Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) will focus on the top concerns of business and IT executives, including whether or not to outsource and how to manage security in a distributed enterprise, at its GigaWorld IT Forum. GigaWorld, which will take place May 17-20, 2004, at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla., was designed to address the critical issues that clients identified in a recent survey.

Forrester designed GigaWorld’s more than 120 sessions to answer clients’ strategic questions, including:

  • How can you maximize the benefits of an outsourcing relationship?
  • How can enterprise security be enhanced without bursting the budget?
  • Where does it make sense to use open source?
  • How is Service Orientation not only changing IT, but the way we do business?

In addition, executives from Xerox, Candle, and IBM’s Tivoli Software will share their insights on how to drive IT initiatives that create business value.

The Next Chapter In Offshore Outsourcing

Two years ago, Forrester predicted that 3.3 million services jobs would go offshore by 2015. Today the offshore issue is center stage in the ongoing national dialogue around job growth. At GigaWorld, Forrester analysts will move the discussion forward through the following:

  • “Global Outsourcing: The Great Debate” — John McCarthy and Stephanie Moore will debate the societal impact of offshore outsourcing.
  • “Outsourcing, New Regulations, And Other Shocks To The System” is a major conference theme featuring sessions entitled “The Going Global Tool Kit: Advanced Topics In Offshore Outsourcing” and “Outsourcing Or Dinosaurcing: Global Diversity Transforms The IT Services Industry.”

Future Of Security

Regulations, liability, business partner requirements, privacy, and identity theft have moved information security from the depths of the IT department to an executive- and board-level challenge. GigaWorld will present sessions on a variety of security issues, including:

  • “Managing Security Personnel, Policies, And Technologies In The Distributed Enterprise”
  • “Measuring The Effectiveness And Maturity Of An Information Security Program”
  • “WLAN Security For The Distributed Enterprise”

Building An Effective Open Source Strategy

The cost savings and commercial support from big name vendors is making open source software a powerful alternative to commercial software. GigaWorld will offer a half-day seminar and several sessions to address how to take advantage of the benefits, while mitigating the technology, business, and financial risks of running open source software.

Development And Integration In A Service-Oriented World

A series of sessions will discuss both the technical benefits of service-oriented architecture and how to capture the real business value of service orientation. GigaWorld will detail the range of development and integration solutions from ESB to EAI to BPM and address when and how to apply these alternatives. Other sessions will introduce Organic Business — an end-to-end service-oriented process bonding customers and partners, and transforming IT’s relationship with the business.

Sponsors include: Candle, IBM, BMC Software, nCircle Network Security, FYI Corporation, Network Appliance, PlanView, Tacit Networks, VIEO, and Xerox Global Services.

Media sponsors include: Baseline, CIO Insight, EAI Industry Consortium, eWeek, IEEE Computer Society, Linux Journal, OSDN, and Technology Review.

For more information on the Event, including a video of Mike Gilpin, vice president, research director, presenting an overview of the GigaWorld experience, read the Event overview. Members of the media can request interviews and register for the Event by providing their full contact information to press@forrester.com.