A DC Dude Walks into a Cloud Conference/Gigaom Structure, shares his experience

Gigaom Structure just finished.

THE CLOUD IS THE COMPUTER Meet the innovators and thinkers who are building infrastructure to run the applications of the next decade. 

Watch our Livestream to see what's happening at Structure.  https://go.gigaom.com/Structure2014Livestream_Live.html

Just a few of our speakers include:

• Scott Guthrie, Microsoft
• Urs Hölzle, Google
• Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
• Raffi Krikorian, Twitter
• Jamie Miller, GE
• Werner Vogels, Amazon.com

A few of you signed up for the conference with the 25% discount code I shared for GreenM3 readers.  One of the people who joined last minute is Don Beaty from DLB Associates.  Don and I were both at DCD SF.  Well we have both been at 7x24 Exchange and Uptime Symposium’s hotel bar so I see Don fairly often.  Chatting with Don at DCD SF I told him I was going to Gigaom Structure.  He said it sounds interesting and he would look into changing his plans.  Below is the e-mail Don shared on what he thought of Gigaom Structure.

Hi Dave

Thank you for recommending the Gigaom Conference; this was the first time I attended.

As you know, I am passionate about the increased opportunity for tradeoffs and optimization by considering software, hardware, and facilities holistically.  I really liked the format of the conference but also the lineup of heavy hitters from major players in the industry such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and IBM / Softlayer. 

Having these major players is valuable but having key people from each of these companies was incredible.  The cross section enabled an unusual depth and breadth perspective in this overall area - predominantly software and its impact on business, hardware, facilities, and how we live.

I have had a blast starting to attend Gigaom Structure as a blogger, than as an analyst for Gigaom Research, and now as a speaker.  I am biased because I get to see many subtleties at the event which are eye openers, so my opinion is not necessarily objective.  It is nice to hear from a DC expert like Don Beaty on what he thinks of the Gigaom Structure conference.  I know others who have gone to Gigaom Structure for the first time and they definitely will be back next year.  Will you?

Too busy this week to blog, will post next week

This is a busy week meeting, presenting, moderating in SJ/SF.  Normally I have plenty of time to research, think and write.  Today was a day of lots of meetings.  No time to blog. Tomorrow is DatacenterDynamics, and a Gigaom Event in the evening.  Weds and Thurs is Gigaom Structure.  Moderating two panels and lots of analyst meetings.  Friday more meetings, then rest. 

I’ll be back writing next week.

Where I'll be at DCD SF, Chairing Hall 1 Morning Presentations

May & June are busy months for the data center conferences.  In two weeks, I’ll be at DCD SF, and there are many repeats of people I have seen at other conferences. You can find me in the Main Hall chairing the morning presentations.  Unfortunately, I need to leave before the end of the conference for another event related to Gigaom Structure in SF which follows the DCD event.

One of the interesting differences between DatacenterDynamics and other conferences is it is peer-led.

I just came back from 7x24 Exchange which is a non-profit and I think you could say they have the idea of peer-led as well. 

At the beginning of May was Data Center World, I went to LV to meet with friends, but didn’t have time for Data Center World or IBM’s conference.  In May also was Uptime Symposium.  On a plane flight to SJC, one of my data center friends asked if I was going to Uptime.  I told him no, I am blacklisted for both the conference and exposition.  He laughed and said I should get a badge and black out my name.  To complete the idea, I have now modified my badge from the last time I attend Uptime Symposium.  Some people will exchange conference badges to get into the conference.  There is no way this one is going to get me into Uptime. :-)  But it does get a bunch of laughs.

7x24 Exchange Conference Spring, ending with the best conversations

7x24 Exchange Spring Conference ended yesterday and after 4 years and 7 conferences I’ve learned a lot by making great friends.  The closing of a conference is a race to the airport for almost everyone.  One of the things I tried a few years ago was to book my return flight in the evening and go to the resort pool to enjoy the facilities.  Yesterday by the pool I ended with some of the best conversations with friends at the conference who also choose to enjoy the facilities.

Chatting after the close of the event is so much more relaxing and many times you talk about other things.  I’ve already booked my travel to Phoenix with a 6p return flight.  I can always get on an earlier flight, but my hope is David Schirmacher and I will keep our regular catch up lunch after the conference.  David is the person who convinced me to attend 7x24 Exchange for the first time 4 years ago, and now that I think about I should count him as my 1st 7x24 Exchange friend in a long line of many other friends I see at 7x24 Exchange.  See many of you at Fall 2014 event.

Fall 2014
October 26-29, 2014
JW Marriott Desert Ridge
Phoenix, AZ
Scaling to the Future

7x24 Exchange a Conference Focusing on Data Centers

I go to too many data center conferences.  And, I go to a lot of other technology conferences.  What has been interesting is the movement by many of the data center events and publications to add subjects like Cloud, Big Data, DevOps which on the surface can seem like a good idea as there is a relationship.  The problem is the # of people who focus on the relationship between data centers and these other technologies is not that big.

Spending the last couple of days at 7x24 Exchange it has been a pleasure to focus on data centers - designing, building, and operating data centers.

Attendance is as good as ever at 7x24 Exchange.  If you have an interest in data centers and want an event that focuses on data centers, then 7x24 Exchange may be the right event for you.  If you want to learn about Cloud, Big Data, Mobile, I head to Gigaom Structure where I’ll be speaking and other industry leaders attend. http://events.gigaom.com/structure-2014/  For Devops I’ll head to PuppetConf, http://2014.puppetconf.com