Justin Vashisht Can’t believe it’s been a year already since I attended the inaugural HP Discover event in 2011. That event kicked of my interest to start a blog with the main goal of being a note repository but had quickly grown to a knowledge transfer hub. I had a lot of help along the way and this one of my ways to give something back to the community. I’ve done my best to set aside time to write about things that get placed in front of me but, is has been a challenge. It’s quite alright though, since my personality and character demands bold and fresh challenges and goals. I am happy to report that 3cVguy.com averages several hundred unique views every day and is growing rapidly since the domain name change.
First, I have to make give out a special thanks to HP and @HPStorageGuy (Calvin Zito) for bringing a select few of us down to Vegas. Also, the IVY team is always a pleasure to work with on coordinating flights and hotel. They really roll out the red carpet and it shows that they truly care about the Independent bloggers out there. Not to mention the humbleness I feel when I am around some truly smart people. I think many IT Pro’s live in a bubble and work at a place for a few years and become truly good but the ego can get in the way since they usually stay in their comfort zone and lack new challenges and taking on serious hurdles. I THRIVE on being knocked out of my comfort zone, hell I just signed up for MMA Muay Thai sessions, what better then getting knocked around by elbows, fists, and leg kicks to take you out of your comfort zone, heh.
So, I really enjoyed last year’s Discover event and since it was HP’s first there were many areas for improvement. I got frustrated on how quickly event filled up and how limited the hands on labs were. It seems like HP has learned from this since I have noticed that many sessions are repeated and a maximum of two hands on lab sessions are enforced on attendees. It seems like bloggers pretty much have run of the mill and can attend a session even though it is full. (Awesome if true!)
From last year’s Discover I brought back a lot of HP energy to the firm I work at, Chelsea Technologies. It’s pretty amazing how much more HP business we have done since then, especially in the storage area. I will continue to evangelize just how awesome and unique 3Par is! Of course, I quickly swallowed up all of the 3Par and Blade sessions available. My schedule is listed below:
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3211 – Opening General Session |
6/4/2012 |
4:30 PM |
6/4/2012 |
5:30 PM |
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3215 – Welcome Reception |
6/4/2012 |
5:30 PM |
6/4/2012 |
7:30 PM |
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3212 – Tuesday General Session |
6/5/2012 |
8:30 AM |
6/5/2012 |
10:30 AM |
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TB2197 – Under the hood with HP ProLiant Gen8 servers and VMware virtualization technology |
6/5/2012 |
11:15 AM |
6/5/2012 |
12:00 PM |
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TB2400 – HP Insight Control with Microsoft System Center 2012 |
6/5/2012 |
1:30 PM |
6/5/2012 |
2:15 PM |
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TB2843 – Virtualizing Microsoft Exchange with VMware and HP 3PAR for an agile and cost-effective environment |
6/5/2012 |
2:45 PM |
6/5/2012 |
3:30 PM |
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BB2105 – Introduction to the next generation HP ProLiant Gen8 servers |
6/5/2012 |
4:00 PM |
6/5/2012 |
4:45 PM |
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TB2398 – The awesomeness of iLO |
6/5/2012 |
5:15 PM |
6/5/2012 |
6:00 PM |
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3249 – Madagascar 3 private screening |
6/5/2012 |
6:00 PM |
6/5/2012 |
7:30 PM |
|
3213 – Wednesday General Session |
6/6/2012 |
8:30 AM |
6/6/2012 |
10:30 AM |
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TB2402 – Managing HP infrastructure from within VMware vCenter—integrated physical and virtual management |
6/6/2012 |
11:15 AM |
6/6/2012 |
12:00 PM |
|
HOL2768 – HP 3PAR P10000 integration with VMware |
6/6/2012 |
1:45 PM |
6/6/2012 |
3:45 PM |
|
TB2756 – Simplicity of an automated recovery plan with 3PAR and VMware SRM |
6/6/2012 |
4:00 PM |
6/6/2012 |
4:45 PM |
|
BB2065 – The future of HP BladeSystem |
6/6/2012 |
5:15 PM |
6/6/2012 |
6:00 PM |
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3214 – Thursday General Session |
6/7/2012 |
8:30 AM |
6/7/2012 |
9:30 AM |
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TB2830 – Get thin and virtual with HP 3PAR |
6/7/2012 |
10:00 AM |
6/7/2012 |
10:45 AM |
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BB3259 – Converged I/O for HP ProLiant Gen8 |
6/7/2012 |
11:15 AM |
6/7/2012 |
12:00 PM |
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TB2757 – Supercharge your SAN with VMware and HP storage technologies |
6/7/2012 |
1:30 PM |
6/7/2012 |
2:15 PM |
|
TB2108 – HP Smart Update Manager: the solution to efficient firmware and software maintenance |
6/7/2012 |
2:45 PM |
6/7/2012 |
3:30 PM |
|
TB2064 – Scripting HP BladeSystem Onboard Administrator and Virtual Connect for faster deployments |
6/7/2012 |
4:00 PM |
6/7/2012 |
6:00 PM |
|
3216 – Discover Closing celebration |
6/7/2012 |
8:00 PM |
6/7/2012 |
11:00 PM |
On top of that HP has arranged some special events just for us bloggers.
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MONDAY – 1:00 – 1:30 meet & greet, intro with bloggers, Ivy Worldwide & HP 1:30 – 2:30 lunch 2:30 – 3:15 what’s new with HP Storage led by Brad Parks, Converged Infrastructure Strategist, HP Storage 3:15 – 3:45 what’s new with HP & big data led by Martin Whittaker, Vice President, Systems and Solutions Engineering 7:30P, meet at the downstairs lobby of The Palazzo (by Lagasse’s Stadium) for the shuttle to the Texas de Brazil. For those of you who weren’t with us last year, this is an all-you-can-eat Brazilian steak house with a magnificent salad bar. We have an 8P reservation. Food and drinks will be plentiful. |
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TUESDAY – 7:00 A – An early buffet breakfast sponsored by Intel. This will be in a private room at Grand Lux Café in the Palazzo Lobby. There’s also a Grand Lux in the Venetian, so want to be sure you have the right place. Madagascar 3 movie premiere before its released to public! |
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WEDNESDAY – Invited to the Connect/Vivit Tweetup and party at the Treasure island hotel. This is just across the street from the show hotels. This is followed by the Connect party (great fun and food last year!). Hosted at Gilley’s Saloon |
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THURSDAY – Dinner at Ri Ra in the Mandalay Bay before the concert. This is our farewell event and we hope you’ll be able to attend. Ri Ra is a fun Irish Pub and a bit of a change from the standard Las Vegas Glitz. We’ll again have a shuttle that will transporting us to the Mandalay Bay at 5:00 or so for a 5:30 reservation. Meet at the downstairs entrance to the Palazzo. Dinner will be followed by the concert. As HP Discover offers bus transportation after the concert, you’ll be able to take that back to the hotel, or you can grab a taxi to finish the night on the town. |
After typing all this out it’ll be a wonder if I still have a brain left on Friday. These events are EXHAUSTING, so I may have to finish the trip up with a nice relaxing motorcycle ride through Death Valley or the Grand Canyon! Lot’s of pics will be coming down the pipe in the next week, especially of the Discover Zone floor. Here we go! –Justin Vashisht
