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I'm having so many great conversations here at NetApp Insight. I caught up with John Woodall earlier today and he actually shared with me a little bit about some of Insight history and also why NetApp is so important to GDT's ecosystem. Talk to me about yourself a little bit about your time in the industry and alsoheard you've been coming to Insight since 2004. Yeah, 2004. So it was called the SE Roundup and it was held in a building that no longer exists under what used to be the Sunnyvale Headquarters building one in 2004, 300 people. Year after that, we were at Crowne Plaza in Milpitas. After that, we're here back at MGM like we are today. And it's all been a great ride since constant innovation, that's been one of the hallmarks. We talk about transformation in the industry. NetApp has transformed itself and continues to transform itself. You started in workstation NFS. You pivoted to enterprise apps. You pivoted to VMware. You've embraced the cloud early. You have leadership in the cloud. You also did the same thing with AI. And so I think of the NetApp that we have today is very different than the one that started many years ago. GDT, well, the company that I was part of before being acquired, we were the first partner with NetApp ever. So we have a long it's huge and we have a long history and understanding and seeing the transformations. We have a tight alignment. We have great relationships. First rule of businesses, relationship. I've been in the industry for about 32 years, just under half of that as a customer. So I was the guy you had to get. Oh, you were on the customer. I was on the customer side, yes. And then I moved over to the reseller side because it was a lot more fun. If I'd known, I would have done a lot sooner. Yeah, and I've just been doing that. Come up now. Field CTO and VP. So it's been a great ride, it's a great industry. NetApp's a great partner, and I just couldn't be happier with how things have ended up because I never planned it that way. You follow the next step and you look back and you go, this has been fun. Well, it truly sounds like GDT and NetApp are two companies that have transformed and been innovating through the years. How fun to hear from one of NetApp's very first partners. Visit NetApp TV for more inside moments.
Caroline speaks with John Woodall, VP and CTO of GDT, who's attended NetApp INSIGHT since 2004! John shares his highlight of this year's INSIGHT keynote and how it it will bring value to NetApp partnership with GDT and their customers.