BlueXP Blog

5 Things to Do to Get the Full NetApp Experience

Written by Jeff Whitaker, Cloud Data Services | Sep 17, 2020 6:35:09 PM

Last year Microsoft Ignite sold out. Which makes this year’s digital event format awesome – there’s no selling out. The entire Microsoft ecosystem is coming together in one virtual place. Microsoft Ignite is popular in our tech community for insider information about new product introductions as well as hands-on learning with Microsoft product teams and the Microsoft partner ecosystem. Probably my favorite is the one-on-one connections with really smart people. Microsoft Black Belts, MVPs, industry specialists and more. For that reason, NetApp has worked hard to make virtual Ignite emulate the best of in-person Ignite – the ability to connect and learn.

It’s all happening online from September 22-24 – you can register here for free. We hope you will take the time to join us.

Here are the 5 things you need to do to get the full NetApp experience at Microsoft Ignite.

1. Grab some SWAG. At NetApp we love to give away swag, provide hands-on demos and connect you with NetApp and Microsoft gurus. It’s a little tougher in this virtual world but our marketing team has figured it out. We will be running our live, virtual “booth” for one hour each day and it will be where you can connect, chat, and grab swag. Every attendee will receive a gift card (while supplies last) and every attendee will be entered into a draw for one of three grand prizes valued at $10,000 each (see details below). You can pre-register for the booth experience here.

2. Technical Sessions and Round Tables. We were pretty excited when Microsoft selected us to co-present with them on the Modern Workplace. Microsoft made it pretty clear that every customer and every partner needed to see this. Watch for our joint digital breakout session that will show you how your company can run remotely and globally, faster and more securely than on premises. It features the NetApp Virtual Desktop Service together with WVD on Azure NetApp Files. You won’t want to miss it. In addition, we will have three more sessions showcasing NetApp’s latest innovations with Microsoft. Here are the details if you want to find them in your session scheduler:

Ask the Experts - Tuesday September 22, 11:30AM-12:00PM SEA
Focus: Migrate the Un-migratable (SAP, Oracle)
Products: Azure NetApp Files
Title: Make resilience a reality in Azure: Easily Migrate Your Complex File Workloads

Table Topics - Wednesday September 23, 11:30AM-12:00PM SEA
Focus: Cloud Manager
Products: Cloud Manager, CVO
Title: Application-driven storage with Cloud Manager and Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Joint with Microsoft – Date & Time TBD
Focus: Windows Virtual Desktop
Products: Virtual Desktop Service, Azure NetApp Files
Title: Solving your remote workforce requirements in Azure: How to deploy a highly scalable, resilient WVD environment with ease

On-Demand
Focus: More cloud, less cost
Products: Spot
Title: The Easy Way to Leverage Spot VMs for Autoscaling Applications in Azure using Elastigroup

3. Choose your own adventure. Last year we had our “Beat the Clock” game where you could test your ability to create an enterprise data environment in Azure NetApp Files against your peers. Fastest time? 32 seconds (yes, that is true). This year, we have a “Choose Your Own Adventure” where you can select your top cloud priority. Visit out NetApp Ignite page now and start playing right away.

4. Connect 1:1. We’re bringing some of our best people to our booth. Data storage people. Cloud application gurus. Specialists. Microsoft Black Belts. Our top minds working on some of the toughest and most challenging projects around the globe. They’ll all be in one place and ready to talk to you. But only for an hour each day. Pre-register and then attend live. Bring your most difficult problems and let’s talk. If you would prefer to schedule a 1:1 meeting in advance, we will be booking virtual meetings right through to the end of October.

Get the Inside Scoop. Yes, we’re always doing something new and we’ll have an announcement at Ignite that you won’t want to miss. It might save you as much as 90% of your time which is a lot of time to get back for other things.

We’ve got some awesome giveaways!

This year we decided to give away something pretty amazing that technology professionals need to grow their online presence and publish more content.

Content Creation Package

This professional video and audio package will help you kick your content publishing plans into high gear. This highly sought-after package is valued at $10,000 and includes:

  • A complete prosumer webinar video kit, with a camera, lens, tripod, lights and lavaliere mic
  • One-hour training and remote set-up with a professional videographer,
  • One-hour training with a social media brand specialist to help you build your online brand and identify your first video topic,
  • Your first video professionally edited

Pre-register today and enter to win.

Meet the technology accelerant fueling the digital transformation fire

Everyone is looking for better ways to help their enterprise operate efficiently in a remote environment. NetApp has been helping customers do this for a very long time and we have some new solutions that are ideal for enterprise scale, speed and security.

As validation, NetApp was selected as a two-category finalist (Education and Community Response) in the 2020 Microsoft Partner Awards, honored along with Microsoft partner Applied Cloud Systems (ACS) for our joint Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) on Azure NetApp Files solution. Our technology empowered remote learning and research at more than 40 universities, moving them all to Azure with Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) in just a few short weeks.

In the Community Response category, NetApp and ACS were applauded for responding immediately to the need for enterprises to operate virtually and to provide secure, high-performance environments to employees remotely. Our joint solution, made possible by the high-performance capabilities of Azure NetApp Files, was quickly extended to non-profits, government agencies, healthcare organizations, and medical research facilities.

If you’re not familiar with Azure NetApp Files, then there’s no better time than Microsoft Ignite to meet this cutting-edge product and get acquainted with what it can do for you and for your customers. Whether you sign up for sessions, a meeting, stop by the virtual booth for a chat, or do all of the above – we hope you’ll join us at Microsoft Ignite 2020. And remember register to be entered to win one of the three Content Creation Video Experience Packages.