This year’s RSA Conference is a much more eventful show than last year thanks to a host of new markets opening up that require securing. Our correspondent with eSecurity Planet found much to discuss in areas such as cloud computing, medical records, and wireless networking and saw new products from IBM, Cisco, VMware and Microsoft.
If 2009 was a lackluster year for security product sales, you certainly wouldn’t know it from some of the vendors on the floor this year at the RSA® Conference in San Francisco. In contrast to last year’s show, attendance appears up – both from delegates and vendors alike. However, things aren’t all rosy. A number of vendors opted not to rent space on the show floor citing economic concerns. Though RSA is not quite back to “heyday” levels from a few years ago, if this year’s show is any indication, the security industry is showing signs of life despite global economic setbacks.
So what is everyone here to learn about? Surprisingly, much of the attention of show attendees is not on completely new themes, but in re-examination of an existing topic that has been with us for some time now. Cloud computing, a logical conclusion of the increasing move to both off-premises and virtualized environments is of primary interest to both vendors and delegates here at the show. RSA President Art Coviello set the direction and tone of the official program with his well-attended cloud-focused keynote and it’s clear that interest in these topics has not waned – in fact, if anything, it’s increased. And vendors are pushing this agenda pointedly as the cloud meme dominates the show floor.
