First day at HPE TechJam 2026 in Vienna.
Great location, good vibes, badge on (I’m a “Master” now), coffee in hand — let’s go.
Just wait until HPE fully understands the joke with “Mist-Master” in the German language 😛

Keynote: well done, but too much at once

The opening keynote was solid in terms of content, no question about that. Interesting topics, relevant strategies, clear direction. But: it was simply too much. Too broad. Too generic. I do find topics like storage or iSCSI connectivity interesting as well, but HPE has meanwhile become a MEGA company where you can basically get EVERYTHING IT-related — and finding a single keynote that works for EVERYONE is, obviously, not easy.

I would have liked to see this block split into several smaller sessions — less “touch everything briefly”, more real deep dives. Especially at an event called TechJam, it’s absolutely okay to go a few technical layers deeper. In the end, it left me with the feeling: “Okay, I get it — but now I’d like some details.”

“Technical Deep-Dive”… or marketing after all?

And that brings us to the next point. Some of the so-called Technical Deep-Dive sessions felt… well… significantly more marketing-heavy than expected. I couldn’t help but think back to the old TechFest days in Prague or Berlin. Back then, a deep dive meant:

• architecture diagrams, ASIC-Level Discussions, Feature reverse-engineering, the TECH Stuff
• hard questions – some of them REALLY painful for the Vendor
• but also honest answers – without sugarcoating – and we respected that
• and sometimes a simple “this doesn’t work (yet)”

Today, a lot of it felt more like “Why this is awesome” instead of “How this actually works”. Too bad — there’s still room to go lower. Or better: deeper.

What I’ve been noticing more and more — and this is definitely not something that only started this year — is that in IT, people ask the real question less and less. Not the “if”, not the “can the product do this?”, but very concretely: “How does this actually work?” And it’s getting worse every year — across ALL vendors. While vendor SEs used to be “gods” a decade ago, today many of them (obviously not all — don’t get me wrong) are rather quiet participants who hope you’ll just figure it out yourself as a partner. In the past — yes, I know, dangerous opening — people wanted to understand things. They wanted to know what happens under the hood, why something was built the way it was, and what happens if you turn a specific knob. And this is SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT.

Today, a checkbox in the feature list, a green “supported” label, and a shiny UI are often enough. As long as it runs. Or at least looks like it does. Add a bit of “Amazing Success Story” and the package is complete — and you, as a technician, just want to scream:

No way in hell was this built in the way you just showed Dude!
I know this product in and out and I know ALL its bugs so your slide literally CANNOT work…

And you can feel exactly that at events like TechJam. Sessions are called “Technical Deep-Dive”, but often stay at an altitude where you don’t get your hands dirty. Architecture diagrams without depth, workflows without real detail, answers that sound more like marketing than engineering. Not always – but often enough that it stands out. I keep asking myself more and more: Is it because people can’t go deeper anymore – or because they simply don’t want to? Abstraction is convenient. Automation is convenient. “As-a-Service” is convenient. And that’s not a bad thing per se. But with every additional abstraction layer, we lose a bit of understanding. And at some point, that missing understanding hurts – exactly when things stop “just working”.

I honestly miss the old TechFest days in Prague or Berlin. Not out of nostalgia, but because of the mindset. People asked questions. People drilled down. Answers were allowed to be complicated — or to end with “this is still a real problem right now”. That’s what made those events so valuable. Today, it sometimes feels like depth is no longer being demanded. And if nobody demands it, nobody delivers it. Which is a shame. Because especially in a time where systems are getting more and more complex, it would be more important than ever not to forget the “how”.

But these are exciting times for IT folks! HPE is now delivering the full stack—servers, storage, networking—all in one place, and the magic is happening across software too. Features are being integrated cross-platform, so Aruba Central, Mist, AFC, and Apstra all play nicer together, sharing insights and automating more tasks. Customers also benefit from third-party visibility, making troubleshooting and monitoring much simpler. Need everything (Server, Storage, Networking) from a single source? Now that’s possible, reducing complexity and the number of moving parts. On-premises deployments remain a strong focus, especially with Europe’s data sovereignty and compliance requirements. Fewer silos and smarter integrations mean IT teams can work faster, respond quicker, and finally take a breath. For customers, it’s all about smoother operations, better insights, and infrastructure that just feels more cohesive.

The real star: networking, networking, networking

What absolutely convinced me once again was the community. An insane number of familiar faces, spontaneous hallway conversations, discussions that delivered more value than quite a few slides. The “hallway track” was – as so often – one of the best parts of the agenda and is THE reason why I visit events. That’s exactly why the trip is worth it. That’s exactly why you come here.

Of course, I also had to stop by the Juniper Certification Booth — and as always:
Staci and Josh are doing a FANTASTIC job just like all the other cool folks from HPE 🙂 It was a bit empty today – but I bet we can change that in the coming days 🙂

Conclusion after Day 1

A good start, but with mixed feelings:

✔ strong keynote — but too broad
✔ great people, great conversations
✔ community feeling exactly how you want it
✖ technically sometimes a bit too softened — but the partners balance that out 😉
✖ deep-dive sessions are welcome to go DEEP-DIVE again

I’m curious to see what the next days will bring.
And I’m hoping a bit that we’ll go a few technical floors deeper. 😉

Stay tuned.