Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between

All in a very good and busy day today – excellent keynote and some very interesting sessions; so-far I’ve only managed to write up a couple of them (links below) once I’ve clarified a few points I’ll write up the remainder.

• How VMware IT use VMware internally
• vExpert Award for vinf.net
• Cisco Nexus Switch Answers – vShield too?
• Day 2 Keynote

I discovered the press room today and obtained access via my bloggers pass, it was very handy to take an hour out to write up some of the earlier blog posts in somewhat breathless English,the “virtual firehose” phrase has never been so true there is simply way more to take in that I could ever hope to digest and write up in detail.

Lack of an official vSphere/ESX4 release date at VMworld has been a bit disappointing and I guess VMware will be adopting a “when it’s ready” policy. This is admirable, but surely isn’t helping them in maintaining market share – IT investment in infrastructure, training, projects is all about budget planning and dates and also helps out Microsoft with their looming Windows Server 2008 R2 release; vSphere will move the game on further but Microsoft will continue to gain traction and the longer VMware leave it the more they fuel.

The VMWorld Europe party “Cloud9” was this evening and it was a grand affair – much better than any of the TechEd parties I’ve been to in recent years – VMware do tend to go all-out in making the events great (SF 2007 was amazing) Microsoft always seem to split it by country – whereas VMware group everyone together which makes for a much better event.

There was a a live band, two girls playing electric violins, lots of classic arcade games and lots of drink and food – but curiously, a distinct lack of forks or other such cutlery. They were later discovered hidden away at the far end of the room!

I sincerely hope we won’t have to wait until the next VMworld in September to have a general release date of vSphere, maybe VMware are going all Apple on us 😦