Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference 2026

How it compares

AWS re:Invent is the stronger trip when the work ahead is mainly within AWS: architecture choices, migrations, service adoption, and implementation. Its advertised program exceeds 2,200 sessions and puts AWS engineers and architects at the center. Gartner IOCS serves a different decision point, where leaders are weighing cloud and on-premises options, selecting management platforms, or deciding which work belongs with providers and which stays in-house.

KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America brings platform teams and cloud-native engineers closer to maintainers and the technologies they operate. Kubernetes, open infrastructure, and production AI form the working context there. An engineering team choosing deployment patterns or debugging its platform has a clearer reason to favor KubeCon. An I&O leader dealing with governance, organizational change, supplier risk, and the business case for modernization has more of those questions gathered together in Las Vegas.

For European teams, Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference London offers the same conference family with a European peer network. The Las Vegas event makes most sense when the department wants a broad US supplier conversation alongside Gartner analysis, particularly across observability, hybrid cloud, service management, and AI infrastructure.

A focused trip for I&O leaders who need to connect AI and cloud ambitions with the operating model, resilience, and suppliers that will make them work.

Who exhibits

Microsoft, Oracle, and Nutanix sit alongside Datadog, Dynatrace, and ScienceLogic, bringing cloud platforms and operational visibility into the same supplier conversation. ServiceNow and Halo represent service management; Rubrik and Keepit make recovery and data protection part of the evaluation. Eaton and Schneider Electric connect the software discussion to data-center infrastructure. The mix suits an enterprise shortlist that crosses several layers of the estate, with emerging automation providers adding alternatives to established platforms.

This year's list is on its way. A HallBrief brief ranks every exhibitor against your goals and finds who to meet at each. Get a brief

Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference 2026

The 2026 opening keynote moves agentic AI from experimentation to autonomous IT operations, with Joe Rogus and Erin Pierre addressing the changes required in teams, governance, and technology. The program also tackles cloud operating models for AI, virtualization choices for midsize enterprises, and the assumptions that can undermine resilience. Observability, data-center modernization, and cost control give the AI discussion an operational setting. Dedicated midsize-enterprise sessions and the Senior Leadership Circle let different leadership roles follow distinct paths through the conference.

• Pair the agentic AI keynote with the cloud operating-model discussion to examine who owns autonomous actions, the platform, and the supporting processes.
• For a midsize team reviewing virtualization, use the dedicated MSE session to assess alternatives in the context of your staffing and operational scale.
• Take questions from the observability sessions into the Exhibit Showcase receptions: Datadog, Dynatrace, and ScienceLogic offer different starting points for the same visibility problem.

Exhibiting

Gartner sells tailored exhibitor packages and additional sponsored sessions, executive roundtables, product demos, and meeting rooms. The audience makes this a relevant setting for enterprise infrastructure and operations suppliers with a proposition that addresses leadership priorities. A useful pitch connects the product to resilience, cost, or the operating model and supports that claim with a demonstration.