IT community to gather June 12-14 in Santa Clara, California for the only cloud conference focused on the enterprise

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., April 26, 2012 — IT experts from Amazon, NASA, Salesforce.com, and Kaiser Permanente are among the featured presenters at the third annual Cloud Leadership Forum, produced by International Data Corporation (IDC) and IDG Enterprise, the media company comprising CFOworld, CIO, CIO Executive Council, Computerworld, CSO, DEMO, InfoWorld, ITworld, and Network World.

The Cloud Leadership Forum – taking place June 12-14 at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, CA. – stands alone as the only cloud conference that focuses exclusively on the enterprise in a program built by IT executives, analysts, and editors to drive the success of cloud initiatives.

"The Cloud Leadership Forum 2012 is a unique gathering of top business leaders and technology influencers coming together to discuss cloud strategies they can't find elsewhere," said John Gallant, SVP and chief content officer at IDG Enterprise. "It is clear that the cloud has taken hold of a critical element for today's agile enterprise, and against this backdrop, this year's Cloud Leadership Forum will spotlight how the organizations are using this technology to change how IT resources are managed, to drive more efficient business processes and generate greater revenue opportunities for the entire enterprise."

The theme of the 2012 conference is "Strategies for the Dynamic Enterprise," featuring sessions and workshops that spotlight the power of cloud models that continue to reshape IT organizations. Sessions will address a range of cloud topics – including the management of complex multi-cloud environments, addressing people and process changes brought about by cloud, resolving security concerns, infrastructure and applications as well as the use of public, private or hybrid models. Attendees will learn about the latest developments, market shifts and innovations in cloud computing from top IDC analysts; and hear from corporate IT executives on how they are putting cloud to work to reduce costs, streamline operations, drive innovation and improve profitability.

"This year's Cloud Leadership Forum is packed with essential, practical cloud intelligence for senior decision-makers," said IDC Chief Analyst Frank Gens. "We're bringing together a powerhouse lineup of enterprise cloud market-shapers, including Amazon, Cisco, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce.com. We'll also hear from some of the most innovative enterprises using the cloud, including NASA, the New York Stock Exchange, Sears Holdings' MetaScale, and Kaiser Permanente. And we're front-ending the event with a unique workshop on how to measure the business value of cloud solutions - unveiling a powerful new online tool that's free for Cloud Leadership Forum attendees to use."

New Features at Cloud Leadership Forum 2012

New features at the year's Forum include:

• A three-hour workshop where attendees can use IDC's new online Cloud Decision Framework and work with analysts to evaluate the operational, organizational, and financial considerations of hosting decisions to quantify the true cost of cloud initiatives.

• In-depth look at the critical platform-as-a-service (PaaS) decision "lightning" presentations by cloud startups.

• Participation by top venture capitalists who will share insights into the latest cloud innovations that will help enterprises.

The Cloud Leadership Forum will again be hosted by John Gallant and Frank Gens. More than a dozen top IDC analysts will be on-site to facilitate roundtable discussions on challenging cloud-related issues and provide one-on-one advice to attendees.

Cloud Leadership Forum 2012 speakers include:

• Jerry J. Hunter, VP of Infrastructure, Amazon.com
• Suresh Kumar, CIO, Pershing
• Peter S. Magnusson, Engineering Director, Google
• Dave McNally, IT Executive Advisor, IDC
• Madhu Nutakki, VP, Systems Integration, Infrastructure Management Group, Kaiser Permanente
• Tim O'Brien, General Manager, Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft
• Michael R. Overly Esq., Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP
• Randy Perry, Vice President, Business Value Consulting, IDC
• Joseph Pucciarelli, Program Director, Technology Financing & Executive Strategies, IDC
• Jim Reavis, co-founder, Cloud Security Alliance
• Alex Rosen, Managing Director, IDG Ventures
• Steve Rubinow, CIO, NYSE Euronext
• Derek Slater, Editor in Chief, CSO magazine and CSOonline.com
• Lauren C. States, VP, Technology Strategy, Growth Initiatives, & CTO Cloud Computing, IBM Corporate Strategy
• Tom Soderstrom, IT CTO, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Manjula Talreja, VP, Global Cloud Business Development, Cisco
• David Tapper, Program VP, Outsourcing Services, IDC
• Rob Woolen, SVP, Salesforce Platform, Salesforce.com

This year's Forum is sponsored by some of the IT industry's most influential companies, including Cisco, IBM, LSI Corporation, Google, Comcast Business Class, F5 Networks, and Panzura.

For more information or to register for the Cloud Leadership Forum, visit: http://www.cloudleadershipforum.com

To register as media, please visit: http://cloudleadershipforum.com/press2012

Be sure to tag your posts with #cloudleadership and follow us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/cloudleadership

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 48 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting http://www.idc.com.

About IDG Enterprise

IDG Enterprise, an International Data Group (IDG) company, brings together the leading editorial brands (CFOworld, CIO, Computerworld, CSO, DEMO, InfoWorld, ITworld and Network World) to serve the information needs of our technology and security-focused audiences. As the premier high-tech B2B media company, we serve our reader and advertiser audiences by delivering award-winning content, community, conversation, and conversion solutions across our entire portfolio of award-winning websites, events, magazines, products and services. In addition, the CIO Executive Council is a peer advisory service that delivers on the business, technology, and leadership needs for the world's elite CIOs and their respective staffs. Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.

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