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Presented by Techstrong Group, a Futurum company
Oct 15 · 11:30 a.m. SGT
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Event day · October 15, 2026

The AI Factory: From Vision to Value

Join the main stage, drop into partner booths during the networking breaks and get answers from Red Hat, NVIDIA, Dell Technologies, Dify and WEKA experts.

Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. SGT
Live interpretation & captions in the event room:日本語한국어简体中文
Starts inSGT
--Days
--Hours
--Min
--Sec
First session
Welcome Address and Opening Remarks
11:30–11:35 a.m. SGT · Alan Shimel, Techstrong Group
Up next
The State of Enterprise AI: From Experimentation to Impact
11:35–11:50 a.m. SGT
From idea to impact
01 Idea

The question you bring

Start from the problem, not the platform.

Charcoal server cabinet with a red door handle in a dark data hall
02 Open architecture · One platform · swappable parts · no lock-in
03 Value

Measured in production

Outcomes measured where the work runs.

From idea to impact. Illustrative concept imagery — not an official partner photograph.
About the event

Build your AI foundation for today. Keep your options open.

Explore how Red Hat and its partner ecosystem take an idea through an open architecture toward measurable value, with prerecorded sessions and demos.

For enterprise leaders, architects, and AI and platform teams moving from experimentation to production.

Registration

Come build with us

Register for The AI Factory: From Vision to Value.

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01 Event day

Agenda

Join any session on the main stage, ask questions in the live Q&A and visit partner booths during the breaks. Live interpretation and captions are available in the event room.

Event Sessions 9
Thursday, October 15, 2026 · Show times in
11:30 a.m.
OpeningWelcome Address and Opening RemarksLive
Alan Shimel, Techstrong Group
Main Stage →
11:36 a.m.
KeynoteThe State of Enterprise AI: From Experimentation to ImpactLive
Alan Shimel, Techstrong Group
Main Stage →
11:47 a.m.
KeynoteThe Red Hat and NVIDIA Point of View: Red Hat AI Factory with NVIDIA is Red Hat and NVIDIALive
Prem Pavan, Red Hat · John Fanelli, NVIDIA
Main Stage →
12:07 p.m.
PanelThe AI Factory in Action: Red Hat, NVIDIA and Dell Technologies Live
Alan Shimel, Techstrong Group · Steve Shirkey · Jeff Peres, NVIDIA · Deepak Waghmare, Dell Technologies
Main Stage →
12:30 p.m.
ExpoNetworking Break with Demos Live
Partner booths open · Red Hat, Dell Technologies, Dify, WEKA
Visit Booths →
12:35 p.m.
SessionWhy WEKA, why NOW? The Demand for ScaleLive
Geeta Raval Vaghela, WEKA
Main Stage →
12:57 p.m.
SessionUnlocking Sovereign AI: Using Red Hat AILive
Kiran Challapalli, Red Hat
Main Stage →
1:07 p.m.
ClosingClosing: Your Next Step to Building an AI FactoryLive
Steve Shirkey
Main Stage →
1:10 p.m.
ExpoNetworking Demos Live
Partner booths open · Red Hat, Dell Technologies, Dify, WEKA
Visit Booths →
12:45 p.m.
SessionThe Governance Layer: Making Dify Agents Production-ReadyLive
Alvin Wu , Dify
Main Stage →
Agenda

Full agenda & session details

Open any session for its description and speakers. All times are Singapore time (SGT).

1

Welcome Address and Opening Remarks

Time

October 15, 2026
11:30 AM – 11:36 AM +08

Description

Session description to be announced.

Speakers

 Alan Shimel
Alan Shimel
CEO and Founder
Techstrong Group
2

The State of Enterprise AI: From Experimentation to Impact

Time

October 15, 2026
11:36 AM – 11:47 AM +08

Description

A market perspective on the evolving AI landscape, including enterprise adoption trends, key challenges to scaling AI, infrastructure considerations and what organizations need to move from pilots to business value.

Speakers

 Alan Shimel
Alan Shimel
CEO and Founder
Techstrong Group
3

The Red Hat and NVIDIA Point of View: Red Hat AI Factory with NVIDIA is Red Hat and NVIDIA

Time

October 15, 2026
11:47 AM – 12:07 PM +08

Description

An candid conversation between  Red Hat and NVIDIA to share their joint approach to enterprise AI and why openness, portability and hybrid flexibility matter in an environment where models, hardware and AI architectures are evolving rapidly. 

Speakers

Prem Pavan
Prem Pavan
VP of Ecosystem, APJ
Red Hat
John Fanelli
John Fanelli
VP of Enterprise Software
NVIDIA
4

The AI Factory in Action: Red Hat, NVIDIA and Dell Technologies

Time

October 15, 2026
12:07 PM – 12:32 PM +08

Description

A joint discussion showcasing how Red Hat, NVIDIA and Dell come together to provide an integrated approach for enterprise AI. Together, the ecosystem helps organizations create a repeatable path to build, deploy and scale AI.

Speakers

 Alan Shimel
Alan Shimel
CEO and Founder
Techstrong Group
Steve Shirkey
Steve Shirkey
Director AI Platform, APJ
Red Hat
 Jeff Peres
Jeff Peres
Director, Enterprise Software Sales
NVIDIA
 Deepak Waghmare
Deepak Waghmare
Regional CTO Leader – APJC
Dell Technologies
5

Networking Break with Demos

Time

October 15, 2026
12:30 PM – 12:35 PM +08

Description

Visit the partner booths to explore demos and resources from Red Hat, Dell Technologies, Dify, WEKA, and Nvidia. Partner representatives are available in booth chat to answer questions live, and you can add assets to your downloads to take with you.

Speakers

Coming Soon

6

Why WEKA, why NOW? The Demand for Scale

Time

October 15, 2026
12:35 PM – 12:45 PM +08

Description

Token consumption is exploding, and inference at scale is pushing traditional infrastructure past its limits. Geeta Raval Vaghela explains why WEKA's fully distributed, software-defined architecture was built for this moment, and walks through the capabilities developed with Red Hat for production AI: a Kubernetes operator for OpenShift, high-performance S3, end-to-end multi-tenancy, and NeuralMesh with Augmented Memory Grid to extend the data layer into GPU memory.

Speakers

Geeta Raval Vaghela
Geeta Raval Vaghela
VP, Enterprise AI Infrastructure Partnerships
WEKA
7

Unlocking Sovereign AI: Using Red Hat AI

Time

October 15, 2026
12:57 PM – 1:07 PM +08

Description

An open and hybrid architecture can help organizations maintain greater flexibility across environments while supporting evolving requirements around data, security, governance and technology choice. Red Hat has recently positioned the AI Factory around a consistent hybrid foundation and greater architectural control for enterprises scaling AI workloads.

Speakers

 Kiran Challapalli
Kiran Challapalli
AI Ecosystem Sales Lead, APJ
Red Hat
8

Closing: Your Next Step to Building an AI Factory

Time

October 15, 2026
1:07 PM – 1:12 PM +08

Description

Session description to be announced.

Speakers

Steve Shirkey
Steve Shirkey
Director AI Platform, APJ
Red Hat
9

Networking Demos

Time

October 15, 2026
1:10 PM – 2:30 PM +08

Description

The expo area stays open after the program closes. Continue the conversation with Red Hat, Dell Technologies, Dify, WEKA and Nvidia, watch solution demos and connect with partner teams on how to take the first step toward your own AI Factory.

Speakers

Coming Soon

10

The Governance Layer: Making Dify Agents Production-Ready

Time

October 15, 2026
12:45 PM – 12:57 PM +08

Description

Personal AI assistants are great for one-off tasks, but an enterprise SOP needs predictable outcomes, an audit trail and data that never leaves your environment. Alvin Wu shows how Dify's low-code agentic workflow platform delivers all three on Red Hat OpenShift, with a real-world banking deployment running 100+ live agents across five departments, followed by quick demos of a prompt-built workflow and a government service hotline that turns free-text requests into structured, traceable cases.

Speakers

 Alvin Wu
Alvin Wu
Country Manager, SEA
Dify
02 Speakers

The voices behind the agenda

Select a speaker to read their full biography.

 Alan Shimel
Alan Shimel
CEO and Founder · Techstrong Group
View Bio
Job title
CEO and Founder
Company
Techstrong Group

Alan is founder, CEO & editor-in-chief of Techstrong Group, the company behind DevOps.com, Container Journal, Security Boulevard and Digital Anarchist, as well as co-founder of the DevOps Institute. As such, he is attuned to the world of technology, particularly cloud, DevOps, security and open source. With almost 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, Alan has been instrumental in the success of several organizations. He is an often-cited personality in the security and technology community and is a sought-after speaker at industry and government conferences and events. In addition to his writing, his DevOps Chats podcast, DevOps TV and Digital Anarchist audio and videos are widely followed. Alan attributes his success to a combination of a strong business background and a deep knowledge of technology. His legal background, long experience in the field and New York street smarts combine to form a unique personality. He is a graduate of St. John's University with a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics, and holds a JD degree from NY Law School.

Prem Pavan
Prem Pavan
VP of Ecosystem, APJ · Red Hat
View Bio
Job title
VP of Ecosystem, APJ
Company
Red Hat
Prem is a seasoned business leader with over three decades of vast experience in the technology space, with more than 20 years leading Asia Pacific teams. Throughout his career, Prem has specialized in leading large-scale business transformations. Currently, as the Head of Ecosystem in APAC, he is responsible for building and scaling a first-class partner ecosystem, encompassing cloud hyperscalers, GSI, ISVs, technology partners, VARs, and distributors to deliver Red Hat’s market-leading solutions in open hybrid cloud, AI, and virtualization to customers across all industries and segments.

Prem has a proven track record of driving unprecedented growth, most recently as the VP & General Manager of Southeast Asia & Korea (SEAK) at Red Hat. Prior to joining Red Hat, Prem served as Area VP & MD for Citrix, successfully positioning the company as the "Remote Workplace Solution of choice" during the critical COVID-19 period. His deep expertise in automation and content management was honed at Kofax, where he doubled product revenue across Asia, Japan, and India. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Software AG, where he was instrumental in expanding its footprint within the Banking and Financial Services sector.

A frequent industry speaker, Prem is a passionate advocate for the intersection of Hybrid Cloud, AI, and the Future of Work. He believes that true digital transformation is achieved only through the seamless collaboration of technology, business strategy, and human-centric leadership.
John Fanelli
John Fanelli
VP of Enterprise Software · NVIDIA
View Bio
Job title
VP of Enterprise Software
Company
NVIDIA
John is vice president of the NVIDIA virtualization product group, which includes responsibility for product management, product marketing and virtualization alliances. With over 20 years of marketing experience, John has led marketing teams at DataTorrent, Citrix, LeftHand Networks, Wind River and Sun Microsystems. He holds an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a master’s degree in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Michigan.
Steve Shirkey
Steve Shirkey
Director AI Platform, APJ · Red Hat
View Bio
Job title
Director AI Platform, APJ
Company
Red Hat
Steve Shirkey drives AI strategy and execution across APAC using hybrid cloud and open-source technologies. Previously, he led Azure AI adoption at Microsoft in ANZ, Southeast Asia, and Korea, and scaled deep learning adoption at AWS in Southeast Asia. With over 20 years’ experience in AI, cloud, and data, Steve helps enterprises achieve digital transformation and operationalize AI solutions. He has partnered with global industry leaders across financial services, manufacturing, and cloud platforms to transform data into actionable insights and scalable AI-driven innovation.
 Deepak Waghmare
Deepak Waghmare
Regional CTO Leader – APJC · Dell Technologies
View Bio
Job title
Regional CTO Leader – APJC
Company
Dell Technologies

Deepak Waghmare is Chief Technology Officer for Asia Pacific, Japan & Greater China at Dell Technologies, where he leads the regional CTO team across the company's most heterogeneous region - economies at entirely different stages of digital maturity, often inside a single customer's footprint.
He works where enterprise Al ambition meets operational reality. The constraint he sees across APJC is rarely model capability; it is the orchestration, data foundations, and governance that decide whether a pilot ever reaches production. That view shapes how he advises boards and CIOs on Al adoption, sovereign infrastructure, multi-cloud architecture, and the migration of intelligence toward the edge.
Two decades in, he has worked every side of the table — customer, systems integrator, and vendor - with organisations from startups to multinationals across North America, EMEA, and APJ. He has been the one buying, the one implementing, and the one selling, and he argues from all three.
He serves on the Singapore Computer Society's Digital Assurance committee and ISACA
Singapore's OT Special Interest Group - governance work that tracks the same IT/OT convergence he sees across customer estates - and is a Charter Member of TiE Singapore, where he mentors founders. He treats all of it as part of the job, not adjacent to it.

 Jeff Peres
Jeff Peres
Director, Enterprise Software Sales · NVIDIA
View Bio
Job title
Director, Enterprise Software Sales
Company
NVIDIA

Biography coming soon.

Geeta Raval Vaghela
Geeta Raval Vaghela
VP, Enterprise AI Infrastructure Partnerships · WEKA
View Bio
Job title
VP, Enterprise AI Infrastructure Partnerships
Company
WEKA

Geeta Raval Vaghela leads Partner Strategy and Solutions Engineering at WEKA. Before joining WEKA, she was Senior Director of Product Management for Unstructured Data Solutions and Head of AI Storage Strategy and Technical Computing at Dell Technologies, where she led Dell's Parallel File System work and worked closely with the Office of the CTO and strategic technology partners. Earlier, she managed next-generation platforms on the Isilon team. Her background in product management, systems architecture, M&A and partner work now shapes how she helps WEKA's partners build and deliver high-performance AI solutions. Geeta holds a Bachelor's (Hons) and a Master's in Mathematics, and she mentors young women in tech through Women in Cloud and Girls Who Game.

 Alvin Wu
Alvin Wu
Country Manager, SEA · Dify
View Bio
Job title
Country Manager, SEA
Company
Dify

Alvin is in charge of SEA at Dify, leading market strategy and operations while partnering with service partners and ecosystem partners to help enterprises scale AI Agent and AI workflow adoption.


With cross-domain experience across hardware, software, and AI, he has led multiple 0-to-1 products from ideation to launch at both global enterprises and startups. Alvin specializes in end-to-end enterprise AI adoption and brings a well-rounded perspective from working across end customers, consultancies, and vendors, backed by solid project management and business fundamentals.

 Kiran	Challapalli
Kiran Challapalli
AI Ecosystem Sales Lead, APJ · Red Hat
View Bio
Job title
AI Ecosystem Sales Lead, APJ
Company
Red Hat

Ecosystem AI Sales Specialist at Red Hat with 24 years of software development and sales experience, including 10+ years specialising in AI and ML solutions.


I empower partners at Red Hat to co-create AI solutions and execute joint go-to-market (GTM) strategies.


My passion is democratising AI/ML and driving data-driven business decisions with solutions that are business-focused, not just technology-centric.


Key AI Experience:


AWS: I served as an AI specialist technical business developer, helping public sector organisations (Education, Government, Healthcare, Non-profits) across India to co-create cloud solutions leveraging Generative AI and LLMs for improved outcomes.


IBM Watson: I previously worked as a Tech Sales Architect, helping large enterprises adopt AI into their workflows using IBM Watson technologies.


Technical & Education: I hold multiple AI/ML certifications, including AWS Architect and Machine Learning Specialist, and patents. My technical background includes expertise in Amazon Bedrock, SageMaker, IBM Watson and OpenShift AI. I have a Master's degree in Computer Sciences and an Engineer's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

03 Partner booths

Visit the partner booths

Chat live with partner experts, watch demos and add resources to My Downloads. Booths are busiest during the 12:25 p.m. break and after 1:25 p.m. SGT.

Register Now
Host boothLive chat

Red Hat

Talk with Red Hat AI experts about building an open, scalable AI factory — and bring your NVIDIA questions here too.

Red Hat AIAI Factory with NVIDIAAI sovereignty

On stage: Prem Pavan, Steve Shirkey and Kiran Challapalli

Partner boothLive chat

WEKA

Learn how WEKA’s AI data infrastructure helps keep AI workloads fed and moving at scale.

AI data platformAI infrastructure

On stage: Geeta Raval Vaghela in the Partner Solution Showcase at 12:40 p.m. SGT

Questions for NVIDIA? Visit the Red Hat booth.

NVIDIA joins Red Hat on stage for the AI Factory sessions. Red Hat’s booth team will take your NVIDIA questions — no separate booth needed.

Go to the Red Hat Booth →

Booths open inside the event room. If a booth doesn’t open, use “Join the Event” and choose Booths or Expo in the venue menu.

04 Resource Hub

Resource Hub

Browse every partner’s resources, add what you want to My Downloads, then download it all in one click.

  1. 1
    Join the boothClick Join Booth on a partner tab to unlock its resources.
  2. 2
    Add to My DownloadsTap “+ Add to My Downloads” on each item, or “+ Add all to My Downloads” for the whole booth.
  3. 3
    Download AllMy Downloads is on the rightat the top. Click Download All to get every document and video at once.
Main Stage Partner Booths Resource Hub0 Lobby
The AI Factory: From Vision to Value