I’m on the ground now in San Francisco for VMworld 2012. This will be an extremely busy week packed with sessions, meetings, keynotes and social meet-ups. This year seems a little different already than years past that I have attended. There is a lot less official pre-event news but a lot more rumors and speculation. That causes me to believe that VMware has some pretty big news to share early this week. The Solutions Exchange is back in full force this year after a couple of years of very scaled back
The week has already started out well, with an unexpected meet-up on my first flight of the morning that offered a chance to catch up with another techie I hadn’t seen in several years. And it didn’t take long once I arrived in the city to find more of the friends I’ve made during the past several years. It is great to catch up and see what they are doing, congratulate them on promotions and job changes and of course, talk tech.
But, I am coming to the event with a couple specific agendas — one is to nail down a short list of patch management solutions as I’m searching for a replacement for VMware Update Manager for guest OS patching. I’m also looking to see what’s new in management software for vSphere and any new enhancements for the upcoming vSphere 5.1 release. And last, I’m looking for good vendors solutions tailored for a smaller service provider.
I was fortunate to even be attending this year but thanks to free pass to the conference from a local friend and HP’s continued support in the way of accommodations and flights, I’m able to attend. And, I’m going to capitalize on that luck for as much as I possibly can.
