So for those of you who love to nerd out on storage like I do, you have probably already heard of the awesome streaming events put on by Stephen Foskett and the crew from Tech Field Day, otherwise known as Storage Field Day. These have grown so popular that Stephen is having to put on extra events just to cater for demand, which I think speaks volumes as to their efficacy and indeed quality!
For those not yet indoctrinated, these events involve taking a group of around a dozen storage and technology delegates to visit a number of different startups (think Pure, NexGen, Coho, etc) and more established companies (think Intel!) to talk about the latest things going on both at those organisations and in the industry in general. Each session lasts a couple of hours, but is generally broken down into several bite sized chunks for consumption at your leisure.
As a stream viewer you get the opportunity to learn about your favourite vendors latest funky stuff and watch them answer questions about all the things you probably wanted to know but never got the chance to ask. It is also a great way to get your head around an unfamiliar technology or vendor. Lastly, if you watch live, you can also ask questions via twitter for the delegates to ask of the presenters.
As a delegate this goes to a whole new level as you get to spend almost an entire week mahoossively geeking out on tech, learning from some of the smartest people in the tech industry, and meeting with the senior people at some of the industry’s best-known companies. I find it generally safest just to wear multiple layers to avoid any embarrassing nerdgasms! 😉
So with that in mind I am really chuffed to have been invited back to attend Storage Field Day 9, next month (16th-18th March) in San Jose!
Not all of the companies have been announced as yet, but we already know that the likes of Cohesity, Intel, VMware & Violin Memory will be in attendance. More will be confirmed over the next coupe of weeks and having seen the provisional list I can tell you it is definitely going to be a great event!
Needless to say the lineup of delegates is awesome as usual, with many well known bloggers from the EU, US and APAC. Make sure you check them out and follow the crew on twitter if you are so inclined. Most delegates post their opinions around the vendors and tech both during and after the event, so make sure you check out their blog feeds. For example, here is mine:
http://www.tekhead.org/blog/feed/
If you want to tune in live, simply go to http://techfieldday.com from 16th-18th March (PST) or catch up with the recordings on youtube later.
Finally, be warned my Twitter stream does get rather busy during the event, so feel free to temporarily mute me if need be! 😉