Starting next week, Citrix will be accepting speaking proposals for our big Synergy conference, May 11-14 in San Francisco.   Synergy is focused on the growing convergence between virtualization, networking, and cloud computing.  Because interoperability and openness are central to this theme, we'd like to encourage technical experts and thought leaders around the industry to contribute proposals that focus on a wide range of real world topics, not just those that center exclusively on Citrix technologies. While we're obviously very proud of our own solutions and welcome submissions that feature Citrix, we also believe customers are best served when vendors provide open forums that deal with the real challenges and issues they face every day, especially when those issues involve getting products from multiple vendors to work well together.

With this in mind, we'd love to hear your ideas for topics you think would make great sessions at Synergy. This is your chance to share innovative ideas about how to break from the costs and complexities of the distributed computing status quo and build a SIMPLER and more cost efficient computing environment.

Synergy call for topics submissions will be judged by a selection committee that includes independent analysts, journalists and enterprise IT professionals - we will be naming names soon, and promise a few surprises!   The committees will be looking for compelling, technically rich content that details proven and innovative ways to use virtualization, networking and cloud computing concepts to create a dynamic, agile IT infrastructure.  Don't be afraid to be edgy, provocative and creative. We want sessions that tackle the real world technical and business issues customers are dealing with today, not just vendor sales pitches.

In general, we are looking for submissions that address trends, technologies, and proven solutions in the following areas:

• Desktop virtualization
• Application virtualization
• Server virtualization
• Cloud computing
• Application networking

Check out the Synergy site for more information and to submit your topic!  We're really looking forward to getting input from the larger community since there seems to be a great deal of energy for an open conference on these topics. We want to hear from you!