Each year, TiEcon focuses on hot technical and market topics. At TiEcon 2014, approximately 4,000 attendees will get to hear from experts on three of the hottest industry areas, that is, infrastructure, the Internet of Things, and applications of Big Data.

IT infrastructure continues to evolve from real to virtual for deployment flexibility and efficiency, supporting public as well as private cloud architectures. New methods of building, and new tools to deploy, scale, and manage this infrastructure, are spawning new companies.

The Internet of Things (IoT) started with industrial applications such as discrete manufacturing, process controls, and building controls. Today, it is being deployed in warehouses for asset management, in robotics for self-driven cars and delivery by drones, in buildings for signage, lighting, security, and temperature control, in trains, airplanes and cars for drive-by-wire connections, and in wearable for health tracking. Combining industrial, enterprise and consumer applications, the IoT market can range from $3-6 trillion by 2025, that is, become larger than the entire electronics and software industry today.

Finally, the many billions of sources collecting data comprises big data. As the internet of things grows, and as the cloud makes it easier to collect, aggregate and comingle data streams, applications of big data will grow exponentially. Many companies are building these applications to convert this data into insights. From thermostats using weather data to automatically give us the right temperature with minimum energy consumption to drone navigation, analytics will help us make better decisions faster.

Analysts observe that software is 'eating the world'. Till now, healthcare and drug discovery have remained the domain of biology. Software is now re-making these disciplines as well. Computational biology is replacing biological cause-and-effect analysis of individual molecular pathways. Systems biology is replacing immunology to understand side effects. Statistical inference is driving drug discovery. Smartphones are improving patient education and compliance. And telemedicine is making specialized healthcare available in remote communities where even brushing teeth may have been a novelty ten years ago. With a new dedicated healthcare/life sciences track, for the first time, TiEcon will help Silicon Valley entrepreneurs become better acquainted with the opportunities in healthcare and life sciences.