The value that comes with NonStop RUG gatherings, worldwide.

What can only be described as the RUGs Season and a time when globally, the HPE NonStop community comes together to share experiences and to hear all about what’s new from the NonStop team and from the collective of NonStop vendors supporting NonStop. There is always something new to be taken back to our place of employment and for 2025, there will be a significant amount of NonStop team members’ time devoted to the newly updated family of NonStop systems under the code name of Starship.

RUGs or, Regional User Groups to give it the full description have been an influential part of the history of NonStop. Dating back to the earliest such gathering in San Jose, California that took place in the late 1970s and proved to be the precursor to the formation of ITUG, (International Tandem User Group) we all knew so well. Little did we know ahead of time that Compaq would enter the scene, changing Tandem to NonStop, acquiring Digital Equipment (DEC), and then HP purchasing Compaq and mixing it in with the HP-UX folks, to create the Connect Community of today but if we had been attending user group meetings, we would have been among the very first to hear of this development.

Fast forward to today and the RUG gatherings continue to provide value and their focus on all things NonStop has not been diluted in any way even as the storytelling has grown through the years. We may call the evenings an opportunity to network and each country has embraced something different over time, but the opportunity so provided to mingle has proved as popular as it was in the beginning. Here at TCM we not only attend as many RUG events as is feasibly possible, supporting these gatherings with presentations anchored in our observations of the NonStop customer, we are ardent adherers to any and every opportunity to mingle where the story of NonStop can be retold.

For 2025, this has involved travel to Australia as well as creating plans for our participation in Dublin for the E-BITUG event not forgetting of course, our upcoming participation, May 21 – 22, 2025 in CTUG to be held at HPE Canada headquarters. Plans have already begun to form for an extended stay in Houston for this year’s annual and recently renamed, the HPE NonStop Technology and Business Conference (NonStop TBC). Age and mileage may not be an issue but the motivation for TCM is fueled by our renewed appreciation, dare we say, enthusiasm for all things NonStop related. Its not just about the arrival of the next iteration of NonStop systems but it is the added incentive to hear first hand from the NonStop team about the latest wins for NonStop and of the solutions that have been driving those wins for the NonStop sales teams.

Our visit to Australia where we participated in the annual dual city OzTUG events covering the NonStop communities of Sydney and Melbourne, we were very pleased to see the level of support from senior NonStop team members. Cricket may have wound down for the season and football, as strange as it is played down under may have just begun, but the talk was less driven by on-field activities – it was by the renewed sense of camaraderie clearly on show for all who participated in OzTUG 2025.

“TCM had a wonderful time at our first OZTUG event. The sense of community down under was extremely strong, which made for an enjoyable and engaging conference,” said Daniel Craig, TCM Managing Director. Joining Daniel was Collin Yates while still very much a Kiwi and yet, Aussie affiliated, who shared in the same manner as Daniel even as Daniel added, “a special thanks to the OZTUG committee for putting on two great days, across two great cities, and to our fellow participants who delivered insightful presentations, full of useful information.”

What will be a new experience for TCM will come from our first ever participation in the annual CTUG event to be held in Mississauga, Ontario. We have read a lot of positive reviews, commentaries and blog posts concerning CTUG and welcome the opportunity to be participants. When it comes to appreciating the value such participation can provide, there really is no substitute to being present among those likeminded attendees who value NonStop as they go about the support of their enterprise with solutions on NonStop.

As for the upcoming E-BITUG event in early June to be held in Dublin, look for TCM’s Shiva Subramanian providing an informative update on NonStop support of Kernel Level Threading (KLT). In this, his latest presentation, Shiva will examine what will likely follow with the introduction and then the impact of Kernel-Level Threads (KLT) will have in the HPE NonStop environment.

“We will discuss how KLT enhances system performance, enabling better parallelism, responsiveness, and efficient CPU utilization. Through a detailed comparison with earlier threading models, we’ll highlight the significant improvements in application throughput and ease of migration,” said Shiva. “Additionally, we’ll explore the challenges encountered during implementation, share insights from our beta testing, and consider the future potential of KLT in supporting modern applications, including Java and DotNet, within the evolving NonStop ecosystem.”

In Dublin, there will also be another presentation this time by TCM’s Andy Vasey. Andy will be presenting on the opportunities that arise through the use of TCM InSight: Unlocking Potential: A Collaborative InSight into Your NonStop Systems.

“In today’s dynamic digital world, truly understanding the health and configuration of your mission-critical NonStop systems is essential. That’s why we’ve developed InSight from TCM, a rapid assessment tool designed to provide a clear and precise view of your environment,” said Andy. “TCM InSight offers a streamlined approach to understanding your system’s current state, highlighting areas for optimization and improvement. Let’s move beyond “we’ve always done it this way” and discover the solutions InSight can provide.”

One observation TCM would like to make is that increasingly we are seeing a more youthful presence among attendees of RUG events. For the TCM team, this is a positive outcome we have come to appreciate even as we understand there are new programs being instigated that better support those new to NonStop with access to mentors, knowledgeable in all aspects of NonStop deployments.

New to NonStop has now formed and it is further testament to our long-standing belief here at TCM that such endeavors need champions and TCM’s Daniel Craig was Chair of the Under40 SIG (U40SIG). TCM looks forward to further instilling the value proposition of NonStop among the generations that follow us in the coming years. For more information on this latest development, check out the new LinkedIn group, New to NonStop and let’s push participation well past the 100 mark!

To read more about Andy’s presentation, look for an additional update included in this latest issue of NonStop Insider. And look too for additional photos taken during recent events taken by TCM together with a selection from other NonStop vendors present at RUG events worldwide. Watch out too for TCM’s presence at these RUG events and elsewhere, whether a local or regional occurrence. At TCM we often talk about value – the value proposition of a product; the value proposition of a service being introduced; the value proposition that comes with a simple consultation.

When it comes to RUG events then for TCM the value is inescapable as there is no substitute from time spent with those tasked with deployment and operation of NonStop systems today. Wherever an event occurs there is likely a chance to see us manning tables, stepping up to rostrums to present and to see us hosting a social gathering. Perhaps most important of all is the value we place on your time, so consider this as your personal invite to come see us in  Mississauga, Ontario, Dublin, Ireland and Houston, Texas, in 2025.

nonstop@tcm.uk.com   www.tcm.uk.com