Time to look forward

Editorial Type: Comment Date: 2020-12-01 Views: 400 Tags: Storage PDF Version:
Welcome to our final issue of Storage magazine for 2020; I suspect I'm not the only one thinking 'good riddance' to this year for so many reasons.

I remember in February flying out to Berlin for a conference, and noticing a slightly higher than usual number of travellers choosing to wear face masks. At the time it seemed rather odd, but now of course we find ourselves looking at scenes of large gatherings without masks as being outside the norm. How quickly - and how dramatically - our world has changed! Since that overseas trip I think I have been out of my home town 3 times, and only had to fill my car with petrol twice!

One high note in an otherwise undeniably depressing year was that we delivered, somewhat against the odds, a hugely successful Storage Awards ceremony in November, albeit in entirely virtual form. We hope you were able to join us for the winners and runners-up being announced on the night, but if not you can re-watch the entire ceremony online at www.storage-awards.com. The full list of winners and runners-up is reproduced in this issue, starting on page 6, alongside comments from our winners.

The virtual ceremony was hosted on Zoom and then uploaded to YouTube for sharing, and I have to say it was very strange announcing the results via webcam with co-host and cricketing legend Chris Cowdrey as opposed to the usual far more rowdy live event. That said, the feedback we've had suggests that viewers enjoyed the night - especially our 'blast from the past' video clips from previous years' ceremonies!

Big winners on the night included IBM, Veeam and Seagate, while DataCore and Infortrend each won coveted Editor's Choice awards. The Storage Solution of the Year award, which recognises success stories that show innovation in the sector, was this year awarded to South Wales firm Insurgo for its work at Cardiff University. A huge thanks once again to all the awards' sponsors of course, and here's hoping that next year we will be able to do it all in person once again.

The pandemic has changed so many aspects of our working and personal lives, and in some senses those changes may be for the better in the long term - indeed increased use of technologies such as Zoom and other collaborative platforms is likely to last well past the 'return to normal'. Organisations will realise that in many situations it is as effective as the in-person meetings it has replaced - as well as cheaper and better for the environment. All that said, there are some things that just can't be replicated on screen, and the social ambience of one our awards nights is definitely one of those things.

David Tyler
david.tyler@btc.co.uk