As we wrap up the year of 2018, it’s always nice to squeeze in one more conference to talk about Dell storage products. For us, this was Gartner’s IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies show in Vegas. This conference traditionally gets C-level executives, storage administrators, industry analysts and decision makers together for four days to hear thought-leadership and strategies regarding technology solutions. This year was no different.
According to Gartner’s numbers, the show pulled in over 2500 attendees and 120 + exhibitors with Dell being one of them. As I staffed the booth to talk to customers, analysts, and professionals alike, I kept hearing, “Dell, I love you guys” and “I just bought one of these,” as the attendees looked at our equipment in the booth. Simply put, people are excited about our technology and that is exactly what you want to hear at a show like this one.
A lot of the conversations I had were with individuals who simply wanted to know more about our products. Most of them were pre-existing customers that are looking forward to the future and wanted to make sure they were looking at the best storage products for their data centers.
One customer I spoke with, from a financial institution, really wanted to see a Dell PowerMax as they had recently purchased a PowerMax 8000. They are beyond excited to take delivery and start moving their data to the world’s fastest storage array!
Another customer that came by the booth was getting ready to make the move to Dell Isilon. This customer works for a healthcare institution and needed the perfect solution for medical imaging storage. The hospital had used EMC products in the past and was looking forward to getting their hands on Isilon.
Of course, what also makes this show so valuable is the thought-leadership presentations that are given to the attendees. Dell’s Varun Chhabra presented on Data Capital. This is the idea that a company’s data is a capital asset that offers extreme value. We offer solutions that allow customers to unlock their Data Capital. Dell’s Brian Payne spoke about the future and today’s emerging trends of IoT, AI, AR/VR, and Blockchain. He focused on the importance of data-driven decision making and how we can use AI to drive change that keeps customers ahead of their competition. With today’s digital economy, these were both extremely valuable presentations to attend.
Our time at the Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference was time well spent. It is always great to get out there and speak with our customers and potential new ones about our storage products and the value and performance they can bring to their data centers. Dell is a valuable partner in a customer’s journey in IT transformation and from what I heard, a partner is exactly what many customers are looking for.
If we missed you this year, I hope to see you at a show in 2019!
