Nonstop Communities – key to TCM engagement with Nonstop customers

Nonstop Communities – key to TCM engagement with Nonstop customers.

The history of Nonstop Compute dates back to earlier incarnations, then part of Compaq and before that, Tandem Computers, was tightly interwoven with user groups and that involvement continues. Globally, with Connect and, prior to HPE, the International Tandem User Group (ITUG). Locally, with Connect supporting Regional User Groups (RUGs) and a couple of Tandem User Groups (TUGs) that remain even today. The desire for the Nonstop community to come together, whenever there was an event held locally, regionally or globally, hasn’t lessened with time. Simply experiencing the knowledge-sharing that goes along with such gatherings has been the lifeblood of the community and for good reason. There is no substitute to face-to-face interactions with companies on the same journey as is yours.

2025 has been a year where Nonstop communities have come together at locations spread across the four corners of the globe. From Chile to Australia, from Canada to Mexico, From Dublin to Utrecht. And many more places. At many of these gatherings, you will have seen the presence of TCM. A strong and vocal supporter of Nonstop conferences and events, our participation represents the TCM marketing endeavor as we believe has best showcased the value TCM provides. From managed services, consultations, product deliveries and implementations, TCM has not only been a participant but, in most instances, been among the most visible sponsors of many of these gatherings.

TCM sees no better way to communicate the value proposition of the company than with our presence at locations scattered … It has been a constant endeavor of TCM to review every conference and event participation, seeking to always consider how we, as a company, can do things better. Is there a better way than providing wee drams of Scotch Whisky? Is a golf putting challenge the best way to attract attendees to our stand? Can we look for better, more highly-valued, gifts and prizes? Being headquartered in Scotland, maybe there isn’t a better way than handing out drams of Scotch just as the tie-in with golf reinforces such a connection. Then again, we are ever watchful as to what best entices the Nonstop community to come talk to us about how best we might fit when it comes to meeting any upcoming projects.

There is likely to be no better way to demonstrate our willingness to examine our support of the Nonstop community in order to look to better ways to reach an even bigger audience than there is in supporting a virtual TUG. This is precisely why we were a committed supporter of the first ever vTUG as delivered by NuWave. Across two virtual gatherings to better serve the global presence of Nonstop and to ensure time zones didn’t detract from the event, we have to admit we were pleasantly surprised by the level of participation this first ever vTUG attracted. When finally tallied, the numbers proved impressive. Possibly a better way to communicate with the Nonstop community? Our assessment isn’t so much if this an alternative but rather, something that augments the present Global and Regional events, and having Connect actively supporting these face-to-face events isn’t a situation we see changing in the near term.

TCM enjoys all opportunities for face-to-face engagement. This is especially true in these times. New Nonstop Compute converged systems are being delivered where tech refreshes are being openly discussed. Virtual isn’t the sole property of TUGs and Rugs as virtual Nonstop (vNS) continues to build a solid core of adherents. When you consider virtualization, and the doors that deploying Nonstop virtually opens, it builds an even stronger case for just how modern today’s Nonstop Conute systems have become. For many years, Nonstop has been inching its way to recognition as a software offering and the success early Nonstop customers are having running vNS on private and public clouds is a testament to this transformation of Nonstop to a modern platform stack.

TCM continues to be excited with the response to our own promotion of vNS. TCM’s Shiva Subramanian has been a highly visible session presenter at all the conferences and events we have supported in 2025. Whether it’s to highlight the benefits of vNS that Shiva has observed through his own engagement with vNS or, more recently, the benefits that can be derived with capitalizing on the availability of Kernel Level Threading. “We have discussed how KLT enhances system performance, enables better parallelism, responsiveness, and efficient CPU utilization,” said Shiva. “Additionally, have explored the challenges encountered during implementation, shared our own insights following beta testing, and even considered the future potential of KLT in supporting modern applications, including Java and DotNet.”

With what we are witnessing at these presentations is just how vNS has the ability to open up new markets for Nonstop. Is this the sole better way for advancing Nonstop then no, as there is a lot more taking place among the senior managers of the Nonstop team. However, it is perhaps the best example of what can be supported by these modern Nonstop deployments where virtualization has taken place. Happening in parallel to vNS projects has been the increase in interest in open-source tools. This has accelerated of late to where it has been our observation that as many members of the Nonstop customer community look forward to retirement, embracing open-source makes it considerably easier to onboard graduates when Nonstop Compute systems support the same tools as they will find at any university favored by Computer Science students.

Whereas 2025 was a year where migrations and the accompanying tech refreshes proved to be the highlight for many members of our Nonstop community, 2026 looks to be a continuation of these migrations as the early adopters have proved the value of the new Nonstop NS9 X5 and NS5 X5. In 2026 we are likely to see further support of vNS among even the biggest Nonstop users and we are anticipating a very busy year ahead for TCM related to the deployment of these systems. As for the further modernization of Nonstop, this is a journey undertaken by more Nonstop customers and be intently watched by all Nonstop customers, where services from experienced providers like TCM will be sought after.

As for our plans for 2026, these are now subject to internal discussions but for TCM, participation will continue. Look for further news about our participation and indeed our sponsorship in 2026 in upcoming issues of Nonstop Insider. But for now, everyone at TCM wishes you the best for the holiday season as we trust you will be celebrating the arrival of the New Year with much anticipation; looking always at delivering for our Nonstop customers, a better way!