What Happens In Vegas...: 25 Scenes From Interop 2010
Vegas, Baby!
Sin city became the high-tech Mecca this week as Interop Las Vegas 2010 took over the Mandalay Bay. Thousands of the high-tech hungry gobbled up educational information and examined new products on the Interop show floor, some of which put a little Vegas twist on things.
Here are 25 scenes you may have missed at Interop Las Vegas if you were too occupied at the Black Jack table or just fatigued on high tech.
(Here, the crowd gathers for the opening keynote presentations)
It's A 'Two-Horse Race'
HP senior vice president and general manager Marius Haas kicked off Interop with his keynote presentation. During his speech, Haas called out HP's chief rival Cisco and said HP's recent acquisition of 3Com and its H3C and TippingPoint divisions makes the competition to control the edge to the core a true "two-horse race.'
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Dukin' It Out
When it comes to wireless networks, Wi-Fi arrays beat standard APs any day, right? Well, Xirrus thinks so and to demonstrate the wireless vendor hosted legit amateur boxing matches in a full-sized ring on the Interop show floor.
Maybe HP and Cisco should step in the ring next.
Supercharged!
McAfee felt the need for speed at its booth on the Interop show floor. The security supercharger showed off the next generation Ford GT, packed with a 5.4 liter V8 paired with a helical limited-slip six-speed, this bad boy can go zero to 60 in 3.6 seconds. Let's see a virus do that!
Vroooooom!
The next generation Ford GT on the previous slide got its inspiration from this classic racer car: the Ford GT40 (also at the McAfee booth), which placed first, second and third at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Cloud Is Forever
Well, only time will tell if the cloud really is forever, but Rackspace Cloud wanted to make sure it was at least semi-permanent, passing out these nifty tattoo sleeves that call for the death of servers with rebellious flair.
Drink In The SIP
Avaya President and CEO Kevin Kennedy took to the Interop keynote stage to highlight new data networking offerings from the communications giant, while also discussing the power of SIP as the protocol to tie communications and data systems together.
Scream For Change
Much as it was President Obama's campaign mantra, HP too stumped for change at Interop. In HP's case, the company was calling for a network transformation. HP, too, also illustrated change, having two separate booths on the Interop Las Vegas 2010 show floor: One standard booth and one showcasing the fruits of its 3Com acquisition. Change indeed!
Brocade Gets Crazy
During a presentation at its booth, data center mainstay Brocade had to restrain one attendee. Apparently, he was really excited about the company's continued successes.
Not To Be Blunt, But...
Digital pollution sucks, or so said Kaspersky Labs. The security wunderkind was passing out these t-shirts on the show floor as a sign of solidarity against digital garbage.
Aye Aye, Captain!
If there's one thing Capt. Kirk can't stand it's when keynotes and presentations are interrupted by ringing cell phones. And this Star Trek reference certainly wasn't lost on the Interop faithful.
Cisco Goes Borderless
Cisco Borderless Network evangelist Brett Galloway tells the Interop crowd that the network should be accessible from anyone, anywhere, at any time and from any device during his Interop keynote.
Where Do All The Cords Go?
With so many things happening wirelessly now, those abandoned cords and cables have to go somewhere. ShoreTel rolled them up into this neat little ball and placed it atop its Interop booth.
Power And Muscle
Schneider Electric, parent of APC, showed off this hybrid motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers that runs both on electricity and gas and still packs a heck of a lot of performance muscle.
It's Alive!
While it didn't say "Happy Birthday, Paulie!" (please pardon the Rocky IV reference) this robot, named Xbot, who took up residence in the NetOptics booth at Interop Las Vegas could carry on a full conversation.
Consider Those Myths Busted!
D-Link doesn't want to be simply that $99 router anymore. And to prove that the company is much more than that, D-Link tapped this duo of Mythbusters doppelgangers to dispel the myth.
Cloudy With A Chance Of Savings
Dr. Kristof Kloeckner, IBM vice president, strategy and enterprise initiatives, systems and software, and CTO, cloud computing, discussed big blue's cloud vision and highlighted the cost savings and productivity gains available in the cloud during his opening keynote on the second day of Interop Las Vegas 2010.
Rockin'
He's no David Lee Roth, but this metal head wowed the crowds at the Qwest Business booth on the Interop show floor. Rock solid, indeed.
Can You Hear Me NOCing?
Behold! The Interop NOC! Inside this massive cube is everything powering Interop and its network, an impressive feat that takes participation from a host of vendors and immeasurable amounts of blood, sweat and tears to complete.
Hit Me!
Attendees gathered at the Astaro booth for a hand of Black Jack for a chance to win prizes.
A Small Price To Pay
While boxing matches may have been enough to draw attendees to the Xirrus booth, the potential to win a free Apple iPad was equally as exciting. Here, an attendee receives a temporary Xirrus tattoo. For each tattoo, users receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win an iPad.
SaaSy And Spicy
SaaS vendor Spiceworks spiced things up a bit handing out these hot pepper stress relievers to the Interop crowd.
It Ain't Just Virtualization
During a cloud keynote panel, (from the left), Citrix CTO, Data Center and Cloud Division, Simon Crosby; Terremark General Manager Managed Hosting and Cloud Computing Services, Randy Rowland; and VMware Vice President of Product Management, Vittorio Viarengo, discussed what prompts people to move to the cloud and what obstacles they face. Virtualization is just the first step, they said.
Catch!
An HP representative asks a member of the crowd to help her with a juggling act during a presentation at the HP booth.
And The Winner Is...
Arista Networks' Jayshree Ullal accepts the grand prize in the Best of Interop awards. Arista, which was named the overall Best of Interop for its Arista 7500 switch, also took home the award in the infrastructure category.