What you would do if you had a whole week away from your kids? Me, I’m attending SFD20 from August 5 – August 8th! Virtually, of course.
If you’ve ever attended a Field Day event, you know the intensity required to synthesize tons of content, pose somewhat coherent questions, and socially interact with others. The struggle is real for socially awkward introverts like me.
Asking questions can be a challenge for the softer spoken folks on virtual event. In a person, you can raise your hand, and the presenter acknowledges you. Here asking a question sometimes feels like joining a double dutch jump rope session in-progress. You keep waiting for that right moment to join so you don’t upset the rhythm.
But as Bette Davis’ said, “The key to life is accepting challenges. Once someone stops doing this, he’s dead.”
Who wants to stagnate when they have a chance to grow by hanging with some of the most insightful and smartest people I’ve ever met. While each field day is special and unique, the delegates are always my favorite part.
Let’s take a quick look at who we will hear from this event.
The Presenters
Pensando
When your rival is a hyperscaler like AWS, all signs point to you being a pretty bold company. This is what Pensando has done with their card, whose closest completion is AWS Nitro. In their CFD7 presentations, they made the case that AWS Nitro trailed behind them.
Cisco
Part of Cisco’s session is embargoed, but I’ve heard the other part of their session is about NVMe. So, there’s that bit of technical goodness. This also will be first time that I’ve seen Cisco present at a Field Day event.
Qumolo
Initially, I wasn’t very familiar with Qumolo. I then went back and watched their SFD8 debut in 2015. Holy crap, they talked subscription model, agile development, and HTML5 at a time when those terms wouldn’t have scored high on a buzzword bingo card. I can’t wait to see what they are doing five years later. Yes, they presented at CFD8. I’m staying away from the spoilers, though. For now.
Nebulon
I have this magnet on my car that reads, “Software makes hardware happen.” This is kinda the opposite of Nebulon’s solution. A PCIe card makes its software-defined storage happen. Will Nebulon play a part in evolving how I think about hardware and software?
Intel
Because Intel doesn’t have a huge portfolio centered on storage, it’s pretty safe to assume they’ll be present on their crown-jewel solution: Optane. By moving storage closer to the CPU for significantly improved speed has the power to transform IT.
Pure Storage
I got a close-up view of Pure Storage at Pure Accelerate in 2019. I respect their commitment to not overcomplicating things and not getting up on stage and hyping products that are years from prime-time. This session won’t be live-streamed, so you’ll need to check it out on YouTube later.
VAST DATA
I had a chance to see VAST Data’s debut at SFD18 and it has to rank in my list of all-time favorite Field Day sessions. I could make this post a love letter to the story that VAST told, but I won’t.
The Wrap-up
Because this event is live-streamed on techfieldday.com, you can partake of the goodness in real-time from socially-distanced safety of your home. This lineup of presents is a diverse group of start-ups and established companies.
Tune in not just for the tech, but to see how a company can tell their story (or not).
But, hey, you can join the conversation, too. Tag me (@beckylelliott) or another #SFD20 delegate on twitter, and we’ll try and ask your questions.