The other week I had the privilege of attending Juniper Nxtwork 2018 in Las Vegas, NV.   I have attended the previous two Nxtwork events (2016 and 2017) and this year’s event outdid them in every way.

What made this year’s event so much better you might ask? Well in my view it is simple – everything.  With the event being in Las Vegas it provided much more room for attendees, speakers, vendors, testing,  as well as endless evening entertainment options.   To cap off the event the closing speaker was amazing – more on this later in the post.  All in all, this year the event had over 1000 people in attendance, and that is many times over what the other years.  Being in Las Vegas there was always sufficient seating for the sessions, dining, and breaks.

The testing center this year was very conveniently located.  As a bonus they actually offered JNCIE labs on the Monday and Friday after (I failed my JNCIE-SEC attempt, no surprise there).  The area outside the testing center was nice and comfortable for all those waiting to take their test – getting in that last minute cram session!

The show area was intimate.  You could actually talk with the vendors and see what they had to offer.  It is not like other network type conferences where the booths are huge and they lecture to the masses, this one is allowed for one-to-one conversations.  This was appreciated and allowed me to find out information that I needed without having people trying to scan your badge just to scan your badge.

The food – just so impressive.  We had hot food available for all our meals and plenty of meal stations that catered to everyone’s dietary needs.  You did not have to worry about going hungry for breakfast or lunch – Juniper had you covered. Oh, we also had two coffee bars sponsored by Dimension Data (plugging the employer) 🙂  I just wish other conferences had food like this!

The session content this year was much improved.  I think they have started to move away from some of the marketing towards some of the more technical information and presenters.  I sat some sessions around automation technologies and loved hearing where Juniper is going with that.

I would have loved to see some deep-dive sessions on their hardware or Junos code, perhaps we may see that next year as the event grows and matures. (Hint Hint Juniper – we need DEEP DIVE sessions!)

The keynotes this year, live every other year, were good.  Rami covered the continuing vision of Juniper with Engineering Simplicity.    I won’t try to summarize what Rami and team said, instead I will allow you to watch the videos if you choose. They are worth a watch!

For the Juniper Customer appreciation event they had Flo Rida on stage for us at the House of Blues.  The drinks were flowing and the dancing was grooving.  Flo Rida was a real entertainer that night! He was dancing, singing, getting people up on stage to sing and dance, and then did something amazing – started to grab people’s cell phones to take selfies with!  It was amazing to watch!

Thanks for the selfie @official_flo 🙂#NXTWORK pic.twitter.com/DHhP6IrsJj— Pierre-Yves Maunier (@pymaunier) October 11, 2018

Then there was the closing keynote with the guest speaker – this was something Rami told us not to miss – and I am glad he did.  This talk by Mick Ebeling of Not Impossible Labs was truly inspiring.  Below is a video from his Ted talk, but it only touches the surface of what they can do.

The video here is what made all of us shed a tear – this product, Vibrohealth ( link : https://www.notimpossible.com/vibrohealth ) is going to change things for alot of people.  Be sure to visit the page – there are other amazing videos from Not Impossible. If you have the time, the video of Joe is well worth the watch – again here is a link to the video: 
https://vimeo.com/288788186/424cd17e0b

Disclaimer:
I am a Juniper Ambassador and Juniper sponsors us to attend Juniper Nxtwork as a group.  This review is my view only and is not sponsored, endorsed, or influenced by Juniper.  I am not required to write anything and I do of my own free will.