Interaction Conference 2007 Coup

This year Computer Merchants attended the Interaction Conference in Melbourne. Interaction is the largest annual gathering of IBM solution providers for IBM Servers in Australia and New Zealand, and an invaluable educational event for IBM users. They are exposed to all of the latest IBM solutions, and the impact they can have on business today.

Best Stand Prize

The event was a huge success for Computer Merchants, with competitions conducted throughout the Expo, and we are proud to say that the Interaction and exhibitor prize was awarded to Computer Merchants for the “Best Stand” at the conference! A big thank you to all who voted for us. We are very grateful and thrilled that everyone had such a great time.

We had decided this year to try and make the stand fun as well as informative and therefore decided to go with a “Top Gear theme” stand. We set up the stand as an interactive station and what could be more realistic that a Logitec G25 6-speed shifter?

Visitors to our stand couldn’t help but be engrossed by the only racing system with a true 6 speed shift for the ultimate control of the vehicle along with brake pedals to give punters an instant response with true to life performance! Everyone’s competitive nature was in full swing as visitors had the chance to experience all the bumps and turns in the road with a few funny characters crashing and burning before they hit 2nd gear! We also sponsored the Internet Café at the event, which created a hub of interest.

Congratulations to David Wells (Department of Defence) who won the best lap time just marginally missing out to our very own Computer Merchants star driver Jas with a winning time of 1.45…. better luck next time David as you were only a few seconds off.

Congratulations also to Dermot O’Daly (president of Interaction User Group) for a job well done. The conference was a great success and very well organised. It was nice to see new and old faces at the 2007 conference – what a great opportunity for the industry to share ideas and thoughts.

Some of the customer feedback we received during the conference was fantastic:

• “Wow I didn’t know I could do that on a System i machine”,
• “I was lucky to speak face to face to software architects who could help me”,
• “IBM’s focus is still strong which is great and good to hear about new directions”.

The inspiring moments of the conference were the guest speakers at the dinner James Castrission and Justin Jones. The boys spoke on committing themselves to achieving one of Australia’s last great first adventures. The boys will kayak 2200km across the Tasman Sea, from Australia to NZ. If they are successful it will be the first ever crossing and the longest two man kayak expedition ever undertaken. What an inspiration! We wish the boys the best of luck.

Interaction 2008

If you haven’t heard yet the Interaction Conference for 2008 is coming to beautiful sunny Queensland - so slap on the sunscreen, throw on the boardies and get ready for some fun in the sun at the lovely Gold Coast. We are very excited that you are going to come and join us on our turf!