Some things never get old. Attending one of D&H Distributing’s live events is one of those things. Always good food and lectures, the show, held four times per year in different North American cities, just completed it West Coast show in Los Angeles, last Wednesday, March 14.
More than 500-plus VARs walked the hall, learning about the latest offerings from more than 60 vendors. What makes this show different is that it is “transactional” in nature, with deals (often show specials) being cut on the floor. That is, you place your orders with your D&H representative (I’ll take 10 laptops and a super-sized cola, please.). Contrast this type of event with other events, which are more academic, and the booths aren’t transactional on the tradeshow floor. Personally, I liked this style where results are real and in real-time.
A special shout out to one vendor of note is OOMA, an SMB telecom. Its latest offering, a small business telephone system, is a Response Point rebirth, which has legs! How do we know? Because we covered it here back in January when it was announced. You can learn more about OOMA at our Spring Conference to be held May 3-5, 2013, at Microsoft’s Campus in Redmond, WA.
In addition, Jay Weiss of Computer HMO, who is one of our longtime SMB Nation friends was able to attend the D&H event, since he is based in the Los Angeles area. Jay reported back to us with some of the sights and sounds that he experienced at the event:
I went to a few lectures and ones of particular note, HP and Cloud Nation. HP’s presentation was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, and there was substance too. The new lines of portable computing devices (laptops and tablets) were amazing. They were well-designed and “sexy.” I met up with Karen Christian from North County Technology Group who said the best takeaway for her during the conference was the cloud presentation given by Tom Poole and Robert Christiansen of Cloud Nation. Karen believes Cloud Nation could be a valuable asset in her offerings to clients. She may be right.
There were some other vendors that caught my attention. Here are a few you should check out for more information:
j5 create had some awesome technology with their wormhole switch software built into the juc400 cross-platform USB-to-USB Cable and the JUD500 Ultra Station. j5 create makes it easy to swap files between tables, smart phones, Mac and PC like magic. You have to see it to believe it.
Connected Data had some beautifully designed transporter devices for “Off-cloud” storage drives. The transporter is similar to the Pogoplug but with a sleek design like a high-end luxury car.
If you didn’t get the chance to make it out the D&H West Coast Show, then no worries, as there are still six more D&H to be held throughout the year, as outlined below:
May 1: Montreal Canada Technology Show
June 5: Hershey Summer Technology Show
June 19-20: Back to School Tech Show
August 6: Boston Technology Show
September 12: Toronto Canada Technology Show
October 30: Hershey Fall Technology Show
