Behind the Curtain: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software Government Summit

The seventh annual Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software Government Summit, or HPE Gov Summit for short, takes place on March 22 in Washington, DC. This annual event has evolved over the years as HPE's focus has expanded as a company. The event was originally designed as way for IT management involved in the data center to get hands-on experience with the latest technologies to help with data center operations. Through acquisitions and organic growth, HPE grew their customer base beyond the data center and began working with developers, testers, integrators, and business management. The conference has followed this evolution, staying true to its hands-on roots while expanding to include technologies supported by HPE. The event has expanded to also incorporate the business and policy side of this traditionally tech-heavy event.[Tweet "Behind the Curtain: HPE Software Government Summit. #GovEventsBlog #HPEGovSummit"]

Lewis Carr, Senior Director Industry Solutions, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has been involved in planning this event for the last six years. He took some time to give us a sneak peek into what to expect this year.

Q: How is this event different from other federal events?

A: I'd say our biggest differentiator is our breadth. We start at the top level of an organization talking to visionary elements like innovation and leadership and work all they way down to very technical, hands-on demos and sessions on niche technology solutions. Through all of this though there is a focus on transformation - how do we help government make the changes needed to meet the digital needs of constituents?

Another differentiation is we always bring in perspective from the commercial market. We have technology leaders from large commercial enterprises speak to how they are transforming their organizations and help government attendees draw lessons and tips from their experience. There's the feeling that government only wants to hear government examples of tech usage, we've seen that mentality really shift as citizens have commercial expectations of government services.[Tweet "Sneak peek at the 2017 #HPEGovSummit with Lewis Carr, Sr. Director @HPE. #GovEventsBlog"]

Q: How did you decide on the topics/tracks for the event?

A: The tech industry as a whole has identified four big trends shaping the delivery of IT - Cloud, Big Data, Security, and Mobility. We aligned our tracks -- Transform, Protect, Empower, Enable -- with these trends. Within these tracks we'll cover how to transform legacy assets to provide modern support, how to do that securely, how to empower IT and users alike with big data, and how to enable government users and citizens to use technology to complete daily tasks. Modernization, Internet of Things, data analytics, and cloud will be key topics discussed across the tracks.[Tweet "On-Trend #GovIT tracks at #HPEGovSummit: Transform, Protect, Empower, Enable #GovEventsBlog"]

Q: Which sessions are you most excited about?

A: Our commercial sector speaker this year is Jeff Wike, CTO of DreamWorks Animation. Jeff has a government background having worked at the DIA and later for the Jet Propulsion Lab, so he understands the challenges of doing IT in the government. In his talk, he'll detail the digital transformation work they have done at DreamWorks to create a portfolio of business applications, the infrastructure to run that portfolio, and measurement to track how well the technology is enabling the business. There are a lot of parallels between what he has done and what government is being asked to do with mandates like FITARA.[Tweet "Jeff Wike, CTO of @DWAnimation to speak at #HPEGovSummit. #GovEventsBlog"]

Our attendees will be interested to hear from Congressman Gerry Connolly to get his thoughts on reintroducing legislation that enables budget funds to be shifted in support of modernization versus operations and maintenance.

Finally, General Peter Pace will really set the tone for the event with his discussion of leadership. I expect his talk will get attendees motivated to make the changes necessary to move innovation forward in their organizations.

If you are unable to make it to the event, you can follow along on social media via @HPE_Software or use #HPEGovSummit. Thanks again to Lewis for sharing this look at HPE's event. For more information or to register check out the link on GovEvents.