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Scott D. Lowe

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Storage Field Day 8 Brings the Enterprise Storage Industry Together

This week marks the largest Tech Field Day event ever. Storage Field Day 8 will see 10 companies, from hot new companies like Cohesity and Infinidat to industry stalwarts like Nimble Storage and Intel, present to our panel of independent delegates. These writers and speakers were brought from around the world to learn, discuss, and share insight with our presenters. Like all Tech Field Day events, Storage Field Day 8 will be broadcast live on the Internet for all to see.

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As implied by the name, this is the eighth Storage Field Day event produced by Foskett Services for Gestalt IT. With two focused events per year, this wraps our fourth year of Storage Field Day events and brings us close to the sixth year overall for Tech Field Day events.

In that time, Storage Field Day has seen the launch of exciting companies like Coho Data and Primary Data, who will both return for this event. We have also watched the development of Pure Storage, NexGen Storage, and Violin Memory, who have returned to the event frequently over the years.

Every Tech Field Day event features a delegate panel made up of of a dozen independent experts, and Storage Field Day 8 continues our tradition of mixing newcomers and familiar faces. Alex Galbraith and Josh De Jong are joining us for the first time, joining sophomore delegates Vipin V.K. and Jarett Kulm. This will be the third Tech Field Day event for Jon Klaus, Dan Frith, and Mark May. Rounding out the event are Field Day veterans, Ray Lucchesi, Enrico Signoretti, Scott D. Lowe, and Howard Marks.

Our delegates were selected by their peers through a process of nomination and voting. All were vetted on the basis of their technical expertise and storage focus and independent-mindedness. Becoming a Tech Field Day delegates is also a recognition for the contributions they have made to sharing their knowledge through social media and events. Most write popular blogs or contribute to industry publications, and many speak frequently at live or online events.

We invite the public to tune in for Storage Field Day 8 throughout the week. Live broadcasts will be hosted at the Tech Field Day web site and video will be shared on our YouTube channel. Those wishing to be part of the discussion can join in using the #SFD8 hashtag on Twitter.

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Introducing the Expanded Foskett Services Team

When I started Foskett Services three years ago, I wanted to do something special: Bring together a team of great people to organize and promote community in the enterprise IT space. Between Tech Field Day and Symposium events, industry Roundtables, and community-building for SolarWinds’ Thwack and Aruba’s Airheads, our business has grown dramatically over the years.

Claire Chaplais has been with me from the start, handling the organization and logistics behind the scenes, with Matt Simmons taking her place for a while in 2011. We always had more work than the two of us could handle. That’s why we’ve worked with fantastic contractors like PrimeImage Media, Scott D. Lowe, and others. But we finally reached the point where we needed additional resources full time.

Enter Tom Hollingsworth. Since attending his first Tech Field Day event in early 2011, Tom caught my eye with a combination of enthusiasm to build community, technical knowledge, and sincere concern for the people around him. He stepped up to help at later events, often before I even needed to ask for help, and was always ready to go the extra mile.

That’s why I’m thrilled to announce that, as of today, Tom is part of the Foskett Services team. He’ll be helping out with all sorts of activities, from GestaltIT.com to Tech Field Day to writing and speaking projects. He’s got the skills to do just about everything, and we intend to give him the opportunity to become “more”, as he so eloquently put it.

Welcome, Tom!

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Foskett Services and SolarWinds Unveil the thwack Ambassador Program

Foskett Services is working with SolarWinds to bring new energy into the thwack user forum. The newly created thwack Ambassador program brings key thought leaders to the website to share their insights and concerns. Each month, a new Ambassador will be assigned to a section of the forum.

“We are excited to be working with Foskett Services to provide direct communication with industry experts through the community,” says Michael Torok, Director of Community at SolarWinds. “We are growing the breadth of coverage in the community, stepping outside of our product-specific forum focus, and fostering discussions that affect our community. It only makes sense to turn to known industry bloggers to help us succeed in this mission to become a destination for all IT professionals.”

This unique approach to social media outreach was pioneered by SolarWinds and Foskett Services. By reaching out to Ambassadors, SolarWinds recognizes their importance and draws on their insight into the IT market. But the program does not require them to toe the company line: Ambassadors are free to share their honest opinions without interference. The only requirement is that they post a short, topical thought once a week.

The thwack Ambassador program began this month with Scott D. Lowe commenting on KPI’s in the Virtualization Management area and Wesley David looking at the true meaning of system availability in Application and Server Management. Future Ambassadors will also work in the Storage Management forum, as well as returning to these initial two. Future thwack Ambassadors will be introduced every four weeks.