This coming week (12-13 November) sees the first ever GestaltIT Field/Tech Day and I have been fortunate enough to have been invited to attend.  After the recent success of the HP StorageWorks Tech Day this event follows in its footsteps but with a wider range of technology vendors and independent bloggers attending.

So what is the Gestalt IT Field Day?

The Gestalt IT Field Day has been organised by the founder of GestaltIT, Stephen Foskett. 

Stephen outlines the purpose of this event in the following statement:

This unique event brings together innovative IT product vendors and independent thought leaders who have immense influence on the ways that products and companies are perceived and understood by the general public. The world of media has changed, with social media and blogging gaining special importance.

Our Field Day is an opportunity for tech companies and independent writers to get to know each other. Ultimately, we hope to provide a forum for engagement, education, hands-on experience, and feedback.

The beauty of this type of event is that open and honest dialogue can be had, there is no NDA information given and no pressure for attending bloggers to write something about a particular product or company.  There will be a one hour presentation from sponsors along with an hour of hands-on time with their product(s) – great stuff!

As a blogger covering multiple aspects of enterprise level IT (with an emphasis on virtualization) I am always looking for exciting new innovative IT related products or companies, with the format of the GestaltIT Tech Day providing an excellent format to achieve this.   So expect regular coverage of the event via blog posts and Twitter (details on the attending bloggers at the end of this post).

Competition Time:

In the lead up to the event Gestalt IT are running a competition entitled, “Do you know…”

How many competitions do you know of where it doesn’t matter if you get the answer correct or not to still be in with a chance to win? 

Well this is one such competition so there is no reason not to enter – there is a prize pack complete with a Gestalt IT iPod up for grabs! 

All they want to know is how familiar you are with one or more of the sponsors of the event.  Each time you enter by answer the handful of questions about the particular company you increase your chance of winning:

Do You Know Xsigo?

Do You Know MDS Micro?

Do You Know 3PAR?

Do You Know Symantec Storage?

Do You Know Ocarina?

Do You Know Nirvanix?

Do You Know Data Robotics?

Click here for additional information including the entry rules.

TechDay Sponsors:

Below is a list of the presenting and supporting companies of the event some of which I am familiar with and others being only a name to me.  I look forward to finding out more from all.

Presenting Sponsors:	Supporting Sponsors:

Attendees:

The following is a list of the bloggers attending the GestaltIT Tech Day each of whom come from backgrounds in one or more of the areas around server virtualization, data storage, networking, security, cloud computing, and desktop support:

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