As the VMworld Turns (D-Day)

By Aaron Sweemer
published: Friday, September 19 2008

I went back and forth on the best way to approach these next few posts. Should I provide detailed notes and insight of the speeches, breaking news and other announcements? Or should I provide more of a commentary of the event, giving me time to digest everything, and provide the detailed notes after the fact? Hmmmm. Well, after many attempts in both directions, I decided to go with the former approach. So what follows is my take on the event as it unfolds. Please check back a few days after the event for my thoughts an all the new and exciting information that has been announced.

If there is one thing I think I'd like to convey upfront about the event, it is the sheer size. Over 14k attendees were expected to attend and I think every last one of them not only showed up, but brought a few of their friends as well. And I'd like to make this point first because, to me, it is a good indicator of a few things. First, I no longer think it's possible for anyone to argue that virtualization is a fad or a minor trend that will go away. Second, VMware has really created an industry here that everyone wants to be a part of, and the likes of Citrix and Microsoft jumping on the bandwagon only further confirms that VMware is not only heading in the right direction, but leading the way as well. And finally, with other virtualization events springing up here and there, it is clear to me that this has truly become the virtualization industry event to attend.

And speaking of the size of the event, it is really so big that it is almost maddening. There are four enormous floors, each with many large rooms for labs and break out sessions, and the solutions exchange feels bigger than a football stadium. Each breakout session seems to just be packed with people. I was in one breakout session that had over 1200 attendees registered (or so I'm told). Every seat was filled and people were sitting on the floors and spilling out into the hallways. And this was one of many sessions going on at the same time!

The Keynote Speeches

The first official day of VMworld kicked off with a keynote speech by Paul Maritz, the VMware President and CEO. Entering the venue for the speech was much like walking into a rock concert. Even though I arrived a bit early, the best collection of three seats together for my colleagues and I were well over 20 rows back. While the majority of the 14k attendees were pouring in the extremely large room, very hip, current music was playing at a fairly loud decibel. And the stage was clearly set for IT royalty. The session began with an impressive array of marketing videos and inspiring background music that would make a Lehman Brothers exec excited about the future.

Paul Maritz made a number of exciting announcements and partnerships with companies like Cisco, Intel, HP and others. And he officially laid out the roadmap for VMware's future, which focuses on three key initiatives: Virtual Datacenter OS, vCloud, and vClient. Again, I'll go into more detail about his announcements later. But for now, let me just say that it's clear that VMware has very aggressive plans to go after the data center and the desktop. I suspect this means war; the next few months are going to be wildly exciting!

There were other keynote speeches throughout the day which I was, unfortunately, unable to attend due to customer meetings. I'll gather as much info as I can from my colleagues and summarize in a post after the event.

The Drama

You Hollywood types and Desperate Housewives think you've got all the drama? Oh no my friend! The title of this blog is "As the VMworld Turns" for a reason. Us geeks have more drama than we know what to do with. And we've got our own version of Girls Gone Wild too ... but it's kind of weird watching a long-haired, potbellied techie dance on a table. Crazy things happen at 3AM in the casino, let me tell ya! Don't be jealous.

Anyway, the drama at the event unfolded pretty much as expected. VMware wants VMworld to be an industry event, which means everyone in the industry should be included, even competition. And with the lightning faced pace this industry is moving, it seems that anyone not in the spotlight is making every attempt to say "look at me, look at me, I'm special." And oh my how the blogs were on fire! There are numerous stories I can point to, but one in particular that I'd like to highlight was a stunt pulled by Microsoft. If you can believe this, they were actually passing out cards with a $1 casino chip attached and read "Looking for your best bet? You won't find it with VMware." The cards also directed people to a website titled Hyper Venetian (um, clever).

I checked out the website and the only real message I can get out of it is their claim that VMware is too expensive. First of all, this is patently incorrect. It has been shown many times over that VMware is far cheaper when you factor all costs (would you rather pay for 50 physical servers or 5 with VMware? hmmmm). And they love to conveniently forget that ESXi is free and a much better hypervisor than Hyper-V. Secondly, and more importantly ... that's their message?! "Hi everyone, we're your bargain-basement virtualization vendor!" Seriously? What about focusing on all the features and functionality that customers are begging for? Oh wait, that's right, they can't deliver on that until 2010.

In my humble opinion, this feels like a desperate (and quite ballsy) move. Again, it's no secret that competition was invited and participated in the event. I certainly saw many vendors with their Xen derivative hypervisors, but they focused on what makes their product, why customers should buy it and how they differentiate from VMware. I didn't see any of them outright attack VMware or anyone else (though they may have, I just didn't see it). At the end of the day, the customers will decide who wins and who loses. Healthy competition, which drives innovation and moves companies forward, is good for everyone. And I have to believe that customers are going to see right through this kind of nonsense, which doesn't serve anyone.

The After Party

Around 5PM I ended up hanging out with a few customers at a local watering hole in the Venetian. We were invited to a party at Pure, but by the time all my customers we ready to head over, we arrived about 30 minutes before the party ended. But somehow an impromptu party sprung up as about 20 of us piled in to a stretch limo and headed over to a private room at N9ne, an amazing steakhouse in The Palms. What a great time! We had an amazing meal and great conversation (and drinks) until the wee hours of the night. I didn't get home until very late, which made for a very tiring day two.