Events Exclusives

Announcing Gestalt IT Tech Field Day Seattle 2010

Gestalt IT is pleased to announce the next date in our ongoing series of Tech Field Day events. The Field Day delegates will convene in Seattle, WA on July 15 and 16, engaging some of the most innovative and interesting IT infrastructure companies.

The unique Field Dayâ„  concept brings together as equals two groups that rarely meet: Product vendors and independent thought leaders. The event includes 11 delegates and just five speaking slots. Both vendors and delegates are nominated and selected by an independent team of volunteers based on interest, technology and passion. The resulting discussions are packed with technical information, with feedback and questions flowing both ways across the table.

Intro to Tech Field Day Seattle from Stephen Foskett on Vimeo.

Presenting Sponsors

Just five companies will sponsor and present at Tech Field Day Seattle. Delegates will spend three hours with each vendor, learning about their products, technology, and relevance to modern IT practices. The Gestalt IT Tech Field Day events have attracted some of the biggest names in information technology, and Seattle is no exception. Our presenting sponsor list for this event includes industry leaders such as Compellent, F5, Veeam, and NEC. We are also excited to see the launch of a new company at Tech Field Day Seattle.

“Compellent is pleased to sponsor and participate in Tech Field Day Seattle,” said Bob Fine, director of product marketing, Compellent. “We place a very high priority on end-user experience and feedback during product development, and are looking forward to connecting with the thought leaders in attendance for real-time discussions about Compellent’s technology.”

“F5’s commitment to collaborating with the online community has played a key role in our market adoption and growth over the years,” said Karen Jester, Senior Director of Product Management at F5. “The opportunity to demonstrate our next-generation data center, security, and optimization solutions to respected industry pundits who have expert knowledge in what challenges IT professionals face is very exciting for us.”

“This is a great opportunity for NEC to interact with other thought leaders in the IT industry,” said Gideon Senderov, director of Advanced Storage Products, NEC Corporation of America.  “We view this as a time to showcase NEC’s innovation and enabling technologies while networking with and receiving feedback from industry leaders.”

Doug Hazelman, Senior Director,  Product Strategy, Veeam Software agreed.  “This is a great opportunity for Veeam to get in front of some of the  best virtualization experts and get their input. We get a lot of value  out of it regarding current and future product direction.”

The Tech Field Day delegates have immense influence on the ways that products and companies are understood in the IT industry. The world of media has changed, with social media and blogging gaining importance, impact and reach. The Field Day events provide an opportunity for these writers (and their readers) to interact with top technology providers.

Selected Delegates

Only eleven delegates were nominated for this Tech Field Day event. Our selection process focuses on the unique characteristics of thought leaders: Independence, open-mindedness, technical knowledge, and influence are key criteria. The global team of delegates come from a variety of backgrounds, including server virtualization, enterprise storage, networking, security, and systems administration.

Jason Boche of Boche.net summed up his experience at Tech Field Day Boston.  “Tech Field Day is a great opportunity to get exposure to multiple vendor offerings among an array of technologies.  Each Tech Field Day is different, yet the same successful approach is leveraged for each event, ensuring a positive experience for the delegates and vendors alike.  I’m honored to have been invited, let alone twice.”

Said first-time delegate Bob Plankers of The Lone Sysadmin, “I’m excited to participate because folks in the trenches, like myself, rarely get to see and hear about technology like industry analysts do.  Tech Field Day offers the chance to get to know products, vendors, and technologies. We will learn what’s really interesting about them, be able to knowledgeably discuss and blog about a product, and have the discussion be free of the traditional filters like pressure to buy.”

Another first-time delegate,  Craig Stewart of VirtualPro, said “I personally am looking forward to meeting like minded individuals and talking about technology across all spectrums. This combined with vendors prepared to engage and share information ensures that Tech Field day has all the ingredients to be a very busy, yet rewarding few days.”

About Gestalt IT and Tech Field Day

Complete delegate and sponsor lists are available at the  Gestalt IT  web site. We encourage those interested in IT infrastructure topics to follow the delegates on Gestalt IT (gestaltit.com), Twitter (bit.ly/TFD3TL and  bit.ly/TFDTS), Facebook (bit.ly/TFDGFB), LinkedIn (bit.ly/TFDLI), Flickr (bit.ly/TFDpics)  and Vimeo (bit.ly/TFDvids).

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This is the concept behind Gestalt IT – that experts in a variety of disciplines are stronger when they work together. As a group, we formed a media organization focused on promoting community among independent thought leaders in IT infrastructure topics. Our productions include the Gestalt IT web site and the series of Tech Field Day events. Gestalt IT Media LLC community organizer, Stephen Foskett, can be contacted at http://GestaltIT.com, sfoskett@gestaltit.com, or (508)451-9532.

About the author

Stephen Foskett

Stephen Foskett is an active participant in the world of enterprise information technology, currently focusing on enterprise storage, server virtualization, networking, and cloud computing. He organizes the popular Tech Field Day event series for Gestalt IT and runs Foskett Services. A long-time voice in the storage industry, Stephen has authored numerous articles for industry publications, and is a popular presenter at industry events. He can be found online at TechFieldDay.com, blog.FoskettS.net, and on Twitter at @SFoskett.

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