After two years of mainly virtual events, the majority of cloud and IT Ops conferences in 2022 will be in-person events, although some organizers have decided to hold a combination of in-person and virtual events.
These conferences offer IT operations, cloud, and IT management professionals the chance to come together to consult with experts, collaborate with other professionals, demonstrate the latest tools, and hear the most up-to-date information about cloud management and IT operations.
Here's TechBeacon's shortlist of the best cloud and IT Ops conferences in 2022.
January
Hybrid Cloud Congress
Twitter: @TechForge_Media
Web: techforge.pub/events/hybrid-cloud-congress-2/
Date: January 18
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
This conference revolves around the business benefits that can arise from combining and unifying public and private cloud services to create a single, flexible, agile, and cost-optimal IT infrastructure. Attendees will learn how establishing a strategic hybrid cloud can align IT resources with business and application needs to accelerate optimal business outcomes and achieve excellence in the cloud.
Who should attend: Cloud specialists, program managers, heads of innovation, CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, infrastructure architects, chief engineers, consultants, and digital transformation executives
March
Cloud Expo Europe
Twitter: @CloudExpoEurope
Web: cloudexpoeurope.com
Date: March 2–3
Location: London, UK
Cost: TBD
Cloud Expo Europe focuses on the latest trends and developments in cloud technology and digital transformation. Attendees will see cloud-based solutions and services while hearing other information and expert advice. Speakers and exhibitors aim to "inspire attendees," according to organizers, with the newest technology for cloud strategy, optimizing costs, and sustainability.
Who should attend: Technologists, business leaders, senior business managers, IT architects, data center managers, developers, and network and infrastructure professionals
CloudFest 2022
Twitter: @cloudfest, #cloudfest
Web: cloudfest.com
Date: March 22–24
Location: Europa-Park, Germany
Cost: Standard pass, €399 plus VAT; VIP pass, €999 plus VAT; discount codes available
Organizers say attendees should "get ready for new partnerships, deep knowledge sharing, and the best parties the industry has ever seen." This year's event will revolve around three themes: the Intelligent Edge, Our Digital Future, and the Sustainable Cloud.
Who should attend: People in the cloud service provider and Internet infrastructure industries, and web professionals
Data Center World
Twitter: @datacenterworld, #datacenterworld
Web: datacenterworld.com
Date: March 28–31
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Cost: Regular prices range from $1,999 to $3,299; time-sensitive and AFCOM discounts are available, with prices as low as $1,399
Data Center World delivers strategy and insight about the technologies and concepts attendees need to know to plan, manage, and optimize their data centers. Educational conference programming focuses on rapidly advancing data center technologies, such as edge computing, colocation, hyperscale, and predictive analytics.
Who should attend: Infrastructure managers, facilities managers, cloud architects, engineers, architects, consultants, operations professionals, network security, storage professionals, and C-level executives
April
Red Hat Summit
Twitter: @RedHatSummit, #RHSummit
Web: redhat.com/en/summit
Dates (2021): virtual April 27–28 and June 15–16, and a series of in-person events starting in October
Locations (2021): TBD
Cost (2021): Virtual, free
At the April event, attendees will hear the latest Red Hat news and announcements and have the opportunity to ask experts their technology questions. The June event will include breakout sessions and technical content geared toward the topics most relevant to the participants. Attendees will also be able to interact live with Red Hat professionals. Finally, attendees can explore labs, demos, trainings, and networking opportunities at in-person events that will be held in several cities.
Who should attend: System admins, IT engineers, software architects, vice presidents of IT, and CxOs
May
Dell Technologies World
Twitter: @DellTech, #DellTechWorld
Web: delltechnologiesworld.com/index.htm
Date: May 2–5
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Cost: $2,295 until February 28; $2,495 from March 1–May 5
Attendees can learn about what Dell sees on the horizon, as well as develop new skills and strategies to advance their careers and refine their road maps for the future. They'll also get hands-on time with up-and-coming technologies and be able to meet experts who work on those technologies.
Who should attend: IT pros, business managers, Dell customers, and partners
KubeCon/CloudNativeCon Europe 2022
Twitter: @KubeCon_, @CloudNativeFdn, #CloudNativeCon
Web: events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe
Date: May 16–20
Location: Valencia, Spain
Cost: TBD
KubeCon and CloudNativeCon are a single conference sponsored by the Linux Foundation and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). The conference brings together leading contributors in cloud-native applications, containers, microservices, and orchestration.
Who should attend: Application developers, IT operations staff, technical managers, executive leadership, end users, product managers, product marketing executives, service providers, CNCF contributors, and people looking to learn more about cloud-native
DockerCon
Twitter: @DockerCon, #DockerCon
Web: docker.com/dockercon
Date: May 10
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
DockerCon is a free, immersive online experience complete with product demos; breakout sessions; deep technical sessions from Docker and its partners, experts, community members, and luminaries from across the industry; and much more. Attendees can connect with colleagues from around the world at one of the largest developer conferences of the year.
Who should attend: Developers, DevOps engineers, CxOs, and managers
June
Cisco Live
Twitter: @CiscoLive, #CLUS
Web: ciscolive.com/us/
Date: June 12–16
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and virtual
Cost: In-person event, $795 to $2,795, with early-bird pricing ($725 to $2,595) available through May 16; virtual event, free
Cisco's annual user conference is designed to inform attendees about the company's latest products and technology strategies for networking, communications, security, and collaboration.
Who should attend: Cisco customers from IT and business areas
Monitorama
Twitter: @Monitorama, #monitorama
Web: monitorama.com
Date: June 27–29
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Cost: $700
Monitorama has become popular thanks to its commitment to purely technical content without a lot of vendor fluff. The conference brings together the biggest names from the open-source development and operations communities, who teach attendees about the tools and techniques that are used in some of the largest web architectures in the world.
Its focus is strictly on monitoring and observability in software systems, which the organizers feel is an area in much need of attention. The goal of the organizers is to continue to push the boundaries of monitoring software, while having a great time in a casual setting.
Who should attend: Developers and DevOps engineers, operations staff, performance testers, and site reliability engineers
August
VMworld
Twitter: @VMworld, #VMworld
Web: vmworld.com/en/us/index.html
Date: August 29–September 1
Locations: San Francisco, California, USA; a sister conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain, November 7–10
Cost: TBD
This conference offers sessions on the trends relevant to business and IT. It also includes breakout sessions, group discussions, hands-on labs, VMware certification opportunities, expert panels, and one-on-one appointments with leading subject-matter experts. Attendees will learn how to deliver modern apps and secure them, manage clouds in any environment, seamlessly support an "anywhere workspace," and accelerate business innovation from all their apps in a multi-cloud world.
Who should attend: System admins, IT engineers, software architects, vice presidents of IT, and CxOs
September
Spiceworld
Twitter: @Spiceworks
Web: spiceworks.com/spiceworld
Date: September 28–30
Location: Austin, Texas, USA, and virtual
Cost: TBD
Spiceworld brings together thousands of IT pros, dozens of sponsoring vendors, and hundreds of tech marketers for three days of practical how-to sessions, tech conversations with key vendors, in-the-trenches stories from IT pros, networking, and "tons of fun," according to the organizers.
Who should attend: IT managers, operations engineers, help desk staff, and system admins
October
Google Cloud Next
Twitter: @googlecloud
Web: cloud.withgoogle.com/next/sf/
Date (2021): October 12–14
Location (2021): Virtual
Cost: Free
Google Cloud Next focuses on Google's cloud services (infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service) for businesses. Tracks include infrastructure and operations, app development, and data and analytics.
Who should attend: IT Ops pros and developers using Google Cloud Platform services
Big Data & AI Toronto
Twitter: @BigDataAITO, #BigDataTO
Web: bigdata-toronto.com
Date (2021): October 13–14
Location: Virtual
Cost (2021): $299, with time-sensitive discounts available
A conference and trade show, Big Data Toronto, which is colocated with AI Toronto, brings together a diverse group of data analysts, data managers, and decision makers to explore and discuss insights, showcase the latest projects, and connect with their peers. The event features more than 150 speakers and over 20 exhibitors.
Who should attend: Data scientists, data analysts, and business analysts
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Twitter: #GartnerSYM
Web: gartner.com/en/conferences/na/symposium-us
Date: October 17–20
Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
Cost: Standard price: $6,675; public-sector price, $4,975
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is aimed specifically at CIOs and technology executives in general, addressing topics from an enterprise IT perspective. These include mobility, cybersecurity, cloud computing, application architecture, application development, the Internet of Things, and digital business.
Who should attend: CIOs and senior IT execs
451Nexus
Twitter: @451Research
Web: spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/events/webinars/451-nexus
Date (2021): October 19–20
Location (2021): Virtual
Cost (2021): Free
Formerly known as the Hosting & Cloud Transformation Summit, 451Nexus is a forum for executives in the business of enterprise IT technology. The agenda is set by 451 Research analysts to provide insight into the competitive dynamics of innovation and to offer practical guidance on designing and implementing effective IT strategies.
Who should attend: Technology vendors and managed service providers, IT end users, financial professionals, and investors
November
Microsoft Ignite
Twitter: @MS_Ignite, #MSIgnite
Web: microsoft.com/en-us/ignite
Date (2021): November 2–4
Location (2021): Virtual
Cost (2021): Free with registration
Microsoft Ignite allows attendees to explore the latest tools, receive deep technical training, and have questions answered by Microsoft experts. Ignite covers architecture, deployment, implementation and migration, development, operations and management, security, access management and compliance, and usage and adoption.
Who should attend: IT pros, decision makers, implementers, architects, developers, and data professionals
Service Management World
Twitter: #SMWorld
Web: smworld.com
Date: November 12–16
Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
Cost: TBD
This event is staged by HDI, an events and services organization for the technical support and services industry. The event includes an expo hall, training sessions, learning tracks, and keynote speeches.
Who should attend: Service and technical support professionals
AWS re:Invent
Twitter: @AWSreInvent, #reInvent
Web: reinvent.awsevents.com
Date (2021): November 29–December 3
Location (2021): Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (virtual, but live keynotes and leadership sessions; breakout sessions on demand)
Cost (2021): In-person, $1,799; virtual, free
AWS re:Invent is the Amazon Web Services annual user conference, which brings customers together to network, engage, and learn more about AWS. The virtual event features breakout sessions, keynotes, and live content.
Who should attend: AWS customers, developers and engineers, system administrators, and systems architects
December
Salesforce: Dreamforce to You NYC
Twitter: @salesforce, @Dreamforce, #DF20
Web: salesforce.com/form/dreamforce
Date (2021): December 9
Location (2021): Virtual
Cost (2021): Free
Sponsored by Salesforce, Dreamforce to You is "a completely reimagined Dreamforce experience for the work-from-anywhere world," organizers said. At the event, attendees will hear about Salesforce's customer successes. They'll also have some fun and learn from one another. This event will highlight relevant conversations and showcase innovations geared for this new, all-digital world.
Who should attend: Salesforce customers
Gartner Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference
Twitter: #gartnerio
Web: gartner.com/en/conferences/emea/infrastructure-operations-cloud-uk, gartner.com/en/conferences/na/infrastructure-operations-cloud-us
Date (2021): December 22–23
Location (2021): Europe, Africa, and Middle East and virtual
Cost (2021): Standard price, €1,275; public-sector price, €850
This conference primarily focuses on scaling DevOps, but also addresses cloud computing and operations automation. Attendees come to learn about the biggest IT infrastructure and operations challenges, priorities, and trends.
Who should attend: Infrastructure and operations executives and strategists, IT operations managers, data center and infrastructure managers, infrastructure and operations architects, and project leaders
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Review the options and make your choices soon: Prices may vary based on how early you register. Also, remember that hotel and travel costs are generally separate from the conference pricing.
We've listed them all, although not all dates, locations, and pricing were available at publication time, especially for those events taking place later in the year. In those cases, we have provided historical information about the event to give you an idea of what to expect and what you'll get out of attending.
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