Interop Shrugged

OK, I admit it... having participated in way too many trade shows over the years, I was a bit jaded and not too thrilled with the thought of spending 3+ days in the fake cheese capital of the US.  I should have been excited,

since I was fresh at my new company and was really charged up about the incredible things the Riverbed products can do to help customers improve productivity and save money by magically accelerating applications and optimizing WAN bandwidth.  My attitude changed pretty quickly...  Day 1 was unequivocally the most interesting day ever at any of the 10+ Interop shows I've been to.  Traffic was brisk, and instead of the usual bevy of people trying to sell their products and services (or themselves) to the vendors who paid good money to have a booth at the show, the crowd at the Riverbed booth consisted of very informed prospective customers and happy existing customers who stopped by to ask about new features and tell us how thrilled they were.  The non-stop presentation theatre was "standing room only" every time.  And everyone was extremely attentive... well, except for one guy.

Happenings outside the Riverbed booth were almost as interesting.   A pesky competitor next to the Riverbed booth spent hours pining away at the constant traffic in our booth... only to be held at bay by the DMZ (the aisle) and the diligent guards (booth babes) determined not to let the zealous Riverbed fans be corrupted by an evil, inferior solution. Thankfully there was a brief detente, as the troops came together to share war stories.  Crisis and full-scale obliteration avoided, at least for now.

And of course, the always fun vendor party at Tryst... free drinks, really bad dancing (see http://dancingwhiteguy.com/), and hanging out with some cool colleagues, slightly inebriated, but very dedicated (to Riverbed and to having a good time).

Interop, I owe you an apology... you are relevant, fun, and worthwhile... and I'm glad to be back.