Storage Field Day 5

I was invited to Storage Field Day 5, held in San Jose, California USA in April 2014.

I also attended the Software Defined Datacenter Symposium on 22 April 2014, and was part of the CapEx vs. OpEx panel.

Pre-Work

Here are my preparation posts in the lead up to the event:

Coverage

Here are my posts on the sessions:

CapEx vs. OpEx Panel

I was on this panel, along with a bunch of other folk:

  • Mike Bushong, from Plexxi, moderated proceedings
  • Rick Martig, from Nexenta
  • Jon Hudson, from Brocade
  • Chris Price, from OpenDaylight
  • Omar Sultan, from Cisco
  • Colin McNamara, from Nexus IS

Disclosure

I did a full disclosure write-up of all the gifts, meals, flights, accommodation, and other corporate largesse I received during this trip.

GestaltIT paid my expenses, so flights to the US, accommodation, and most meals. A car picked me up from SFO and drove me down to the hotel, which is close to San Jose airport. I saw the NASA Ames Research Facility! Other than that the 101 is really boring.
A car drove me back to SFO on the way home.

I was also at SDDC as a guest/panellist, so I didn’t have to buy a ticket, and was given a gift by GestaltIT to say thanks (a handsome calligraphy set that I stupidly left behind and Robert Novak is kindly sending on to me, at my expense).

I wasn’t paid to attend, and wasn’t on a work visa, so legally I can’t earn money from the trip. My company paid for my expenses that aren’t covered by GestaltIT, like travel insurance and parking at the airport, because it’s classed as part of my training and development, like any business conference. As the boss, that comes out of my margins, and I still have to meet the sales targets I set myself or I’ll be having a frank and honest discussion with myself about my future with the company.

What I brought for hometown gifts for other delegates and crew came out of my own pocket, as well as other stuff that isn’t a legitimate business expense.

I am under no obligation to write anything about the event, and no one has editorial control over any of this other than me. All the mistakes in my writing are mine and mine alone.

Of course the vendors want to influence us with their gifts, thanks to reciprocity, and of course it works or they wouldn’t do it. But we all fight the urge nonetheless. Everyone has their price, and mine is a lot higher than that, or so I like to think.

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