Bob Thomas, MainframeZone--Publisher of Enterprise Executive and z/Journal

You’re busy every day running as fast as you can to keep everything in IT running as best as possible to support the company’s customers and end-users. The result is that you may not have heard that there are preparations under way to launch what looks to me like one of the best IBM storage conferences for IT executives and professionals they have ever held—IBM Edge2012 in Orlando June 4-8, 2012.

I mentioned this conference a couple of weeks ago in a blog entry, and received numerous emails from interested readers. The feedback was very positive, and just about everyone mentioned how they are still looking for ways to save IT budget dollars in hardware and software while also getting more from what they already own. Therefore, it seems like a good idea to periodically continue writing about IBM Edge2012 to help ensure all of our hard-working IT readers become aware of this conference.

One of the things I like about IBM Edge2012 is the two day Executive Edge. If you’ve ever wanted to meet with some of the “top brass” at IBM, hear what they have to say, participate in breakout sessions with your peers, learn from client case studies, and generally take away new ideas to help your IT department accomplish its goals, this is the place to be. You can learn more by visiting the IBM Edge2012 Executive Edge section of the conference website.

Another thing I like is the vast number of technical tracks with over 250 accompanying sessions. While tracks and sessions can be adjusted a little up until and sometimes during a conference, here are the tracks as they currently stand:

• Backup/Recovery and Archiving
• Big Data and Analytics
• Business Continuity
• Enterprise Applications
• Mainframe Storage Solutions
• Product Updates
• Security and Compliance
• Smarter Storage
• Storage Efficiency
• Storage Management
• Storage Networking
• Virtualization and Cloud Storage

All I can say is, “Wow!” That is quite a list of tracks for storage. In one track or a combination of tracks, it looks like every angle of storage is covered. If you are an IT professional working in one or more of these areas, you owe it to your company and yourself to check-out the sessions for these technical tracks that would help you accomplish various storage objectives and overcome those seemingly endless challenges you face daily.

Good conferences are great, but not all conferences have that quality. This conference looks to be great. To hopefully help you attend, we’ve negotiated a special discount for our readers when you use the code A2Z when registering and save your company $400!