The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) has announced the initial sponsors and preliminary agenda for its Forecast 2014 flagship conference set for September 22-24 in San Francisco.

Celebrating its third year, Forecast was created by enterprise IT executives, for enterprise IT executives to help accelerate adoption of cloud computing, and business analytics based on ODCA's usage model requirements. The event features sessions and keynotes on enterprise best practice sharing, discussions on emerging challenges facing enterprise cloud deployments, and the latest solutions aligned with ODCA requirements delivered by the industry. The conference, which has expanded to three full days in 2014, is heralded as a unique opportunity for business discussions and networking opportunities with leading global enterprise IT executives, architects and solution providers.

The following organizations will sponsor Forecast 2014: Intel (underwriting sponsor), HP (platinum sponsor), Verne Global (gold sponsor), Appnomic Systems (silver sponsor) and CohesiveFT (lanyard sponsor). In addition, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the Cloud Credential Council (CCC), Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and TM Forum will join Forecast as collaborative sponsors.

Mario Mueller, ODCA chair and vice president of IT infrastructure at BMW, will deliver the opening keynote at Forecast 2014. The conference will also feature:

  • Best practice presentations from leading enterprises embracing the cloud today
  • Panel discussions on hot topics shaping tomorrow's data centers
  • Proof of concept topic discussions on solutions meeting ODCA requirements
  • Deep dive training on ODCA requirements through ODCA University
  • The first-ever ODCA Hackathon, co-sponsored by HP and Intel and designed to encourage developer application resiliency for cloud environments.
  • A full day of workshops delivered by ODCA workgroup members

To view the complete Forecast 2014 agenda, register for the conference or become a sponsor, visit: http://www.opendatacenteralliance.org/forecast2014.