Network Field Day 23

A recap of Network Field Day 23.

Published on October 21, 2020 by Tony E.

nfd23 network field day

3 min READ

For me it seems like #NFD23 was months ago even though it has only been a few weeks.

Network Field Day (NFD) is the networking focussed event organized by Tech Field Day. It’s one of the many events they put on throughout the year. Whether you’re into wireless, security, mobility, cloud, AI or even storage(:man_shrugging:) Tech Field Day puts on an event for you. Check out all their events at https://techfieldday.com/.

This was my second NFD and the first I’ve participated in virtually. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go since my only exposure to NFD was when I attended #NFD22 live in San Jose, California, which was in-person in Feb 2020.

In true Tech Field Day fashion everything went off without a hitch. Tom Hollingsworth, Ben Gage and Prime Image Media have these virtual events well orchestrated.

While the event wasn’t packed with in-person comradery, which is something that makes in-person events so special, it made up for it with 4 days of great content from companies making big differences in our industry.

We saw alot of great presentations from many companies. For a full list of presenting companies and recordings of their presentations head to: https://techfieldday.com/event/nfd23/.

Question: Are virtual events worth attending?

Answer: It Depends…

  • If you attend these events to learn about what companies are doing to make networking better for all of us, and to learn from some of the experts that write/wrote what we get to touch and use in our everyday, then yes, virtual events can still make a huge impact in getting the messages out and showing off products and technology.
  • If you attend these events for the comradery of meeting all the other folks who have been there, done that and swap war stories, virtual events will not fill the void for you. Nothing can replace sitting down across the table from someone and getting to talk with them face to face over a meal. That’s when the real human experience is exchanged.

I attend these events for a mix of both: seeing the tech and getting to know the people. I still felt very full-filled getting to see everyone and candidly chat when the camera’s weren’t rolling. We’re all in this together.

I like to pick 3 companies that showed something unique or really wow‘ed me in their presentation.

  • Most Unique: Air Vine - They introduced a new to market idea “Wave Tunnel” a wireless-backbone in a ring-topology over 60Ghz.
  • Best All-Around: PathSolutions - Tim Titus delivered a clear and concise presentation including a drive through demo of their TotalView product.
  • Most Innovative: Broadcom - Broadcom reenforced their stance in advancing hardware through new capabilities: Mirror-on-Drop & In-band Flow Analyzer. These are a couple of the features I didn’t know existed and will change how we troubleshoot applications and these evolve.

Everyone did a really great job presenting. There were some juggernaut’s of networking as delegates and as presenters. It’s always humbling to hear and see all the great presentations, no matter how many CCIE’s you have there’s always so much more to learn. I love hearing the presenters who are passionate about their product or tech because it keeps me excited and wanting to learn more.

Stay tuned to this blog for more about Network Field Day 23. #NFD23