#VMworld 2018: Introducing VMware Cloud Provider Pod

[DISCLAIMER]
The Cloud Provider Pod is a product that I was involved with since the beginning of the development phase. All information are accurate, but for sure some comments or opinions are biased ;-).
[/DISCLAIMER]

Within the session Introducing VMware Cloud Provider Pod Yves Sandfort and Wade Holmes presented a new VMware solution for VMware’s Cloud Service Provider Program (CSPP) (View the session online here). The goal of the Cloud Provider Pod is to easily enable service provider to setup a fully featured and supported vCloud Director environment based on the requirements of the service provider.

Read more

#VMworld 2018 – Announcements for the VMware Cloud Provider Program (#VCPP)

Just in time for this years VMworld VMware has updated key products around their cloud portfolio for service provider. Within the VMware Cloud Provider Program (CSPP) a Service Provider can use VMware’s technologies and offer public IT services for their customer, while being charged only for the workload that is used (and therefore sold) to the customer.

Using the SDDC stack (vSphere, NSX, vSAN, vRealize) and integrate it within vCloud Director (and its add-ons like vCloud Director Extender) service provider can use a fully software-defined stack to add value for their customer by adding Services on top of this platform.

Read more

#VMworld 2018: Sessions and Experts: Gonna Catch Em All

Here we are again. VMworld 2018 in Las Vegas, THE tech conference of the year for all people, customer, partner dealing with VMware technology.

When I began to use/learn about VMware technologies on a professional level in the year 2010 all of the use cases were around the customers on-prem datacenter. Since than a lot has changed and VMware made a transition to offer enterprise-solution within a very broad spectrum for all kind of use cases. VMware is a key player on the digital transformation for many enterprises.

The following post should give you a short summary about 2018s development in certain fields and which people/session you definitely should have a look at during VMworld US. Go to their session, follow them on twitter and maybe there will be chance to have a private chat during this years conference. Just as a small hint: If you follow persons in real-life in a weird way… that’s stalking! :D

Please be aware of that this is a biased personal perspective on the relevant sessions and people. There are many other great persons out there ;-). Where to find the people? VM Village Social Media Booth, VMTN Tech Talks, Their Sessions, Eye Candy Bar in the center of the Mandalay Bay Casino late at night.

There are much more community events on Twitter. Just search for #vSoccer, #vBeards, #vFIT (That’s sports acutally), #vBreakfest and many many many more.

So far 2018 has been a interesting year from a product release perspective. Let me tell you about a few products and which session/people might be interesting to follow. As every year I expect all the sessions to be available only shortly after VMworld has taken place.

Read more

Going to #VMworld for the first time? Check out my hints and tricks by @lenzker

VMworld Las Vegas is just around the corner. For some of you it might be the first time you are going to visit this event in Las Vegas. In my opinion there are some things I would have loved to know before I have been there for the first time.

So let’s don’t lose time and start:

  1. Spend your time wisely. As it’s always been in life, it is important to find a good balance. At VMworld it is important to find a good balance between scheduled appointments (sessions, meetings, etc.) and ‘time-to-discover’. The sessions are great, but remember. They are getting recorded. Pick those session with the real hot topics for yourself; pick those session that have a level of interactivity or expert level. It is always great to ask the questions and interact after the particular session.
  2. The best sessions are full at an early stage -> Schedule those sessions early.
  3. VMworld is much more than just sessions. It’s about meeting people that are also as geeky as you are. Don’t hesitate to talk to the people around you. How to meet them? Join twitter and look for the #VMworld hashtag; Join the VMware code channel on Slack;  Go to the #VMworld hackaton. How to participate? Register in the schedule builder and go to the hackathon site to join a team.
  4. Check out the VMware community booth and hang out at the blogger table :-). If you meet me, I am looking forward to any kind of chat.
  5. Plan the evening. Checkout Andreas Lesslhumers fantastic collection of parties and gatherings during VMworld US.
  6. Bring a bottle you can fill up with water. One thing I hate during VMworld US is the fact that there is a lack of drinking water. The prices around the convention center are ridiculous -> Bring larger bottle to fill it up once you find a water dispenser.
  7. Wear comfort shoes ;-) You will walk a lot – no matter if you spend the nights in the Mandalay or Luxor.
  8. If you walk from the Luxor to the Mandalay Bay in the morning and need a quick coffee. There is a Starbucks just around the corner before entering the shoppes between both Hotels.
  9. A good place to meet other fellows in the afternoon or evening is the Eyecandy in the middle of the Mandalay Bay. This is always a good gathering point ;-).
  10. Bring a warm pullover or jacket for the sessions. Even though we have pretty high and humid temperature in Las Vegas they conference rooms will be frozen down close to zero degrees celsius :P.
  11. Leave as much work at home as possible. Going to VMworld is also some kind of invest. To get the maximum benefit out of it try to spend as much time as possible to extend your knowledge and network. –> Bringing to much work to VMworld will definitely  decrease the ROI ;P

Follow me on Twitter and try to reach out for me during VMworld. I will participate in a EUC/VDI Session with fantastic experts on Monday at 1PM. Check out and schedule our ‘ EUC Champions Panel: Everything You Were Afraid to Ask About VDI [WIN3530PU]’ . 

You want to see how it has been last year? Check out my video…

Lenzker’s Why #VMworld ? 10 Reasons Why You Should Go

It’s this time of the year again where a lot of us need to decide. Shall I go to this year’s VMworld? From time to time discussions come up with statements like:

“(#VMworld) is not the same any more…..When I was young, real knowledge and content was presented… . I was at #VMworld in the old days before it was cool….Virtualization is legacy, Azure and AWS is the only thing that counts”

Who am I to contradict those statements (even though the are wrong :P). I will try to give you my opinion why #VMworld is still the tech-conference highlight of the year.

If it’s your first time visiting VMware’s US event I am going to create a second article called ‘let’s visit #VMworld’ about some personal tips and tricks how to get the maximum out of this years #VMworld

Read more

#VMworld 2017: Las Vegas in 198 seconds (Video) – Personal Insights

Some of you know that I like doing some movies of tech-events/VMworld  after I have visited it. It has only been a few days since a fantastic VMworld in Las Vegas has been finished.

Once again I met fantastic people to talk about current products and issues within the usage of technology. Fantastic sessions like the NSX community leader summit and the EUC Champion Meet-Up gave me an opportunity to meet even more brilliant people out there in the field.

Maybe this video can serve for some of you as a nice memory. So please take the short time and have a look ;-) I am looking forward to any kind of feedback.

 

I hope to see most of you again next year and if we haven’t met! It’s time to change that!

#VMworld US 2017: End User Computing / VDI, announcements and releases

During (and around) VMworld 2017 VMware has lifted many of their products to a new level to enable their customer a better and more agile software-defined datacenter than ever. Besides their datacenter portfolio VMware is pushing their vision of a digital workspace in the end-user computing field much further.

Horizon + Airwatch -> Workspace One try to combine all relevant subjects within the EUC field (Identities, Desktops, Applications, Devices, Policies, … ) within one single solution.

The following post summarize the EUC announcements within VMware’s current and upcoming products.

Read more

#VMworld US 2017: Datacenter and Cloud products, announcements and releases

During (and around) the general session at VMworld 2017 (US) VMware has talked about their idea how the future infrastructure within a public and private cloud can be managed.

For friends of VMware ‘s existing products hoping for any kind of bigger announcement the general session might have been a little bit disappointing. VMware’s focus are cloud services and how to manage/operate the private & public cloud.

To make you aware of all kind of changes / new releases within the current product portfolio and the new I tried to summarize key elements of the new products or releases surrounding the #VMworld conference. If new products show up or will be announced over the next days I will keep it updated.

A summary about EUC products and announcement will be created on day 2 of #VMworld 2017.
Read more

Why #VMworld (2017 US edition by @lenzker)

Once a year I am confronting myself with the question. Shall I go to this year’s VMworld? Following the discussion on Twitter and at Customer’s site a lot of people tend to say the good old words every culture of the mankind has been hearing:

“(#VMworld) is not the same any more…..When I was young, real knowledge and content was presented… . I was at #VMworld in the old days before it was cool….”

I think they are wrong and I will try to argument why this is my opinion.

During the beginning of the year I asked myself if they were right or not. What were the reason for those statements. After those technical (broken macbook) and non-technical (lack of dodgeball skills) disasters I was faced with during last years VMworld I needed to reevaluate for myself if my personal invest into going to VMworld is worth the money.

People knowing me better (and understanding what I am actually doing) know that I am very excited going to #VMworld. With the following post I try to give you some reasons why I love it & why VMworld is a great event and foundation to develop yourself a little further (it’s all about personal development, isn’t it?!)

If it’s your first time visiting VMware’s US event I think you will be able to extract some useful information to gain a maximum benefit out of it.

Read more

#VMware vs. #Nutanix: Let’s be positive rivals

In 2016 I had the chance to attend 3 bigger vendor events. VMworld Las Vegas as a blogger, VMworld Barcelona as a regular Partner and Nutanix .NEXT in Vienna.

I summarized my experiences about the conferences in several blog posts and videos (Las Vegas / Barcelona) and try to argument why the rivalry between VMware and Nutanix is a good thing (for their customer and their products).

… a wise man can learn more from his enemies than a fool from his friends

Nutanix_vs_VMware

Read more