Security And Surfing: 16 Fun Scenes From RSA SecurWorld Partner Conference

"Ride the Wave" was this year's appropriately themed RSA SecureWorld Partner Conference, held at the Hyatt Mission Bay in San Diego, Calif. This year's conference attracted nearly 150 RSA partner attendees from all over the country, who came to learn about RSA's new channel offerings that execs say will position the company to provide more data loss prevention and payment card industry auditing-related services. (And gathering by the waterfront in sunny San Diego was tough for all the partners, but most told ChannelWeb that they somehow managed to get through).

Kicking off the whirlwind of keynote speeches was "mind entertainer" Jon Stetson, who routinely stunned the crowd for two days by guessing the names of partners' first boyfriends, astrological signs, birthdays, favorite movies and even serial numbers on the dollar bills in their wallets. What does this have to do with security, you ask? Well, not much. But it was very entertaining and Stetson managed to keep the partners glued to their seats as everyone waited to see if he would get something wrong.

Attendees hear from RSA executives with numerous keynote speeches throughout the three-day SecurWorld conference, held Oct. 6-8 in San Diego, Calif. Fueled by coffee, good food and an entertaining moderator, partners stayed engaged throughout the back-to-back speeches peppered with major channel announcements.

Art Coviello, president of RSA, The Security Division of EMC, addresses the audience during his opening keynote speech at San Diego's Hyatt Regency Mission Bay. Among the plethora of channel-related news announcements, Coviello revealed that RSA was going to unveil new offerings that combined data loss prevention, authentication and event management in one unified product.

At the conference's evening Welcome Reception, sponsored by Tech Data, partners enjoyed some down time to network, relax and have fun on the balmy outdoor pool deck. Partners also got their fill of ravioli, salmon, prime rib and tiramisu, accompanied by all the wine and beer they could drink from the open bar.

Partners Joe Luciano and David Hark from AccessIT, a New Jersey-based solution provider, enjoy good food and coffee from the espresso bar, in addition to some camaraderie as the welcome reception festivities carry on into the evening.

Partners discuss security trends and the latest offerings over a few drinks, as well as a few laughs, at the welcome party. Nobody ended up in the pool.

Joe Healey, National Sales Director at Akibia, headquartered in Westborough, Mass., accepts an award for RSA East Partner of the Year, during the SecurWorld award ceremony.

Kurt Loock, President of Atlanta, Ga.-based Data Processing Sciences, with offices in Des Moines, Iowa and Tulsa Okla,, accepts the award for RSA Midwest Partner of the Year.

Eric Perkins, chief technology officer at Ontario-based Cyberklix, is presented with the award for RSA Canadian Partner of the Year.

Tom Gobielle, president of Network Computing Architects, based in Bellevue, Wash., takes home the RSA West Partner of the Year award.

Forsythe Solutions Group receives RSA's Partner of the Year award. Mark Balsoni, Forsythe director of business development, accepted on behalf of his company.

But RSA SecurWorld was far from all work and no play. As RSA SecurWorld wrapped up, partners got to let loose at the WaveHouse San Diego, a restaurant, bar and professional wave facility. Post conference attendees got to hang out with a cocktail (or two) and watch professional and amateur surfers alike strut their stuff on the killer wave Bruticus Maximus.

Who said surfing and sales don't mix? Not to be one-upped by the professionals, RSA conference attendees signed up to Hang 10 at the WaveHouse.

And there were those who preferred to take the competition to the golf course. Partners and RSA employees lined up their golf carts in preparation for a round of 18-holes at the conference golf tournament.

It's not the office but the golf course where vendors and VARs get to duke it out. Terry Kurzynski and Karsten Abata from hybrid services firm Halock Security Labs, based in Schaumburg, Ill., tee off (in the best sense of the word) with Karen Kiffney and Joe Gabriel of RSA at the conference golf tournament.