THANK YOU!

GCDCS18 is a wrap - and to everyone involved, THANK YOU for a great event!

After working with more than 30 speakers and 21 sponsors, greeting nearly 200 attendees, and having first-hand exposure to the insight and passion of the Canadian data centre professional community...I'm stunned and grateful, and struggling to find words that adequately describe my appreciation for the contributions made by everyone who joined us in Hamilton.

Please indulge me as I say thank you to each of our speakers, panelists and breakout leaders: Mayor Fred Eisenberger, Dean Ishwar Puri, Marc Brouillard, Kirby Peters, Dr. Rong Zheng, Dr. Michael Bauer, Jaime Leverton, J. Mark MacDonald, Peter Gross, Waguih Ishak, Peter Panfil, Joe Oreskovic, Ana Badila, Randy Borron, Jamil-Elias Mina, Rob Adley, Sean A. Sears, Richard Lichtenstein, Greg Walker, Denis Blouin, Bernard Oegema, Erwin Van Hout, Dr. Scott Northrup, Shaunak Pandit, Dr. Ghada Badawy (Ph.D), Ann-Sophie Hamel-Boisvert, Ahmed El Nady, Herb Villa, Frank Panza, Jason Houck, Hussam Haroun, P.Eng., Wilfredo Sotolongo, and Dr. Souvik Pal.

The event wouldn't have been possible without the support of our terrific sponsors: Vertiv, Lenovo, IBM, Eaton, Schneider, Cogeco Peer 1, HPE, Morrison Hershfield, Park Place Technologies, Cisco, ESI, Carnot Refrigeration, EllisDon, Belden, Rittal, Hammond Manufacturing (and the incomparable Patricia Dennison), Cushman & Wakefield, AFCOM, Canada15Edge, City of Hamilton (and Hamilton Economic Development), Cinnos and the Innovation Factory.

As anyone who attended will attest, the venue - McMaster Innovation Park - was superb in every way, starting with the planning and support provided by Jarrod Gleadall, Diana Acosta and the on-site crew.

My special thanks to all of the event delegates, whose enthusiasm made a very full day valuable and enjoyable for everyone involved!

And 'on the inside,' I'd like to particularly recognize Dr. Sujovit Ghosh of McMaster's Computing Infrastructure Research Centre (CIRC), who was the originator of the idea for the event, and who nurtured the process all the way through.

And last - but definitely not least - our InsightaaS team deserves special recognition as well: Mary Allen, for driving event content and structure, and for moderating the (terrific!) Computing on the Edge panel; David McNeill, for patient and (very) effective sponsor engagement, and Steve Symonds, who essentially took control of the event and ensured its success in every operational aspect, from delegate recruitment and retention to facility and catering plans to on-site management, and every detail that would otherwise have fallen in the cracks between.

Feedback from speakers, sponsors and delegates alike has been tremendously positive. We'll announce next steps within the next week or so. Hope to see you all at GCDCS19 next June!