ETI-NET customers value RUG events!

If it is March then it is time for NonStop RUGs – Regional User Groups events – to kick-off in earnest. Many years ago when Tandem Computers was really dominating the market there were some 30+ RUG communities around the globe and while the numbers have fallen over the years, there is no letup in the enthusiasm among those that continue to provide a forum for the local NonStop community that they support. We have just returned from the first event of March, the big RUG event put on by SunTUG, and ETI-NET was visible among the big turn out from NonStop users and NonStop vendors. And of course, it was good to see the strong support for SunTUG that came from HPE – Mark Pollans from Product Management and Keith Moore, a Solutions Architect from the field organization, can always count on a crowd turning up to hear them both.

And this is just the beginning for ETI-NET as we are heading to Scottsdale Arizona for the DUST RUG event even as we are finalizing plans to head to Europe just a few short weeks later to attend both the BITUG Big SIG event on May 9th, 2018, at Trinity House, Tower of London, and then the big one for all Europeans – the European GTUG NonStop HotSpot / IT-Symposium 2018 – Conference & Exhibition on May 14th -16th, 2018, at The Westin Hotel, Leipzig. There will be numerous references to all these RUG events in other posts to NonStop Insider as well as on many vendors’ web sites and for ETI-NET these events represent a great opportunity to go to where our customers reside and meet with them, as well as with prospects, to hear the latest news of their plans for NonStop. Being a HPE Business Partner of long standing, it is still highly beneficial for ETI-NET to interact directly with the NonStop community and RUG participation is always an occasion to meet with every stakeholder, including HPE.

In the last issue of NonStop Insider we wrote of how, when we look at NonStop users running BackBox today, we are detecting two distinct trends. One observable trend among our users was more or less what we had expected – NonStop users continue to pursue system upgrades and the new NonStop X systems are just a further evolution of traditional NonStop systems – so we are happy to see that we are in a very strong position to help these NonStop customers. On the other hand there is interest among our users too in virtualized NonStop (vNS) and  with the planned support for VMware and the creation of the Converged Virtualized NonStop systems, we believe that HPE is making the right moves to meet the needs of those who will be the early adopters for vNS.

With what we heard at SunTUG, we gained confirmation that our observations about these trends proved accurate and the good news that came from the HPE presenter Mark Pollans included an update on the Converged Virtualized NonStop systems, which diverts noticeably away from the traditional systems packaging of past NonStop systems. Ideal for developers and testers and even those business line managers looking to pilot a new application, it represents the first fully configured vNS system HPE is offering to its NonStop users.

This HPE presentation validates our product orientation and confirms the importance of the vBackBox. At SunTUG we also had a chance to present the new vBackBox and the new features of the BackBox to our customers and to the local HPE account teams. We got very good feedback from both our customers and from HPE account teams and many of them came to see us for more details afterward. Should you not be able to make it to one of the upcoming RUG events, whether here in the Americas or across the Atlantic in Europe, and you would like to know more about ETI-NET, BackBox or vBackBox don’t hesitate reaching out to us as we would love to talk to you about your needs and how best ETI-NET can help you.

Of course, if you happen to be present at an event where we are participating and you see us, please stop us to talk about your requirements for virtual tape systems. And of course, at all times we are open to take a call and to respond to an email so feel free to contact us at any time.

Said Hini
said.hini@etinet.com (514) 663-0501
http://etinet.com/