What comes to mind when thinking about Austin as a tourist destination? Most would recite our mantra as "The Live Music Capital of the World" with a proud, Texas-sized smile.
But recently, Austin has been referred to as high tech's "Silicon Hills," or the southern answer to San Jose, California's Silicon Valley of the high tech industry.
We'd have to agree. Just look at the companies located and headquartered here. When the F1 US announcement was made last year, we quickly defended the decision, citing Austin's ability to absorb hundreds of thousands of visitors throughout the year and serve as a great place to live and work throughout the year, due in large part to the numerous technology companies in our backyard.
This week there is a new technology confereTeam Lotus Formula One car at #DellWorld via @SnowWhiteatDell on Twitternce taking place, Dell World:
What is Dell World?
Dell World brings together leaders and innovators to share, connect, collaborate and inspire. Participants will experience the latest trends in social, cloud and mobile innovation and explore how to fundamentally adapt to the ever-changing technological and social landscape.
While Dell World was setting up, we received a tweet with a picture of this Formula One Team Lotus car. Dell is a technology partner for Team Lotus. Earlier this year, Team Lotus wanted to build a powerful enterprise and trackside infrastructure with the right technology partner. The team worked with Dell to design "high density power protection and highly efficient in row cooling provided by APC, network ancd trackside environments with Dell servers, storage, laptops and support."
Those who understand the technical aspects of F1 realize that you have to make the most efficient use of technology and innovation while taking up the least amount of space and resources. For those still learning about how technical F1 can be, take a look at the Team Lotus & Dell case study.
What I find most interesting is that this enterprise IT environment was designed and deployed in less than six months! More proof that we Texans know how to GSD.
The most interesting thing that I've read about from #DellWorld so far is a mobile application that allows conferences to solicit real-time feedback from participants and fine-tune the conference programming. There is a "virtual joystick" so attendees can rate how interesting the speakers and their topics are, thereby the audience controls and changes the conference in real-time with their feedback. Cool, huh? Plus, who takes the time to fill out the comment card at a conference? That is another feature of this Dell World app which was created by Austin-based RED Method.
Okay, enough techie talk for today. All nerds and non-nerds are welcome to join us again this Sunday at Six Lounge to watch the Korean GP. Oh and, can someone bring that Team Lotus on by? That would be great...
What: Korean GP Downtown Watch Party
When: Sunday, October 16, 2011, 1:30PM
Where: Six Lounge, 117 W. 4th Street, Austin, TX
More: Come watch the Korean GP with other veteran and rookie F1 fans! Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. Plenty of comfortable seating and drinks on tap! Also get behind the wheel in Robert DeGroff's iRacing simulator. More details on our Facebook page.