VMworld 2020

VMworld 2020 – Which Sessions to Attend?

VMworld 2020 is just around the corner. In this COVID-19 world everything moved online and so does VMworld. Make sure to register to VMworld 2020 and reserve in your calendars the period 29th September to 1st October.

This year, VMware offers two types of access to VMworld:

  • General Pass – includes access to 500+ on-demand VMworld sessions – free of charge
  • Premier Pass – everything General Pass has plus access to roundtables, limited capacity sessions, birds of a feather (informal discussions), hand-on-labs, 1:1 expert consultations  – priced at $299

Few days ago, VMware made available the scheduler, so I will base this article on my selection of VMworld sessions, in no particular order. I have a free General Pass, so I will not touch anything reserved to Premier Pass. 14 sessions spread across 3 days, covering topics as private and public cloud, networking and security, containers, hyper-converged infrastructure, and career.

VMworld 2020 Opening Keynote

VMworld Opening Keynote [GEN2859] – Pat Gelsinger, Chief Executive Officer, VMware | Sanjay Poonen, Chief Operating Officer, Customer Operations, VMware

CEO Pat Gelsinger will kick off VMworld 2020 and will offer his perspective on the critical role that digital innovation is playing in our times. Pat will be followed by COO Sanjay Poonen and few guest speakers who will dive deeper into VMware’s “Any App, Any Cloud, Any Device” technology strategy, with end-to-end networking and security as the foundation: Dormain Drewitz (Kubernetes and microservices), Purnima Padmanabhan (multi-cloud), and Lilit Div (work and family boundaries).

Private and Public Cloud

Making Your Private Cloud Network Run Like a Public Cloud – Part 1 [VCNC2917] – Umesh Mahajan, SVP and GM , NSX, VMware | Andrew Hrycaj, Principal Network Engineer, IHS Markit

Umesh Mahajan and Andrew Hrycaj will examine networking and security technologies that are designed to operate with the network-as-code model of the public cloud and bring that flexibility to the private cloud.

Making Your Private Cloud Network Run Like a Public Cloud – Part 2 [VCNC2918] – Tom Gillis, Senior Vice President/General Manager – NSBU, VMware | Ashish Shah, Sr. Director, Product Management, VMware | Chad Kotil, PayPal

In the aftermath of significant workplace disruption caused by the pandemic to the process of setting up and operating networks and deploying new applications, enterprises are looking for the same agility in their private clouds. How can IT respond to the pressure from their internal customers to deliver applications, with resilience, Day 0-N automation, and consistent services in any cloud. Hear from VMware customers and product experts who are addressing these challenges and transforming their networks to simplify operations, save costs, and deliver that “one-click” experience to application teams.

Best Practices for Cloud Financial Management [MCOP3015] – Rachel Dines, Head of CloudHealth Product Marketing, VMware

In this session, Rachel Dines will look at Cloud Financial Management tools and best practices that can help with budgeting, forecasting, and chargeback/showbacks in order to improve cost transparency and enable your organization to manage these costs while leveraging the power and elasticity of cloud and SaaS services.

Hyper-converged Infrastructure

The Datacenter of the Future [HCP3004] – Kit Colbert, CTO, Cloud Platform, VMware | Pere Monclus, CTO Network and Security BU, VMware

In this session, together with Kit Colbert and Pere Monclus we will dive deeper into the exciting announcements at the VMworld keynote about how VMware Cloud Foundation can take advantage of next-generation hardware innovations to deliver dramatically improved performance, manageability, and security, in addition to enabling us to rethink datacenter server architecture.

The New vSphere: How Kubernetes and VCF are Redefining vSphere [HCP3072] – Paul Turner, VP of Product Management, vSphere, VMware | Jared Rosoff, Sr Director, Product Management, VMware

In this session, the speakers will look at what’s new in vSphere and the VMware Cloud Foundation, with a focus on few technologies: native containers, Kubernetes, vMotion/DRS enhancements and hardware accelerated performance (PMEM, vGPU, PVRDMA, NVMeoF).

Fast Forward to Future-Ready Infrastructure [HCI3074] – John Gilmartin, SVP and GM, CPBU, VMware | Thomas Rumpf, Chief Technology Office (CTO) Private Cloud, T-Systems International GmbH

In this session, we will hear from customers who are at the forefront of hyper-converged infrastructure, pushing the envelope on vSAN and VMware Cloud Foundation.

Network and Security

Network Security End to End Architecture [ISNS2894] – Maria Teigeiro, Technical Product Manager, NSBU, VMware

Maria Teigeiro will show how some of the VMware products (NSX SDFW, NSX IDS/IPS, Velo SD-WAN, NSX Intelligence, and, vRNI) work with each other to deliver a world-class end to end network security architecture.

Migrate to NSX-T from NSX Data Center for vSphere [VCNC2863] – Raymond de Jong, Staff Solutions Architect, VMware

In this session, Raymond de Jong will speak to us about customers’ experiences on migrating from VMware NSX for vSphere to VMware NSX-T Data Center: migration strategies and the available tools for migration.

Advancing Networking and Security Technologies in Times of Volatility [VCNC1784] – Umesh Mahajan, SVP and GM , NSX, VMware | David Kitelinger, Senior Director of Infrastructure Engineering, Optum | Stijn Vanveerdeghem, Senior Technical Product Manager, VMware

From cloud to data center to edge, enterprises are rethinking their networking and security strategies, priorities, technologies and investment decisions to be better prepared for the unexpected. In this session, the speakers will examine networking and security technologies designed for rapid change.

Storage and Availability

Storage and Availability Vision [HCP3073] – Vijay Ramachandran, VP, Product Management, VMware | Jayanta Dey, Vice President Engineering, Storage and Data Availability, VMware

In this session, the speakers will cover VMware’s Storage and Availability direction and vision, their plans to integrate it with the entire SDDC stack and VMware Clouds.

The Shift to DRaaS Today: A Look to Self-Protecting Infrastructure Tomorrow [HCP2950] – Mark Chuang, Sr Director, Product Marketing, VMware | Sazzala Reddy, Chief Technologist, VMware (co-founder of Datrium, ex-CTO of Data Domain)

The speakers will share current DR market trends, including the rapid adoption of DRaaS, VMware DRaaS solutions available today, and a vision for a ‘Self-Protecting Infrastructure’ for tomorrow.

Career

The Three V’s of VMUG [ETPD2833S] – Brad Tompkins, Executive Director, VMUG

As a VMUG leader, there is no way for me to miss Brad’s presentation. Brad will dive into the three main aspects of the VMware User Group (VMUG): virtualization, value, and volunteers.

Achieving Happiness: Building Your Brand and Your Career [ETPD2087] – Amanda Blevins, Senior Director & Chief Technologist, Office of the CTO, VMware

This session begins by defining happiness and helping you identify what brings you happiness. Next, Amanda will review career options and choices as they align to personal happiness. The session also highlights the importance of a brand and how to build the brand that enables your career.

What’s Next?

The clock is ticking, if you have not registered yet, do it today, block your calendar, and start adding sessions to your schedule! See you at VMworld 2020!

Constantin Ghioc

I usually play with vSphere API, Ansible, vRealize Automation, vRealize Orchestrator, and different AWS tools. In my other life I’m a husband and a father, an amateur photographer and a Go enthusiast.

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