View From the Floor: VMware Technology Exchange Day

By Eric Hanselman
published: Wednesday, September 02 2009

The virtualization marketplace is expanding dramatically, but it's still on tenuous footing in the short term.  On the longer horizon, it's inevitable and the present question is how fast the various aspects of virtualization are adopted.  Early adopters are well established and the main task at hand for vendors is to make virtualization real for the broader market.

It is with this in mind that I was buoyed by VMware's Technology Exchange Day at VMworld.  VMware has always done a good job of encouraging partners, but this year seems different.  There is enthusiastic outreach to not only the TAP core, but also a move to engage those who have yet to make a deep commitment.  The community as a whole benefits from efforts like this to expand.  There are probably some who will chalk this up to plans for planetary domination.  I can't speak to any secret plans, but I'm hoping that this is the product of a deeper understanding of what needs to happen to advance a broader goal.

For those of us in the business, virtualization is obvious.  When Tod Nielsen said this morning that there were still thirty companies in the Fortune 1000 that weren't VMware customers, I was incredulous.  But I rant from pretty rarified air.  In the grand scheme of technology adoption, it's still early days.  There are a bunch of people out there for whom virtualization is a distant future.

As vendors in this relatively new space, we owe a duty to each other to help with the education and involvement of our current and potential customers.  I applaud VMware's efforts and hope that more of us follow their path.