#VMworld 2020: Free for everyone, take your chance and see my top 5 sessions

2020 is different. The pandemic situation has changed the way we work, the way we meet each other. The same counts for our beloved IT conference. For multiple years I am attending VMworld which is the annual conference of VMware in person. I have written yearly posts why you should attend VMworld and many of the reasons are still valid.

This year #VMware has been migrated from a in-person conference to an online event which for sure has a lot of disadvantages like the missing social factor. So the opportunities to network in person are limited.

On the other side if we look at an IT conference like #VMworld, we must admit it is something that locks out many persons who are not privileged enough to pay for the travel & hotel, conference pass and further expenditures (which can be easiliy added up to 5000-10000$ for a week in San Francisco where VMworld would have taken place).

This year is a chance to experience VMworld for a minimum of capital invest, because it is free. Everyone can experience certain live-sessions or around 700 pre-recorded technical sessions around the #VMware portfolio.

Two passes exist:

  • General Pass: Access to on-demand an live sessions.
  • Premier Pass: Cost 299$ (available until 22th September) which includes 1:1 technical expertise sessions, guided labs, exam-vouch and many more.

Check out the details here.

I love the approach that everyone can access #VMworld and maybe for the future the online event might be an addition to the physical VMworld which would lead to a VMworld US, VMworld Europe and VMworld online [with Edge locations where VMware customers, partners, fans can meet in person]. I would highly appreciate that.

Personally me and my comdivision friend we will make a in-person event out of it to still experience the social character of VMworld. I am really looking forward for it.

What’s next?

Register for VMworld

Check out my top 5 VMware sessions this year:

  1. VMware and NVIDIA CEOs Discussion on AI and ML [VI3178]: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger discussing about the technological future of Aritificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
  2. How to Architect for Success: Ask the EUC VCDXs [DWHV2826] – Including EUC all-stars like my colleague and friend Jens Hennig, Sean Massey, Johan van Amersfoort, Maarten Caus,
  3. 60 Minutes of NUMA [HCP2453] – Frank Denneman will abstract the complex topic of CPUs and NUMA characteristics into an understandable form, including latest CPUs like AMD’s EPYC2, etc.
  4. VEBA and the Power of Event-Driven Automation – Reloaded [HCP1358] – William Lam and Michael Gasch talk about the VMware Event Broker Appliance (VEBA) which was released last year. The idea is that certain events can trigger certain automation task in your environment. Definetly a hot topic over the next years since this will lead to a certain form of intrinsic automation.
  5. NSX Data Center for vSphere to NSX-T Migration: Real-World Experience [VCNC1590] – NSX (for vSphere) is dead, long live NSX(-T). The migration projects are coming more often and an exchange of experience is quite needed.

#VMworld 2019 EU: #SDDC, Containers and Cloud Products: Announcements and Releases

Around VMworld Europe a lot of new products have been announced and released. The following post will give you a high-level overview and might be a kick-start to dive deeper into certain products or solutions.

When I should summarize VMware’s vision in 3 words (which exists now for multiple years), it would be:

‘bridge the gap’

Bridging the gap between server, storage, network and security; bridging the gap between operations and developers; bridging the gap between multiple clouds …….

It’s a physical constant that complexity rises over time (entropy). A proper way to deal with complexity is abstraction and therefore creating a proper common interface that can be used from a higher level.

The new announced products and further enhancements of existing products foster this bridging approach. Let’s have a look at some of the new products.

Read more

#VMworld Europe General Session: Tech in the Age of Any

During this years VMworld intro the message was quite clear. It’s not just about the technology, it’s about the people.

“Make your mark”

14.000 attendees made their way this year to Barcelona, which is an increase of 2000 people compared to last year. Please be aware of that this summary here consists out of information extracted from the general session & my personal opinions.

For the 8th time in Barcelona Pat Gelsinger, just voted to one of the best CEOs in the US, told us more about VMware’s vision, strategy & the current state.

To be honest: The strategy has been clear for a couple of years now:

Any device, Any Application, Any cloud

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Lenzker’s Why VMworld 2019 ? 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 they 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 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

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#VMworld 2018: General Session – The Superpowers of Tech

2018 marks the 20th anniversary of VMware. 12000 attendees have joined this years European conference in Barcelona. From an economical and technical perspective the last years have been a real success for VMware. During the annual European conference VMworld, Pat Gelsinger who is VMware’s CEO for 6 years, gave an outlook on the companies’ present and its future.

Bridge across

Listening to Pat Gelsinger the core message of VMware’s core strength is pretty clear. Bridge across things.

  • Act 1 bridge across Servers (vSphere) [and Storage]- vendor independant (Lenovo, HPE, Dell)
  • Act 2 bridge across devices (Workspace One) – vendor independant (Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Google)
  • Act 3 bridge across networks (NSX) – vendor independant (Cisco, Juniper, HPE)

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VMware’s #vExpert Programm. Wie starte ich meine Reise? #VMworld Edition

This post is available in English

Vor ca. einem Monat wurde ich gebeten im deutschsprachigen Raum als vExpert Repräsentant Nachwuchs zu rekrutieren ;-). In der Rolle als vExpert Pro ist es meine Aufgabe Leute in Deutschland zu finden und ihnen Tipps zu geben wie sie sich innerhalb der Virtualisierungs-Community zurecht finden und einen Beitrag leisten können.

Was ist das vExpert Programm?

Das vExpert Programm ist VMware’s Kunden und Evangelisten Programm um Anreize zu schaffen sein Wissen mit anderen zu teilen. Als vExpert bekommt man Zugriff auf interne R&D Quellen, Webex Vorträge, Einladung in den vExpert Slack channel (Unglaublich mächtiges Tool), Einladung zu #vExpert Parties bei der VMworld und last but not least: Man wird Teil einer unglaublich coolen Community.

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Why you should try becoming a #vExpert ? #VMworld edition

Note: This post has also been created in the German language.

About a month ago VMware has announced their new vExpert sub-program: vExpert Pro and I was honoured to become a representative for this programme within Germany.

What is goal of vExpert Pro Program and why did I participate?

The vExpert program has been created by VMware to as VMware’s global evangelism and advocacy program. In the end it’s a community of fellow virtualization experts, geeks who share their knowledge in form of tweets, blog-posts, speaking-engagements or other fancy formats.

Over the years this ‘small’ program has grown to more than 1000 members.

The vExpert Pro progam has been established by Valdecir Carvalho (aka homelabber brazil) to increase the number within specific regions. As in every community there are a few people that don’t like small/internal programs to grow, since with too much growth the exclusiveness of being a member of such a ‘club’ decreases.

I understand that argument and of course there is a risk that if the bar of becoming a vExpert get’s too low, the quality of such a program will lack. That argument is legit, but VMware needs to think on a global scale about that topic.

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#VMworld 2018 Europe: Let’s get started ?! Focus on the network and win 1.000.000$

It’s November; it’s VMworld again and it seems that the sun is definitely celebrating #VMworld with us.  As every year in Barcelona, Sunday evening’s event kicked off #VMworld: #vRockstar 

(If you are here because you wanted to win 1.000.000$… good luck!)

It has been a pleasure to meet so many vGeeks out there and I am very proud to be part of the team that has sponsored this event among others: comdivision.

(They knew which music needs to be played: Fuerte NSX on Spotify)

The evening went by far too quick and it’s time to get technical. Within the VMware world it is important to remain focussed. The ecosystem is amazingly growing in all kind of areas:

  • Hybrid (we have heard that for a while) Cloud
  • Edge-Computing (Computing moves closer too the customer’s site – sounds familiar right?!)
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • End-User Computing
  • Public Cloud

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#VMworld 2018: Day 4 Summary Videolog

VMworld 2018 in Las Vegas is over. I must admit: I think it was the best VMworld that I have ever attended. It has been so much fun doing a breakout session with my fellow EUC champions Sean Massey, Dane Young, Eduardo Molino and Brian Madden.

And you know what’s better than having a session? Having a session that people obviously liked. The survey showed that each of us had an average >4 out of 5 with an overall result of 4.14 (more details). It has been the first time I am doing such a panel discussion and I really enjoyed it. I need to do that more often to improve my capabilities in such a round.

If you want to watch the recorded session. Check it out here

Other social highlights have been the meet-up with the many many vExperts and other guys in our field. Besides the regular sessions I want to give a shoutout to Brian Madden who organized a great EUC forum on Tuesday evening and Cyndie Ziekmund who leads our EUC Champion program. She did a fantastic job in bringing the product people responsible for the Horizon and Workspace One products to us. We received access to road maps and deeper technical information, VMware gets feedback from people dealing with it on a regular base -> Win-Win if you ask me. I don’t need to add that the dinner afterwards at Strip Steak (mmhhh) has been fantastic as well.

Meeting up multiple times a year with all of the other comdivision guys has been awesome as well, especially when Yves Sandford surprised us with a great helicopter flight through the grand canyon on Saturday morning (instead of supposed to be legal meeting). Thanks for that. I could write so much more about this fantastic event, but hey… the title says #VMworld 2018: Day 4 Summary Videolog. So I assume I should deliver finally a video.

Here we go. I will add an additional one with further VMworld cutovers within the next week.

//You want to know my motivation behind those video where I do talk in a selfie mode? To be honest: I hate how I do it currently. I don’t like //the way I talk in front of a camera (I can barely watch it) and I want to improve it. So I will repeat that at certain occasions over the year //and if I think I still suck after next years VMworld. I will just leave it as it is.

It is time I will head back home! I had a great time (did I told anyone that my back still hurts from #vSoccer?!), but I am really exhausted. All of you still reading this, have a safe trip home and hope to catch up with some in Barcelona.

#VMworld 2018: Day 1 Summary Videolog

VMworld US 2018 Day 1 is almost over and it was quite an exciting day. Check out the short video log I created with my personal experiences and impressions live from Las Vegas.

If you want to catch up here in Vegas reach out for me on Twitter.