McAfee's annual Mpower cyber security conference kicks off in Las Vegas this week, but there's been something of a revamp compared to recent years.
For a start, the name has changed, as it was formerly known as Intel Security Focus. Following McAfee splitting from Intel in April this year, the company is clearly trying to reestablish itself as an independent entity.
In this respect, I expect Mpower to be somewhat like the first Dell EMC World or HPE Discover, in sentiment, rather than content. Just like them, McAfee is an established brand that's been forged into a new company and is trying to get its new identity across to customers, partners and other potential 'stakeholders'.
In terms of content, that's a little harder to say. Plenty of security knowledge, of course, but that's a broad church and with the WPA2 vulnerability news revealed today, there are almost certainly some keynote speakers holding their head in their hands and weeping, or furiously rewriting their scripts. Or both.
Other topics that are likely to come up include the security or otherwise of the Internet of Things (IoT), the future of privacy and security in the face of government demands to break encryption, and securing businesses in an ever more connected world with an increasingly flexible workforce.
I also anticipate discussions on cloud security and the role of the channel in helping businesses protect their most important assets.
The event kicks off on Wednesday 18 October and I'll be on the ground reporting. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for live tweets from the event and click here for all the latest news and analysis as it comes in.
Main image credit: McAfee
