OzTUG event Melbourne on October 31, 2017

OzTUG is neither the longest running regional user group nor is it one of the GEO majors. While America and Europe hold sizable events that appeal to a broader audience, OzTUG directs its message solely at the local community but even so, over the years it has attracted many overseas speakers. There was even a time where Australia played host to an ITUG Board Meeting that certainly proved popular to all those who made the journey to Sydney or, more specifically, Manly Beach. But Australia is more than just Sydney indeed, Australia polarizes around two major population centers – Sydney and Melbourne. The differences couldn’t be more clear when you consider that it was only a few years ago that both cities enjoyed playing winter sports in the same competitions as up until then, the two cities didn’t even play the same sports!

Sydney has its city skyline, the bridge and the opera house and of course the beaches. Melbourne, in the other hand, was the cultural and culinary heart of the country and when it came to art galleries and museums, and yes, parks and shopping centers, was always a step or two ahead of Sydney. When OzTUG held its big event this year in Sydney, participating in the HPE update on hybrid IT as it updated the community on new capabilities provided by the GEN 10 server range (along with an update from Intel), Melbourne couldn’t let an opportunity pass to throw an encore program for the city’s NonStop community. The turnout exceeded forty attendees which, for OzTUG in Melbourne, was pretty good and already we have been given very good feedback which encourages to consider providing similar updates in the future.

There were no international guests this time but we still enjoyed hearing from those who called in for their sessions and we heard first-hand more about NSADI and hybrids as well as the work being done to bring blockchain to NonStop. This last point hits close to home as already one Australian entity has committed to testing blockchain on NonStop on a new NonStop system that they have just acquired for the purpose. While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin dominate the conversation, the community is learning that there is more on offer with a distributed, immutable ledger technology than simply supporting a digital currency.

As for vendor presentations there was plenty of news coming from Integrated Research, NuWave, Xypro and even Micro Focus before the day ended with drinks and canapes … All told, a good program and a good turnout is goodness enough to encourage further events and who knows, we may even attract more dignitaries from further afield!  See you there next year and perhaps, you can think of escaping winter for the joys of summer down under …

Andrew Price – President OzTUG
andrewgprice@gmail.com

Lyn Falck – Secretary OzTUG
L.Falck@comforte.com

David Gillbanks – HPE Liaison
david.gillbanks@hpe.com