We still hear, "OpenTelemetry (OTel) is vendor neutral so you can switch vendors any time you want to." This is akin to saying because the vCard format exists, it's easy to switch from iOS to Android. Yes, your core data will ultimately be portable, but you'll be missing a lot of other things.

This doesn't make vendor neutrality moot. Vendor-neutral instrumentation means that all of our code artifacts aren’t impacted by tool changes. Switching vendors isn't like waving a magic wand, but it is much easier thanks to OTel. We’ll cover some of the challenges and pitfalls, and offer best practices to make this process as pain-free as possible. We’ll discuss:

* OTel APIs/SDKs ease tool migration: helpful but not foolproof
* OTel Collector enables multi-tool simulcast, ideal for vendor "bake-offs"
* OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP): OTel’s standout feature
* What's transferrable between vendors vs what's not
* Even the instrumentation isn’t always safe: Structuring your your OTel data to optimize for a vendor

Attendees will come away with an understanding of what OTel vendor neutrality means, so they can make informed decisions when considering switching to or adopting new tooling.