Tech Field Day Coverage
Our delegate panel includes independent writers and thought leaders, and we collect their coverage of the event, Tech Field Day presentations, and sponsoring companies here.
Moving beyond the CLI with Aruba 8400 (Enabling SDN for NetOps)
There are a number of programmable switches in the world, but Christopher Kusek sees Aruba’s 8400-series as something different. Instead designing programability that forces network admins to learn a completely new skillset (programming), the 8400’s Swagger interface is designed around how network admins actually do their job today. Christopher sees this as a major differentiator.
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Moving beyond the CLI with Aruba 8400 (Enabling SDN for NetOps)
Apstra’s Unique Approach to Networking
Pete Welcher looks at Apstra’s intent-based networking automation solution, which he first saw at Networking Field Day last November. The company has a intention-based engine and a working fabric model, which Pete sees as a possible solution to organizations that want to automate without the hassles of scale. For Pete, it’s a solution to “fiddle-ware”. Instead of training an IT team on how to manage a series of kludgy scripts and programs, they can standardize around Apstra.
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NFD13: Apstra's Unique Approach to Networking
Join me at VMworld with Tech Field Day Extra!
Sean Thulin is heading out to the desert for VMworld in Las Vegas. He has a full schedule of presentations available, including Tech Field Day Extra presentations from NetApp, Druva, Pluribus Networks, and Kingston! Make sure to mark your calendar and follow along.
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Join me at VMworld with Tech Field Day Extra!
#SFD13 and X-IO
At Storage Field Day, Matt Leib got reacquainted with X-IO. He was a fan of the company since they were a pioneer in the early days of all-flash arrays. At the event, Matt saw details of their Axellio edge computing platform. The post reviews why the platform isn’t so much designed for Big Data, but rather “Big Fast Data”.
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NETSCOUT – Nuthin’ But a G(2) Thang
At Mobility Field Day last month, Mitch Dickey heard a presentation from NETSCOUT. He was already familiar with the company’s AirCheck Wi-Fi tool, but appreciated the update from Product Manager Chris Hinsz. For Mitch, the AirCheck G2 is a “staple in the WLAN professional’s bag of tools”.
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NETSCOUT – Nuthin’ But a G(2) Thang
Gigamon Remakes Itself For Cloud
Justin Warren profiles what he saw from Gigamon at last month’s Cloud Field Day. He thinks the reason the company has returned to profitability is twofold. For one, more organizations have recognized the need for visibility and security, which Gigamon has consistently executed on with its solutions. Secondly, the company’s host-based agent approach to cloud monitoring gives organizations the visibility they can’t get simply from an API. As long as organizations don’t shift from packet monitoring to distributed application tracing, Justin sees Gigamon’s Visibility Layer as a compelling product.
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Gigamon Remakes Itself For Cloud
Wearing the Cape
At Mobility Field Day, Brennan Martin got to hear from Cape Networks, and thinks their intelligent client-side WiFi monitoring is excellent. He’s impressed by the abilities to consistently run tests without tying up valuable human capital. Their monitoring can even work during a network or power outage, thanks to onboard hotspot and battery power.
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VMworld 2017 preview: Current state of VMware
In this VMworld US preview, Keith Townsend reviews the current state of VMware. This includes a look at where the company has stumbled or needs keep on eye on, like Cloud and containers, and areas where they are prominent or leading the category, like networking and security. It’s a thorough rundown to set the stage for the major announcements at VMworld.
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VMworld 2017 preview: Current state of VMware
Lofty Goals for The Campus Core: Aruba 8400 Series and OS-CX
Brandon Carroll shares his thoughts on Aruba’s new 8400 Switch series, which he saw at a Networking Field Day Exclusive event. Brandon thinks Aruba has done a good job on the hardware side of designing a switch for Campus Aggregation & Core L2/L3 Ethernet deployments. The switch is powered by the Linux based OS-CX, which allows for full programmability and features a well thought out web GUI.
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Lofty Goals for The Campus Core: Aruba 8400 Series and OS-CX
Disclosure: #CFD2 Edition
While it’s easy to focus solely on the presenting companies during an event like Cloud Field Day, the delegates truly make it a special experience in IT. In this post, Justin Warren gives is usual disclosure of the food and activities he received during the event.
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Tech Field Day – I’ll Be At TFD Extra at VMworld US 2017
VMworld US is almost upon us. We’ll be hosting a number of Tech Field Day Extra presentations at the event, with companies like NetApp, Kingston, Druva, and Pluribus Networks. Dan Frith will be there as a delegate and we’re looking forward to seeing what he thinks.
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Tech Field Day – I’ll Be At TFD Extra at VMworld US 2017
HPE Nimble Storage at Cloud Field Day – Enterprise Storage
HPE presented on their recently acquired Nimble Storage portfolio at Cloud Field Day. Theresa Miller like what she saw from their cloud-based SAN-like option for cloud storage. Fundamentally, she’s not sure this will be an option for many companies just starting their cloud journey, but rather thinks it has a ready market with many of the existing big cloud companies.
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HPE Nimble Storage at Cloud Field Day - Enterprise Storage
Are We Really Concerned with Public Cloud Vendor Lock-in?
Fear of public cloud lock-in is real for many companies. Eric Shanks looks at why this is, why this fear is historically overblown, and also what the advantages of keeping your options open actually are. He then reviews how three companies he saw at Cloud Field Day last month, Scality, Platform9, and Nirmata, address the lock-in question.
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Are We Really Concerned with Public Cloud Vendor Lock-in?
Blogging and Vendor Blowback
Jake Snyder shares a post about the difficulty of being a blogger while working in enterprise IT.
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X-IO Axellio and Edge Computing: an NVMe-enabled emerging architecture model?
Max Mortillaro follows up on his preview post about X-IO’s Axellio Edge computing platform. Max clarifies that this is meant to be an OEM solution designed to be a standalone application platform. He likes the ability to use 72 dual-port NVMe SSD drives, but the real secret sauce is the extra I/O via PCIe. It makes Max think that maybe the concept of edge computing requires a fundamentally new platform, one that Axellio exemplifies.
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X-IO Axellio and Edge Computing: an NVMe-enabled emerging architecture model?
Cloud Field Day and ServiceNow
ServiceNow presented their orchestration and automation platform, which works across a variety of legacy and emerging business systems at Cloud Field Day last month. Adrian Bridgwater share his thoughts on their presentation. While he admits that selling a platform can be a difficult proposition, Adrian sees it as giving the tools to customers to “eradicate the bad business processes that existed in the pre-cloud era”.
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Cloud Field Day and @ServiceNow
Cloud Field Day 2 – “Going Forward” with Rubrik
Lino Telera says, “the ability to protect data across cloud systems and instant recovery SQL server represent the coolest parts” of Rubrik’s Cloud Field Day presentation. Lino goes on to discuss Rubrik’s history and purpose as well as elaborate on those topics. He also calls Rubrik a “protection platform for all seasons,” both in normalcy and in disaster. Lino is excited by what Rubrik is doing, but sees many improvements that could be made in the future.
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Cloud Field Day 2 – “Going Forward” with Rubrik
Rubrik at Cloud Field Day – Backup your Cloud Today
Theresa Miller discusses meeting with the Rubrik team at Cloud Field Day. There, Rubrik presented on their cloud backup products, a topic Theresa sees as very important for any company making the transition to cloud. A solid long-run recovery and backup strategy is vital and is what Rubrik is aiming to provide with the Rubrik Cloud Cluster. Theresa seems optimistic about this product and looks forward to what Rubrik will offer in the future.
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Rubrik at Cloud Field Day - Backup your Cloud Today
Datrium Technology Update
Pietro Piutti was impressed by the fresh and unique approach of Datrium at Tech Field Day in May. Now he is looking at their two major technology updates. The first of these announcements is that Datrium will be extending its support beyond VMware. By doing so, Datrium positions themselves as the one single converged platform that can serve vSphere, RHV/oVirt, and Docker workloads. The second and arguably bigger announcement is Split Provisioning, the possibility independently to scale Compute Nodes (up to 128) and Data Nodes (up to 10). These two milestones represent a huge advancement allowing customers to deploy multi-hypervisor infrastructures with different size options, from a small “one-rack” deployment up to a large one for Service Providers use cases.
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NetApp at a Crossroads
In light of their Cloud Field Day presentation, Eric Shanks knows that NetApp is at a crossroads as a company. Their traditional image as a storage vendor will have to shift as NetApp begins to adapt the cloud and move into more cloud focussed products. Eric says, however, that this will be particularly difficult for a company as large as NetApp to accomplish swiftly. After all, they cannot simply abandon all of their older products and revenue streams. But with new hires and determination, NetApp is looking to be a player in the cloud market and despite anything else, NetApp will be a very different company in the next few years.
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