I started off the morning by watching the General Session from the hang space.  Since I knew there will not be any special effects going on, it is always more comfortable watching the session from the hang space.  It is also easier to use my tablet in the hang space so I can take good notes.

VMware CTO Ben Fathi takes the stage to start the keynote, and goes through a recap of yesterday’s announcements:

• EVO and EVO:RAIL
• vCloud Air rebranding and the availability of new services
• VMware Integrated OpenStack (VIO),
• vCloud Suite 5.8
• vSphere 6.0 beta
• VSAN beta

He also re-emphasizes that VMware’s SDDC vision is an architecture, one built on the “power of AND.” vCloud Suite (and vCloud Air) is a manifestation of the SDDC vision/architecture. VMware’s SDDC vision/architecture delivers the power of “AND.”

Next on stage was VMware EVP for End-User Computing Sanjay Poonen discussing the company’s three-pillar approach to its software-defined datacenter, which centers on desktop, mobile and content creation

Kevin Ichhpuran from SAP comes on stage and talks about SAP and VMware partner for a mobile environment.  He also talks about Pre-integrated solutions that lowers TCO and faster integration time.

End User Computer CTO Kit Colbert took the stage next and discussed Project Fargo and how it will allow IT to clone VMs in seconds and will boost speeds 30 times faster than competing container services.   VMware is calling this approach “just in time” desktop.

Next to the stage was Raghu Raghuram, executive vice president of the Software-Defined Data Center.  He discussed VMware’s hyper-converged infrastructure appliance EVO Rail & EVO Rack.  

The presentation came to a close when Simone Brunozzi, VP and chief technologist for the Hybrid Cloud division demoed vCenter Operations Manager & the new vSphere Web Client.

If you missed it you can watch the full session on VMworld TV

I attended the following sessions :

• INF3472-GD – HOL environment with Doug Baer
• SDDC2370 – Why OpenStack runs best with the vCloud Suite

There were a couple other sessions I was scheduled to attend, but I had some scheduling conflicts that prevented me from going. 

I spent some time in the Hang Space and watched some Community Tech Talks.  If you missed any of them, they recorded them.  You can watch them on the vBrownbag Youtube page.

In the afternoon I went to the solutions exchange to attend the Hall Crawl.  There is always good food and free drinks.

After the Hall Crawl fellow coworkers & I went to Harris’ The San Francisco Steakhouse .  It’s good to getaway from the hustle and bustle and have a good dinner.

After dinner we attended the PernixData party.  It was at the Minna Gallery.  They had some acrobatic women swing around on this pole.  In the other room there was someone performing sword swallowing.  Plan for the evening was to hop to a couple different parties, but I ended up staying at this one all night.  I am glad that I ended up staying because not too long before the party ended I had the opportunity to meet and talk with PernixData CTO Satyam Vaghani.  He was a very down to earth guy and easy to talk to.  I wish more CEO & CTO’s were at parties they sponsor so they can talk with their customers.

It was a very busy day.  It seemed even busier than yesterday, but I can’t wait for the VMworld party tomorrow night.