Post EMCWorld Apocalypse! #CXIParty Recap and OMG VCE?!?!
I actually wanted to start this blog post (and an entirely different one) off with a completely separate subject. Yea… I did. And then I went looking for citing data on what I was going to talk about only to find OMG DID WE NOT ANNOUNCE THAT?! Talk about a major faux paux if I announced something we didn’t even show-case or isn’t even public yet. #Awkward! That and I’m sure PR/Marketing/OtherScaryFigures would be like WTF CXI and other 3 letter acronyms. ;)
Okay, on to the show! OMG THERE WAS A LOT ANNOUNCED! I know some of you were like ‘How do you follow up that whole Record Breaking thing earlier in the year with 40 some odd announcements. (I forget the exact number… it wasn’t 42, which would have made sense ;))” Yea, and I’m not looking to basically do a repeat of what was already done and said elsewhere; often quite well in delivery. No. This is going to be a very unique perspective on a few things which happened at the show. For the sake of vanity (Because I’m clearly so vain ;)) I’ll do a little coverage of the most rockingest party #cxiparty, absolute rockstar! But also, a little message which may have gotten lost in the gist of things, and what I see as an internal AND external direction going forward, citing me to refer to 2011 as OMG YEAR OF THE VCE!
OMFG #CXIPARTY OMFG
Did you attend? If you did, I’m sure you’re left saying OMFG THE VIEW. or ZOMG THERE WERE SO MANY COOL PEOPLE THERE. or WHY IS CXI TALKING ABOUT SHOES. Yea baby. That’s what this was about! Networking, and primarily shoes… :)
So for you naysayers out there who say “Whoa, how can a vegan who doesn’t drink throw quite possibly the BEST PARTY ON THE PLANET” That’s damn straight! For those of who you could not make it (I received your apologies, due to sickness, other conflicts, etc) and the rest of you; truly missed out on an EPIC and LEGENDARY event. Relationships were formed which will last forever! Everyone had a great time and I made some great friends with the exception of the AVNET guy who was BLITZ I think even before he got there! Hey what can you do! (I guess I could throw a follow-up party at #VMworld ;))
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my sponsors who helped make this possible though! Nexus IS, Oxygen Cloud, and Storage Staffing!
Between Keith Norbie @keithnorbie from Nexus, Julia Mak @juliamak from Oxygen Cloud and Shelton and Joe from @storagestaffing I was able to provide you with refreshments which made the party that much more enjoyable! Be sure to check them out, especially if you attended the party! Oh, as a side note, I’d also like to call out some good friends of mine who helped bring some added cred to the party!
- Rockstar SQL GOD Denny Cherry @mrdenny
- OMG Super Star Chuck Hollis @chuckhollis
- PHD God of FCoE J Metz @jmichelmetz
- NerdHerd Crew – Sean Thulin @sthulin, Luigi Danakos @nerdblurt and Matthew Brender @mjbrender
- The one the only Brian Deloria @storagewtf
- Big Data king Koset Surakomol @koset
- Truth in IT madman W. Curtis Preston @wcpreston
If you are not included in this list, it doesn’t mean you don’t matter; it simply means I finished the list and you still do matter very much! That’s what the ‘who attended’ list looks like in regard! If you attended and enjoyed it, please provide feedback! I’ve considered doing a surveymonkey on ‘what worked well, what didn’t work well’ etc sort of details. You let me know either way, as I have complete and total plans of doing the EXACT same thing at VMworld in a few months; so just consider that ;)
OMG VCE!!??!
Okay, at this point if you’re a customer you probably don’t want to read what I’m about to say. This content is really written to be positioned towards internal sales people, field sales and partners. I’m not going to STOP you from reading it, but bear in mind you are not my audience! ;)
Hey guys! I think we’re alone. WOW OMG DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID? In the event that you missed it. Just wow. The kind of traction, currency, what is available today and what is coming tomorrow (incremental in existing investments) in what VCE is offering. Wow, just an unequivocal WOW!
I’ve ALWAYS had intimate knowledge of what has been going on; (Past, Present and Future) but what is already public domain knowledge and how things stack up against what I’ll refer to as “competitive converged infrastructure solutions” so as not to call any one out in particular. Our stack from end to end, from engineering on the floor (I wish I could get you some videos of the actual building process, Sigma whatever all that stuff and the serious hardening and baking it goes through) and to the point of delivery on your customers floor. If you are NOT positioning or being able to find a use-case for the VCE – Vblock with it’s magical EMC, Cisco and VMware combo ; you’re doing something fundamentally wrong! I encourage you then to reach out to me directly (I do NOT work for VCE mind you, or a team which is focused exclusively on Vblocks, but the message is so simple, we can knock it out!)
So the lessons to walk away from this is; 2011 is NOT the year of Converged Infrastructure. It IS the Year of VCE. No question, no doubt about it. You will see things shift, shape, mold and beyond in the coming months; no that doesn’t mean there are more things coming that you need to wait for, quite the opposite. It’s there. Start working with the tools available to you today. I don’t see a reason you shouldn’t be able to grasp that! Get out there and do whatever it is you do! ;)
Sales, Partners, whoever you can stop reading now! And the rest of my audience feel free to come back!
While that was a little vague, to tell you the truth… I want to get this published, and I should just do a video/audio recording of the whole messaging around this because I don’t want to type it up right now, the OMG passion really comes out when spoken (At least when I speak it ;)) Time to finish this up as I’m in a rocking VPLEX session with a VP! Later guys, and see you at VMworld ;)