Maxta Logo

Earlier this year I attended Storage Field Day 7 and a hot topic was, of course, hyperconvergence. The simplicity of all-in-one convergence is helping lead a transformation in the datacenter market – no wonder that we had three sessions on the topic. The session from Maxta was interesting because their offering helps overcome a preconception many in the enterprise space have about hyperconvergence. The issue is that of linear scaling whereby when you need storage you must add compute and vice versa. By eliminating the need to add compute power and storage simultaneously Maxta provides huge benefits when compared to others.   A Maxta solution consists of a minimum of three nodes. All virtual machines are protected in a RAID-1 style by keeping a second copy of the VM on another host. The 3nd node serves as a witness to ensure data integrity. Each node consists of compute, storage, and a hypervisor. The storage is designed asRead More →

By:
On:
In: Converged, Tech Field Day

This week I’ve been busying working on my post Storage Field Day 7 content.  I’ve got a few blog posts in the pipeline for some of the presenters.  I think I give a unique perspective, given I’m currently in the enterprise space in the day-to-day trenches.   In the meantime all of the recorded content from SFD7 is available on YouTube.  I encourage everyone to check them all out and draw your own conclusion about the presenters.  Share what you learn with the community!Read More →

By:
On:
In: Tech Field Day

I’m sitting in a car on the way to San Francisco airport to catch a plane back home to Cincinnati.  For the past several days I’ve had the pleasure of being a part Storage Field Day 7. SFD is an independent event bringing community influences together with vendors to discuss technology solutions and provide open and honest feedback.  It’s a great even to connect with other community members, discuss challenges and solutions, and create content for the community benefit – all of which I’m a supporter of. Since this was my first time going I was surprised at how different it is from watching the feeds and video, especially for someone who doesn’t do a lot of public presentations. I didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be to find time to ask a question.  Growing up in my house it was a huge “no no” to interrupt someone while speaking, but the limited amount of time atRead More →

By:
On:
In: Tech Field Day

As I posted here and here I am attending Storage Field Day 7 as a delegate, which is going on right now in San Jose, California. We had no presentations today; instead it was more about getting to know the other delegates and having a room time. After a day of travel some social interaction was welcome and the SFD7 crew did not disappoint.   A quick informal lunch turned into a 3-hour discussion about the industry and challenges we’ve all faced. The entire crew piled into transportation to head to dinner. What happened next set the tone for the evening. Stephen welcomed the new delegates by starting a starburst throwing war. Apparently throwing things isn’t always frowned upon! Dinner was southern Indian food at the Zagat rated Dasaprakash. The food was tasty and different than the Americanized Indian food I’m used to. We also had a Yankee Gift Swap. The idea is everyone brings a wrapped gift containing aRead More →

By:
On:
In: Tech Field Day

Next week I will be attending, for the first time, Storage Field Day in San Jose! I’ve been a fan of all the previous SFD events hosted by Stephen and his team at Tech Field Day, so I’m very excited to be a delegate.   It’s a chance to connect with some familiar faces and meet a few new friends while discussing the latest in storage technology.  I have met several delegates and engaged with many of the other delegates on social media, and can’t wait to sit down with them and talk in more than 140 characters. Arjan Timmerman has written up a very nice round up of the entire delegate crew. I’ve had a chance to meet Christopher Kusek at VMworld last year, and it turns out we may have met at a small conference in the 90s as well! He has given me some excellent advice in dealing with vendors during deal negotiations.  He’s seriously one of the funniestRead More →

By:
On:
In: Tech Field Day

In just a few weeks Tech Field Day will be hosting it’s 7th Storage Field Day with a nice list of sponsors and presenters including a new secret company.  I’m excited to be a TFD delegate and join with some friends to listen, learn, and share my experience.   If you don’t already know the folks over at Tech Field Day host a bunch of events like this focusing on different areas. Brining innovative vendors together with free thinkers in the field to discuss technology and the industry leads to some top notch content.   I look forward to sharing and learning at SFD7 and beyond with the community!Read More →

By:
On:
In: Tech Field Day