We have seen the IT and communications landscape change before, from the era of mainframe computing to personal computing to the Internet era. But now, awash in endless innovation, the industry and market are in continual transformation. Advances are no longer coming in discrete waves, like software releases of yore (version 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, et cetera), but more or less continuously. Directions 2008 will examine all the ways the world of IT and communications is changing -- from globalization to virtualization, from software as a service to services as software, from changing network technology to the technology of social networks -- and how those changes will affect customers, suppliers, and you. A dozen years from now the ICT landscape will be as unrecognizable as today's would be to anyone in the early 1990s. The opening session sets the stage for the rest of the day.

The pace and depth of that transformation varies by country, by industry, by demographic, by social set, and by ICT sector, with hot spots here, cool spots there, evolutionary adoption here, revolution there. Driven by new technologies and business models, an unprecedented "hyperdisruption" of the IT marketplace has occurred in the past few years, opening up brand new hyper-growth opportunities for IT suppliers. In 2008, the disruption dust will be settling, and we will get a better look at how these new models, technologies and opportunities will impact Asia/Pacific particularly in emerging countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Will enterprises in the less developed countries embrace new technologies and leap frog into the new era?  How will the market share shift within Asia/Pacific as a result? Join us to understand how to get your fair share.

The marketplace, regardless of industry and geographic differences, is becoming more complex and competitive. Emerging technologies, dynamic business forces and disruptive players are driving companies to transform their IT environment and business operations/processes to move up the growth curve. Many companies, regardless of size, are investing in people and technologies with the goal of achieving more within a shorter period of time. IT vendors and service providers, facing similar challenges, are under pressure to respond to these changes. Products are introduced via many solutions. Messages are communicated in different dimensions and colors. Mastering the changing rules require well-orchestrated and executed business models. In this presentation, Sandra will share with you the top of minds' priorities of business and IT leaders and the technologies and business models that will gain attention with these executives and their users.

Radical changes are ahead for the future datacenter, and it’s not just about technology. Virtualization, blade servers, emerging management frameworks, ILM strategies and energy efficiency are the end result of a need to shift the fundamental economic equation for the datacenter.  In Asia/Pacific, there is much interest in learning more about building more efficient and forward-looking datacenters and starting with the more mature markets. IDC expects an increased focus among the Asia/Pacific end users in rejuvenating IT datacenters to better support the rapidly changing business needs in the future. In this presentation, Avneesh will discuss the regional findings in greater detail comparing them with trends in US, and drawing conclusions around what IDC feels should be the key priorities.

Claus Mortensen moderates a panel of prominent young bloggers from around the Asia/Pacific region to get their perspective on these issues and more. This panel will give the audience a great opportunity to understand what motivates today’s “Generation Y”.