VMworld

Mobile App

• Make sure to download the mobile app from Google Play Store for Android and the Apple App Store before the conference and connect it to your account. EDIT: The apps have been released this week.
• If you don’t have an iOS or Android device, you can also use https://vmworld2013.activeevents.com/attendee/mobile/home.jsp

Logistics

VMworld Sessions

• You have to sign up for VMworld sessions before you can attend them. You can also wait in the “waiting line” in front of the conference room and see if some spare seats are available. Those will be provided on a first-come-first-serve base. The Session Builder also provides various filters (Session Type, Track, Technical Level) to better break down the list of sessions. All content will be available after VMworld via vmworld.com.
• VMworld Session Builder: http://www.vmworld.com/schedulebuilder-login.jspa
• VMworld 2013 US TOP 10 Sessions: http://www.vmworld.com/community/conference/us/learn/top10
• Suggested Learning Paths: http://www.vmworld.com/community/conference/us/learn/paths

Just for TAM Customers: VMworld TAM Services Events

• Please refer to the up-to-date schedules for TAM Day and TAM Customer Central on our official TAM blog (links below)
• VMworld TAM Day Guide (Oct 14): http://blogs.vmware.com/tam/vmworld-2013-eu-tam-day-program-guide
• VMworld TAM Customer Central Guide (Oct 15-17): http://blogs.vmware.com/tam/vmworld-2013-europe-tam-customer-central-guide

VMworld Social Media

• VMworld Barcelona Social Media & Community: http://www.vmworld.com/community/social
• Follow VMworld on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VMworld and Hashtag #VMworld (https://twitter.com/search?q=vmworld)
• Follow VMwareTAM on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VMwareTAM
• Follow VMware TAM Program on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmwaretam
• Follow VMware TAM Program on Google+: http://www.vmware.com/go/tam/googleplus

VMworld Gatherings and Parties

• Check out http://www.vmworld.com/community/gatherings/ to see a list of (community) gatherings during VMworld!

Today, I’d like to share a little trip report and my personal highlights from VMworld 2013 in San Francisco. Next stop: VMworld Barcelona!

10th annual VMworld Highlights

• 23,000 attendees in San Francisco
• more than 350 breakout sessions
• 30 hands on labs (most popular: NSX)
• more than 250 partners

Keynotes / General Sessions

• At the General Session on Monday CEO Pat Gelsinger laid the foundation for the IT industry with three imperatives:
  • Virtualization extends across the data center
  • Management gives way to automation
  • The hybrid cloud becomes ubiquitous
• Video Recap
  • Day 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttQLrytT7xU
  • Day 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uimcBqGVp4U

VMworld TV

• Highlights
  • Day 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0K914SnqM
  • Day 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvM7ZtDtzYs
  • Day 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eZ4Ti36ji4
  • Wrap-Up of VMworld US: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr9PZlyJ38Q
• Behind the Scenes
  • Keynotes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZBr5ajpKpo
  • Day 2 Keynote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQiK3mZbKyg
  • Behind the Scenes with the Tech Team: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=291gwFloQc8

My personal list of VMworld’s most interesting announcements:

• Press Releases
  • VMware Unveils Next-Generation Products and Services to Further Enable the Software-Defined Data Center (http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-vmworld-sddc-082613.html)
  • VMware Delivers vCloud Hybrid Service (http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-vmworld-vchs-ga-082613.html)
  • VMware Further Simplifies IT Support for the Mobile Workforce with New Capabilities and Partnerships for VMware Horizon Suite (http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-horizon–082713.html)
  • VMware Cloud Management Helps Drive Adoption of Software-Defined Data Center Architecture (http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-management-082713.html)
• VSAN is a new software-defined storage tier, pools compute and direct-attached storage resources and clusters server disks and flash to create resilient shared storage (http://www.vmware.com/products/virtual-san/)
  • Beta Program: http://www.vmware.com/vsan-beta-register.html
  • VMware’s vision for Software-Defined Storage: http://cto.vmware.com/vmwares-strategy-for-software-defined-storage
• vCloud Hybrid Service is built on vSphere, quickly and seamlessly extends your data center into the cloud using the tools and processes you already have (http://www.vmware.com/products/vcloud-hybrid-service/)
  • now available to customers in the US
  • Services include Direct Connect, Disaster Recovery as a Service, Cloud Foundry Platform as a Service, VMware Horizon View Desktop-as-a-Service
• VMware NSX is the network virtualization platform that delivers the operational model of a VM for the network to transform data center operations and economics (http://www.vmware.com/products/nsx/)
  • Session NET5847- NSX: Introducing the World to VMware NSX http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHVm69YoKRs
  • Interview with Martin Casado (CTO Networking): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMRavhPUvI4
  • Introducing VMware NSX – The Platform for Network Virtualization: http://cto.vmware.com/introducing-vmware-nsx-the-platform-for-network-virtualization/
• vSphere 5.5 (http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-operations-management/)
  • What’s New Whitepaper: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere/VMware-vSphere-Platform-Whats-New.pdf
  • AppHA: High Availability for applications inside the VM
  • Single-Sign On enhancements
  • Scalability enhancements: e.g. 62TB VMDK support
  • vCenter Virtual Appliance (VCVA) now supports up to 500 hosts and 5000 VMs with integrated vPostgres Database
  • vSphere Data Protection: restore procedure now independent from vCenter
  • vSphere Replication: Multi-Point-in-Time (MPIT) Snapshot Retention
  • Introduction of vSphere Flash Read Cache to make use of local SSDs by turning them into a new layer of cache for VMs (http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2013/08/26/introduction-to-vsphere-flash-read-cache-aka-vflash/)
  • Introduction of vSphere Big Data Extensions
  • vCenter Orchestrator 5.5 enhancements: Resume workflow on failure, Workflow debugger, vCO High availability (active/active and active/passive): http://www.vcoteam.info/newsflash/vmware-released-vcenter-orchestrator-55.html
• vCloud Suite 5.5 lets you build and run a vSphere-based private cloud that delivers cloud service provider economics at scale, application provisioning in minutes, and automated operations management (http://www.vmware.com/products/vcloud-suite)
• vCenter Log Insight delivers automated log management through aggregation, analytics and search, enabling operational intelligence and enterprise-wide visibility in dynamic hybrid cloud environments. (http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-log-insight/)
  • 5 free licenses for all VMworld participants that follow https://twitter.com/VMLogInsight on Twitter: http://info.vmware.com/content/23713_VMworld_LogInsight?src=&xyz=&cid=
  • Meet the team behind vCenter Log Insight: http://youtu.be/1vUbmcTal8
  • Session VCM7369-S – Uncovering the Hidden Truth in Log Data http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4rW2Of2oss

• VMware Walkthroughs provide a new, demo-oriented website to show product capabilities in more detail. They can be accessed via http://vmwarewalkthroughs.com/vCloudSuite5-5/
• VMware – the Future of IT (incl. VMware Time Machine): http://vmfutureit.com
• New Fling: ProactiveDRS is a way for DRS to  react to changes in the virtual cluster, and to act on predicted changes in resource demands before hosts become stressed: http://labs.vmware.com/flings/proactive-drs

I just got back from VMworld in San Francisco and want to share a little wrap up of the event on this blog. There has been a huge amount of announcements, blog articles, Youtube videos, Tweets, meet-ups and so on.

Therefore, I decided to summarize my personal favorites without going into all the details. But before I start, I’d like to share some of the photos I took during VMworld. Just click on the link below and it will take you to my Google+ album. Enjoy!

For all of you that want to recap the announcements from the VMworld 2013 Keynotes, please check out the following videos on Youtube:

General Session on Day 1, presented by Pat Gelsinger:

General Session on Day 2, presented by Carl Eschenbach, Kit Colbert and Joe Baguley: