Africa’s biggest Techfest ready to roll

There’s a sense of anticipation building in South Africa’s IT Professional and Developer communities as some 2500 technology fanatics prepare to descend on Durban later this month for Microsoft’s iconic TechEd Africa event – and with less than a week to go until registrations close, Microsoft says last-minute registrations are pouring in.

TechEd Africa runs from 16-19 April at Durban’s International Conference Centre (ICC), and features a host of top local and international speakers.

The major areas of focus are expected to be on Microsoft’s Server solutions, which are driving the modern enterprise’s drive towards cloud computing, Office 365, and Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. However, this year is also expected to see a surprising amount of attention being paid to apps, with a specific track around apps and developing apps on all of the company’s platforms.

There will be no shortage of content and insights, says Microsoft SA’s Developer and Platform Evangelist Lead, Clifford de Wit. The event will see more than 200 technical sessions, a 36 chalk & talks and self-paced hot lab that focus on areas like client infrastructure, security and management, Business Intelligence, data platform and development, Server and cloud infrastructure and management, security and identity access, Sharepoint, Exchange, Office 365, Dynamics and certification opportunities.

“There’s a lot going on in the world of technology right now, and TechEd is a critical platform for us to share our roadmap and insights with our IT Professionals and developers,” said De Wit. “Cloud, in all its complexity, is probably going to dominate the discussions, but there’s also a huge emerging focus on apps, which are a major opportunity for enterprises going forward.”

This year, TechEd Africa also features the Best of MMS 2013, which will be hosted as a virtual event. It will offer more than 50 dedicated sessions in desktop, device management, datacenter and cloud technologies, presented by some of the world’s most renowned speakers from the MMS 2013 event in Las Vegas. Best of MMS will kick-off with a “What’s the insights” session directly from MMS 2013 Las Vegas, where Rob Willis, Matt McSpirit and Symon Perriman will give the lowdown of all the Hot off the Press announcements made at this year’s Microsoft Management Summit.

Of course, TechEd would not be TechEd without a bit of fun – and Kanis, among others, is keenly looking forward to TechIdols, where rock star presenters of the future will get the chance to strut their stuff on stage and wow the judges and the developer community with their talent.

Registrations close on 10 April. The full conference agenda and all speaker information can be found at www.teched.co.za – and once delegates have registered, they will be able to download the free TechEd Africa 2013 Windows 8 and Windows 8 Phone app, which will allow them to schedule their own agenda and have access to all conference information at your fingertips.