HPE RUGs – Tradition continues to rule as we look deeper into programs on offer in 2020

The Connect Community does a marvelous job pursuing an inclusive agenda that makes sure that all HPE enterprise users have somewhere to go for the latest news on HPE Mission Critical Systems. Over the years they have been instrumental in ensuring there are forums for the various platforms HPE supports and the success they have had in doing so can be seen with each event they support. No better example of this is the annual NonStop Technical Boot Camp held towards the end of each calendar year and where, in 2020, it will be held for the last time in Burlingame, California, as in 2021 the venue will be outside of Silicon Valley, as Denver, Colorado, welcomes the NonStop community.

However, if you want to enjoy grassroots participation a community such as NonStop can afford you should make sure you support your local NonStop RUG event. Whether your local community opts to be called a RUG or a Chapter is irrelevant, so long as there is plenty of NonStop content. Unfortunately, when it comes to IT and the data center, traditional is often said at the same time as legacy. But when it comes to user events, tradition has a lot going for it. In times when some are advocating that everything can be found using Google search and that going to all that expense to attend an event isn’t really worth it, perhaps you should reconsider. If you want to talk to those working at the firewall to bring you the features you need they will rarely show up in a Google search.

The tradition behind RUGs dates back to the 1980s and sprang to life at the same time as the ITUG community was formed – yes, it was Tandem Computers’ own Barry Ariko who signed ITUG into being. This is only being referenced as at times, we tend to forget where we came from and the energy, enthusiasm and indeed evangelism that all those who came into contact with the NonStop community witnessed first-hand. The good news here is that it lives on – if 2019 taught us anything then it was that there is no substitution for networking and discussing our options for future NonStop deployments.

The picture atop this column was one chosen as it not only depicted an ITUG SUMMIT long ago (2003) – reminding us that all those years ago, it was celebrating its 25^th anniversary! More astute readers will point out that it also serves as a reminder that today, almost two decades later, security remains a hot topic among all members of the NonStop community. In many ways security is a never-ending quest even as some argue that it will never be truly addressed when others argue that it’s not unlike NonStop supporting fault tolerance – a good security implementation starts with the acknowledgment that security at some point will be breached. So where do you learn the latest steps being taken by those providing security solutions well, of course, at your local RUG event.

And we hope to see you there soon, as this year your team at NonStop Insider will be throwing their support behind RUG events wherever they are held:

February, 2020

• SunTUG Sunshine Summit (Florida) 2/28, 2020

March, 2020

• DUST (Scottsdale, Arizona) 3/20, 2020

May, 2020

• IT-Symposium 2020 (Berlin)  5/4 – 5/6, 2020

June, 2020

• BITUG BIG SIG (Trinity House, London) 6/17, 2020
• HPE Discover 2020 (Las Vegas) 6/23 – 6/25, 2020

November, 2020        

• NonStop TBC 2020 (Burlingame, CA) 11/16 – 11/18, 2020