Vitagliano said top of mind this year for solution provider CEOs is the continued rapid pace of technology changes and consolidation in the channel. "We see tremendous change ahead," he said. "There is massive consolidation happening. There are disruptive technologies that are of major importance to those of us running solution provider businesses. It is really important that we understand from the top executives in the business what direction they are going in."

The Conference kicks off Oct. 9 with a fireside chat afternoon session with Faletra and Whitman, who has stepped up the company's hybrid IT offensive this year with the acquisition of hyper-converged superstar SimpliVity and all-flash powerhouse Nimble.

Later the day, Faletra talks with Gelsinger, who brokered the blockbuster VMware partnership with Amazon Web Services and the acquisition of real-time multicloud monitoring and management high flyer Wavefront.

On Oct. 10, Faletra discusses the disruptive nature of Docker's game-changing container technology with Golub, who has powered Docker deeper into the enterprise market with a new tiered channel program and partnerships with the likes of HPE and Accenture.

The conference closes with a discussion between Faletra and Dell, the PC entrepreneur-turned-technology-titan who pulled off the largest acquisition in IT history with Dell's $60 billion purchase of EMC.

Dell now oversees a Dell Technologies portfolio that includes Dell EMC servers and storage, Pivotal's cloud based development platform, RSA and SecureWorks security offerings, the Virtustream cloud, and the VMware virtualization and multi-cloud management software business.