RSA 2007 Day 3 - The Key Keynote

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Here's one for the "I have a beef with RSA 2007" pile: the keynotes.  MSN Encarta defines "keynote" as:

"main theme: the central or most important point or theme of something" and

"to deliver the most important speech at a convention or meeting"

Hmm...deliver the most important speech at the convention.  Well, this year there are at least 14 keynotes.  14 most important speeches?  Seems more like a ploy to sale more sponsorships. I'll certainly provide that feedback when I get the post-conference survey.

Now, on to the key keynote (at least from my biased view point) Bill and Craig's: Advancing Trust in Today's Connected World.  This was a big day for the world of networking at Microsoft.  We had the excellent opportunity to have Bill and Craig outline our three prong strategy for transforming the way we interconnect.  A big piece of this dialogue was the evolution of networking from today's models into seams and more secure networks.

Remember that white paper I told about?  Well, that's on the subject of "Enabling Secure and Seamless Networks" and talks all about how we want to help change (for the better, much better) the connected experience for the user as well as the administrator. It's about shifting the focus from network access controls based primarily on physical network topology (e.g. edge firewalls) and up leveling the approach to a policy-driven model of access -- "it's about policy, not topology". 

At the center of the vision/strategy are elements near and dear to my current blog readers:

  • Server and Domain Isolation
  • Network Access Protection
  • Secure Wireless
  • Core networking features of Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn"

As well as some new things from our friends in Forefront:

  • Intelligent Application Gateway 2007
  • ISA Server 2006

Anyhow, I'll be writing much more on this subject throughout the week and beyond.  I'll look to get the white paper published to microsoft.com/networking (stay tuned).  Hey, if you're at the event you can pick-up a copy from our MS booth #1208.

As for the rest of the day...we did some demos for the press later in the after, including new features of IE7, Windows CardSpace and Forefront Server Security.

I also got a chance to see a session (yippee!) delivered by the famed Dr. Eugene Kaspersky. Although it is great to see him in action (which I did for the first time at my first Virus Bulletin Conference in 2000), he's presentation on the "Darkside of the Internet" was a bit brief.  It ended a little earlier (like 25 minutes before the scheduled time).  Didn't matter though.  He packed them in (yours truly sate on the ground in the middle of an aisle).

Okay, time to hit the parties for the evening and get ready for day #4!