Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Guest post by Maureen Murray

As one of the newest members of the CommVault family, I was privileged to attend my first CommVault Hockey Helping Kids (HHK) event recently at the Boston Garden. Unlike our usual events, this one took place over a two-day period, in the Boston Bruins NHL venue, but instead of a Bruins game, attendees were treated to dinner and the NCAA Division I Hockey Semi-Finals on Friday evening, March 22^nd. This was not a typical one-day HHK event that takes place on NHL ice in conjunction with a game, usually between rival teams. No, this was a different kind of night, but a special one for me.

The NCAA semi-final games between Providence College and University of Massachusetts at Lowell and Boston College and Boston University were certainly thrilling to me, as one who attended every Fairfield University home hockey game in my own college days. And while UMASS and BU were certainly the victors in their respective games, the real hero of the evening was the charity that the CommVault/Microsoft partnership supported at the event - Courageous Sailing Center of Boston.

CommVault and Microsoft employees with
Courageous Sailing Center of Boston volunteers

Courageous Sailing, a 501c3 non-profit, is dedicated to transforming the lives of Boston's at-risk youth through sailing programs that inspire learning, personal growth and leadership. Through a raffle and the auction of authenticated Bruins signed sports memorabilia (a jersey and hockey stick) and a couple of Microsoft-donated Xboxes, this HHK event raised about $4,000 for Courageous Sailing. The representatives of the charity were probably as grateful as they would have been had they been holding the $360M Powerball ticket for Monday night's drawing. It made me extremely proud to be part of a company that combines the love of a sport with unbridled compassion and philanthropic support for children's causes.

On Thursday evening, March 21^st, the CommVault Varsity Hockey team took to the Bruin's ice to skate against Team USA, a team consisting of Microsoft employees and former USA Women's Olympic team gold medalists — Colleen Coyne, AJ Mleczko, and Tara Mounsey. After that game (the Microsoft team won handily, with a final score of 11-3), employees, customers, partners, and their kids were given the opportunity to play on NHL ice — a once-in-a-lifetime thrill for many of these players and local Bruins fans. The smiles on the faces of the kids and their proud parents were well worth the shellacking the CommVault team endured!

Final "Varsity" Game Score: Team USA 11, CommVault 3

So, my first HHK experience is one for the books and I'm looking forward to our biggest event of the season at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday, April 16^th. All proceeds raised that evening will benefit the Philadelphia PowerPlay and Temple University. The evening's main event is the game between longtime NHL rivals, the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers. Our Varsity and JV games take place before and after the pros play. We'd love to have you join us! For more information, visit our Hockey Helping Kids page.

Maureen Murray (@murrayamaureen) is a Writer, Corporate Communications for CommVault.

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

While the NHL lockout may have delayed the start of CommVault's Hockey Helping Kids Program this year, we're now positioned to skate into the busiest season we've had since we started this program 11 years ago. We've locked down our schedule and we've even managed to book some serious rivalry games around the country as featured events in our hockey schedule.

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Every 3 or 4 years Microsoft ushers in a new wave of upgrades and new functionality in their products. Right now is a unique time as Microsoft is simultaneously delivering new scalability and performance benefits from the data center out to the edge by ushering in new versions of Windows (Server and Client), Exchange, SharePoint and Mobile.

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Saturday, June 16, 2012

A few weeks ago CommVault and Microsoft announced a significant go-to-market effort centering on the Microsoft cloud environment known as Windows Azure. I've been pleasantly surprised by the positive response from the industry and from the CommVault and Microsoft field organizations as they begin to work together.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

While this blog will generally be reserved for topics relating to Microsoft technologies and trends, today I'm proud to write about the most recent "CommVault Hockey Helping Kids" event that took place in the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota. We're grateful that our Platinum sponsors; Microsoft and Dell/Compellent as well as the Minnesota Whitecaps (Best USA Women players on the planet) have joined us this season to help various children's charities. Our first of three (maybe four) events this season benefited the Autism Society of Minnesota. Together with the help of the Minnesota Wild hockey club, we raised over $10,000 for the AuSM in their efforts to enhance the lives of individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

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The content of this blog reflects the thoughts and opinions of the author, and does not represent the thoughts, opinions, plans or strategies of CommVault Systems, Inc. ("CommVault") and CommVault undertakes no obligation to update, correct or modify any statements made by the author of this blog. Any and all third party links provided by this blog are not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, CommVault.