The Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) Symposium is coming to the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, from 8 AM to 5 PM. If you haven’t attended in times past, have no fear! I’ve managed to wrestle industry titan Tom Hollingsworth, otherwise known as @NetworkingNerd on the Twitters, to discuss this awesome event, the topics covered, and some of the reasons to attend in a delightful Q&A round.
Let’s dive right in.
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Chris Wahl: Hi there, Tom! Tell the audience a little bit about yourself and what you do.
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Tom Hollingsworth: Absolutely. My name is Tom Hollingsworth. I’m a former networking engineer that now works with Stephen Foskett at Gestalt IT on the Tech Field Day series. My job is to put together awesome events like the various Field Days as well as the Software Defined Data Center Symposium.
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CW: Can you elaborate further on the concept behind Tech Field Day for those that aren’t in the loop?
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TH: Tech Field Day is a very special event that brings together the best and brightest independent influencers and bloggers in the community and gives them the opportunity to talk to exciting vendors about in-depth technical topics. The idea is to foster discussion about new technology and allow the delegates to give feedback to the people that matter.
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CW: The term “Software-Defined Data Center” encompasses a wide variety of technologies. How does the SDDC Symposium 2014 plan to tackle the various technologies and make them consumable to attendees?
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TH: Modern data centers are comprised of many different technologies, from networking to storage to virtualization. Trying to build a DC without one or the other will only lead to problems. Adding software to the mix doesn’t change that. The 2014 SDDC Symposium will address the entire data center, from storage vendors like SolidFire and Coho Data to networking experts from Brocade and OpenDaylight and hyperscale computing vendor SimpliVity. It’s a holistic view at each piece of the SDDC.
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CW: Who do you feel is the right person to attend the SDDC Symposium from a professional and skill set perspective?
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TH: The right person to come to the symposium is a technical decision maker that is curious about new technology and wants to see how everything is being tied together to form a cohesive strategy. These are the engineers and architects that are out there each day building the future. These are the people that need to see where their projects will be headed in a few short months. The SDDC Symposium will give them the opportunity to hear from exciting new vendors and ask crucial questions about trends in data center technology.
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CW: I see a number of panels are lined up for the Symposium – based on past events, can you level set expectations on the breadth and depth of technologies covered, including any particular discussions that stick in your mind?
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TH: The panel discussions are designed to dive deep into topics that are of great interest to the audience. This year, we’re going to be taking on the complexities of SDDC architecture, the great debate between capex and opex purchasing models, and even a discussion about real-world implementations of SDDC technologies. The panel moderators are some of the brightest influencers in the industry today. They are preparing great discussion topics for each panel to ensure the technologies are thoroughly explored.
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If this sounds like your cup of tea, head on over to the 2014 SDDC Symposium page on the Tech Field Day site, or snag some tickets from Eventbrite site and use code TFDVIP25 for $25 off the registration fee.
