Pictured: Dr Mary Lou Jepsen
Today, NetEvents returned to doing what it does best – delivering world class face-to-face technology-focussed debate in the form of the 2023 Global Media Summit. The first day of the event, held in the heart of Silicon Valley at the Dolce Hayes Mansion in San Jose, brought together media and analysts from more than 25 countries. Day One afforded an unbeatable opportunity to listen to experts in a variety of fields and hear discussion of the tech topics that really count in a post-pandemic landscape. The day featured sessions on trending areas that ranged from business continuity and digital transformation to IoT and the network edge.
Pictured: Tom Bianculli, CTO at Zebra Technology talking to Roy Chua, Founder & Principal at Avid Think
The event got off to an inspirational start courtesy of the first keynote speaker: Tom Bianculli, CTO at Zebra Technology. Exploring what digital transformation really means to the enterprise, his speech brought to life some of the cutting edge uses cases for optimal orchestration between AI and the human workforce. These developments will be revolutionising sectors like manufacturing, retail and pharma. From the recent Superbowl to the factory shop floor, Bianculli mapped out new digital use cases that will tackle everything from food waste to the streamlining of healthcare services. Roy Chua, Founder & Principal at Avid Think, joined Bianculli to answer media questions and consider the challenges and opportunities of digital implementation in more depth.
The first debate session of the day centred around the future of secure cloud connectivity. It was ably chaired by Jason Bloomberg, President & Principal Analyst at Intellyx, who helped outline what the cloud-centric security of tomorrow will look like. Bloomberg was joined by Renuka Nadkarni, Chief Product Officer, Aryaka Networks; Prakash Mana, CEO, Cloudbrink; MK Palmore, Director – Office of the CISO, Google Cloud; and Srinivas Rao, AVP & Solution Specialist, Tata Communications. Numerous questions arose: How do organisations protect information wherever it might reside? What frameworks will enable this? The session tackled the massive challenge of safely connecting many different nodes, especially at a time when corporate IT budgets are not growing.
The second debate session shed light on IoT and the network edge of tomorrow, chaired by John Canali, Principal Analyst, IoT with Omdia. IoT use cases are multiplying exponentially, he revealed, as he offered expert insight into the sectors that will represent the next big IoT playgrounds. Canali was joined by panellists including Anit Lohtia, CTO – 5G Strategy Lead, Dell Technologies; Marc Cohn, Principal Technology Strategist, Spirent Communications; Vikas Tandon, AVP – Product Management & IoT, Tata Communications; and a second appearance from keynoter Tom Bianculli, CTO, Zebra Technologies.
The third debate session moved onto the thorny topic of business continuity in the face of current and future challenges. Chaired by Paul Hughes, Research Director, Future of Connectedness with IDC it also featured panellists Hugo Vliegen, Senior Vice-President of Product Management, Aryaka Networks; Prakash Mana, CEO, Cloudbrink; Srinivas Rao, AVP & Solution Specialist, Tata Communications; and Ken Levine, CEO, Xcitium. It examined the critical elements for an organization’s business continuity plan to ensure readiness for when a crisis strikes. Attendees heard thought leadership on the type of security that protects data but doesn’t reduce productivity.
Perhaps the day’s highlight was a ‘fireside chat’ session featuring a real Silicon Valley big hitter, Dr Mary Lou Jepsen, and led by Harry McCracken, Global Technology Editor with Fast Company. Jepsen features in various rolls of honor including the Time Magazine 100, CNN’s Top 10 Thinkers, Anita Borg’s Top 50 Female Computer Scientists and in Forbes’ America’s Top 50 Women in Tech. She is a true ground breaker with over 200 patents to her name and is recognised for her radical approach to innovation itself. Where others see setbacks, Jepsen sees sources of inspiration. Where some see threats she sees new challenges. She talked about her progressive approach to innovation, and the importance of staying wide open to the unexpected.
As a tech executive and inventor she has helped bring about change in many areas, for example as the technical force behind a generation of low-cost computing, and innovative consumer and medical imaging technologies. Jepsen was the co-founder and first chief technology officer of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and in 2016 founded OpenWater, a startup working on MRI-type imaging of the body using holographic, infrared techniques.
The day concluded with a series of scheduled media briefing sessions with top technology press and analysts, a unique interface between journalists, vendors and experts.
Bu Guy Matthews, Editor of NetReporter
