IT PRO: Blogs: Asavin Wattanajantra: 2008 May

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Meeting EMC and RSA in Las Vegas (and watching the Goo Goo Dolls)

Posted in EMC, RSA, las vegas, Security on May 16, 2008 at 3:45 pm

Ah the press trip. The journalist’s reward for crap pay and long hours. And how about it - I’m going to Sin City tomorrow.

I’m covering the huge EMC World Conference in Manderlay Bay, so I’ll be hearing guys like Joe Tucci talking about storage for EMC and more interestingly for me thanks to my security beat Arthur Coviello talking about the security aspects for RSA.

RSA is going to be interesting. So far in my five months working on security I’ve had a lot of contact with the big players - Symantec, McAfee, Kaspersky, Sophos etc, as well as companies like Microsoft and IBM who place a lot of importance in the area.

But it’s only recently I’ve been talking to RSA about the company, its plans and its future. I missed the RSA Conference in San Francisco - which was a shame as I would have been interested in a more US-centric view of security, and hear more about its well-known securID authentication technology.

Ah Las Vegas. It seems a well-known place for tech folk to go there. I’m already aware of our editor going over there for a Lawson conference and our contributing editor Stephen Pritchard going over there for a Windows Mobile launch, but it’ll be the first time for little old Staff Writer me.

I think I’ve watched enough Ocean films to know what to expect. I’ve got a sharp enough black suit so maybe I’lll try and do my best Brad or George impression walking around the strip. Maybe I’ll lose some money at the tables. Maybe see a strip show. Of course I’ll do some work - but I’m not likely to ever go to Vegas on my own time so I think I should make the best of it.

One thing I was actually shocked about was how hot it was supposed to be. 31 degrees centigrade! That’s just crazy - Even with our hot spell the UK it only reached a few digits above 20. I should have figured though - it is a desert after all.

Amongst all the gambling, touring and interviewing I’ve also got a chance to see the Goo Goo Dolls, known for a cracking song as few years ago called ‘Iris’. I do kind of like them, even if they are getting on a bit. I do find it quite funny though - what does a glammy type rock band has to do do with storage? I’m hoping next time they get Kiss to front an IBM show. That would rock.