Storage belangengroep SNIA Europe start de onlione uitgave van Virtualization World en Datacenter Technologies.
SNIA Europe and Angel Business Communications today announced the launch of Virtualization World (www.virtualizationworld.net) and Datacenter Technologies (www.datacentertechnologies.net), two brand new events that will take place alongside SNW Europe (www.snweurope.net), the region’s largest independent conference dedicated to data and storage management, to deliver the high-quality educational content around server virtualization, cloud computing, datacentre consolidation. All three conferences and the associated exhibitions will take place at Congress Frankfurt on 27th and 28th October 2009 under the banner ‘The Power of 3: 3 events/2 days/1 location.’
‘SNIA Europe has come a long way since its formation several years ago and the new co-located events reflect our current focus on technologies complementary to data storage, such as server and application virtualisation, cloud computing and datacentre infrastructure,’ said Frank Bunn, Marketing Chair at SNIA Europe. ‘We will leverage our experience around SNW Europe to make Virtualization World and Datacenter Technologies two of the hottest conferences for the EMEA IT calendar.’
With presentations, case studies and a vast array of SNIA tutorials covering server, storage, networks and application virtualisation, cloud-based architectures, data deduplication, security, tiered storage, FCoE and Solid State Storage, the three simultaneous events will attract the broad spectrum of end user IT professionals involved in data management, data storage, business continuity, server provisioning and application delivery and support, as well as IT resellers, consultants and distributors focussing on these technologies.
‘We are very pleased with the level of interest shown to date in the new events because it supports our belief that even in difficult times, organisations are looking at new technologies and innovative IT delivery models, especially when they can learn about so much in just two days’ said Paul Trowbridge, marketing director for the three events. ‘As for SNW Europe in previous years, the content across the board will be of the highest quality, featuring end user, vendor and analyst speakers.’
To date a number of leading industry players have signed up for the events including 3PAR, CommVault,
Data Domain, DataCore, Emulex, F5, Fujitsu, HMK, LSI, OSL, Quantum, Sony, Syncsort and Texas Memory Systems, with more coming on board over the next few weeks.
Last year SNW Europe saw 1,400 visitors from 24 countries including Japan and the United States cross its doors, including 1,000 end users, resellers, analysts and journalists and the organisers are looking to replicate this success across the three events.
‘As a leading bank we are regularly inundated with offers of information on new products but our lack of time does not allow us to follow through with each leading vendor. At SNW Europe however we can spend time looking at several technologies, learning about new products and meeting with different vendors all in a couple of days. The return on my time means that I can easily justify taking the time to attend the event,’ said Friedrich Ruppel, LAN Engineer at Commerzbank AG.
Bas van der Worp, Storage Administrator at Schering-Plough in the Netherlands, agrees: ‘I have been coming to SNW Europe every year since 2005 because it allows me to take a good look at all the new technologies that I might be considering for my organisation. This year I made the most of my time by attending the expo, the conferences and the hands on lab in order to get a 360 degree view of what was on offer. I was particularly interested in solid state storage solutions and found plenty of information. I will certainly come back next year!’
The conference sponsors are also confident the new events will strengthen their marketing strategies and help their sales teams: ‘From our storage roots we have evolved and broadened our focus to provide market leading data management technologies and we are excited to find a similar path in the development strategy of SNW Europe. The three conferences will fill a gap in the IT calendar and we want to be a part of that,’ said Fiona Moon, Marketing Director EMEA at CommVault.
Marcus Schneider, Director of Product Segment Data Protection at Fujitsu agrees: ‘Fujitsu has been an SNW Europe sponsor since the beginning and the new events will allow us to cost-effectively showcase a wider range of our products and technologies. The three events offer an unparalleled synergy that, as a market leader, we could not overlook,’ and so does said Natascha Wilhelm, Marketing Manager Central & Eastern Europe at F5 ‘SNW Europe’s evolution as an event to encompass the changing issues and challenges that its attendees have to face up to is the reason F5 has decided to be a Gold Sponsor for 2009. Aside from the must-haves for vendor participants i.e. attendee numbers and seniority levels, to drive useful conversations and hopefully develop commercial relationships, the fact that SNW Europe isn’t limited to one facet of IT is also attractive. F5 plays in the storage arena, but does a good proportion of business in the data centre and in virtualisation-related markets, so to be able to touch all three of these interest areas in one hit makes it a logical move for us to support the show.’
More details on the strategy behind the new events and how the organisers plan to attract delegates and sponsors despite the economic downturn, read the Q&A with Paul Trowbridge at
http://www.snweurope.net/q&a.php
For further information on the conferences please visit www.snweurope.net, www.virtualizationworld.net and www.datacentertechnologies.net.
