Topic: Infrastructure

Seminar Topics

[1 CPE] Doing Digital Transformations Better

  Presented by Brook Conner • CIS Lecturer & PhD Candidate, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Every organization is trying to improve itself with new technology. Today, that technology is artificial intelligence. But it isn’t working nearly as well as it is supposed to. The problem isn’t the technology, or the hype around it. The problem is that large organizations undergoing change are complicated. There is no magic wand, no silver bullet, no hammer for the nail, that will work for everyone, not even AI. You need to describe what’s going on, past, present, and future. This description needs to include the technology, but also the people, the processes, the information, the world around you, everything. By incorporating diverse fields, including enterprise architecture, organizational behavior, programming language theory, semiotics, psychology, and more, even the most baroque organizations can be described, and their roadblocks and opportunities be revealed. See how, with examples both from past successes and from current trends.

Currently earning his PhD from the University of Hawaii, Conner is an experienced cross-industry CIO. He serves as a faculty instructor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His dissertation is tentatively titled “A system architecture approach to digital transformations.” It builds on both work experience and prior research and publications. Prior research included some of the earliest and formative papers on interactive 3D graphics, the relationship of programming language mechanisms to interactive systems, 3D user interface design, and a redesign of the undergraduate computer science curriculum.

Previous work includes five years at the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, where his team replaced the Department’s core accounting system, modernized collaboration for all staff and students, and managed the educational technology needed to support distance learning during the COVID pandemic. Prior to that, Conner was the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Estee Lauder Companies, a Fortune 500 global retailer and manufacturer. He built the vulnerability management program for Morgan Stanley in response to a nation-state cyberattack, and re-architected core parts of the Bloomberg Terminal Service. Conner has an AB in art, an ScB in Math/Computer Science, and an MSc in Computer Science, all from Brown University. He is conversational in French and Hawaiian and enjoy stand-up paddling, role-playing games, video games, and wargaming.

[1 CPE] Securing Our Mission: A Non-Profit’s Journey to Zero Trust

  Presented by Troy Villar, Director, Information Technology, Child & Family Service • The Advisory Council

This presentation offers a non-technical, firsthand account of a nonprofit’s journey to a Zero Trust security model on a limited budget. It covers core Zero Trust principles and how they were applied in practice, while addressing key challenges such as HIPAA compliance, budget constraints, and COVID-19 disruptions. The 2020–2026 roadmap highlights major milestones, including achieving a fully cloud-based environment, network redesign and segmentation, and the implementation of NAC and Unified Access Control. It also shares lessons learned, emphasizing stakeholder engagement, effective communication, and maintaining team well-being throughout the transformation.

Troy Villar has served as Director of IT at Child & Family Service since 2020, supporting Hawaii’s oldest nonprofit dedicated to strengthening families. A CISSP with over 30 years of experience, he has led software development, hardware design, and enterprise network implementations, including the design and development of a full-scale POS system for a major Hawaii retail chain. He is Vice President of ISC2 Hawaii and leads the Cybergenerations program, advancing cybersecurity education and awareness. Troy holds a degree in Information Systems from Hawaii Pacific University, where he previously served as Associate Director of Data Services, and is currently completing his Master’s in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance at WGU. Outside of work, he enjoys mountain biking, hiking, and spending time with his family and their dogs.

[1 CPE] Seamless Hybrid Connectivity: Leveraging Cellular (5G) and LEO

  Presented by Ericsson

In an era of digital transformation, enterprises need agile, secure, and reliable connectivity that overcomes the limitations of terrestrial networks. This presentation shows how Wireless WAN edge routers, cloud management platforms, through Public/Private/LEO options unlocks the full potential of WAN Connectivity. Attendees will learn how to deploy Wireless WAN for fast primary, Day-1 Internet, WAN redundancy, IoT and In-Vehicle applications. Extending seamless coverage with private 5G for challenging indoor/outdoor environments and apply zero-trust security through simplified SASE to protect against growing threats.

Through real-world examples, discover how these solutions enable rapid deployment at distributed sites, vehicles, IoT ecosystems, and pop-up locations—driving better performance, operational efficiency, enhanced mobility, and business growth without infrastructure constraints. Leave equipped to harness 5G/Hybrid Connectivity for innovation and scalability anywhere.

[1 CPE] Industry Leading Alternatives to VMware and other Legacy Hypervisors

  Presented by Scale Computing

As organizations modernize their IT environments, many are exploring alternatives to traditional hypervisor platforms. Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) integrates compute, storage, and virtualization into a unified platform designed to simplify deployment, scaling, and management. This session will examine how these architectures can improve resilience, reduce operational complexity, and support both core data center and edge environments.

We’ll look closely at hyperconverged and edge computing solutions designed to make IT infrastructure simple, scalable, and highly available for organizations of all sizes and verticals –– integrating servers, storage, and virtualization into a single, easy-to-manage solution.

[1 CPE] The Great VM Escape: Live Migration Demo from VMware to AHV

  Presented by Nutanix

Join us for a live, end-to-end demonstration of migrating virtual machines from VMware to Nutanix AHV—no fluff, just real results. We’ll showcase the power of Nutanix Move to seamlessly convert and migrate VMs from Microsoft Hyper-V, ESXi, and even cloud environments to AHV with minimal disruption. If you’re evaluating modernization strategies or planning a hypervisor transition, this session delivers practical insights you can apply immediately.

[1 CPE] 6 Hard Lessons from Zero Trust Deployments: What the Field is Actually Seeing

  Presented by John Spiegel, Security CTO and HPE Distinguished Technologist • HPE Networking

Zero Trust has quickly moved from security concept to board-level mandate. Yet the reality inside most organizations is far messier than the architecture diagrams suggest.

Based on several hundred interviews with IT and security practitioners as well as the analyst community, this session explores what actually happens when organizations attempt to implement Zero Trust. The findings are sobering: roughly 60–70% of Zero Trust initiatives stall before reaching maturity, and fewer than 20% achieve a fully realized Zero Trust architecture.

Rather than focusing on theory or vendor frameworks, this session examines six hard lessons from the field, highlighting both the successes and the failures organizations encounter along the way. Topics include why many Zero Trust initiatives stall, where organizations underestimate complexity, the architectural decisions that matter most, and what successful deployments do differently.

This presentation is not a product pitch. Instead, it’s a candid discussion of the hard realities of Zero Trust deployment, grounded in the experiences of practitioners across hundreds of organizations. Attendees will leave with practical insights into what works, what fails, and how to move a Zero Trust initiative from concept to operational reality.

[1 CPE] Intelligent Data Infrastructure: Unifying Cloud, Cyber, AI, and Enterprise

  Presented by Ray Kalmbach, Global Head of Hybrid Workloads for Partners • NetApp

Organizations are simultaneously pursuing cloud transformation, cyber resilience, data infrastructure modernization, and artificial intelligence. In every case, data is at the heart of the transformation—but most existing infrastructure was not designed for this moment.

This session introduces the concept of Intelligent Data Infrastructure (IDI)—an operating model where a unified data platform, integrated control plane, and data management services can manage any data, for any application, anywhere it’s needed—optimized, secured, and protected by intelligence. Using a Problem → Alternatives → Solution framework, we will examine common pitfalls and successful patterns across key domains: cloud services, cyber resilience and data protection, enterprise applications and databases, virtualization and containers, and AI & data lakes.

Attendees will leave with a reference model and practical checklist to evaluate their environment and define concrete next steps toward a more intelligent, resilient, and AI‑ready data infrastructure—without reference to any specific vendor or product.

[1 CPE] Go Hack Yourself: War Stories from over 170,000 Pentests

  Presented by Tony Taylor, Sr Solutions Architect • Horizon3.ai

Join Tony Taylor, Senior Solutions Architect, for an engaging session on “Offense-Driven Defense.” Raakish will challenge conventional risk assessment practices and unveil how focusing on real-world exploitability and impact can revolutionize your security approach. Drawing from insights gathered across more than 170,000 autonomous pentests, he’ll share compelling stories and actionable lessons that show how viewing your cyber terrain through an attacker’s lens can uncover hidden vulnerabilities, optimize resource allocation, and strengthen your defenses against advanced threats. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a leading industry practitioner on why it’s time to “go hack yourself” and build resilience in today’s borderless threat environment.