BITUG: A “HOME GAME” for XYPRO

After a run of recent European RUGs, visiting places like Madrid, Frankfurt and Stockholm, it was nice for XYPRO’s very busy European office to play a home game and visit a NonStop event that didn’t involve any air travel. In fact this year’s BITUG (British Isles Tandem User Group) Big SIG, held on the 2nd and 3rd December, was just half an hour from XYPRO’s London office.

Day one was a CLIM-themed education day, held at HP’s offices.  Day two was the main event  and the location was the magnificent Grade I listed, Crown Estate owned, Institute of Directors building on Pall Mall.  A walk up the grand staircase led the 196 attendees (103 Non-Stop specific attendees including 40+ NonStop specific end users) up to the first floor, virtually all occupied by the Big SIG/Connect event. The largest room in the building was home to the vendor exhibition and also doubled as the coffee and dining room.  The vendor room was slightly smaller than usual, and so space was limited.  The 20 exhibitor spots went quickly, on a first-come-first-served basis, leaving a few NonStop Vendor Partners disappointed.

Those who weren’t disappointed were the attendees, who received free entry if they were BITUG members.  The vendors didn’t have much to complain about either, with only modest, non-profit fees to pay.

With XYPRO having had its UK office open for well over a decade, the Big SIG was a great opportunity to catch up with many of our British customers.  Because there was a BITUG Security SIG earlier this year, there was no specific presentation from XYPRO.  There hadn’t been a BITUG Performance SIG in 2009, so a good portion of the vendor presentations were performance based.  With five different tracks available, the day was packed with opportunities for all of the attendees.

After a great day with a very friendly atmosphere, it was very nice to have time to visit an English pub before the short journey home, rather than trekking to an airport departure lounge!

For those looking forward to the next BITUG event, the first of around five BITUG SIGs planned for 2010 has a system modernisation theme and the date is 17/02/2010.

For more information on BITUG and its events visit www.bitug.com

Dan Lewis
XYPRO