It's that time of year again: Spice is back. That's right, it's time for SpiceWorld, Spiceworks' annual conference for IT professionals. Unlike most vendors, who focus their conferences on their own products without giving much oxygen to anything else, Spiceworks' event is defined by its focus on the thriving SpiceWorks community, largely centered around its active forums.
The naked truth is that, at this point, SpiceWorks is probably better-known for its community than for the actual IT management software it sells. It hardly grabs many headlines, and as pain-proof IT solutions go, it's not talked about as much as other providers. For all that, however, for many practitioners SpiceWorld is an event that's too hot to miss.
Techies, sysadmins and other assorted technologists will head to Austin, Texas this week to attend en masse and the show floor will be bumper to bumper with vendor booths and exhibitors. We're not expecting much in the way of product announcements, though. It's true that learning opportunities and product updates are often the two main reasons to attend a vendor conference, but in this case, 2 become 1: learning is very much the order of the day.
That's not to say there will be no announcements as Spiceworks will want to capitalise on having all their most dedicated users in one place. The company will also be sharing the results of its annual State of IT' reports, offering a valuable insight into the IT landscape.
If you're an IT pro who wants to spice up your life with all the announcements from the conference, but can't say you'll be there in person, never fear. I'll be bringing you all the latest from the show throughout the week. After all, you don't wannabe left out, do you?
