Another SNW trade show is over and in the record books.
On Friday, I flew home after the SNW show my first leg was from ISM to LBT, I filed IFR and after take off I was vectored through Orlando’s airspace and then handed off to the Daytona controller. Daytona sent me out over the ocean to the Jetso intersection and then north to Stary and then on to Lumberton which is the halfway point in my trip. I fuelled up in Lumberton and filed my next IFR flight plan back to Delaware. After departing LBT, I contacted FAY approach and the controller asked me if I wanted to go GPS direct to PXT (Patuxent) I said certainly, but mentioned that in the era of the Washington ADIZ it is very rare to get any direct routings any more. Except for a slight change to the Colin intersection, north of Richmond, I pretty much went GPS direct back home. It was a great flight and I had lots of time to think about the SNW show.
I was really surprised by the number of NetApp end users that came up to me and thanked me for my company’s service and support, and also by the number of folks who walked up to me and asked me to send them some more information on our NetApp support services. It was apparent to me that many NetApp users are suffering from Buyer’s remorse, and are looking for alternatives to NetApp’s forced upgrades. EMC’s folks were also interested in chatting with me, since they have a common interest in helping us displace NetApp as a service and support option where NetApp equipment is in place. The folks at 3 Par chatted with me and we spent quite a bit of time together. I have to admit that their 30,000 foot view for the technology they have was pretty interesting.
In the past I have learned that most trade show presentations are about as painful to sit through as getting a root canal, so I actively avoided any presentations no matter how interesting I was told they would be. If something interesting happened the trade press will cover it . I spent my time chatting with customers, vendors and competitors about common problems and solutions. I think that was much better usage of my time when you consider the laughter and cards exchanged and to do lists created.
After it was all over on Thursday night, Jon Toigo, Jeremy and I went to Wendy’s for our celebratory dinner and laughed about the number of analysts, reporters, and marketing types that were floating around the show. I think there were more marketing folks at the show than there were end users. But only SNW knows that for sure.
Of interest to many people in the storage business :
Regulatory language proposed in
Date: November 9, 2006
Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location:
Byron Sher Auditorium
1001 “I” Street, 2nd Floor
