FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Citrix Systems, Inc., today unveiled session content and the speaker lineup for Citrix Synergy™ San Francisco. Taking place May 12 to 14 at the Moscone West Convention Center, Synergy is the industry’s only conference focused on the growing convergence between virtualization, networking and cloud computing. It will provide an open forum for discussion about the practical realities of these technologies and feature content, speakers and thought leaders from around the industry. Citrix also announced that IDG Enterprise is the event’s media sponsor. IDG will take a lead role in shaping the IT Business and Strategy track as well as the new Citrix Synergy Best of Show award program.

IT Business and Strategy Track Produced by CIO Magazine

The IT Business and Strategy track, produced by CIO Magazine, will examine how businesses can drive more agility through their organizations with desktop virtualization. It will highlight how leading organizations are implementing desktop virtualization, discuss what tangible results they are realizing and share lessons learned around desktop virtualization. The track will also explore private and public clouds, and will offer attendees advice, success stories and lessons learned when implementing cloud computing technologies.

Speakers for this track include John Gallant, chief content officer, IDG Enterprise; Ken Male, executive vice chairman and founder, TheInfoPro; Phil Grove, global director, End User Services, CSC and Steve Matthews, executive director, Morgan Stanley.

All-New Citrix Synergy Best of Show Award Program

The all-new Citrix Synergy Best of Show award program, sponsored by Computerworld, will recognize outstanding new products and services submitted by Synergy sponsors. This award program fosters competition, provides special recognition and showcases industry leading technologies and solutions.

Award categories include best of show, desktop virtualization, network virtualization, cloud computing and server virtualization. A panel of judges, including IDG representatives, IT practitioners, technology vendors and industry analysts, will review and evaluate submissions to determine award winners. Deadline for submissions is March 30 and winners will be announced at the event on May 13. Please visit www.citrixsynergy.com on March 1 for more information and entry criteria.

Session Content and Speakers

Synergy will offer an array of technical and business sessions, as well as Hands-on Learning Labs. More than 60 breakout sessions will be led by experts from a wide range of analyst firms, technology vendors and independent industry organizations. Sessions will focus on desktop virtualization, datacenter and cloud technologies, and IT business and strategy.

“Citrix made a promise to the industry that Synergy 2010 would be open, transparent and inclusive,” said Kim Woodward, vice president of corporate marketing, Citrix Systems, and reiterated in her blog. “More than 40 percent of the event’s session content will be delivered from industry speakers, selected by a panel of analysts and practitioners from across the industry. The open award and sponsorship programs are further demonstration of our commitment to create the most open virtualization event in the industry.”

The following analysts and industry experts are among the distinguished speaker roster for Synergy 2010:

• IT Forecasting – Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC, guides IDC’s research into broad IT industry trends, particularly the strategic adoption of technology by Global 2000 businesses and the industries in which they compete. Gens will discuss the future of enterprise IT during the day-two keynote, and address cloud computing, pervasive mobility, social computing, the embedded “Internet of things” and the ubiquitous analytics.
• Real World Desktop Virtualization – Stephen Greenberg, founder and president at Thin Client Computing, is a pioneer in advanced deployments of Citrix technologies. His session, “Desktop virtualization for the real world,” will examine desktop virtualization benefits and the complete lifecycle of real world desktop virtualization projects.
• Datacenter-Cloud – Chris Wolf, senior analyst at Burton Group, is part of the firm’s Data Center Strategies practice. During his presentation, “Heterogeneous virtual infrastructures – practical solutions for managing multi-hypervisor environments,” he will discuss strategies, architectures and tools for managing virtual environments.
• Leveraging Desktop Virtualization: Business and Technology – Steve Matthews, executive director at Morgan Stanley, is the global head of Windows Engineering, including desktop virtualization. His session, “Delivering flexibility and agility through desktop virtualization,” will examine business benefits of desktop virtualization.

Greatly Expanded Hands-on Learning Labs

Citrix has expanded its Hands-on Learning Labs program for Synergy San Francisco. Three types of courses, led by Citrix experts, are now available for Citrix administrator and architect attendees. The Hands-on Learning Labs program now includes three, 100-person classrooms, making hands-on experiences a core part of the event. This year’s labs include 24 Introduction, 12 Deep Dive and eight Workshop labs.

Registration is Live

Registration for Synergy San Francisco and Berlin is available at www.citrixsynergy.com. Early bird registration for Synergy San Francisco has been extended to Feb. 28 and provides new attendees a $400 savings off the normal conference fee.

About Citrix Synergy 2010

Born as a user conference more than 10 years ago, Citrix Synergy™ will present the best ideas from leaders in virtualization, cloud computing and networking to help you build a simpler and more cost-effective IT environment. Citrix Synergy San Francisco will take place May 12 to 14, 2010, at Moscone West Convention Center. Citrix Synergy Berlin will be held at the Estrel Hotel and Convention Center, Oct. 6 to 7, 2010. More information is available on the Citrix Synergy web site at https://www.citrixsynergy.com.