Storage Economics

Today’s economic pressures require a conscientious effort on the part of IT executives to look at all areas of the storage infrastructure for potential efficiency improvements and cost reductions. However, storage volumes are growing at phenomenal rates, yet IT organizations cannot always justify ballooning storage budgets.  Furthermore, there are many challenges associated in managing the rapid growth of data while keeping it secure, protected, compliant and resilient that is subject to a complex set of changing user priorities, SLA requirements and regulatory directives.  Add in the budget and staff restrictions that are now commonly seen and the scale of the challenge are even greater. Faced with these restrictions, many customers can no longer buy storage capacity "by the yard" in order to meet the company's growing demands.

When considering the total cost of storage ownership, the combined impact of this diverse and sometimes interrelated set of operational costs typically far outweighs the initial purchase price. In order to make a successful application for investment funding, an IT executives will increasingly be required to submit an objective and detailed analysis of the projected return on the investment, taking into consideration both initial capital outlay and a comprehensive view of the life-cycle operational costs.

In this roundtable discuss with your executive peers:

• How applying an financial analytic approach of combining Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI), you can assess the financial value of a storage investment
• How to obtain a deeper understanding of the operational expenses in your storage infrastructure and establish a roadmap for future cost reductions
• Best practices associated in identifying where hidden, storage-related OPEX costs reside, how much potential cost savings are buried within the storage infrastructure, and the successful methods and activities used by IT departments around the world to ”harvest” these savings

Guest Host Executive Roundtable Moderator

Brian Shield Chief Information Officer The Weather Channel Biography >

Please RSVP to atlevents@execalliance.com or call us at 404-982-8562

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Application Security's Role in FISMA Compliance

Over the last decade, federal agencies have aggressively adapted and migrated paper-based processes to Internet service models. As a result, virtually all federal information activity is controlled by software and universally accessible via web applications. Not surprisingly, attacks are now focused on exploiting vulnerabilities in these applications, with the National Vulnerability Database reporting over 7,000 new software vulnerabilities disclosed in 2007 alone. In order to achieve FISMA compliance, federal agencies must ensure that software applications have been tested for vulnerabilities that may compromise their systems. Organizations that have met the challenges of FISMA have learned that the mandate often requires greater business and cultural shifts than technical ones.

Still, for organizations tasked with complying with FISMA, there are many challenges. As some agencies have learned, putting NIST's 800-Series guidelines into effect requires more than simple security scans or adherence to a schedule of periodic audit and reporting cycles. Successfully meeting its requirements requires fundamental cross-organizational changes and often intra-agency procedures that often are challenging to affect.

At this executive roundtable the following will be discussed:

• How to employ proven security strategies such as Software Security Assurance that provide federal organizations with a blueprint for minimizing risks associated with exploitation of vulnerabilities in software assets.
• Methods of ensuring stakeholder buy-in from program inception to delivery
• How to identify the gaps that remain in the drivers for federal government implementation of effective application security programs and provide recommendations on how to close the gap.
• How to make application security initiatives a business imperative a your organization

Guest Host Executive Roundtable Moderator

Jerry L. Davis, CISSP, PMP Deputy Chief Information Officer for IT Security National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ISE North America Government Executive of the Year 2009 Winner Biography >

Please RSVP to washdcevents@execalliance.com or call us at 404-982-8562

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ITs' Top Concern Still a Top Concern – Who Now Has Access To My Data

Despite economic pressures and reduced budgets, data security and managing who is accessing multiple systems remain top priorities for IT executives as more and more valuable and sensitive information is shared with employees, partners, contractors and outside entities. As a result, IT organizations are being pushed more than ever to look for more innovative ways to control costs and secure data while at the same time, improving their users’ experience.

While all organizations are feeling the pressure from top down, nowhere is the scrutiny by top executives seen more than in the healthcare environment which houses some of the most sensitive data anywhere. As healthcare organizations continue to expand their online collaboration with the spectrum of healthcare workers, providers, payors, and outside entities, their challenge continues to be focused on managing the access of information to only authorized users in order to not only comply with their own risk mitigation policies, but also with government mandates such as HIPAA.

With over $17 billion in federal government investment planned for healthcare IT as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009, understanding who is accessing confidential information now leaps to the forefront as a critical success factor.

In this roundtable discuss with your peers:

• New challenges that IT executives are discovering in managing access by continuing to open up their systems to a collaborative environment
• Impact of the proliferation of endpoints and mobile devices on managing access
• Trends that will impact tomorrow’s environment of collaboration and who gains access to sensitive data
• Successes in improving the users’ experience in providing authorized access to multiple online environments and data sources
• Innovations in delivering a lower total cost of ownership in managing access to information
• Examples of how the healthcare industry is realigning to enable transparency in their supply chain to drive down costs
• Best practices planned for 2010 for strengthening security around system access and improving compliance

Guest Host Executive Roundtable Moderator

Rafael Rodriguez Associate CIO- Academic & Infrastructure Duke Health Biography>

Please RSVP to raleighevents@execalliance.com or call us at 404-982-8562

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