Yesterday was Day 2 at SNW. The booths got all set up, and the conference floor was open for business.

I didn’t work the booth – I got to meet people and attend sessions. I was able to meet the guys from Cinetica (aka @esignoertti and @fabiorapposelli). They are just as nice as they seem on Twitter (and they are Dell Compellent customers to boot!).

I also got to meet some of the guys leading the hands-on training sessions for Dell. The SNW guy minding the labs was very strict about remaining vendor neutral, but he let me grab some video even though I had my Dell shirt on (thanks!).  The hands-on lab instructors worked tirelessly all day running labs on data deduplication, storage implications for server virtualization, unified storage – IP solutions, and enterprise content management. The labs really ran the gamut of skills from people brand new to storage to some complex topics.

I attended a panel session titled “Is cloud storage ready for the enterprise?”. There were two things said by a panelist that grabbed my attention, maybe he was just trying to be provocative (I’m not sure). But what are your thoughts on the following topics?

• It is too early to worry about standards and cloud API lock-in
• Our definition of “control”of data has to change for cloud computing

After a neat tour of the Bay area dinner (thanks to all the sponsors for that!), it was time for #storagebeers. I rolled in with some of the hands-on labs guys a little late, and I was shocked at how crowded it was! I was able to meet face to face for the first time with so many people I’ve interacted with for years via social media, and that was cool.

This all comes back us – storage professionals – being a very small community. Where else can you be in the middle of so many people who will understand what you do for a living? There was such a huge group of folks there: customers, analysts, and all sorts of vendors (I’m pretty sure I talked to folks from Dell, HP, EMC, and Netapp last night). There were no vendor wars, no fights at all. OK, there were people who avoided each other, sorta like being at a family reunion and those cousins and aunties that avoid each other so they won’t ruin the party for everyone — and after a few years they forget about the feud and there is love all around. I love being part of the greater storage community….if you are ever at a storage conference be sure to attend #storagebeers.

Wednesday was super busy for me, update coming soon!