion tickets for $100. You must be 21 years of age or older to attend, or the doorman won't let you past the velvet rope.

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For feedback on the search capabilities on gartner.com. We want to understand the importance of search on gartner.com, and you can help us by taking a brief (five minutes, promise) survey. Upon completion, we'll enter you in a drawing to win this very sweet Slim Devices Squeezebox media player. We'll notify the winner shortly after the conference concludes. Thanks for participating!

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Posted by: Betsy Burton, Vice President
This morning I had a breakfast with about 20 end-user clients. During the session, I asked them to identify their top three issues supporting business intelligence. Now, this is not a big fancy use-case survey with tons of respondents and question, but it was great to get this feedback.

Of the attendees at the breakfast, there was a tie for the top issue. An equal number of people identified “lack of management support and focus” as the number 1 issue, as undefined “data integration and quality” as the number 1 issue. Interesting! The audience was equally split between business-drive and data driven as the top issue. Another big issue was that of “recruiting, training and retraining skilled resources.” The last issue that was identified was integration between business intelligence and business processes.

I think this casual survey reinforces that organizations are approaching support of business intelligence from very different angles and approaches. We released a note on this topic this week that some of you might find interesting.

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Posted by: Jay Pultz, VP Distinguished Analyst
Here are some key points for I&O leaders that I saw from Gartner's IT Scenario, presented by Dale Kutnick and Ken McGee.

Ken and Dale indicated there are eight key issues that keep CIOs awake at night. All relate to I&O: In essence, the CIO's issues are your issues. Five apply to I&O as well as the rest of IT: delivering projects that help the business grow; aligning IT to the business; fully articulating the business value of IT; developing IT professionals; and applying IT governance. Three pertain specifically to I&O: improving delivery of IT services to the business; making the infrastructure more flexible; and consolidating infrastructure. Below are some brief points on these three issues:

Delivering IT services: It's all about process improvement - and automating those processes.
Making the infrastructure more flexible: The key near-term element is server virtualization - paving the way for what we at Gartner call the "real-time infrastructure."
Consolidating infrastructure: This is a never-ending task. Think not that consolidation is a one-off event, but that you are going to continually rationalize infrastructure. (On this, servers are a perennial issue: Remember the recent IBM ad about the number of servers increasing as fast as bunnies? I also think of the old sci-fi movie "Them!" If you did in one monster ant, two appeared. In "server land," consolidate two servers and four appear somewhere else - unless you have a careful plan.)

An unabashed plug here: In an 11 a.m. PDT presentation at Spring Symposium this Thursday, I delve into these challenges and others that I&O leaders face.

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Brandishing a jacketful of flashy new mobile products, Motorola Chairman and CEO Ed Zander offered an interesting look at the company's phones and enterpise strategies.

Zander's sales background shone through as he deftly used four phones to make his points about Motorola's position in the evolving mobile market. Zander showed off the upcoming Q phone to discuss the company's plans for the enterprise. "We're an enterprise – 65,000 people, global mobile. We think we know what to do in this business," said Zander.


Gartner analysts Ken Dulaney and Nick Jones kept Zander on his toes as Zander explained how Motorola needs to balance the thirst for emerging technologies with its established market positions. Discussing the company's work on metropolitan wi-fi networks, Zander said "it's exciting to try some of these things. You have to be careful and not oversell it."

Continuing on the topic of mobile networks and wi-fi, Zander added, "We think it's going to intersect. We're trying to build dual mode networks."

Toying with his personal gold RAZR, Zander said, "I go into our offices and say, 'why isn't this my phone?'" That day, he said, is probably not too far off. "Today, we follow the Internet. In five years, I predict the Internet will follow you," he said.

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Lunch today goes Italian style:
Penne Pasta Marinara
Marinated Chicken with Bowtie Pasta
Half Moon Bay Salad
Garlic Bread Sticks

And don't forget dessert on the ITxpo show floor!

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