DEC was founded by NetPro to provide experienced Active Directory administrators with advanced technical education from the industry’s top experts and Microsoft technology leadership. Today, the conference has grown to nearly 1,000 participants annually and now includes an expanded emphasis on identity management technologies as well as directory services.

In addition to it being THE conference for the most experienced users of directory and identity management technologies, DEC offers:

• In-depth, highly technical content.
• One-on-one access to industry leaders.
• Invaluable networking opportunities.
• Career advancement possibilities.

DEC 2008 blows into the Windy City of Chicago from March 2-5, 2008.

DEC 2008 Conference Theme
The theme this year—Active Directory Evolves: The New Identity Platform for Enterprise 2.0—will explore Windows directory and identity technologies as the platform for a rapidly changing distributed computing paradigm that’s mobile, free from boundaries, and virtualized. 

Highly qualified speakers will provide guidance on the integration of key component services into a single coherent platform that impacts everything from infrastructure and application management to IT security and compliance for the enterprise of tomorrow. Tracks include:

• Directory Services, with specific focus on leveraging and managing Active Directory
  
• Identity Lifecycle Management, including all aspects of ILM, from user provisioning to cross-platform management
  
• Federated Identity, highlighting ADFS and CardSpace
  
• Information Protection, with specific emphasis on Windows RMS
  

DEC Attendee Profile
Based on past DEC surveys, typical attendees:

• Are “hands-on” practitioners such as systems engineers, consultants, IT managers, directors, VPs, and others.
• Come from organizations with more than 100 people and while many come from corporate or government IT organizations, many others are from smaller consultancies, service providers, or software providers.
• Support 5,000 or more users.
• Have some responsibility for Active Directory and/or ILM along with other technologies including Exchange, DNS, SharePoint, etc.

About NetPro
A Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, NetPro provides unprecedented control over your Windows infrastructure with software solutions that drive security and compliance into your organization while increasing operational efficiency and productivity. More than 6 million users—from such respected organizations as Coors Brewing, the U.S. Army, and General Motors—optimize their Windows networks with NetPro solutions.

Together, NetPro and Microsoft deliver the only conference for expert training on Microsoft directory and identity technologies.