Yesterday something very interesting landed in my inbox – a spreadsheet with all of the sessions that are being scheduled for the Dell Storage Forum. I know some of y’all are chomping at the bit for this info, so I got the ok to share before the official web site is updated. So here’s a sneak peek to hold you over till the session builder is ready for you (which will be SOON!!).

A couple of  caveats: this is my interpretation of the spreadsheet. If I get something wrong, I’ll let y’all know right away. Also, there may be some tweaking that has to happen in the 6.5 weeks leading up to the conference. Be sure to visit http://bit.ly/DellSF11 for the most current, up-to-date information as we get closer to June!

Here’s your sneak peek:

It looks like there are six session tracks: Networking, Virtualizaton, Compellent, EqualLogic, DX, and IDM (Intelligent Data Management). I’ll just go through highlights I see for each day.

Sunday and Monday, June 5 & 6

Sunday and Monday are set aside for our channel partners. There is a channel partners reception on Sunday. The sessions over these two days cover everything from how to better leverage Dell’s tools to sessions on virtualization and cloud computing. Lots of technical overviews for the entire product  line of Dell Storage. If you are a partner, you are going to want to plan to be there Sunday and Monday. The general sessions and keynotes will start at 8 AM on Monday, so plan on a jam-packed day of learning.

Monday night is the Birds of Feather reception for everyone. Hopefully it will be a chance to meet some of you IRL, F2F, or however you want to say it. You are going to need this relaxation for the rest of the conference, trust me, so plan on getting to Orlando in time for this reception!

Tuesday

Tuesday is a completely full of technical sessions for everyone, and the general sessions will start at 8AM. Currently, the scheduled keynotes are Brad Anderson, (Dell’s SVP for Enterprise Systems), Darren Thomas, (Dell’s VP  of Storage), and Phil Soran (DEll Compellent’s President (former CEO)). I’m thinking they are going to talk about Dell’s storage strategy, but that’s just my personal speculation.

Sessions include whiteboard sessions, best practices, and case studies  for every product. I see some NDA sessions scheduled (I know you EqualLogic folks will be happy to hear about that!). Here are some specific titles that look interesting to me:

• Dell Compellent & VMware Integration: Streamlining Virtual Machine and Storage Management
• DX Object Storage Platform – Understanding Dell’s Unstructured Data Storage Solution
• Automated high-performance backup of large-scale Virtual Infrastructure with Commvault and EqualLogic
• Storage is Shrinking? A Dive Into Dedupe and Compression Solutions
• VMware and EqualLogic 201 – Scaling, Protecting and Turbocharging with ‘Awesomesauce’ <- and yes, the presenter is Will Urban 🙂

Tuesday night is the Solutions Expo reception. We haven’t nailed down a date, but I’m thinking after the reception is going to be the best time for a tweetup or #storagebeers..

Wednesday

Wednesday gets started early – 8AM. But the keynote Wed is Michael Dell, and you won’t want to miss that!

Wednesday is another full day of sessions. Here are some of the titles that stood out to me:

• The Dell Compellent Enterprise Storage Hardware Line-up
• Storage Center: An Optimum Foundation for  Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Implementations
• DX Object Storage Compared to Traditional Storage Solutions
• Top 10 EQL Common Support Issues and How to Resolve Them
• Understanding EqualLogic Replication Best Practices
• Big Data Management and Strategic Application Retirement
• Transforming the Management of Clinical Information with the Dell Unified Clinical Archive
• iSCSI Initiators and Native MPIO Across OSes
• Case Study: Dell Internal IT’s Use of EqualLogic for VMware Farms

And this is just a FEW of the sessions. I don’t know how people are going to choose which sessions to attend. Wednesday evening there is an Epcot celebration – so that should be fun too!

Thursday

General session starts at 8 AM. And Thursday has another full day of sessions. Here’s what stands out to me:

• Dell Compellent Data Progression & Data Instant Replay: A Day in the Life of a Page
• Leveraging Cloud Technology with the Dell Unified Clinical Archive
• Managing Data Growth with Dell Services
• Switch Validation Methodology – What makes a switch good for storage?
• Overview of Ethernet for iSCSI
• Automated Disaster Recovery with VMware Site Recovery Manager & Dell Storage

And that is it for Thursday.

There was nothing in the spreadsheet I received about the C3 meeting. I’ll see if I can get some info to pass along.

The website will be updated really soon, they are saying within the week. SO – is this sneak preview helpful? Let me know if you were hoping there would be sessions on a particular topic, I’ll look it up.

And this is just the SESSIONS!! Remember, there are TONS of hands-on labs. We’ll have a Dell Tech Center lounge, so our social media inclined friends can come say hi and recharge (physically and electronically). The product managers and engineers are dying to talk to all of you about your experiences and requirements.

All you have to do is want to come to Orlando in June – oh yeah and register. Hope to see you there – and let me know if you have questions in the meantime.