20 Scenes From Barcelona And The Midsize Enterprise Summit

But the more than 100 midmarket CIOs and IT executives that converged on this beautiful Spain city weren't here just for the sites. They were here for Everything Channel's and Vision Event's Midsize Enterprise Summit 2008 Europe at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, an event to help them get up to snuff on what it takes to boost their business and what technologies are necessary to do that.

Here are some things ChannelWeb saw during the conference and some highlights from one of Europe's most beautiful cities. Pictured here, a view from the mountains, overlooking Barcelona. Gartner research vice president Robert Anderson (pictured) kicked off the event with his keynote presentation: "Shifting Winds In IT: What's The Midsize Enterprise CIO To Do?" warning CIOs that IT is changing.

He said IT is becoming commercialized as more and more end users focus on using social networking tools to conduct business. He cautioned attendees that the time is now to embrace the shift, because, well "shift happens." To help point them in the right direction he said CIOs must accept the top 10 current trends in networking: SaaS, green IT, business intelligence 2.0, mobile and wireless, social networking and Web 2.0, virtualization, unified communications and collaboration, open source software, service oriented architecture (SOA) and free IT.

"Accept and embrace the shifts that are occurring," he said, adding "you are not fully in control." Several CIOs said advice, like that from Anderson and other Gartner analysts on hand at the Midsize Enterprise Summit, is quite valuable. But it's times like the peer-to-peer roundtable discussions and the cocktail reception (pictured), where true value comes in. IT execs can relax and bond with their peers (and in the case of the reception, have a few drinks). CIOs said the peer-to-peer engagements are a great way to learn tips and tricks that they can take back to work and apply to their business. VMware was on hand demonstrating how its virtualization tools can help midsize CIOs consolidate and, in turn, save money and reduce power consumption. Many CIOs in attendance said they like what VMware is doing. Love, however, may be a little strong. But VMware didn't let that stop them from distributing bold bumper stickers that read simply: I Love VMware (pictured). Gartner research vice president Simon Mingay (pictured) outlined a host of tips to help midsize enterprise CIOs start thinking green. Mingay said tools like virtualization, energy efficient printers and others can help not only ease environmental strains, but cut the bottom line. Mingay added that taking a proactive approach to green by turning off PCs and monitors during off hours, reducing the amount of paper used and offering employees points and rewards based on their green behaviors can also have a strong impact.

"It's not rocket science," Mingay said. Throughout the conference, Gartner analysts offered tips to European CIOs to help make their businesses more resilient. They could learn a lesson from the Mosaic de Miro, a mosaic created by Joan Miro in 1976 that sits directly in the middle of La Rambla. Thousands of people stomp across the mosaic -- which also features a brick signed by Miro -- on a daily basis, but it manages to hold up underfoot. Microsoft head of solution sales, Ewan Dalton (pictured), took the stage to demonstrate Microsoft Office Communicator and Office Communications Server. Dalton showed how presence and unified communications can help midsized companies adapt to the new work world, which includes employees working on various devices, in various locations, at various times.

Dalton showed CIOs how Microsoft can tie together communications tools like email, telephony, instant messaging, video conferencing and other applications to form one cohesive platform for easy access to people and information. During a bit of down time on the show floor, Cognos senior solutions specialist David Sapsford (pictured) unwound with a round of Nintendo Wii tennis. Here, Sapsford shows disappointment in an out of bounds volley that ultimately lost him the game. Let's hope he's better at selling Cognos solutions in the midmarket than he is at tennis. While learning about new technologies was the focus of the visit to Barcelona, many CIOs took a break and headed to La Sagrada Familia (pictured). This half-complete church -- under construction for more than 120 years -- was a lifelong project of architect Gaudi. Recognized by many as the official emblem of Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia takes up an entire city block and has become the must-see sight in the city.And while the tourist attractions were an excellent diversion, IT executives buckled down during the day, hearing about everything from Business Intelligence software to unified communications.

Gartner research director James Richardson (pictured), took the stage to present "Maximizing Business Value and Avoiding The Fatal Flaws of Business Intelligence." He warned CIOs of some of the fatal flaws of business intelligence and pondered how, after many years in existence, business intelligence is still top of mind for many midmarket IT executives.

"How can something that's been around for 20 or so years be a hot area?" he asked. During his presentation on business intelligence, Gartner research director James Richardson presented this slide, summing up how many midsize CIOs feel any given day. This street performer, posing for photos and accepting donations on La Rambla, a bustling thoroughfare of shops and restaurants in the heart of Barcelona, may have frightened some CIOs who used time off to stroll the city. But he's nowhere near as startling as some of the shifting trends in IT that CIOs will have to brace for over the coming decade. An honest mistake, maybe, but we couldn't help but chuckle at this little typo VMware let slip through on the virtualization vendor's booth at the Midsize Enterprise Summit Solutions Showcase.Gartner research director Steve Cramoysan (pictured) helped attendees differentiate between the reality and hype of unified communications. During his presentation, Cramoysan pointed out that unified communications isn't a single product, but a portfolio that includes a PBX, email, voicemail, conferencing, instant messaging, rich presence services, multichannel notification and a host of other applications. The problem with UC, he said, is that currently there is no clear definition of exactly what comprises it, leading to a great deal of confusion in the midsize market.Brave attendees -- who weren't afraid of heights -- took in a bird's eye view of the city on Teleferic, a cable car precariously strung over the harbor that glides between Miramar and La Barceloneta.Andrew Butler (pictured), Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst, predicted that the next five to 10 years will bring an upheaval in the data center market, driven mostly by changes in servers as we know them. The three key shifts, he said, will be virtualization, blades and modular servers and multi-core or multi-thread architectures.This statue of Christopher Columbus, Monument a Colom, sits on the water front in Placa del Portal de la Pau. Built for the Universal Exhibition in 1888, Columbus points out over the water, urging travel and new discovery. A quick elevator ride brings you to his feet, for amazing views of the harbor and the city. Unfortunately, the statue can't point European IT executives toward which unified communications vendor they should choose.Capping off the Midsize Enterprise Summit were the "Best of Midsize Enterprise Innovation Awards," which honored attending technology providers whose products and solutions lead the industry. Attendees cast their ballots for the awards following the closing session.

VMware took home Best Midmarket Software Solution award for the host of midmarket virtualization solutions it showcased at the event, including VMware ESX Server, a virtualization layer that abstracts processor, memory, storage and networking resources into multiple virtual machines; VMware ESX Server 3i, a thin hypervisor integrated into server hardware to enable security and reliability and lay the foundation for a dynamic, automated data center; VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), a solution that dynamically allocates and balances computing capacity across a collection of hardware resources aggregated into logical resource pools; and VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, its end-to-end solution for server-based virtual desktop computing that offers midsized users control and manageability while offering the end users a familiar desktop experience.

Here Femke Ververs (center), VMware's EMEA event marketing coordinator accepts the award from Christina Bertioli (right), Vision Events account manager, and Jackson Daly (left), Vision Events delegate manager. The Best Midmarket Strategy award (pictured) was given to Microsoft for the software solutions it discussed throughout the Midsize Enterprise Summit, including such as customer relationship management software, collaboration software, enterprise resource planning software and business intelligence software.

Microsoft's representatives had to leave the event early, and were not available to accept the award in person. VMware took home its second award of the night: the Best Technology Provider award. Pictured again is VMware's Ververs (center) and Vision Events' Bertioli (right) and Daly (left).