Portworx by Pure Storage engages Kubernetes workshop attendees with Instruqt at KubeCon
Portworx by Pure Storage is the leading Kubernetes Data Services Platform enterprises trust to run mission-critical applications in containers in production. Based in Santa Clara, California, Portworx supports Fortune 2000 companies by delivering robust, cloud-native storage solutions tailored for modern applications.
Chris Crow, Technical Marketing Engineer at Portworx, plays a pivotal role in product evangelism and technical education, empowering users to adopt Kubernetes storage with confidence. He recently hosted an engaging in-person workshop titled Mastering Data Management for Kubernetes, at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2024 in Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Challenge
Chris and his team needed a solution to deliver an engaging hands-on workshop experience during KubeCon + CloudNativeCon, the flagship conference that gathers adopters and technologists from leading open-source and cloud-native communities. Topics for the workshop included:
- Application and data availability across fault domains
- Data protection through snapshots and backups
- Managed databases and data services in Kubernetes
- Automated capacity management
- I/O prioritization and limits for Kubernetes data services
- Migration and disaster recovery for Kubernetes applications
The workshop required:
- Realistic learning environments: Attendees needed isolated Kubernetes setups to explore Portworx features.
- Streamlined setup: Traditional technical workshops often involve significant setup time and effort for trainers and participants.
- Engaging content: The workshop had to demonstrate complex features such as disaster recovery, snapshots, and application automation in an accessible manner.
- Reliability at scale: With 30+ attendees performing advanced technical tasks over several hours, system reliability was critical.
Solution
"It's one thing to say that Portworx does this thing and try to describe it in the abstract, but when you take somebody and they have time to really learn about it—not in just a sales context—that’s when people really get what a product or solution actually does." – Chris Crow, Technical Marketing Engineer at Portworx by Pure Storage
Portworx partnered with Instruqt to power their workshop, capitalizing on its unique capabilities to create an engaging and reliable hands-on learning experience.
Key elements of the technical workshop included:
- Cloud-based training - Instruqt’s cloud-native platform allowed the Toshiba team to scale its training efforts globally without the need for physical travel or shipping of equipment.
- Interactive and hands-on learning - Learners could receive real-time feedback on their progress, allowing them to fix errors on the go, boosting comprehension and reducing frustration.
- Ease of setup - Instruqt’s easy-to-use interface allowed Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions to build training environments quickly, significantly cutting down preparation time.
Results
"A big part of that is being able to have a learning environment that they didn't have to spend 6 to 8 hours of requisite work to get to a point where they can even start learning, which is why I think it's so important." – Chris Crow, Technical Marketing Engineer at Portworx by Pure Storage
The workshop was a success, providing measurable benefits to Portworx and its participants:
- Seamless execution: Over 30 attendees completed 25 labs in a 6-hour session without technical issues.
- Enhanced engagement: Hands-on learning demonstrated the value of Portworx solutions in real-world scenarios, fostering deeper understanding and interest among participants.
- Time and resource savings: The team avoided hours of manual setup by leveraging Instruqt’s automated environments.
- Scalable impact: Portworx plans to replicate the workshop format for other events, enhancing their technical marketing strategy.
Outlook
Building on its success at KubeCon, Portworx plans to integrate Instruqt into its broader enablement strategy, offering scalable hands-on labs for training, demos, and partner enablement. These efforts will help Portworx maintain its leadership in Kubernetes data management and accelerate customer adoption of its solutions.
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