A First Draft

I've completed what I'd call a "first draft" of Gluecon 2013. By that I don't just mean the agenda. I mean, the first raft of sponsors, the first round of reading, researching and thinking through topics, the first pass at the agenda, and the first real interactions with a bunch of new startups.The next two months will see countless revisions on the agenda, and many additions to the sponsor list - but this "first draft" should give you an idea of where Gluecon is heading this year.One note before I do the info-dump: We are planning a hackathon that will start/run on late afternoon of May 21st and continue on May 22nd (with winners on the 23rd), but I'm still locking down some details around that.Our current announced sponsors include:Alcatel-LucentIntelSumoLogicBashoGnipMulesoftSendGridNexmoBig CommerceAppDynamicsMashapeSplunkRackspaceParseKii(and I'm set to announce another batch shortly)The current first draft of the agenda is here.Some highlights include:Two workshops: One that is a deep dive into Salesforce.com's identity platform, and one that will center on building on Netflix's open source architecture.Software Refined Networking - The Path To Hell Is Paved With Good Abstraction - Chris Hoff, Juniper NetworksAn Introduction to the Emerging JSON-Based Identity and Security Protocols -- Brian Campbell, Ping IdentityDistributed Systems Anti-Patterns: Ways People Fail (And How Not To) -- Shanley Kane, BashoA Tale of Two Network (Stacks) : Why the network stack is stratified and SDN needs to get over it -Lori Mac Vittie, F5 NetworksAnalytics for Hackers: How to think about Event Data -- Michelle Wetzler, Keen IOAPI Business Models: 20 Models in 20 Minutes - John Musser, Programmable WebNode.js is for APIs -- Mick Thompson, Code for AmericaCreating Sustainable Documentation with Jekyll -- Brandon West, SendGridDeveloping polyglot persistence applications -- Chris Richardson, VMWareDark Architecture and How to Forklift Upgrade Your Infrastructure with Zero Downtime -- Cory Von Wallenstein, Dyn(with much, much more to come.)If you've never been to a Gluecon, I can promise you the best conference wifi you've ever seen, and the kind of intimate networking atmosphere that makes you feel like you're hanging out with friends. If you have been to a Gluecon, I can promise you that we're working even harder this year to deepen the technical level of content, and bring you an experience that you cannot get anywhere else.I hope you'll decide to join us.