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VMware Day 1 began with a study of the migratory patterns of the typical geek. As you can see from the video captured below, they seem to migrate together once a year for this thing called "VMworld". VMware opened the General Session with a poem of sorts that was reminiscent of a 70s acid trip. The poem was reflective of the motto for VMworld 2016, Be Tomorrow.  After the poem, VMware's CEO Pat Gelsinger took the stage to a very segmented audience. The turn out to VMworld is huge, so the General Session was in multiple locations along with a live stream. Pat spoke about a big shift happening in technology. The shift from "DIY" to Service Provider Data Centers and how the shift started in 2011. Pat said this a Traditional business vs Digital business and that “all business is driven by digital” now.  The talk then shifted to discuss a brief history of "Cloud" and he spoke about Google and their place in cloud history starting back in 2006. This is the time when Pluto lost its status as a planet and Italy beat out Germany for the World Cup. This is also the year that Eric Scmidt of Google introduced the term "Cloud". In 2006 we see that 98% of all workloads are running, as what we now call Traditional IT with only 2% running in the cloud which was Sales Force. Moving 5 years forward we see a shift to 7% of workloads running Public Cloud, and 6% as Private On-Prem. Today we see the shift continuing to 73% as Traditional, 12% Private On-Prem and 15% as Public Cloud. By 2021 analyst estimate that we will hit the 50% mark for Cloud. Cloud will just continue to gain ground and IT will need to continue to innovate and adapt to remain relevant and agile. VMware again is leading the charge with the announcement and the launch of Cloud Foundation.  Cloud Foundation is a unified SDDC platform that comprises VMware’s vSphere, Virtual SAN, and NSX into an integrated stack. This will help IT deliver enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for the private On-Prem and public clouds which a lot of companies are already doing but with a lot of added complexities of management and monitoring. Cloud Foundation will bring a single pane of glass for managing those complexities that come along with multiple clouds. Cloud Foundation will work with all major cloud providers, Azure, AWS, Google, Virtual Stream and of course VMware's own vCloud Air and in partnership with IBM. Some of the major operational challenges that organizations are going to and are faced with in a multi-cloud environment will be around networking and security. Traditional networking practices continue to impact the agility and security of today's networks along with complexities around migrating applications to the cloud. Cloud Foundation will help with these challenges since it has products like NSX running to flatten the network architecture across the multiple clouds including On-Prem. NSX will provide a more simplified way of connecting their environments along with security profiles and tighter security with micro-segmentation and the partner integrations like Palo Alto, Trend Micro and many more. There were a lot of vendors around the event today the touted a "Single Pane of Glass" for managing multi-cloud environments. I spoke with a few of them and they didn't know about VMware's announcement for Cloud Foundation. None of them seemed to do it as flawless as VMware. The Cloud Foundation from VMware brings that true single entry for management including SLA/Availability dashboard, Policy-based placement and optimization, UI and API-driven cloud service broker, Centralized multi-cloud cost accounting and Workload migration.  VMware's Cloud Foundation is not just available in private data centers, but as a service from the announced partnership with IBM. VMware's CEO Pat Gelsinger continued his discussion around the cloud and who is embracing it today. He mentioned the top ten that are embracing the cloud. So who is embracing the cloud? Construction came in at #10, Manufacturing #5, Banks at #4 and Technology Vendors came in at #1. The point here is that as a technology vendor we are the ones leading our customers and companies to the cloud. Of course we cannot have a 2016 VMworld without Dell's CEO, Michael Dell. Michael Dell said that as soon as the deal to acquire EMC closes “you will see a whole new series of engineered solutions we have been working on together.”  Overall, I thought is was exciting to learn about the new products. VMware has made some mistakes with the cloud and this demonstrates and new focus on not just their cloud but a shift to Any Cloud, Any App, and Any Device. The live demos of the Cloud Foundation was extremely impressive along with bringing in the powerhouses of Columbia Sportswear and CITI both talking about how VMware has transformed their businesses allowing for them to be more secure and more agile. After the General Session there were a lot of people hanging out at the VMVillage. There were people playing at the ping-pong tables, talking to the experts and of course VMUG.  The VMUG booth had a line out the door. Members and non-members waiting to spin the VMUG wheel, take fun pics in the RockOutVMUG booth and much more.  The hands-on labs were packed with people and the #1 lab was on VMware's network virtualization product NSX. Virtual SAN came in a strong second with Automation bringing up third.  If you were unable to make it out to VMworld don't despair because the hands-on labs are available for you to but at the convenience of your home. You can access the labs here and see the list of hands-on labs content catalog here. There are some great labs on NSX and Automation.
Overall the day was very productive and I enjoyed the announcement of Cloud Foundation. If you would like to learn more about Cloud Foundation you can see the VMware page here. I made it to VMworld 2016 in one piece, which to be honest I felt that, despite the travel I have done in my life this was going to do me in. This flight experience was the worst. Now, I have never flown American Airlines in the past so this is a first for me and may just be their norm that I am not use to or like most things in life, if you do them enough you are bound to have some bad experiences. Let me elaborate. The first flight left my hometown and was scheduled to take the passengers to South Carolina and at first all seemed normal. I arrived at the airport early to get through the security checks which since receiving my new drivers license with an updated picture went very well. I was even given a nice, "Have a nice flight Marine", from one of the TSA workers that noticed my tattoo. You know the saying, "Once a Marine, always a Marine." My family came to see me off and my little ones were expectedly sad to see me leave for a few days. In fact, my oldest kept hiding things after I packed them in hopes that I would not leave and to take things a step further had decided to hide her favorite teddy bear thinking that I wouldn't go on this trip and instead stay to help find it. What can I say? I am deeply loved. Now, back to this awful flight. I have made it through security and go wait for the flight. All is normal and eventually the call the passengers to start boarding. I gather my belonging and head down the ramp and find my seat where I get situated for the flight. I always choose to sit next to the window so I can record the takeoff for the kids as you can see below. Again, everything is progressing normal at this point. After some time we are greeted by the comedian pilot and we taxi out to the runway, which is where things take a turn for the worse. We sit there for what seems to be an eternity when the pilot comes over the speaker and says, "The computer systems are down and they need to reboot." WTF!? Now I am in full panic mode along with the rest of the passengers whose imaginations are running wild along with their mouths. At this point I am thinking about the Microsoft "Blue Screen of Death," and wondering how long this process will take and if it takes will it remain online for the entire flight or event make it to the end of the runway. Fortunately we did make it into the air and I began the first leg of this trip. Now the craziness doesn't stop there. After an hour or so we land and I am off to find my next flight that will take me to vegas. Gates have changed due to the delay caused by the computer systems on the previous flight. Things seem to go back to a normal trip. I find my new gate and chat with some people while I wait. One lady in particular was heading to Vegas where her parents retired. I had asked her when the last time she had seen them and she told me that it had been years due to a falling out. As we spoke she actually started to tear up and I could sense this cloud of sadness hovering over her. See her mother had passed away and she was coming in for the funeral with her life baggage full of regrets. I diverse, back to my trip. We board the plane and again I find my seat and get situated. after a few minutes that comedian captain comes on the loudspeaker and greets everyone. We are on time and not expecting any delay except that we are all being required to get off because they forgot to clean the airplane. OMG! We all get off and are told to wait for about a half an hour until we reboard. They clean the plane and in the meantime people charge their devices while others stand around and complain. Finally, we get to board again and I find my seat. After some time we taxi out with apologies from the crew. At this point we are all tired and a little irritated but unbenounced to us we are in for some more fun. As we wait our turn to take off, the lights keep flashing on and off in the cabin. You guessed it, more issues this time with the electrical. The captain tells us over the loudspeaker that things have to be rebooted just like in my prior flight. I am certain that this will be my last time flying with American. They need to invest some money in their aging fleet. Despite all of the issues I land in Vegas after a 4 hour flight and the site of the city at night is spectacular. The video below doesn't do it it justice.  There will be a lot of things to do in Vegas at VMworld 2016 this year. I wanted to put together a list of all the parties and events happening like the vBrisket Bus Tour happening before VMworld where you can tour the hottest BBQ joints across the US on your way to VMworld. If you have a spouse joining you then there is Spousetivites. There is a lot of entertainment for the you and your spouse or significant other through Spousetivites.
Saying all of that as I researched for this blog I found a list already compiled by running-system.com, Andreas Lesslhumer. You can see the list here!
 For the first year at VMworld you can join your fellow VMUG members for a night of networking, music, contests, prizes, and more! Invite new members for a memorable evening and kick off VMworld activities by celebrating the VMUG community.
For more information and to register for this event go here! You must be a member of your local VMUG chapter to join in. If you are not a member you can join for free. What is VMUG? VMUG is an independent, global, customer-led organization, created to maximize members’ use of VMware and partner solutions through knowledge sharing, training, collaboration, and events. With over 100,000 members worldwide, we are the largest organization for virtualization users. To become a member or learn more about membership you can go here.  As we get closer to VMworld 2016 in August VMware has given us a first look at the content catalog and although this is now live you still cannot use schedule builder to create your agenda until July 19th. Taking a peek inside the content catalog you can filter by track which includes Developer Operations at 32 contents found, End-User Computing at 82, Hybrid Cloud at 57, Software-Defined Data Center coming at 403 and Technology Futures at 9. Obviously SDDC has the highest amount of content for you at VMworld this year with EUC ranking second in the amount of content. As I look over the current list these are the ones that standout to me. Technology Futures:
Software-Defined Data Center:
Where to Stay? The event will be held at the prestigious Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center located here: 3950 S Las Vegas Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89119 Phone: 702-632-7777 www.mandalaybay.com Other than staying at the event hotel you may want to stay in walking distance as the temperature in August can be hot. If you stay somewhere on the strip you can always take advantage of UBER. The next closest hotel appears to be the Luxor with availability. Hotel Lists and Rates can be found here! VMworld Parties Grammy-nominated rock band Fall Out Boy will host at the famous Las Vegas Motor Speedway, VMworld’s biggest party. Indie electro band Capital Cities will kick off the evening’s festivities. As always the vendors will be hosting nightly gatherings and VMUG will be hosting its first ever all members party. I will update this as the list comes out so stay tuned. Registration Remember registration is currently open. You can access it here. Prices to attend are as follows:
I have been to several VMworld events but never in Vegas. I am looking forward to the event and a change of venue. In the past I have felt as though VMware could do better with food. In most recent years food has progressed to all carb breakfasts, boxed lunches and dinners. You can review some of my prior blog posts to review for yourself. Some of the customer led breakout sessions tend to not be very technical so beware that if you sign-up for a customer led talk that it may just be a very boring high level talk that won't help you understand the product. Don't forget to sign-up for hands-on labs but note that these labs are available to you outside of VMworld and you can go through them at the leisure of your own home. I recently hosted an NSX hands-on labs utilizing the free online labs for my VMUG group. You can give them a try here! VMware always comes up with a theme for the VMworld event and this year it is:  Last but not least the VMworld 2016 backpack reveal!  Registration is open to VMworld 2016 in Vegas and although VMware has a long-term contract with the Moscone Center in San Francisco this site will be renovated in 2016 so the show will move back to Vegas and I am looking forward to a new venue. If you haven't registered you can do so by following the link here.  I will be in attendance and blogging the event here and as a VMUG Leader I am always excited to volunteer at the VMUG booth so drop by and say hello. You can follow this blog and follow me on twitter @bdseymour for up to date information on VMWorld 2016.
If you are in need of a ticket you can apply for one of these: While you are at it stop over and take a look at the list of sponsors for VMworld 2016, here! |
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