Tech Field Day, if you hadn’t heard, is my signature event. I bring together a great group of independent “delegates” to meet with interesting IT product vendors. As you might expect, after three years and 34 events, many of our vendors have gone on to bigger and better things. After seeing today’s acquisition of Xsigo by Oracle, I decided to go back and look at how many of our companies have been acquired over the years.
- 3PAR presented at Tech Field Day 1 in 2009 before being acquired by HP the following year.
- Ocarina Networks also presented at TFD1 and became part of Dell Storage the next year. We were glad to have some of the same folks present as part of Tech Field Day 7 and Storage Field Day 1 in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
- Xsigo presented at TFD1 in 2009 and Networking Field Day 1 in 2010 as well as our first VMworld Field Day Roundtable that year. They were acquired by Oracle today.
- VKernel was part of Tech Field Day 2 in 2010 and Tech Field Day 6 the following year (both in Boston) and was acquired by Quest Software (another Field Day presenter who was later acquired) in 2011.
- Compellent was a big part of Tech Field Day 3 in Seattle in 2010 before Dell scooped them up at the end of the year, joining our friends from Ocarina!
- Dell also purchased Force10 Networks, who presented at Networking Field Day 1 in September 2010. They returned for Networking Field Day 2 the following year for another presentation post-acquisition!
- Aprius presented at Tech Field Day 4 in Silicon Valley and have apparently been quietly acquired by Fusion-io.
- Quest Software
is the most recent acquisition, joining Dell shortly after presenting at Storage Field Day 1 in 2012. - Meraki will be acquired by Cisco in late 2012 after presenting at Wireless Field Day 2 and Wireless Field Day 3
- In 2013, Western Digital acquired Arkeia Software, a presenter at Tech Field Day 8
- Virsto (Storage Field Day 2) was acquired in February 2013 by VMware, another Field Day presenter
In summary:
- 90 companies have presented at 34 Tech Field Day, Roundtable, Symposium and other events in the past 4 years
- 11 have been acquired since then, usually amid much fanfare and hoopla
- Dell is the big acquirer, now home to four former Field Day companies, and themselves appearing at numerous events!
Looking through the list, I am surprised at how many great companies remain independent. I won’t name names, but many of our presenters struck me as “too good to pass up” for an acquisition. The fact that nearly every one is still going strong on their own is a testament to their inherent strength! But I do expect I’ll have to add to this “Club” in the coming months…