It's about THAT time of the year again; VMworld Europe is only days away! (12 days exactly as I write this).
VMworld has always been a very important conference for me personally and professionally, and is one that I always try to attend. This year's event will be my SEVENTH show in four years (I have been lucky enough to be posted across to the US version a few times too!) and it's great to see the European show getting stronger every year. I believe this year will be the strongest one yet.
There are many things I enjoy about the conference - from meeting customers new and old, to catching up with colleagues from years gone by (it's always amusing to see who works for which vendor/parter each year). I'll also be spending some of my time in the actual conference centre this year, as I have the ability to attend more seminars and breakout sessions than previous years. A key point I've always believed in is to never stop learning and expanding knowledge on subjects, and VMworld is certainly the place to do that! On the flip side, I'm not looking forward to the dull pain in my feet come Thursday afternoon!
For Nimble Storage it's quite possibly the most important show of the year for us, as we have the opportunity to meet with current customers and new customers in a friendly atmosphere over three days. Virtualisation and/or VDI as a platform is possibly the number one key driver behind a customer's decision to implement Nimble Storage and as such we aim to give VMworld the respect and attention it deserves!
So, what are we planning for this year's show?
Firstly, myself and my colleague and all-round genius Devin Hamilton will be hosting and presenting a customer panel on Disaster Recovery strategy, experiences and lessons for virtualised environments. This is session BCO5431 and is taking place Tuesday October 15th at 11am local time. The direct link is here.
We have a pretty cool booth stand organised (number E513) and will be manning the booth with all sorts of super-smart techies. We'll be running on-demand demos of the following for your pleasure.
- Introduction to Nimble Storage
- Nimble Storage OS 2.0
- VMware vSphere Integration & Automated Connection Manager (very cool!)
- Microsoft Windows Connection Manager (also very cool!)
- Microsoft SQL & Exchange integration & recovery
- Nimble Storage Infosight (Support based on Data Analytics!)
We will be raffling A WEEKEND EXPERIENCE WITH A PORSCHE 911S!!! Yes, you read that right, we will be giving away a Porsche 911S to you, for free, for the whole weekend! How great is that? (I'm a little annoyed that employees can't enter...)
If you don't win the first prize, we'll also be raffling off other cool goodies such as Beats By Dre headphones.
You've got to be "in it to win it" as we say in the UK - and you can enter ahead of time here, or enter at the booth.
Nimble Storage are also sponsoring the vRockstar party which is taking place at the Hard Rock Cafe on Sunday night before the show. Attendance is free (and so is the drink!). You can sign up here if you're in town, we'll be pleased to see you!
I'll be at the show all week from Monday through Thursday - so if you have 5 minutes please feel free to drop by booth E513 (or say hello to me in a session I may be attending - I'm going to learn just like you guys are!).
See you there!
Nick
