In-Depth
EUC World Amplify 2025: A Dive into the Year's Must-Attend EUC Event
Ever since VMware sold its End User Computing (EUC) business, VMware has effectively excluded EUC sessions from VMware Explore, its annual conference. As a result, I have been searching for a conference to replace it.
Searching for an EUC Conference
There have been some EUC-focused conferences, such as NerdioCon, IGEL disrupt, and AWS Summit, among others. These have all been excellent, but they have focused on a specific EUC product and their ecosystem partners. VMware Explore indeed suffered from the same product-centric focus, but its ecosystem was so broad that it seemed to exclude only its direct VDI competitors, most notably Citrix.
One of the most vendor-agnostic EUC conferences I attended last year was EUC Unplugged, organized by Thin Client Computing, a provider of cloud and virtual computing solutions. Unlike many other events, sponsors at this conference focus on sharing technical expertise rather than sales pitches (which were banned). This fostered in-depth discussions, which gave valuable insights into EUC.
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The format of EUC Unplugged was great for the hard-core technical types. It was relatively small, and there was a need for a larger gathering of the EUC community, including companies' sales and marketing personnel, as well as technicians who have a deep understanding of how to make EUC and modern remote computing work.
Unfortunately, it appears that there will be no EUC Unplugged this year. Fortunately, it seems to have joined forces with World of EUC and their annual conference, Amplify.
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An Agnostic EUC Organization
To address the need for a vendor-agnostic EUC organization, a diverse group of companies and leaders in EUC formed a new organization called the World of EUC, which aimed to consolidate and unite the EUC communities.
The diversity of the group is represented by its founding partners, who are from a wide swath of the EUC community.
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In August of last year, they had their first annual conference, Amplify, in Baltimore.
EUC World Amplify 2025
This year, their annual conference will span three days, and attendees will participate in technical deep dives, solution-oriented workshops, panels, and networking events—all designed to empower the EUC community to solve problems, share innovations, and influence future tech directions. The conference begins with a welcome mixer and opening keynotes on Monday, August 4 at 5:00 PM CDT, followed by two full days of sessions, and concludes by noon on Thursday, Aug. 7.
Attendees were encouraged to submit, vote on, and even present sessions, ensuring that the content is directly relevant to current challenges and opportunities in the field. This crowd-sourced approach not only fosters collaboration but also prioritizes real-world strategies over marketing gloss.
Speakers
While the complete speaker list is still evolving, EUC World Amplify 2025 already boasts a who's who of EUC thought leaders and industry experts. Including such industrial luminaries as Ruben Spruijt, Steve Greenberg, Benny Tritsch, Stephen Wagner, and many, many others!
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Sessions
The EUC World Amplify sessions feature a diverse lineup of thought leaders addressing the rapidly evolving landscape of End-User Computing, encompassing AI-driven workspaces, hybrid work, cloud adoption, and security challenges.
The keynote is EUC Tomorrow, Today. I can't think of the last time I saw Horizon (Omnissa) and Citrix on the stage at the same time. It should be interesting to compare and contrast their vision of the future of EUC.
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A few sessions that caught my eye are: NVIDIA's Michael Shen diving into AI-fueled VDI environments; Dr. Benny Tritsch unpacking performance optimization in Windows Cloud; and Mike Bailey recounting his organization's transformative shift to VDI.
Showcasing its vendor-agnostic spirit includes a session that explores Citrix resiliency, presented by Dane Young, and another about Horizon architecture resilience by Sean Massey and Stephen Wagner.
Of course, Windows 11 migration will be on everyone's mind, and Jens Hennig and Philipp Siebers will discuss strategies for dealing with it.
AI will be well represented. Two sessions caught my eye: generative AI for EUC admins (Stephen Stetler) and another called AI-ready workspaces anchored in Kubernetes by Jaymes Davis should be engaging.
Another session that I have high hopes for is 'A Real-World DaaS Comparison' by Claudio Rodrigues and Eduardo Molina.
Not only will a wide range of technologies be discussed, but they will also be presented to a broad audience. Regardless of whether you're a systems admin, architect, or IT leader, these sessions offer a comprehensive blend of strategic vision, practical guidance, and demos.
The Unconference
Many participants blow off the last day of a conference. You will not want to do so at Amplify, as the last day will feature an UnConference from 9:00 to 12:30. UnConferences have their roots in EUC Unplugged (formerly known as EUC Masters Retreat).
The UnConference format is unique in that participants gather together at the beginning, propose sessions, and then vote on which sessions they want to have. It's a somewhat unconventional way to conduct a conference, but it works out well, as participants get the sessions they want.
Pricing
EUC World Amplify 2025 is now open, with early-bird pricing set at $200 for World of EUC members through July 15. After that date, the registration fee rises to $300. Non-members can join the World of EUC network during registration to qualify for the discounted rate. It is free to join World of EUC.
If you are in the Minneapolis area and involved in EUC, the price of this conference makes it a no-brainer to attend. If you are coming in from out of town for the conference, lodging is available at the nearby Graduate Minneapolis Hotel, with a special Amplify room rate of $179 per night. The hotel is conveniently located within walking distance of the venue, offering easy access to downtown Minneapolis for evening networking or sightseeing.
Venue Information
The conference will be held at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus.
It is a 31-minute drive from the airport (MSP) or a 36-minute bus trip to the venue.
You can register here.
About the Author
Tom Fenton has a wealth of hands-on IT experience gained over the past 30 years in a variety of technologies, with the past 20 years focusing on virtualization and storage. He previously worked as a Technical Marketing Manager for ControlUp. He also previously worked at VMware in Staff and Senior level positions. He has also worked as a Senior Validation Engineer with The Taneja Group, where he headed the Validation Service Lab and was instrumental in starting up its vSphere Virtual Volumes practice. He's on X @vDoppler.