In collaboration with
Overview
Australia is entering a pivotal phase in its AI evolution, with AI spending projected to grow nearly 4X faster than overall technology spending over the next five years. As enterprises accelerate digital modernisation across cloud, hybrid, and distributed environments, cloud operations and management have become a critical priority. Organisations are increasingly focused on first understanding their own environments end-to-end before engaging vendors, with a strong preference for unified platforms that can deliver visibility, intelligence, and action at scale. At the same time, traditional monitoring approaches can no longer keep pace with rising complexity, performance expectations, and cost pressures.
This challenge is further amplified as enterprises transition from cloud-centric architectures to model-centric architectures, where AI models sit at the centre of digital services and actively influence how applications behave, how data flows, and how user experiences are delivered. In this new operating model, observability must evolve beyond infrastructure and applications to provide clear visibility into how systems, data, and AI models interact in real time.
By 2027, 85% of Global 500 organisations are expected to deploy agentic AI for autonomous IT cloud operations, enabling systems to continuously monitor, analyse, and remediate issues with minimal human intervention. Join IDC and Riverbed on this summit as we spotlight the shift from reactive monitoring to predictive, AI-powered observability, demonstrating how forward-looking organisations are leveraging telemetry, automation, and AI-driven correlation to reduce operational complexity, eliminate blind spots, and improve performance across hybrid and distributed environments.
Agenda
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Observability Summit
One day event
Registration & Networking
Welcome Address by IDC & Riverbed
Linus Lai
Group Vice President, Research, IDC
Paul Crighton
VP, APJ Sales, Riverbed Technology
IDC Keynote
Linus Lai
Group Vice President, Research, IDC
Keynote by Riverbed
Fernando Castanheira
Global CIO, Riverbed Technology
Riverbed Demo
Q&A
Nick Kempt
Director, APJ Professional Services, Riverbed Technology
Panel Discussion moderated by IDC
Linus Lai
Group Vice President, Research, IDC
Fernando Castanheira
Global CIO, Riverbed Technology
Riverbed Demo
Summary & Close
Networking Drinks
Speakers
Linus Lai
Linus Lai is a member of the Asia/Pacific Software and Services Research Group. He has more than 20 years of IT experience in the region. Based in Sydney, Australia, he has experience in several cloud, software, and services programs in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), which covers a wide range of technology and services markets across 13 countries.
In this role, he is responsible for providing insights and analyses in enterprise adoption, integration, and management of these solutions. This includes sourcing strategies, vendor selection, and identifying emerging trends in business and technology solutions across technology buyers in the region. Linus is a founding member of IDC Asia/Pacific’s Emerging Technology Advisory Council and is a recipient of numerous awards for country, regional, and quality research contributions. In his previous role as head of research in Southeast Asia, he developed and grew IDC’s presence in the region.
Linus is frequently quoted in various publications and media outlets and is a regular presenter at industry forums, client events, and strategic workshops. Prior to joining IDC, Linus worked with a large outsourcing service provider that focused on retail banking solutions.
Linus holds a master of science degree from the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom.
Event Sessions
Wednesday, March 4 2026 2:00 pm | Location:
Panel Discussion moderated by IDC
Wednesday, March 4 2026 12:05 pm | Location:
IDC Keynote
Wednesday, March 4 2026 12:00 pm | Location:
Welcome Address by IDC & Riverbed
Fernando Castanheira
Fernando Castanheira is Riverbed’s Global CIO responsible for all aspects of IT including digital transformation, Cyber/IT security, infrastructure, operations and business platforms. In addition, Fernando leads the SaaS Business strategy function partnering with the customer facing teams on new approaches centered on providing ongoing customer value and delightful experiences.
Prior to joining Riverbed, Fernando worked at JPMorgan Chase in various senior IT roles, most recently as a Managing Director and CTO. Fernando led various IT infrastructure and business aligned Application Development organizations with high impact roles at large scale with focus on digital transformations, increasing efficiencies, improve productivity and security. Fernando has built and led large organizations with specific focus in Digital Workplace technologies, End User Services, Multimedia/Telecom, and Corporate Technology functions.
Early in his career, Fernando held engineering and application development roles at Deloitte & Touche and Teledyne Brown Engineering.
Fernando holds a B.S in Computer Science from NJCU and a Master’s degree in Technology Management from Stevens Institute of Technology (magna cum laude).
Event Sessions
Wednesday, March 4 2026 2:00 pm | Location:
Panel Discussion moderated by IDC
Wednesday, March 4 2026 12:15 pm | Location:
Keynote by Riverbed
Paul Crighton
With over 25 years of leadership experience in technology across the APJ region, Paul Crighton is dedicated to helping customers achieve their strategic vision.
Paul is passionate about engaging with customers to demonstrate the value of AIOps for Observability and Acceleration.
Event Sessions
Wednesday, March 4 2026 12:00 pm | Location:
Welcome Address by IDC & Riverbed
Nick Kempt
Nick is dedicated to customer success at Riverbed, leveraging his deep experience in IT and Service Management to address customer pain points and deliver optimal outcomes. Known for his collaborative approach and strong leadership, Nick ensures customer relationships are healthy and mutually beneficial. His ability to navigate complex topics and guide technical teams helps Riverbed deliver value across its customer base.
Partners
In collaboration with
Riverbed Technology
Riverbed, the leader in AIOps for observability, helps organizations optimize their user’s experiences by leveraging AI automation for the prevention, identification, and resolution of IT issues. With over 20 years of experience in data collection and AI and machine learning, Riverbed’s open and AI-powered observability platform and solutions optimize digital experiences and greatly improves IT efficiency. Riverbed also offers industry-leading Acceleration solutions that provide fast, agile, secure acceleration of any app, over any network, to users anywhere. Together with our thousands of market-leading customers globally – including 95% of the FORTUNE 100 – we are empowering next-generation digital experiences. Learn more at riverbed.com
Venue
Capella Sydney
Event Venue:
Smith Rooms 1 & 2
Address:
24 Loftus St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Be Part of it!
Join us to discover how AI-powered observability and unified platforms are enabling organisations to simplify cloud operations, gain end-to-end visibility, and deliver resilient digital experiences.
Register Now