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Are you going to San Francisco?

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This year VMworld returns to the Moscone Centre, San Francisco from August 25th to August 29th.

Ok, I get it, another tech conference. PowerPoint aplenty, exhibition booths, cocktail hours, power-ballad stage intros, keynotes and business cards, swag, beanbags and jet lag.

The stand-out show

Yes folks, you’ve guessed – I’m a veteran of trade conferences! If you’ve spent any time at all in this industry, chances are that you will also know the drill. These events are where we learn, meet old friends and make new ones. Partnerships are forged and deals are done. Coffee is served. Lots of coffee. Not all conferences are created equal however, and VMworld is one that always stands out in the crowd of lanyards and after-parties.

I want to share why I think it’s a great show, and why our customers in the OEM, edge and embedded world think so too.

  1. The community

For me, VMworld has a kind of magic that many conferences try to recreate but few achieve. I always experience a strong sense of community and openness from both the VMware team and importantly, the user base. VMUG is special – it encourages collaboration and creativity, sharing experiences and helping each other learn, far beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed before.

A warm welcome

If you aren’t a member, go and introduce yourself – you can expect a warm welcome and will meet some very clever people. I particularly like the vBeards group – its tagline is “a social group for VMware professionals. Whether you can grow it or faux it, all are welcome.” I think that says everything you need to know about the community.

  1. The technology

At the show, you’ll find everything from the biggest tier one players to the smallest and most dynamic start-up companies, who are pushing the boundaries of how virtualisation technology can be used to change our world. Everything within the VMware product family is well represented, across edge, end user and datacentre virtualisation, software defined storage plus networking and cloud infrastructure. You’ll also see science projects and reference architectures for new products and real-world use cases for existing ones.

My personal tips

I recommend learning about BitFusion, a technology that VMware recently announced intent to acquire, that allows sharing of GPU and other types of accelerators across hyperconverged and multi-cloud environments. I first learned about it at VMworld and am excited to hear what’s next. Also, look out for the work in bringing VMware’s ESXi to smaller, lower-powered devices, pushing enterprise features, security and manageability closer to the edge than ever.

  1. The keynote

VMware has always been light years ahead in terms of vision when it comes to the power of software-defined infrastructure. The company’s willingness to partner and integrate with other ecosystem providers means that it can truly deliver on the promises of a multi-cloud world. Pat Gelsinger is passionate about the technology and his words are always on point. Ray O’Farrell, Chief Technology Officer, always has interesting insights to share about the power of the VMware portfolio.

  1. Customer needs

Finally, and most importantly, customers in healthcare, telecommunications, industrial automation, media & entertainment and marine and defense sectors from around the world are asking questions like:

  1. How can we make our products more secure and more agile in a hybrid world?
  2. How can we protect ourselves against hardware lifecycle changes?
  3. How can we achieve better resilience for our applications, to reduce downtime for our customers?

These are the questions that are driving the next generation of technology-based solutions across all sectors. The answers can be found in San Francisco, August 25th to 29th!

Dell Technologies’ OEM Embedded and Edge Solutions team will be present in full force at the show. Please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn or alternatively, speak to your Account Team to set up a meeting. In the immortal words of Scott McKenzie, “Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair!”

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About the Author: Thom Johnson

Thom Johnson is Director of Sales Engineering at Dell Technologies | Design Solutions, a specialist division helping customers develop their own product offerings and customised designs to address the markets they serve. With 2 decades of experience in the IT Sector, Thom leads a team of engineers spanning the EMEA region, who take a customer-centric approach to designing technology solutions in areas such as Industrial Automation, Healthcare, Energy and Telecommunications to name a few. Thom joined Dell in 2002 and has held a variety of sales and technical roles across multiple segments. He is passionate about technology and its impact on every aspect of our lives. A lifelong gamer, tinkerer and gadget hoarder, Thom lives with his wife and daughter in Dublin, Ireland.