Symposium/ITxpo: Emerging Trends http://blog.gartner.com/blog/symEtrend.php?x=0 Symposium/ITxpo: Emerging Trends en-us Nucleus CMS v3.41 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://blog.gartner.com/blog/symEtrend.php?x=0blog/nucleus/nucleus2.gif Symposium/ITxpo: Emerging Trends http://blog.gartner.com/blog/symEtrend.php?x=0 <![CDATA[Take a Look - Trip Reports Are Here!]]> Author: Jacqueline Sherman, Sr. Manager, Symposium/ITxpo Programs

Thank you to all who attended Emerging Trends Symposium/ITxpo last month in Las Vegas. We hope your time with us was even more productive with your participation in the Symposium Communities onsite.

We are pleased to share the following Trip Reports with key conference take-aways and highlights from the event pertaining to each Community:

]]> General Thu, 08 May 2008 15:33:19 -0500 <![CDATA[On to Barcelona!]]> General Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:59:00 -0500 <![CDATA[Digital Natives Panel]]> Digital natives "are people who've grown up with technology. Creating whole new lives and languages for themselves. They are here to stay and they're not going back," noted Gartner Analyst (and digital immigrant) Jennifer Beck, introducing today's closing keynote session. "You and I as digital immigrants dominate the IT industry. That is changing forever."

Beck interviewed three digital natives - UPenn student Andrew Metcalf, 21, Angela Ngo, 22, a student at UC Berkeley and Derek Ashlong, a 32-year-old social media entrepreneur and musician - each of whom had a unique take on technology's role on their lives.

The funny thing about the term "digital native," noted Beck, is that they don't identify with that term. Rather, they are so accustomed to technology that is not even thought about. "We found these utilities to achieve the things we needed to do on our own," Ngo said, talking about her experiences in founding the Berkeley Project. "Nobody told us how to do this."

Do they have any favorite company? "Apple knows how to tap into the end users," said Ngo.

"It's about picking and choosing what's useful to me," said Metcalf.

"I use a lot of Apple technology," said Ashlong.



]]> General Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:22:12 -0500 <![CDATA[Teardown LIVE! Apple iPhone]]> Gartner analysts John Barber and Jon Erensen lead a light-hearted but informative tour through the innards of an Apple iPhone. Their verdict: iPhone is a rugged mix of widely used and innovative components, stirred with Apple's engineering and software prowess to create a device that will not be imitated anytime soon.

During the presentation, Barber tore down the iPhone while Erensen explained the engineering and features. Their first finding: it's tough. Barber was hard pressed to remove the screws holding together the case, tearing it open to get at the components inside.

Inside, phone, networking, and iPod components nestle around the large battery. Erensen noted that Apple made a number of tradeoffs - no user-replaceable battery or flash memory, a basic 2 megapixel camera - to keep cost and performance of the device reasonable. The components themselves are for the most part not the latest and greatest, but pieces chosen for their integration of functions and wide availability.

Where the iPhone does get innovative is its use of proximity and ambient light sensors, an accelerometer and the capacitive touch screen to deliver some of its already iconic user interface features.

Barber and Erensen estimate that the components cost Apple $180, for a device that retails for $399. No wonder why Apple has in short order become the design leader in the mobile phone space.

(ed. note: above photo taken with iPhone)


]]> General Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:13:43 -0500 <![CDATA[Ask the Attendees, Part 2]]>


What technology or concept are you more interested
in learning more about at Symposium?





]]> General Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:59:00 -0500 <![CDATA[Innovator Interview: MGM Mirage]]> MGM Mirage is the name behind some the biggest brands in the gaming industry. It also a major force in Las Vegas: 17 properties on the Strip, and an $8 billion development project CityCenter scheduled for completion in 2009.

MGM Mirage executives Aldo Manzi and CIO Tom Peck shared some of the challenges and opportunities in setting a technology course for this resort giant during this morning's Innovator Interview with Gartner Analysts Betsy Burton and David Cearley.

Cearley asked Manzi how MGM Mirage manages innovation across such a large portfolio. "What makes our company tremendously effective in this space is the portfolio of brands within different market segments. It gives an opportunity to experiment," Manzi said.

Peck talked about innovation from a technology perspective. "It's everybody's job to innovate," he noted. "We like to deliver centralized tools that the P&Ls of the resorts can choose to use."

This approach is partly driven by the heavily regulated nature of the gaming industry. Regulation "slows innovation and time to market. The good thing is that guests know the systems are clean and pure, and have been certified," Peck said.

Clearly, MGM Mirage is looking to raise the technological bar with the CityCenter project. "We have moved upscale with more choices. The expectations of our guests have also increased tremendously," Manzi said. "It's the whole destination resort experience."

Peck added, "the CityCenter model is we want to own that bandwidth to the room. Getting the bandwidth and connectivity to the room right is absolutely critical." Getting it right, he explained, may translate into such innovations as room and player data being tranferred on to a guest's mobile phone. The phone would then become the device that opens the room door, tracks gaming play and provides other functions. "Technology has to help us know our guests better," Peck said.

]]> General Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:48:32 -0500 <![CDATA[Over-Capacity Session Replay]]>
Top-10 Disruptive Technologies for 2008 to 2012
Speaker: Carl Claunch & David Cearley
Tuesday 4:30pm

View presentation


]]> General Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:47:52 -0500 <![CDATA[Foglight Product Launch Party]]> Emerging Trends Symposium/ITxpo also offers an opportunity for technology providers to showcase their emerging technology offerings. Last night, Quest Software took the opportunity to relaunch its Foglight application management offering, with a cocktail reception at Eye Candy in the casino.

Symposium/ITxpo Emerging Trends "is a great forum for our launch, which is why we chose it," said Darin Bartik, senior director of product marketing at Quest. Symposium/ITxpo offers a great opportunity for awareness among Quest's large enterprise core client base, he added.

Foglight, Bartik said, offers a new way to do things. "It's a new view on application management," he said. "The reason we rebuilt it was because of the changes in IT," he said. "As stuff changes faster and faster, the more your applications at risk." For more information, check out quest.com/foglight or the user community at foglight.org




]]> General Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:12:00 -0500 <![CDATA[Ask the Attendees]]>





]]> General Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:00:00 -0500 <![CDATA[Does Green IT Matter: Who Won?]]>
Overall, about 71% of the attendees believe human activity is driving dangerous climate change. On the question "Does Green IT Matter?" 58% believed it did before the presentation, 20% believed it did not matter, and 22% were undecided. After the debate, the numbers were 50% believing, 39% not believing, and 11% undecided.

Interestingly, when asked if they would spend their organization's budget on the green IT issue, before the debate 54% said they would, 31% said they would not, and 15% were undecided. After, the numbers were 55%, 34% and 11%.

Interesting results indeed, on an emerging, evolving issue. Here's the Gartner position:
Green IT is the optimal use of information and communication technology (ICT) for managing the environmental sustainability of enterprise operations and the supply chain, as well as that of
products, services and resources, throughout their life cycles.

Green IT matters today because:
- Most can save money
- Most can avoid cost
- It reduces operational risks

Green IT will matter even more tomorrow because:
- It reduces strategic risk related to climate change
- It will present strategic opportunities related to climate change]]> General Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:51:15 -0500