The NTC Gift Arrived: A Small Token That Represents a Lot

A few months ago, I wrote about hitting a milestone I wasn't sure I'd ever see when I first joined the program back in 2016: 10 consecutive years as a Nutanix Technology Champion. That post was a chance to reflect on the relationships, the growth, and what a decade in this community really meant to me. This one is a little lighter, but still worth sharing.

The NTC gifts arrived this week (Pardon my lack of taking good photographs...)

Every year, Nutanix sends something to the champion community as a token of appreciation. For the last ten years, that has included a plaque from Angelo tracking consecutive years in the program. This year had a fun milestone attached to it: I maxed out the old plaque and received a new one to start the next stretch. It's not about the gift itself. It's about what it represents: being part of a program that genuinely invests in its community, and the reminder that the work you put in throughout the year is noticed and appreciated. When the package shows up, it's a small but meaningful moment.

The Program Behind the Gift

None of this happens without the people who run it. Angelo Luciani has been the driving force behind the NTC program for years, and his fingerprints are all over what makes it work. From coordinating the Champions Tech Talk sessions to keeping the community connected and engaged year-round, Angelo puts in a level of effort that most people never see directly. The NTC program doesn't just run itself, and it wouldn't be what it is without him at the helm.

The gift is a nice touch. But the real value of the NTC program is the access and the enablement that comes with it throughout the year: early product briefings, direct lines to product and engineering teams, and events that put champions in the same room with the people building the platform.

Just Off the Back of GTS

The timing of this gift is a nice coincidence. We're just about a week removed from the Nutanix Global Tech Summit (GTS), held in Orlando. GTS is primarily an internal event where Nutanix brings together its technical presales teams for enablement, and it's been a genuine honor to be invited as a partner. Getting a seat at that table puts you in the room for conversations around roadmap, product direction, and strategic context that you simply don't get elsewhere. Coming home from that week and then having this arrive shortly after makes for a pretty good stretch.

.Next Is Around the Corner

And if Tech Summit was last week, Nutanix .Next is right around the corner. The annual flagship conference is about a month out, and it's shaping up to be a strong event. .Next is where Nutanix makes its biggest announcements and where the broader community comes together, far beyond just the NTC program. It's a great mix of deep technical sessions, partner activity, and the kind of hallway conversations that often lead to something useful.

If you're planning to attend, I'd encourage you to look at the NTC-related sessions and activities on the agenda. There's typically solid representation from the champion community, and the conversations are worth your time.

Still Grateful

Getting this package in the mail is a small thing, but it's a good reminder of why I keep showing up for this community year after year. Nutanix invests in the people who invest in the ecosystem, and Angelo and the team do a great job of making champions feel like a valued part of what Nutanix is building.

Ten years in, I'm still looking forward to what comes next.