Take the latest cutting-edge Dell client, workstation and enterprise products, add some high powered Mercedes Benz sports cars, and throw in 33 journalists from across the UK, Germany and Benelux. The result? This week’s Dell Technology Camp, held at the fantastic Mercedez Benz World at Brooklands, near Weybridge in the UK.

The format of the event allowed attending press to spend the majority of the day hands-on with the products, which was a first for Dell. Due to the nature of the event it was also the first chance for many technology reviewers to experience a vendor event, since it’s typically their news-focused colleagues who monopolise launches. By giving these journalists access to try out the products they were specifically interested in, Dell was able to showcase its latest advances. Product experts were also on hand to answer questions and explain how the new products will solve existing problems for individuals and businesses and improve  user experience across the board.

The day began with a short overview of Dell’s products and vision, focusing on design and innovation, and included input from the event’s co-sponsors Microsoft and Intel. Following the presentation, attendees were able to get hands-on with the products, which was the real draw of the day.

The event centred around four main zones:

The Client Zone: The ‘product bar’ where journalists could inspect the kit first-hand and decide if they wanted to look at it in more detail. They were then able to take product away to purpose-built review areas created using vintage Mercedes Benz cars.  Dell’s Image Direct team also gave demos throughout the day.

The Workstation Zone: Dell’s Worldwide Marketing Manager Rik Thwaites hosted four representatives from leading publications to focus on high-end workstation technology, including Digital Arts and Develop 3D. He demonstrated the latest tower and mobile Precision workstations, and outlined upcoming functionality under NDA that will be delivered by a new graphics card for the M6400 Covet.

The Enterprise Zone: Possibly the most dynamic area on the day, featuring 24 servers and five storage devices.  The team helped put together six incredible demos covering 11G Design, Storage, Dell Management Console, Power Consumption and Blades.  Microsoft gave demos of the latest version of its Hyper-V virtualisation software, showcasing the specific capabilities of Dell’s 11G hardware for running virtualisation across the enterprise.

The “Whisper Zone”: Upcoming products including yet to be launched laptops and storage devices were unveiled to attendees under NDA. This zone provided journalists with all the information they would need for the ‘first looks’ reviews to drop as soon as these new products are officially launched.

In addition to the product-focused areas, a Chill-out zone offered comfortable Dell-branded beanbags, Mini 10s and Adamos laptops to give attendees a place to gather their thoughts. Time to relax and reflect was of prime importance before  the attendees were asked to leave the Dell kit and get hands-on with something else entirely… The press were put through their paces with a high performance Mercedes Benz and a number of driving challenges including a Wet Skid Circle, Handling Circuits, the Dynamic Straight and the Wet Straight.

While the white knuckle ride on the racetrack may have left the nerves of a few journalists, and certain members of the AxiCom entourage, in tatters, there’s no doubt that the inaugural Dell Technology Camp was a huge success.

Henry