Cloudscape 2024: The Blue Mantis Community Meets the Future

More than 300 Blue Mantis clients, technology and channel partners, and industry leaders assembled in scenic and historic Newport, RI last week for our annual Cloudscape conference. Carrying the theme, “Securing the Present, Innovating the Future”, the two-day event informed attendees on the latest advancements in AI, cybersecurity, and more during a jam-packed collection of compelling keynotes, nearly 30 deep-dive technical breakouts, as well as insightful fireside chats, and spirited expert panels. This year’s Cloudscape also featured a lively and new-look Technology Expo featuring 38 vendor partners, a multitude of networking opportunities and, of course, our iconic waterfront lobster bake.

Cloudscape 2024 Highlights

Here are just a few highlights of the conference:

• Josh Dinneen, greeting attendees in his first Cloudscape as CEO, kicked things off with a welcome keynote, in which he detailed Blue Mantis’ transformational journey of the past twelve months, while also unveiling some exciting forthcoming company initiatives. His presentation emphasized the importance of growth, investment, and the critical requirement to deliver client value through positive business outcomes. Josh also previewed the full Cloudscape agenda and opened the curtain on plans for further expansion into and investment in the areas of Advisory Services, Unified Communications, and Data Intelligence and Enablement. 
• Dan Magoon, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes and Executive Director of InnoVets – two mission-driven, non-profit organizations that Blue Mantis proudly partners with and supports – delivered an inspiring keynote of his own. Dan discussed InnoVets’ mission and the CodeX program, which has been co-developed with Blue Mantis to provide cybersecurity and IT education, training, mentorship, and job placement support for military veterans and Gold Star Families.  Dan also discussed InnoVets’ goal of expanding its footprint and reaching beyond the Boston area to support veterans and their families across the U.S.
• An all-star panel of cybersecurity, risk management, compliance, law enforcement and legal experts who collectively went on a “Beneath-the-Surface Exploration of a Cyber Breach.” Our partner ecosystem panelists: Scott Lashway, Partner at powerhouse law firm, Mintz, Kevin Powers, founder and director of the Master of Science in Cybersecurity Policy and Governance Programs at Boston College, Joe Bonavolonta, Managing Partner at global risk and intelligence advisory firm Sentinel, and former head of the FBI counterintelligence program, were joined by Blue Mantis COO Jay Pasteris and newly-promoted CISO Jay Martin. These experts provided a rare and rather transparent post-mortem of the massive ransomware attack on a provider of data services for international call centers perpetrated by the hacker group, BlackCat. They explored a unique roleplaying scenario focusing on the technical details, legal ramifications, and financial impact a data breach can impose on organizations and their C-suite, as well as the importance of creating and regularly testing a proactive incident response plan for event mitigation and recovery.
• A rather thought-provoking keynote featuring one of the world’s foremost experts in software vulnerability research, Chris Wysopal, the founder, former CTO, and current Chief Security Evangelist of security software firm Veracode drew a standing-room only crowd. Chris’ session, “The Risks and Rewards of Generative AI in the Software Development Process” addressed the security implications of relying on code generated by large language models (LLMs) and the growing complexities of software development amidst the GenAI boom.  Among Chris’ pearls of wisdom: “Securing software is hard” and “We need to apply AI to solve problems created by AI in software development.”
• An insightful and informative Fireside Chat on Zero Trust hosted by Blue Mantis Senior Director of Advanced Technologies, Jeff Cratty, and featuring Rik Wright, CIO of The Channel Company with Blue Mantis’ cybersecurity experts Don Lens and Jay Martin. The group detailed best practices for integrating Zero Trust principles into an organization’s cybersecurity and compliance efforts. Additionally, Rik and Jay discussed the blueprint their respective teams developed to create a Zero Trust Architecture for the Channel Company as it shifted to support a fully remote and expanded workforce during the pandemic.
• Not surprisingly, the executive panel session titled “How AI is Transforming Employee Productivity and Shaping the Future of Work” played to a packed house. The panel, again moderated by Blue Mantis’ Jeff Cratty, also featured terrific insights, valuable anecdotes and bold predictions from AI Technology Partners’ CEO John Treadway, Microsoft’s Director and Partner Development Manager Francesco Rietti, Nethopper CEO and Co-Founder Chris Munford and JVS’ CIO Jim Santiago.  The panelists also discussed and debated the threats posed by AI hallucinations, the importance of Responsible AI, as well as Microsoft Copilot’s significant impact on employee efficiency, workplace dynamics, success stories, challenges, and future developments. Their expertise was vital in helping attendees separate hype from reality relative to how AI is helping to enhance task automation, decision-making, and creativity in our professional workplaces.
• Two-days of technical breakout sessions on topics ranging from but not limited to Cloud Cost Optimization, FinOps, Incident Response, Hybrid Cloud Strategies, 5G-Enabled Laptops, Network Security, and Windows 11 Migration.
• Cloudscape 2024 concluded with a wonderful cocktail party on the waterfront, followed by a delicious lobster bake and top-shelf musical entertainment.  Highlights of the cocktail party included the announcement that $15,000 had been generously raised for InnoVets by Cloudscape attendees with Blue Mantis matching that amount, as well as the social media contest and charity raffle prize winners and closing remarks by Josh Dinneen and COO Jay Pasteris. It was a terrific reminder of Josh’s request in his Welcome Keynote that all attendees should “network, learn, and have fun.” Clearly, that challenge was accepted by one and all.

If you’re interested in learning more about any of the exciting industry topics we discussed at Cloudscape 2024, then let’s meet to continue the discussion about the future.

Finally, a big thank you to all of our sponsors who helped make Cloudscape 2024 a reality and thank you to all who attended. See you next year!