TechEd 2014 Recap

Last week in Houston Microsoft held their annual TechEd North America conference. I attended for the 5th consecutive year, and the 3rd consecutive that I was asked to be a speaker. I delivered two sessions, Cardinality Estimates in SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server on Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines: The Important Details with Scott Klein (blog | @SQLScott).

As a speaker, I am required to spend time working in the Microsoft booth. There I get to answer questions from attendees who need to know more about SQL Server and associated Data Platform tools. The best part of working the Microsoft booth has to be the spontaneous conversations. Here’s one in action:

TechEd 2014 RecapThat’s Jos de Bruijn. He helped build a little thing we call “Hekaton“, the in-memory OLTP engine that is baked into SQL Server 2014. And what he is doing is answering questions for other speakers/MVPs/MCMs, so that we can in turn answer questions for others. It’s these moments that I enjoy the most. Having direct access to the folks that build the product, getting knowledge and insight from the folks that write the code, and being able to bend their ear for as long as it takes.

The questions we get in the Microsoft booth are not what I would call typical “how do I get started” questions. There are from customers that have a variety of edge case questions that haven’t been answered anywhere else. These customers look forward to coming to TechEd because they know that the Microsoft booth is where they can find answers. I enjoy hearing the issues they are facing, as it helps me understand how the edge cases were allowed to develop over time. That helps me in my role here at SolarWinds, as I often need to provide guidance at a high level that includes a variety of “be careful you don’t allow this to happen to you”, and it is a result of being a part of the conversations with customers in the Microsoft booth.

I also enjoy TechEd as it allows for me to visit with many other vendors and see what direction they are heading with their technology. The overall theme I came away with from last week can be summed up in one word: Hybrid. Everyone is embracing, and racing, to offer solutions that cater to a hybrid architecture. There is a lot of money being invested in such technologies. If you haven’t embraced even the tiniest piece of Cloud yet, you are falling further and further behind with each passing day.

There is no official word yet on TechEd North America for 2015, but I’m hoping an announcement will be made soon. If you are in Europe, or can get to Europe easily, there will be a TechEd Europe in Barcelona in October. If you get a chance to attend, I’d encourage you to do so.

And if you do, go hang out in the Microsoft booth. You will love the conversations that happen there.

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