VMworld Reflections
VMworld was a blur, starting on Monday--which I thought was going to be sort of a warm-up for Tuesday--and running through Thursday, when I frantically tried to squeeze in one more demo but was unable to hook up with my intended connection.
Before going any further, here are the vital statistics put out by the VMware show people. There were:
- Over 17,000 attendees, up an impressive 5,000 over the 2009 event (although it should be noted that no computer trade show in history has never been entirely honest about how many attendees were actually there)
- Over 15,000 labs completed
- Over 145,000 VMs deployed
- 102,000 sodas consumed
- 27,000 pastries consumed
It seemed like an industry-wide extravaganza, but with the likes of Citrix and Microsoft lounging on the sidelines, it was anything but. (David Greschler, Director, Virtualization Strategy, Server and Tools Business, and Mike Neil, GM of Windows Server and Server Virtualization, Windows Server Division, were hunkered down in the "Sponsor Meeting Room area" in the hinterlands.)
One way or the other, this seems to be the shape of things to come, because I can't imagine VMware and Citrix merging Synergy and VMworld. Citrix might bite, but there is obviously no reason for VMware to give up their bully pulpet or otherwise voluntarily step down from on high. (I overheard one attendee laughingly comment that the only way Citrix would get into the show was by registering as a VMware business partner.)
Vendors I met with and was impressed by include Netuitive (which I referred to as the "Pointy-headed intellectual" of monitoring products), Leostream, which continues to impress with its newly unveiled Leostream Connection Broker 7.0, and Gluster, which seems to have a smart take on clustered storage.
All in all, VMworld is a great show that provides virtualization and cloud computing with the high-visibility forum it deserves. See you next year!
Posted by Bruce Hoard on 09/07/2010 at 12:48 PM