Making a big bet on IT

If you are going to hold a conference to show IT resellers the world over the way to future profitability, then Las Vegas is the place to do it! Kaseya held its 2008 annual conference in Las Vegas and, being the entertainment capital of the world, Vegas did not disappoint.

For an attendee at the conference, it was almost as much about the Vegas experience as it was about the conference. I took full advantage of the location. I caught a sunset helicopter ride down the Boulevard and out to the Grand Canyon – landing in the Canyon itself for a champagne picnic. The Grand Canyon is always there as a static attraction, but Vegas is even more impressive with its huge array of live shows. In one short week I managed to see Elton John in his Red Piano concert, Monty Python’s Spamalot (appropriate for someone in IT) and three no-name comedians at ‘The Comedy Stop’ who were about as funny as anyone I had ever seen.

I also attended a 40th floor open balcony club in the exclusive Foundation Room of the Mandalay Hotel that, among other things, had Hookah rooms. You can imagine when someone says to you, in a noisy and darkened club, if you want to come to a Hookah room, the mind immediately jumps to one conclusion and you politely decline, pointing to your wedding band.

After some complicated explanations, a group of us eventually ended up in a Hookah room where an extremely large bong-like device (not that I would know what a bong looked like) sat in the middle of the room along with a long pipe and a number of hygienically sealed mouthpieces. There was also a smell of strawberry in the air. Apparently the Hookah is a totally legal device for smoking strawberry-flavoured tobacco. Sounded like a beat up to me, but lots of people sat on the cushions passing the pipe around.

Oh – that’s right. There was also a conference to attend.

The Kaseya conference started with a Welcome Reception on the Sunday night with a typical Vegas feel. Kaseya had the Kutie girls passing around Kaseya tattoos, while a reggae-style band provided the background music. This was around the pool deck, of course,
with more than enough food to feed the several hundred attendees.

Monday started with an inspirational address from Gerald Blackie, CEO of Kaseya. Despite the fact that Blackie is originally a Kiwi, he impressed all with his vision for the future. In the lifetime of Kaseya, he has been able to hone in on the trends and sweet spots in
the IT market and produce products that are ahead of their time. All those who listened to his talk on the direction of IT, with off-site remediation and products such as the newly announced User State Management module, saw where IT resellers are headed. After seeing more of the Product Roadmap, we listened to the keynote speaker, Craig Newmark from craigslist.com, a website with numerous ‘Website of the Year’ awards to its name and consistently one of the Top 100 websites in the US.

a bet big it making on security