It’s been a few weeks since I returned from the most excellent Veeam 100 summit, this time in Berlin! I’m lucky enough to have been a Veeam Vanguard since 2021, and this was the first time the summit happened in Berlin. The last time I was in Berlin was at least 15 years ago.
In this post I am not going to sum up the summit directly; There are some blog post from fellow Veeam Vanguards and Legends I link at the end of the post. Instead, I want to focus on the new version of Veeam Hardened Repository (VHR), that was introduced during the summit.
This will be my fourth! year as a Vanguard and I was extremely happy when I received the email last week. Special thanks to Rick Vanover, Nikola Pejková, Madalina Cristil, Safiya Mohamed who are working very hard on the Vanguard and the entire Veeam 100 program.
Some of the highlights:
Access to test/beta version of software to run in the home-lab. I get to play with features that are yet to be released to the public, like version 12.1 before it came out.
NFR licenses for all Veeam products, like Veeam B&R, VeeamONE.
Friday Vanguard calls, where a bunch of us join a meeting and talk about whatever comes to mind. Might be work, current news, weather, Internet in West Virginia, or family.
Veeam Summit; I was able to attend two summits in Prague and it was one of the best experiences! There is a good combination of top notch sessions and fun activities as well. Go Karts anyone?
I was also able to attend VeeamON in Miami in 2023 and did some Tech Talks there. Again, very good session, with lots of input from people who are actually running Veeam in their environments and are able to give first hand experiences.
Not gonna’ lie, the swag is top notch!
Slack channel for Vanguards, which is a great resource for laughter and to tip into the “Hive Mind”
If you are curious about the current list of Vanguards, it can be found here.
If you are interested in Veeam Legends Program, which is part of the Veeam 100, please check it out here.
As part of the Veeam Vanguard program I was invited to participate in the community event in Prague, Czech Republic. This was the first time for me, and I’m forever grateful to be part of this group. This was also the first time of a combined event between Veeam MVPs, Veeam Legends and Veeam Vanguards.
Earlier this week I received the email I’ve been looking forward to!
Dear Nico,
I’m happy to report that your 2022 Veeam Vanguard Renewal Nomination has been approved, congratulations! Through 2021, we hope you have enjoyed the Veeam Vanguard Program despite it has been still a different experience than we used to have before Covid times. We are happy to extend to you an invitation to the 2022 Vanguard class hopefully enabling us to host more events with an in-person element in the hybrid format, that will most probably become a new standard nowadays and meet you also in other than online way.
This will be my second year as a Vanguard and I’m forever grateful for the possibilities it provided to me.
Some of the highlights:
Access to test/beta version of software to run in the home-lab. I get to play with features that are yet to be released to the public.
Friday Vanguard calls, where a bunch of us join a meeting and talk about whatever comes to mind. Might be work, current news, weather, Internet in West Virginia, or family.
I was able to participate at VeeamOn update being interviewed in a very awesome TV Set as a customer of Veeam. It was a great experience and something I had never done.
Veeam Summit; While I was not able to go to Prague for the summit in 2021 due to concerns for Covid, I’m hopeful I’ll be able to attend this year.
Not gonna’ lie, the swag is top notch!
Slack channel for Vanguards, which is a great resource for laughter and to tip into the “Hive Mind”
If you are curious about the current list of Vanguards, it can be found here.
While 2021 was a bit challenging so far, I learned the great news last week that I was select to be part of the 2021 Veeam Vanguard class!
For those not familiar with Veeam Vanguard (or Veeam), check out their site about Veeam Vanguards.
Veeam Vanguards are considered experts in their respected fields and believe in the power of the community. Now, I by no means consider myself an expert, there is always so much to learn, but I definitely believe in community and giving back what you can. I don’t know the countless times someone’s blog really helped me solve a problem I was having or a post on Twitter.
One of the greatest benefits of programs like Veeam Vanguard is being able to network with others in the industry. You might run into an issue and just ask in the Slack channel. Chances are someone else has seen this before and knows how to fix it. Plus, there are betas for testing on your home lap, licenses (Veeam already has great community editions), exclusive access to VeeamOn, and just awesomeness all around.
Speaking of, seeing all those names who are part of this program the imposter syndrome is definitely lurking and wanting to take hold!
Many thanks again to all who make this possible! Including Rick Vanover, Danny Allan, Niels Engelen, Anthony Spiteri, Michael Cade, Andrew Zhelezko, Anton Gostev, Rin Bessette, Melissa Palmer, and Nikola Pejková. (I’m sure I might have forgotten some, apologies)
Also special shout-out to Joe Hughes, Jim Jones and Al Rasheed!
