I've had the chance this week to be involved with one of the biggest software conferences in the world: JavaOne at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.  Over 10,000 developers, executives and entrepreneurs were in attendance for what is Sun's showcase event of the year.

My team's efforts were at the center of Sun's focus for the event as for the first time we were able to showcase and demo some of the Sun Cloud technologies which will be released later this year.  The keynote on the first morning highlighted what we were offering and the enthusiasm and excitment with which it was greeted was really rewarding for those who have been involved for far longer than I have.

One of the take-aways for me was the scale of the ecosystem in which a FTSE 500 company like Sun operates.  I heard execs from Intel, eBay, Sony, Verizon, RIM (the Blackberry folks) and others describe their partnerships with Sun as well as meeting folks from Google and Amazon who, in the cloud space, could be considered direct competitors but yet have relationships with Sun in other areas.  Other partners who had flown in for the week included some former colleagues from Accenture so it was great for me to catch up with people there and keep those ties fresh.  Sun links up with many startups across the world who were present to showcase their products so I really enjoyed meeting with these guys and hearing about how they were finding their first few years - again there were a good number from Europe but I couldn't find any Scots (or Scotlanders as a colleague referred to us...).

Another learning was the importance of giving teams the chance to get together to form relationships: my team flew in from Czech Republic, Belgium, Austin, Boston and Portland for the event, so not only was it a great chance for me to meet everyone for the first time but it gave everyone the opportunity to strengthen the team morale in a way which is very hard when working remotely, despite all the technology on offer, nothing beets a handshake and a chat over a beer.

It was really interesting to see Sun's CEO make his keynote in what is quite a period of transition for the company.  In the event, he passed over to Sun's Founder, now President, Scott McNealy to address the acquisition by Oracle and introduce their CEO, Larry Ellison, to the crowd.  Everything we discussed with Karen at Babson was so relevant in this scenario where people are unsure about the future so it was great to see the different styles of presenting and leadership - and hear how others who have invested many years in the company feel.

It's been an exhausting week but an outstanding opportunity to get really involved with the company culture and meet a ton of great people.  Yet again the Fellowship and the opportunities it presents just blew people away when I told our story and hopefully should open some doors to meet some interesting folks over the next couple of months.

Enjoy your weekends,
Neil