Day two ends; community networking takes over …
The second full day of the NonStop TBC 2019 saw more emphasis given to vendor and user presentation of which there were many. In the past, the NonStop community has asked to hear directly from customers and there were certainly plenty of user presentations to choose from. There seems to be many more customer badges on display this year than I can recall seeing in the past. On the other hand, a presentation by an FBI special agent on security, pulled the biggest crowd of the day!
As for me I was invited to speak on behalf of NTI and this vendor gave me the opportunity to blend an update on NTI with my own take on HPE’s vision and strategy for NonStop. Many thanks to NTI’s Tim Dunne for making this possible! From the conversations that followed it seemed to have worked – I will be working over the holidays on further updates as it looks as though I will be going to Berlin for the upcoming GTUG Pan European event in 2020. So if you missed seeing this presentation, count on an updated version next year!
Networking opportunities abounded yesterday with a double header last night that kicked off with a trivia contest that saw all tables filled with teams of participants. Even though this wound up a little before 9:00pm there were signs everywhere that the Under 40 SIG sponsored “pub crawl” would be popular as lead organizer, TCM’s own Daniel Craig, had a pile of custom T Shirts prepared to be handed out for the occasion. I wonder how I can get one even if by the time the event kicked off I was already past the under 40 deadline…
A common theme that made the rounds on day two had a lot to do with solutions – the NonStop community is well served with solid product offerings as far as tools and utilities go, but where are the solutions? There were some vendors well known to the financial services industry but NonStop has a presence in many more verticals than finance and retail. Manufacturing, transportation and distribution all come to mind following a huge uptick in the business fortunes of all involved in eCommerce – so as a community what can we do? For sure, there are many home grown products but what solutions vendors do we know who could benefit from NonStop?
We also gained a little more insight into what HPE and the NonStop team is planning as the clock winds down on XaaS – everything-as-a-service. This will clearly be a gradual process that will in all likelihood involve a couple of NonStop partners working with HPE to build out the necessary infrastructure. And as best as I can tell from the discussions that have taken place, there will be no impact on the choice of tools and utilities NonStop users can elect to run. It will definitely not be a case of just pulling from the NonStop Price Book! There will be plenty of options …
One development that was hard to miss was that the expanded opportunities for networking seemed to be having an effect. You didn’t have to look very hard to find meetings taking place behind closed doors and even curtains (in the restaurant bar area in the atrium. There is evidence that the trend for several vendors to build out ecosystems, that was first seen two years ago at this very event, is continuing.
There are only a few NonStop vendors with global sales reach so it seems only reasonably that smaller vendors will look to capitalize on this situation – look for more on this in the coming weeks as this is a positive sign for all stakeholders in NonStop. There really wasn’t any further news coming from HPE and the NonStop team even as there were several solicitations by HPE for user support of upcoming potential programs and that too was a positive sign – getting users involved early is always a good thing by my books.
What will day three hold? I doubt there will be any surprises but even so, it will be interesting to watch what unfolds as the vendor community looks to consolidate on discussions already having taken place – there are a lot of upbeat faces in the vendor crowd so it will be very interesting to hear more of what is taking place on this very popular event for 2019.