Flooding forces DISA to cancel annual military show

The Defense Information Systems Agency, which is accustomed to overcoming adversity of many kinds, had little choice but to cancel its annual Customer Partnership Conference this morning after extreme rainfall and flooding overwhelmed Nashville, Tenn., and forced the closure of the Gaylord Opryland Resort where the four-day conference was scheduled to begin today.

DISA and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, which produces the event, announced the cancellation of the 2010 conference on DISA’s Web site this morning, “due to extreme weather conditions in the Nashville, Tenn., area.”  Whether the annual exhibition and conference would be rescheduled was not immediately known.  The DISA Web site said additional information would be disseminated "as soon as possible."

The annual conference caters to military customers of DISA’s network and communication services and attracts about 250 technology exhibitors and variety of high profile speakers. Among those scheduled to speak this year were Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Chambers; Global Crossing CEO John Legere; Akamai Technologies co-founder Tom Leighton, and other executives and senior military officials.
 
An estimated 5,000 government, military and industry guests had been expected to attend the event, according to local reports quoting a spokesperson for the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau.