This document provides a summary of 10 IT automation conferences for professionals to attend in order to stay up-to-date on the latest trends in software development, ITIL best practices, automation methods, and compliance issues. The conferences cover a wide range of topics from communications and open source development to software testing, networking, and education technology. They take place between January and November in locations including Miami Beach, Portland, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Europe.

1. 10 IT Automation Conferences to
Attend
One of the best opportunities for networking and keeping up to date on all the latest
trends in software development, ITIL best practice implementation, innovative methods
of handling automation, new methods of tackling ever-expanding configuration drift, and
learning to navigate increasingly tricky compliance issues is attending industry
conferences. IT professionals focused on automation will need to read between the lines
to find a convention well-suited to their interests. These events are massive in
production and are usually more broadly focused.
1) ITEXPO* – January 30th – February 1st in Miami Beach, Florida
This expo is focused on the communications industry and has broad representation with
companies of all sizes. Attendees are a broad mix of management and development
teams.ITEXPO puts a focus on networking, hosting a number of events over the course
of the weekend designed to encourage attendees to mingle, including an event on the
beach and a panel which gives start-ups an opportunity to pitch their great to a panel of
potential of investors, and then grants them the opportunity to receive feedback right
away.

2. 2) ApacheCon* – February 24-28th in Portland, Oregon
ApacheCon is “the conference for people who build the technologies that drive the
Internet”. ApacheCon explores the issues associated with creating open-source
solutions “the Apache Way”. The main theme of the 2013 conference was “Open Source
Community Leadership Drives Enterprise-Grade Innovation”.
3) ITNG – April 15-17th in Las Vegas, Nevada
ITNG is geared specifically towards IT professionals, with a broad range of industrial
focuses. It offers three prizes as well: one for the best student paper, one for the best
poster paper, and a service-oriented reward. The convention plays host to industry,
government, and academia experts. Tracks for panel discussions are well suited to IT
pros, with topics like “information systems and internet technology”, “high performance
computer architectures”, “data mining”, and more. There will also be opportunities to
mingle with panelists and presenters to expand networking opportunities and a chance
to get papers published in a special edition of an international journal after the
conference.
4) Open Networking Summit – April 15-17th in Santa Clara, California

3. The first of two Software Defined Networking (SDN) conferences on this list,this
conference was started by the founders of the concept of SDN. This is a great
opportunity to network with the “key players” of the growing SDN industry, see the latest
developments within the technology, get a glimpse into SDN’s future, and to even try
SDN out for yourself.
5) QUEST Conference and Expo – April 15-19th in Chicago, Illinois
QUEST (Quality Engineered Software and Testing) will take place in Chicago this year.
Some of their “hot topics” include: Agile, Automation, Leadership, Measurement, Mobile,
Planning/Designing, andSoftware Development Techniques. QUEST emphasized
learning from thought leaders, assessing your skills with certification courses, application
of experience and knowledge in work-groups, and connecting with fellow practitioners
and industry leaders.

4. 6) HDI – April 16-19 in Las Vegas, Nevada
HDI is a conference focused primarily on IT service and tech support that attracts
attendees from all aspects of this industry; from senior-level VPs and directors, down to
customer service professionals, and everyone in between. They offer well-designed
tracks, catering to various levels of professionals in the industry, with a “Technology in
Action” track that includes sessions, such as “Improving Operations with Cloud
Computing” and “Adapting Workflow Management Tools to Service and Support”. This is
a well-organized conference with big name keynote speakers; in 2013, Steve Wozniak
(of Apple fame) is the conference headliner. They also offer a number of breakout
sessions, called “Breakfast Briefings”, designed to help you network, and an expo to give
you a glimpse on what industry vendors are up to.
7) Interop – May 6-10 in Las Vegas, Nevada

5. This is one of the largest events for IT professionals, andoffers very narrowly targeted
tracks to help you get the most out of your conference experience. Tracks include topics
such as Data Center & Storage, Security & Risk Management, Cloud Computing & Big
Data, and more. As a vendor-neutral event, Interop is able to offer a powerful
combination of excellent workshops, conference sessions from industry leaders, a
fantastic exhibition of tech providers, and solid networking opportunities. Interop has
been active for 26 years within the US, beginning with a focus on network infrastructure,
and then evolving over time to include a broad range of technologies.
8) ISTE – June 23-36 in San Antonio, Texas
This conference is primarily focused on the technology involved in education, and
features content developed specifically for IT pros and tech coordinators. Their
technology track includes themes including Cloud Computing, Integrated Data Systems,
Emerging Technologies,Support& Maintenance, Safety & Security, and more. This
conference is very well produced and has been running for 33 years.

6. 9) SDN & NFV Summit – September 30th – October 2nd in Prague
The second SDN conference in this list. SDN & NFV (Networking Visualisation) Summit
attracts various telecom service providers, SDN vendors, associations, consultants,
industry analysts, and investment pros. This is the 2nd annual iteration of the SDN &
NFV Summit, having taken place last year in London. This conference is mostly geared
towards European Operators.
10) EuroSTAR Conference – November 4-7th 2013 in Gothenburg, Sweden
Heralded as the “Europe’s premier software testing event”, the EuroSTAR Software
Testing Conference is the largest software testing event in Europe. EuroSTAR is an
excellent place to network. As you can tell from the full name of the conference, the
primary focus of the event is upon software testing.
*As of posting this, the event has already passed, but we highly recommend checking
out the 2014 version next year!