Overview
Transforming your IT environment from an operational necessity into a competitive advantage requires careful planning and an appetite for innovation. Join us for the CDW Solution Forum on Hybrid Infrastructure to discover how you can make progress toward your IT modernization and business goals.
This two-day event prioritizes collaboration: You’ll build connections with fellow strategic leaders, engage with industry experts and participate in working sessions that cover everything from on-premises IT to the cloud.
Get ready to explore:
- Evolving infrastructure solutions that can help you unlock efficiencies, performance gains and improved resilience
- Attainable strategies for building and managing agile IT infrastructure
- Technology and process roadblocks and ways to overcome them
Tuesday, Feb. 21
12:00pm - 1:00pm |
Lunch |
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1:00pm - 1:25pm |
CDW Welcome to the Solution Forum on Hybrid Infrastructure |
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Rich Zimmerman, Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions, CDW |
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1:30pm - 1:55pm |
CDW Keynote |
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Aaron Leppin, Director of Infrastructure, IT, CDW |
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2:00pm - 2:25pm |
Thought Leadership Panel: Drive Efficiency and Reduce Operational Costs with Automation and Cloud-Native Architectures |
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Neil Graver, Executive Technology Strategist, CDW |
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Dan Kingslien, Sr. Director, Americas Volumes Partners, VMWare |
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Automation has become a critical tool for organizations seeking to improve efficiency and reduce costs. When you can create, deploy, and manage applications and services in a more efficient and flexible way, you free up your employees to focus on more strategic business initiatives. During this session, discover how automation and cloud-native computing can help organizations improve the speed and accuracy of their operations, increase productivity, and reduce the risk of errors and downtime. |
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2:30pm - 3:00pm |
Workshop Session: Addressing Today's Business Challenge |
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3:00pm - 3:15pm |
Stretch Break |
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3:20pm - 3:40pm |
Fireside Chat: Driving Innovation with Enterprise Software Across Hybrid Environments |
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Konstantin Cvetanov, Senior Solution Architecht, NVIDIA |
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In this age of digital transformation, CIOs are turning to AI and automation to deliver immediate value. Businesses are looking for ways to make it easier for employees to get their jobs done. This includes infusing artificial intelligence and automation to save time, increase employee satisfaction and help the team focus on the business. In this session, learn innovative ways enterprise software can help you tackle challenging workflows and improve business outcomes across a hybrid infrastructure. |
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3:45pm - 4:15pm |
CDW Thought Leadership Session: SASE & Next Gen WAN |
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David Richardson, Solution Architect, CDW |
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4:20pm - 4:45pm |
Thought Leadership Panel: Improve Operational Efficiency and Increase Agility with a True Hybrid Architecture |
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Vance Baran, Senior Director of Cloud Infrastructure and Software Group, Cisco |
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David Richardson, Solution Architect, CDW |
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In an era of economic uncertainties and the need to be more agile, IT organizations must balance the resources and investments needed to meet performance and business requirements. Improving operational efficiencies in IT is one of the key factors in driving digital transformation so you can drive your business forward and quickly pivot during moments of crisis. During this session, you’ll learn ways to empower your organization to build a scalable and flexible IT environment that supports business goals, manages growth, and strengthens performance. |
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4:45pm - 5:00pm |
Close |
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Rich Zimmerman, Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions, CDW |
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7:00pm - 9:00pm |
Evening Networking Event |
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NASCAR Hall of Fame |
Wednesday, Feb. 22
8:00am - 9:00am |
Breakfast |
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9:00am - 9:10am |
CDW Day 2 Welcome |
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Rich Zimmerman, Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions, CDW |
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9:15am - 9:45am |
CDW Keynote: Resiliency & Recovery in a Hybrid Cloud |
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Michael Stempf, Data Protection Strategist, CDW |
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9:50am - 10:15am |
Thought Leadership Panel: Prepare for a Cyberattack With a Robust Cyber Recovery and Resiliency Plan |
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Joe Vidal, Chief Technologist, Office of the NA CTO, HPE |
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Michael Stempf, Data Protection Strategist, CDW |
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Cybersecurity has evolved far beyond simple anti-virus and firewalls. A firewall and your antivirus software are only two of the many layers needed to protect your business today. Ransomware attacks have surged in recent years, becoming a near-daily occurrence that’s affected organizations of every size, in every sector. As cyberattacks grow in number and sophistication, protecting your data becomes more complex, so the more layers you put in place, the better. When an organization becomes the target of a cyberattack, it takes time to determine who was affected, what was taken, and where the data exists. During this session, learn how to implement strong cybersecurity protocols that will not only better protect you against the threat of a cyberattack – but make it easier to recover if your organization experiences one. |
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10:20am - 10:50am |
Working Session: Addressing Today's Business Challenges |
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10:50am - 11:05am |
Networking Break |
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11:10am - 11:30am |
Fireside Chat: Protecting Your Data in a Multicloud World |
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Bill Gurling, Prinicpal Architect, Rubrik |
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The adoption of hybrid cloud poses new challenges to organizations and is forcing IT leaders to update their data protection strategies. This means modernizing your data by keeping it secure – wherever it resides. Today’s businesses need to view and manage data holistically to enable mobility, security, compliance, governance, and backup and restore. Understanding who has access to your data, how you data is being used, and what your data contains is key to protecting your data and enabling a quick recovering from a cyber disaster. During this session you will learn emerging trends in data protection and management, including understanding if your data is safe from ransomware and learning innovative ways to monitor risk and quickly recover in the event of a cyberattack. |
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11:30am - 12:00pm |
Business Spotlight from IT Leadership Peers |
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12:00pm - 12:10pm |
Close |
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Rich Zimmerman, Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions, CDW |
Please check back here for live updates as we finalize your event experience.
Vance Baran
Senior Director of Global Sales, Cloud Infrastructure and Software Group, Cisco
Vance Baran is the senior director of global sales for Cisco’s cloud infrastructure and software group.
He is an enterprise technology executive known for transforming and growing complex solution portfolios by helping customers win critical market transitions. Baran has worked across an extensive partner ecosystem to bring forward solutions across areas such as virtual desktop infrastructure, Big Data, converged infrastructure, hyperconverged infrastructure and hybrid cloud. His leadership extends to people and culture development and he is an ardent supporter of diversity in technology. In his spare time, Baran enjoys running and home winemaking.
Konstantin Cvetanov
Senior Solution Architect, NVIDIA
Konstantin Cvetanov is a senior solution architect for NVIDIA, focused on advancing the adoption of artificial intelligence infrastructures in large enterprise, research and public sector organizations.
Before joining NVIDIA, Cvetanov worked in channel roles leading multidsciplinary professional services and engineering teams at various systems integrators across different industries. Throughout his career, he has published many blogs and manuals, including a highly rated technical deployment book on desktop virtualization that is featured on Amazon.
Neil Graver
Executive Technology Strategist, CDW
Neil Graver is an executive technology strategist for CDW, covering enterprise security, data privacy, data center and cloud-based services crossing private infrastructure and multiple public cloud service providers.
He is an accomplished technology leader with over 20 years of experience working in a variety of verticals. Graver has a background in healthcare, banking, alcohol and spirits, insurance, online gaming and many other industries. Before joining CDW, he was the CTO and vice president of technology at a global marketing execution firm.
Bill Gurling
Principal Architect, Rubrik
Bill Gurling is a principal architect for Rubrik, where he manages a highly skilled technical team that brings new data security software products and features to market.
He has nearly two decades of professional experience designing, building, implementing and managing cloud, mobility and security products. As a member of the Army National Guard, Gurling managed an IT infrastructure team for a unit supporting thousands of soldiers. He has a master’s degree in information system and IT management from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Dan Kingslien
Senior Director of Systems Engineering, Americas Channel, VMware
Dan Kingslien leads the Americas partner and commercial engineering organization for VMware.
He has extensive experience in strategic planning and execution. Through innovative problem-solving and collaboration, Kingslien has established a reputation for consistently exceeding performance expectations. He is based in Austin, Texas, and is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering.
Jill Klein
Head of Emering Technology and IoT, CDW
Jill Klein is the head of emerging technology and the Internet of Things for CDW.
With more than 25 years of experience in IT and business transformation, she focuses on developing and providing solutions to solve business outcomes for partners and clients. A tireless creative force and evangelist for innovative technology, Klein has been published in InfoWorld, has written several blogs and white papers, and is a frequent presenter in webcasts focused on helping clients successfully adopt emerging tech.
Joe Vidal
Chief Technologist, GreenLake and Office of the North America CTO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Joe Vidal is the chief technologist for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s GreenLake private cloud business unit and for the office of the North America CTO.
He has been designing software and data center solutions for more than 40 years. Vidal graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Engineering with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a minor in math. He completed his MBA in marketing at Elon University.
Richard Zimmermann
Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions, CDW
Richard Zimmermann is vice president of infrastructure solutions for CDW.
He leads a number of national teams that support CDW field sales in areas including mainframe, data protection, power and cooling, and specialized solutions. Zimmermann joined CDW as part of the company’s acquisition of Sirius Computer Solutions in 2021. He has more than 35 years of experience in the IT communications industry. Zimmermann holds a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Lafayette College, a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in finance from Drexel University.
