The way things were going, it didn’t seem likely that I’d be attending Cloud Field Day 7 but that’s the way things are in the Tech Field Day family and all of a sudden, I am also a part of this instalment now.
As you would expect these days, the event will be held remotely but like all other Tech Field Day events, meticulous planning is still at work and the delegates have already gone through audio/video tests, to ensure viewers get the best possible experience. Now, most of us can’t compete with PrimeImage Media who normally provide the streaming services so be gentle if the streaming doesn’t feel quite the same.
Given my focus on cloud platforms and technologies and the topics that are on the agenda, I am looking forward to this event with much excitement. Despite the remoteness, I still expect the sessions to be as interesting as ever and the same candid discussions will feature the sessions so I do recommend you watch the streams when live and interact by sending your questions to the delegates, who will ask them on your behalf.
As something that is becoming sort of a tradition of mine, this post will also tell you about all the presenting sponsors, their session times and why should you tune in. I hope this is also useful to people who are short on time and have to be selective about which sessions they watch. I would recommend you bookmark this post so you have all the details handy when needing to join any of the sessions.
VMware
What do they do
VMware has a broad portfolio of compute, cloud, networking and security and digital workspace products. Already a leader in virtualisation and private cloud technologies, recent focus for the company has shifted towards public cloud integration and developer technologies.
Why should you be interested
VMware will be delivering two sessions this time:
- VMware Cloud on AWS: Onboarding, DC Extension, and Cloud Migration
- VMware Cloud on AWS: Horizon 7 VDI, Kubernetes, AWS Services, and Marketplace
As you can see, VMware Cloud on AWS is the prime focus here. The first session on day 1 is all about the infrastructure, networking, hybridity and migration topics. On day 2, you will be updated on why VMware Cloud on AWS is the ideal platform for business continuity and disaster recovery solutions and also for your application modernisation plans.
Due to the current crisis, I am spending all my time these days designing business continuity and disaster recovery solutions on VMware Cloud on AWS for my customers. For that reason, these sessions are very relevant to me.
See this post by Sonali Desai (Product Line Marketing Manager) for a detailed look into what these sessions will cover and when.
When will they present
- Wednesday 22nd April 2020 at 08:00 – 10:00 PST (GMT-0700), and
- Thursday 23rd April 2020 at 08:00 – 10:00 PST (GMT-0700)
Important links
Website: https://cloud.vmware.com/vmc-aws
Twitter: @VMwareCloudAWS
Tech Field Day Company Page: https://techfieldday.com/companies/vmware/
VMware has a long history of presenting at these events so please do have a look at their past appearances on the page mentioned above. You’re bound to find something of interest.
Stellus
What do they do
Stellus is a data platform company that produces high-performance key-value store products, suited to the most demanding data-intensive workloads and applications, such as high-speed microscopy, genomic sequencing, machine learning, cognitive AI, and data streaming at cloud and in core infrastructures.
Why should you be interested
Stellus was in the news recently due to the data throughput speeds that its data platform achieved. Stellus aims to remove the common bottlenecks from data access at scale by providing direct access to high-performance memory and NAND etc. and clever placement of data using a key-value store approach. Yet the data is still available in industry-standard protocols like NFS.
I am quite interested in this presentation too because looking at the website, it seems like a new way to approach the challenge of balancing storage capacity with performance. Stellus claims to have decoupled both of them, meaning you can scale either of those up independently. I want to see how.
When will they present
- Wednesday 22nd April 2020 at 11:00 – 12:00 PST (GMT-0700)
Important links
Website: https://www.stellus.com/
Twitter: @StellusTech
Tech Field Day Company Page: https://techfieldday.com/companies/stellus-technologies/
Stellus hasn’t presented at a TFD event before but as videos of their sessions go out, the page mentioned above will contain the links so that you can watch them later.
Solarwinds
What do they do
Solarwinds is a leading provider of IT management software, suitable for organisations of all sizes and complexity. Their products are well-known in the industry and are used to monitor and manage the performance of IT services, infrastructures, and applications.
Why should you be interested
Solarwinds has such a wide range of products that either you are running them already or you may have used them in the past. Such a broad range also means that there’s always an interesting update on the horizon.
I have no knowledge of what they’ll be presenting this time but I am hoping for something cloudy.
When will they present
- Friday 24th April 2020 at 08:00 – 10:00 PST (UTC-0700)
Important links
Website: http://www.solarwinds.com/
Twitter: @SolarWinds
Page: https://techfieldday.com/companies/solarwinds/
Solarwinds has a long history of presenting at TFD events so please do have a look at its company page mentioned above and you’re sure to find something of interest.
Pensando
What do they do
Pensando offers a product they call “The Pensando Distributed Services Platform”, which is a “highly programmable software-defined cloud, compute, networking, storage and security services in a single device”.
Why should you be interested
Because it’s yet another interesting way to solve a problem many companies are looking to solve. Many companies are forced to replace/upgrade their hardware, not necessarily because of the server architecture going obsolete but because the estate doesn’t have enough grunt to keep up with the demands of their systems.
Pensando is looking to solve that problem with custom cards, that provide high-performance programmable network, security and storage features. The aim is to take specific types of workload away from the server that are required in today’s modern world of computing, such as encryption, data deduplication and acceleration etc., thereby freeing up the cycles required to do the job it is intended to do.
When will they present
- Friday 24th April 2020 at 11:00 – 13:00 PST (UTC-0700)
Important links
Website: https://pensando.io/
Twitter: @PensandoIO
Tech Field Day Company Page: https://techfieldday.com/companies/pensando/
Pensando hasn’t presented at a TFD event before but as videos of their sessions go out, the page mentioned above will contain the links so that you can watch them later.
Hope this post is useful and you will tune in to see all these vendors presenting and watching the interesting discussions that I love the most. You all make the event what it is by participating in the discussions live and posting your own questions on Twitter. The official hashtag is #CFD7 and the main page is: Cloud Field Day 7 so see you there!
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