Flash Forward, New Conference and Expo on Flash and SSD

IT specialist event organiser EVITO Ltd. has announced FLASH FORWARD, a new one-day conference and expo that will take place on 14th June 2016 in London.

According to IDC, while the traditional HDD array segment in EMEA is declining in user spend, the flash market recorded huge growth, with All Flash Arrays (AFAs) sales growing over 75% annually and hybrid flash systems 7% year-on-year.

This shift in adoption is sending shock waves throughout the user community and supply channels with the full impact yet to be realised.

FLASH FORWARD brings together commentators, experienced users and key vendors to examine the current technologies and their uses, their impact on application development and business competitiveness. The event will also examine the future directions and opportunities of flash and SSD.
 
FLASH FORWARD has received the support of the Storage Networking Industry Association Europe, Evaluator Group and IDC Europe and has secured sponsorship from Kaminario, Load DynamiX, SanDisk, Tegile Systems and Tintri, with several other players expected to confirm in the next few weeks, making FLASH FORWARD the platform for any organisation looking to meet with and discuss plans for the adoption or growth of these new exciting storage technologies.

Aimed at the end-user community FLASH FORWARD London 2016 will cover four main topic areas within its agenda:

• Comparative deployment scenarios for flash and SSD technologies
• The impact of flash and SSD on application performance/deployment
• Where and when to deploy flash and/or SSD in IT environments
• Future directions and impacts on datacentres and application time to market.

“The European market is hungry for an independent event that gets to the heart of the flash and SDD revolution; this is the gap that FLASH FORWARD will fill. Industry support is impressive with a number of leading vendors already signed up and a list of well-known and highly-respected speakers secured. The first edition of FLASH FORWARD will take place in the UK, one of the fastest-growing markets for flash and SSD technologies; further locations will be announced later in the year. The event will offer vendors a fantastic platform for new business relationships and will allow end users to compare technology adoption plans with other delegates and benefit from a range of educational sessions,” said Paul Trowbridge, event director, EVITO.

“In my view FLASH FORWARD will be a valuable contribution to the debate about the use of flash storage by private and public sector customers of all sizes, developers, including devOps professionals, IT buyers, managers and administrators and channel members engaged with the storage business. It’s a fast-developing area and I’m looking forward to the event,” said Chris Mellor, storage editor, The Register.
 
“Storage is arguably the most important part of today’s datacentre as it’s where corporate data tends to reside. And yet, the IT industry lacks a credible, independent storage-focused event where end users can learn about how new technologies such as flash can drive value for their businesses. FLASH FORWARD is set to fill that gap and provide end users with the information they need to make informed decisions about the adoption of flash and SSD technologies from both a technical and business view,” said Chris Evans, co-founder, Langton Blue Ltd., and founding blogger, Architecting.IT.
 
“As an educational body SNIA Europe is always looking for new platforms to help the industry understand new and emerging technologies and make better-informed decisions. FLASH FORWARD is a much-needed event on the hot subjects of flash and SSD. Despite these technologies seeing ever-increasing adoption rates there remain many unanswered questions around current best practices, the future and the value of flash and SSD to organisations. We chose to endorse FLASH FORWARD because it will answer many of these questions,” said Bob Plumridge, chairman, SNIA Europe.
 
“The transition to solid-state technology for information storage using flash represents an inflection point for businesses and organisations. This will change the delivery of value from storage in enabling faster access to information with greater productivity from all other investments in applications, processing, and networks. To take full advantage, the directions of flash and products that incorporate and optimise the technology need to be understood. The FLASH FORWARD conference is a tremendous opportunity to become informed and gain a deeper understanding of opportunities,” said Randy Kerns, senior strategist, Evaluator Group.
 
FLASH FORWARD London 2016 will take place at the Kensington Close Hotel, Wrights Lane, London, W8 5SP, UK, on 14th June.