CA prepares 'Mainframe Madness' virtual trade show

CA Technologies has announced an event scheduled to run from 2 to 31 May described as an online virtual trade show.

'May Mainframe Madness' will allow CA customers, developers and ecosystem partners to attend a trade show from the comfort of their home or office.

Steven Menges, vice president of mainframe marketing for CA, told V3.co.uk that the month-long event will provide online access to keynotes and track sessions, along with online question and answer meetings and access to virtual show booths from partner vendors.

The event will mark the second year in which CA is hosting a mainframe event as a virtual conference in a bid to overcome travel and time-off costs that can keep people away from conferences.

"We had seen that the physical events we have been running in the past have had flat or shrinking attendance in recent years," Menges explained.

"We decided to try to create an event where we can have that same experience, but make it free of charge."

While the show will not take place in a physical convention centre, and will be spread out over four weeks, CA believes that the overall experience and value will remain the same.

Cloud event provider ON24, which is helping to run the show, said that customers and partners spent an average of 4.5 hours watching and participating in the virtual events last year.

"The virtual trade show behaviour is pretty similar to what you see in the real world," said ON24 vice president of product management Tom Masotto.

"While virtual conferences may be new, the notion of a trade show and things you can do are pretty similar."