I just spent 2 great days in Chicago at Data Center Dynamics, Lee Tech on Tap, Touring 601 Polk with Facility Gateway, and eating lunch at the best deli in Chicago with Jim Kerrigan. On Thursday it was announced Steve Jobs had passed away, and my wife text me that she was quite sad watching the news on TV with daughter. I wrote a brief tribute to Steve Jobs here.
Apple is a company everyone knows, yet few think of it as a 35 year old company.
1976 - High-school buddies Steven Wozniak and Steve Jobs start Apple Computer. Their first product, Apple I, built in circuit board form, debuts at "the Homebrew Computer Club" in Palo Alto, California.
I joined Apple in 1985 and stayed until 1992, working with some great people who are good friends and some of the smartest people I know to work on some innovative data center ideas. None of us worked on data center back then, but we drifted through companies like Microsoft, Adobe, and Google working on innovative products.
The Think Different campaign is a classic. And, one of the points made is people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
I hadn't been to Chicago in a year, and I had hopes it would be worth the trip.
After two days, I can say it exceeded my expectations. Why? Because I met people who want to change the data center world, and they are passionate about doing things in a better way. I won't name the specific list of people, because the status quo in data centers is you don't say anything that gets published unless the marketing department has given you approval. Do you think Apple PR ever told Steve Jobs what he should say?
Can you find the innovative people? I did in Chicago. I am off to LV next week for an IT Asset Management Conference, and there are group of getting together there. At the end of month I'll be in NYC, and be at Facebook's Open Compute Summit with another innovative group. November I'll be at 7x24 Exchange in Phoenix with lots of smart innovative people.
What is going to revolutionize data centers are people doing what is in the above video. Creating solutions that change how data centers work.