What does the former CTO of XenSource - now CTO of the virtualization and management division at Citrix - have in common with the founder and CEO of PlateSpin, now VP of Business Development at Novell? And what do both have in common with the CTO of VMware?

The answer is that all three are speaking in June at the 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo in New York City, along with the CTO of Egenera, the Technical Director and Chief Technologist at Sun, the VP& CTO of Hitachi Data Systems, the CTO of BMC Software, the VP & CTO of EMC, the co-founder & CTO of Neocleus, the CTO of Xsigo Systems, the CTO of Brocade, the Chairman and CEO of SIMtone, the Founder & CEO of ScaleMP, the founder and CTO of VirtualLogix, the Chief Strategist of Appistry, the CTO of Marathon Technologies, the CTO & Co-Founder of Reflex Security, the VP of Research and Development at DataDirect Technologies, the CMO of GigaSpaces, the IT Director at Fidelity Investments, and others.

With Gartner reporting this week that virtualization will be the highest-impact trend changing infrastructure and operations through 2012, the announcement by SYS-CON Events that its speaker faculty has attracted experts from so many of the leading companies in the industry is both timely and important: anyone wishing to play catch-up with what's being called the hottest IT trend of the decade has a golden opportunity to do so in New York City at The Roosevelt Hotel where the conference is being held on June 23-24, 2008.

According to Gartner, virtualization will transform how IT is managed, what is bought, how it is deployed, how companies plan and how they are charged. And, as a result, virtualization is creating a new wave of competition among infrastructure vendors that will result in considerable market disruption and consolidation over the next few years.

Delegates can still save off the full price of a Golden Pass.

As well as the speakers mentioned above, there will also be experts from two dozen or more other companies, as well as a full Expo floor for the entire two days of the Conference.

Topics covered at the 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo will include:

• Server Virtualization
• Desktop Virtualization
• File Virtualization
• The Future of the Virtual Enterprise
• Hosted Virtualization
• Para-virtualization
• Virtualization Hardware Support
• Hardware-level Virtualization
• Storage Virtualization
• Service-Oriented Virtualization 
• Virtualization for Server Consolidation and Containment
• Windows Virtualization
• Utility Computing
• State of the Virtualization Services Market
• Virtualization-based Malware
• Cloud Computing
• Middleware Virtualization
• 3rd Generation Virtualization 

Virtualization Technology Providers and Contributors in 2008
The following companies are among the providers and contributors of Virtualization technology: 3Leaf Systems, 3Tera, Acronis, Actional, Active Endpoints, ActiveGrid, activePDF, ActiveServers, ActiveState, Actuate, Agile Software, Agilent, AGiLiENCE, Agilysys, Akamai, Akorri, AlachiSoft, Altova, AMD, AMDAHL, Amentra, Amyuni, anacubis, Apani, APC, Appcelerator, Appistry, AppStream, Ascential, Attune Systems, Autodesk, AutoVirt, Availl, Azul Systems, BEA Systems, B-Hive, Black Duck Software, Black Hat, Blackbaud, Blue Lane Technologies, BlueArc, BlueNote, BluePhoenix Solutions, BMC Software, Borland, Bristol Technology, Brix Networks, BroadVision, Brocade, Burton Group, Business Objects, CA, CalAmp, Cassatt, Cast Iron, Catbird, Cayenne Technologies, Ceedo Technologies, Cenzic, CiRBA, Cisco Systems, Citrix Systems, ClearApp, ClearCube Technology, Compass America, Composite Software, Compuware, Configuresoft, Continuity Software, Coraid, Courion, Coyote Point Systems, DataDirect, DataSynapse, Dell, Double-Take Software, Ecora Software, EDS, Egenera, Elastra Corporation, Embarcadero, EMC Corporation, Enomaly Open Source, Enterprise Management Associates, Entuity, EqualLogic, ESRI, F5 Networks, Fortisphere, Forum Systems, Fujitsu, GemStone, Getronics, GigaSpaces, Green Hills Software, Grid Dynamics, GridGain Systems, GT Software, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, Hyperic, IBM, ICEsoft, Illumita, ILOG, IMEX Research, Information Builders, InstallFree, Intel, International Computerware, iTKO LISA, JBoss, Juniper, Kidaro, LynuxWorks, ManageIQ, Marathon Technologies, Mellanox, Microsoft, Mindreef, MKS, Moka5, Motorola, NASTEL, Ncomputing, NEC, NetApp, Netegrity, Neverfail, Nexaweb, NextAxiom, Nimbus, Novell, OpenSpan, OPNET Technologies, OpTier, Oracle, Panacea Software, Parallels, Pillar Data Systems, PlateSpin, PLX Technologies, Progress Software, Prolifics, Prosync Technology, Provision Networks, QLogic, Quest Software, Racemi, Raxco Software, Red Hat, Reflex Security, Resolutions Enterprises, Riverbed Technology, Rogue Wave, rPath, RSA Security, SanDisk, SAP, Saugatuck Technology, ScaleMP, Secure Command, ShavLik, ServInt Internet Services, Silpion IT Solutions, Software AG, Splunk, StackSafe, Stoneware, StoreVault, StrikeIron, STT, WebOS, Sun Microsystems, Surgient, Sybase, Symantec, Tenfold, TheInfoPro, Thinstall, Third Brigade, TIBCO Software, Tideway Systems, TRANGO Virtual Processors, Transitive, Trend Micro, Trigence, Unisys, Verio, VeriSign, Virtual Iron, VirtualLogix, Vizioncore, VKernel, VMLogix, vmSight, VMware, WSO2, XDS, Xiotech, xkoto, and Xsigo Systems.

• V Is for Venture and for Virtualization
• Virtualization for Deeply Embedded Applications
• The Next Virtualization Waves Are Forming
• Is Virtualization Right For Your Enterprise?
• Virtualization Will Be the Highest-Impact IT Trend Through 2012
• Hyper-V Terminology: Microsoft's Virtualization Lexicon