Posted 11:14 AM

Wednesday afternoon in the mountains

If you're going to be attending the Cloud Identity Summit next week I've got a tip for you. But first, if you're NOT going to CIS 2012, why not?? Everyone who's anyone in identity will be there (well, OK, mostly everyone) because while it's called the CLOUD Identity Summit, we all know that the cloud is simply another platform, so almost everything you learn will  be applicable to your datacenter as well s to any SaaS you might be using. Plus, it's in Vail - high up in the mountains of Colorado.

Now for that tip -

On Wednesday, right after lunch, head for the Cascade Room. There I'll be hosting what's called the "Analyst Perspectives Track" and I'll be joined by some of the best in the business:

Craig Burton (Kuppinger-Cole)
Mark Diodati (Gartner, formerly Burton Group)
Andras Csar (Forrester)
Sally Hudson (IDC)
Steve Coplan (451 Research)

And, to keep us all in line, Ping Identity's own (and my former Network World colleague) John Fontana.

Why is this a "must see"? Because most other presentations will be by either a vendor or a user. In either case, they'll be looking at one (or possibly) two products. But when the analysts get together, then you'll hear about everybody in the sector, what's hot and what's not and how to structure your system so you know you'll be secure.

Just looking at Mark's presentation title, "Strategies for Thriving in the World of Hybrid Cloud Computing, Device
Independence, and Social Networking" takes your breathe away in its sweeping nature. Then, after presentations from both Craig (Authentication's future) and Andras (Identity Intelligence), Sally, Steve and I will  dissect their theories and expound upon our own looking at "Challenges, hurdles and where we are headed".

It's just a great place to spend the afternoon. See you there! And I will be taking names :)