As has become the case and is always appreciated, Veeam has raised the Veeam 100 Summit experience to another level. They’re always gracious, kind, and respectful of everyone’s wishes before, during, and after the Summit, and want nothing more than everyone to thoroughly enjoy it. I was floored by the kindness and generosity provided by Veeam and never imagined that experience could be topped but I was wrong and for good reasons. Each member of the Veeam team including the travel agency worked tirelessly to ensure everything was done correctly, and they did not let anyone down!
And before I go any further, I’d like to thank Rick Vanover, Madalina Cristil, Nikola Pejková, Safiya Mohamed, Nikki Adkins, and everyone at Veeam for their efforts and support leading into the Veeam 100 Summit. It’s a HUGE undertaking that requires many levels of coordination and I owe everyone a BIG THANK YOU for providing such an incredible and engaging experience. This was my third time attending the event in-person, the last being in 2022.
There is so much to share and there are so many to thank, so let’s begin with Day One, Monday, October 30th. The hotel reservation and check-in process at the Hilton Prague Old Town is seamless and I had a keycard in hand within a few minutes of arriving. Once I got settled into my room, I then headed back down to the second floor to complete the Veeam 100 Summit registration process. All attendees are required to register and obtain their summit badge for the remainder of the week. The process was simple and took less than one minute. The agenda for the remainder of the day included an optional Go Kart event sponsored by Kevin Allen and Probax. I participated in it last year and had an absolute blast, and would highly recommend you check out the Go Kart facility if you’re ever in town. This year, I wanted to take a different approach and decided to enroll and participate in a Kasten Workshop hosted by Michael Cade. It was a very cool learning experience (I’ll be honest, I was nervous going into it), but Michael made everyone feel like they were at home which included a comfortable pace throughout the workshop and he took the time to answer any questions from the attending audience. Later in the evening was the official Welcome Reception hosted by Object First. As you can see from the image below, the room was full of energy and it was so nice to reconnect so many of my community friends. Can’t say it enough, I truly enjoy connecting with everyone!!
Day two, Tuesday, October 31st kicked off with breakfast which is included each day as part of the Veeam 100 Summit. Soon after breakfast was over, things began to ramp up. We had a full agenda which included Veeam employee introductions, Community Program updates, and a word from each of our sponsors (Matt Price from Object First and Drew Schlussel from Wasabi).
If you’re not familiar with each community, I have provided a link and\or description for each below:
- Veeam Vanguard – The Veeam Vanguard Program is Veeam’s top-level influencer community. This group shares points of view, provides feedback and is committed to mutual success. Experts in the Vanguard program are a combination of many different disciplines, contribution types and advocacy mechanisms yet are each the best in space regarding technical thought leadership for the technical communities in which Veeam exist. These individuals have been nominated as Veeam Vanguards. A Veeam Vanguard represents our brand to the highest level in many of the different technology communities in which we engage. These individuals are chosen for their acumen, engagement and style in their activities on and offline.
- Veeam Legend – Veeam Legends are Veeam users and data protection industry experts who are passionate about technology, innovation and eager to further develop their career, while sharing their experiences with the community. As avid Veeam users, they participate in various community projects, drive local Veeam User Groups and can also influence development of Veeam products and solutions — they have real impact within the community! Apart from that, Veeam Legends are always eager to help their peers and get connected with other community members.
- Veeam MVP – this group includes top Veeam employees with a customer-facing technical role who are sharing and engaging when it is not part of their job. This program is ONLY available to Veeam employees.
The majority of the time spent on day two was mainly focused on Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1, and I now know why. So many updates to go over and each of the presenters spent the right amount of time on each. The presenters included Hannes Kasparick, Alec King, and Emilee Tellez. The enhancements coming to 12.1 include the following:
- Inline Malware scanning
- Suspicious Activity Detection
- Veeam Incident API
- Four-eyes Authorization
- KMS Integration with KMIP
- SIEM & Syslog Integration
- Configuration Backup on Immutable Storage
- Veeam AI Assistant in the Console
Day two concluded with the yearly tradition referred to as the Veeam 100 Toast, led by Craig Dalrymple and it was then followed by a Poker Night, sponsored by Wasabi where yours truly along side Stephen Seagrave and Brad Linch took home the bracelets! I personally enjoyed a glass of water, but if you have curious taste buds, this is the place to be!
Day three, Wednesday, November 1st kicked off with a look into Veeam ONE 12.1, followed up by the new Cirrus offering from Veeam.
We closed out day three discussing new features for Veeam VB365 which included a sneak peak at v8, Veeam Backup for Salesforce, additional content around v12.1, and a Ransomware session with Rick Vanover and Edwin Weijdema. Next up was the Veeam 100 Summit Closing Party, which was hosted at the Opero in Old Town Prague.
The final day, Thursday, November concluded with a Veeam Backup for Public Clouds session and everyone’s favorite and super secret “Ask Me Anything” session with Veeam Employees.
As we look ahead, please keep an eye on this space as I will continue to update this blog post so it includes additional Veeam 100 Summit related content shared by Veeam Vanguards, Veeam Legends, and Veeam MVPs.
- Veeam 100 Summit Recap – Prague 2023 (Chris Childerhose)
- Veeam 100 Summit – Live Blog #Day 0 + 1 (Michael Paul)
- Veeam 100 Summit 2023 – Day 2 (Michael Paul)
- Veeam 100 Summit 2023 – Social (Michael Paul)
- Veeam v12.1 What’s News – Part 1 (Paola Valsecchi)
- Veeam v12.1 – Integration with SIEM Systems (Paola Valsecchi)
- Veeam 12.1 Biggest Features (Vladan Seget)
- Wasabi Object Storage New Features (Christopher Glemot)
- Veeam v12.1 KMS Support (Christopher Glemot)
- Veeam Data Platform, some APIs and a Large Language Model walk into a bar. (Ben Young)
- Awe and Wonder at Veeam 100 Summit in Prague (Hin Tang)
- Veeam 100 Summit Day 0 (Muhammed Adel)
- Veeam 100 Summit Day 1 (Muhammed Adel)
- Veeam 100 Summit Day 2 (Muhammed Adel)
- Veeam 100 Summit Day 3 (Muhammed Adel)
- Veeam 100 Summit Day 4 (Muhammed Adel)
Chris – thanks for always saving a seat for me each day! 
Finally and to quote Rick, Community is always spelled with a Capital C!! I’m already looking forward to next year but like with anything, I have to earn it and I’m eager for the 2024 Veeam Vanguard application window to open in the coming weeks. Until then, be safe and be kind to one another!
If you’re interested in anything related to Veeam on my blog, please click on this link.
