At last – it’s here! Canada’s foremost IT trade event launches in a new ‘better than live!’ virtual format on December 8th and 9th. With more than 500 registrants, GCDCS20 has become the ‘place to be’ for data centre and IT service delivery professionals and executives.
Admission to the event provides delegates with access to extensive resources and networking opportunities, to recorded versions of the pre-event sessions and access to post-event AMA (Ask Me Anything) and topic-specific community gatherings – and to an agenda that features more than 50 Canadian, North American and global industry leaders.
Here’s an overview of the agenda:
Welcome, and Power, Cooling and High-Density Environment track (December 8th, 9:30-11:00). Features Matt Stansberry (Uptime Institute), data centre legend Peter Gross, Rob Parker (Vertiv), Bill Skinner (Bloomberg), and Dr. Suvojit Ghosh (McMaster CIRC).- Keynote sessions (December 8th, 11:00-1:00). “Why Canada? Understanding Equinix’s $1B investment in Canadian Data Centers” keynote (Andrew Eppich), plus the All Star Plenary Panel featuring Gayleen Gray (CTO,
McMaster University), Peter Gross (Chairman, Virtual Power Systems), Matt Stansberry (VP, Uptime Institute), Joseph Reele (VP, Schneider Electric), Shawn Rosemarin (VP, Pure Storage), Chris Kimm (SVP, Equinix), procurement expert Guylaine Carriere (Shared Services Canada) and Canadian quantum computing innovator Rafal Janik (Xanadu.io). 
Sustainability track (1:15-3:00). Begins with “Aligning Data Centre and Sustainability Imperatives” (Mark Monroe, Microsoft, and Susanna Kass, UN Sustainable Development), followed by the Sustainability Spotlight Presentation (Joseph Reele, Schneider Electric) and the “Mining new carbon and energy opportunities in the data centre”
Eugene Roman, visionary Canadian IT leader sustainability panel discussion, featuring Francois Sterin (OVHcloud), Rocco Alonzi (Sun Life), Simon McCormick (CTO, Echelon Data Centres) and Mary Allen (InsightaaS).
- Keynote presentation (December 9th, 8:30). “Gap analysis: current shortfalls and breakthrough opportunities in IT delivery,” delivered by Eugene Roman, former IT leader for Bell Canada, Open Text and Canadian Tire, and current CIO at Metrolinx.
- Cloud/Colo/Hybrid Delivery track (December 9th). Cloud case study Coping with COVID – the IT perspective (Sham Satrohan, Ontario MGCS); Spotlight Presentation on Keys to establishing a multi-platform foundation
by Paul Cooper (Technology Integration Group), and the Establishing the integrated, multi-platform environment of the future – today panel discussion featuring Sean Maskell (President and GM, Cologix Canada), Roy Hart (CIO, BCIT) and Imran Saleem (AVP, Sun Life), moderated by Michael O’Neil (InsightaaS). - SDx/IAC track (December 9th, 10:45-12:00). Sessions focused on software-defined begin with Craig McLellan (ThinkOn) addressing Real World Objectives and
Experiences: Abstracting Data Centre Control. Shawn Rosemarin (VP – Worldwide Solution Engineering, Pure Storage) follows with SDx/Infrastructure as Code: What the future holds!, and then joins the Building SDx/IAC Strategy panel with Rami Radi (Intel DCM group) and Sanj Srikrishnan (Equinix). - CDCXA Awards (December 9th, 12:30). Join us in celebrating the 2020 recipients of awards for data centre management/ operational excellence and COVID-19
Crisis Response. - Edge/Connectivity Track (December 9th, 1:15-2:25). Look into the Hospital of the Future with Erwin Van Hout and Joanna Yang of the Hospital for Sick Children; then join a Defining Use Cases for Edge Solutions panel that includes Shawn Slack (CIO, City of Mississauga), Joe Belinsky (VP IT, Revera) and edge expert Matthew Trifiro (Vapor IO, and co-chair of State of the Edge).
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Partner, KPMG, and former CIO, Government of Canada Closing plenary keynote (December 9th, 2:30). Alex Benay, Partner – Digital and Government Solutions, KPMG (and former CIO, Government of Canada) delivers a presentation on Keeping Pace: Rapid Transformations in a Digital World.
Passes will be available up until the event starts, with session admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration can be accessed via this link; some sponsors are offering discounted or no-cost passes.
