Not long ago, the term “virtual event” may have raised some eyebrows, but the shift from in-person to online trade shows has become a common theme in 2020 due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. The Gen-Z Consortium chose to take on the challenge and participate  in the virtual Flash Memory Summit and SC20 conferences last month; read on for a recap of both events.

Flash Memory Summit 2020

Moved from its traditional August event to November 10-12, FMS is one of the longest-running storage industry trade shows. The Gen-Z Consortium has participated in the event since 2017, and we were interested to see what the virtual experience would bring. The virtual booth was the centerpiece for Gen-Z, featuring 2020 technology demonstrations from member companies. The demonstrations included examples of Gen-Z connectors, a Gen-Z media box overview, a UPI to Gen-Z Bridge, memory sharing and pooling systems, the Gen-Z Micro Dev Kit, and more. 

Gen-Z also had two speaking opportunities during FMS: A presentation from Gen-Z Consortium President Kurtis Bowman — “Gen-Z: An Ultra High-Speed Interface for System-to-System Communications” — and a joint panel discussion with the CXL Consortium — “Where the New High-Speed Interfaces Fit and How They Work Together.”

Although we missed the opportunity to meet with our members and interested individuals face-to-face, it proved to be a great opportunity to network and showcase Gen-Z’s advancing technology.

The booth experience as well as a selection of presentations will be available on demand for the next few months and registration is free — we hope you’ll check it out!

SC20

Supercomputing 2020 (SC20) took place the following week, Nov. 16-19, and focused on HPC applications and heterogeneous computing as well as storage and networking. Gen-Z has also participated in this conference since 2017 and we were proud to be Bronze Sponsors once again — even in a virtual environment. We had a lot of action in the virtual booth — and much to offer our visitors. The 2020 technology demonstrations were available, and visitors were able to familiarize themselves with the innovations and progress that have been made throughout the year.

Gen-Z was excited to arrange a second panel partnered with the CXL Consortium resulting in a very well-attended and informative discussion.  In addition, we hosted five live, virtual “coffee chat” sessions during the event on topics including software, IP solutions, and heterogeneous accelerators.

The virtual events this fall proved to be exciting new experiences for the Gen-Z Consortium that challenged us to create a new approach and expand the way we engage with our members and the industry as a whole. Although in-person experiences are preferable, these virtual events also present unique opportunities, including member-generated demo videos and new approaches to information sharing. 

If you happened to miss Gen-Z at FMS or SC20, all of the Gen-Z virtual demos from both events are now available to view on demand on our website. Interested in learning more? Contact us today to schedule a meeting with Gen-Z leadership!