RSA 2009: The Acid Test

For the first time in a long time, I'm not sure what to expect from this year's RSA conference. The early anecdotes indicated it may be a pretty weak showing this year. Then lately I'm hearing north of 15,000 people will attend. Perhaps they are including everyone in a 5 block radius of the Moscone Center in SFO, but that's neither here nor there.

To me, the health of the security industry will be gauged this week. Of course, everyone puts on their happy faces and basically lies their respective asses off. "Sure, business is great." "Scaling is our big problem." Blah blah blah. In this kind of economy, every company has issues. The question is how big the issues are.

So why did I think the conference was going to be weak? Basically because every other event I've been to since the economic meltdown has been mediocre at best, a total cluster-F at worst. End users have largely been keeping their heads down, not taking time to mingle at conferences. Basically, we've been trying to survive. RSA is the biggest dog in the security conference field, but still will folks get on a plane to see the sights?

Then I got the speaker notifications. I'm doing four panels and a peer to peer session. Now, I've certainly got an inflated opinion of my speaking abilities. And I've done sessions at the last 5 or so conferences that have gotten decent reviews. But to get 4 panels? Definitely means the gene pool of presenters is a bit thin this year.

On the other hand, lots of companies have been announcing decent earnings. Some have thrown in the towel (like Entrust), but quite a few are holding their own. It'll be interesting to see the tone at the AGC (America's Growth Capital) conference on Monday to get a feel for the market. 

I'll be at the conference all week, though as you can imagine, my schedule is pretty jammed packed with day job responsibilities, speaking gigs, and the like. If you can attend the sessions, my speaking gigs are:

• Tuesday @ 1:30 PM: STAR-105: Is SaaS the Future of Enterprise Security? 
• Tuesday @ 4:10 PM: BUS-107: Security Groundhog Day (this was the best panel last year - don't miss it)
• Wednesday @ 9:10 AM: NET-202: Using SaaS to Solve the Network Management and Security Challenge
• Wednesday @ 10:40 AM: P2P-203A: More Security with Less Monday and Fewer Resource (peer to peer session)
• Thursday @ 9:10 AM: BUS-302: Which Security Tools take Priority in a Challenging Economic Environment

So as you can see, I've got a full speaking plate. And my sessions indicate what are clearly the two major themes of this year's show. SaaS and navigating the turbulent economy. Both are kind of related, but as in year's past when you heard about NAC or GRC or DLP, you'll hear about the conference theme until your ears bleed. This year, SaaS will be the most hated term by Thursday.

Hope to see you at the show, if you are here. Check out one of my sessions or swing by eIQ's booth (#2058) and pick up a log data is not enough t-shirt or hat. You'll also be able to see the 2nd half of the "Don't be like Dick" video.