It’s that time again and VMworld 2014 Europe is upon us (19 days left as I write this). With the emphasis on Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) and the product releases/announcements by VMware, I am excited to be attending this year’s conference. We all know that VMworld 2014 US had a lot of announcements and you could be forgiven for thinking there is nothing left for the Europe conference but I am sure, there will be something new here too. Besides, VMworld is not just about announcements for me; it’s about meeting the people I know and respect and having good conversations with them. So, announcements or not, I am going to enjoy it.

I’ve been fortunate that VMware has given me a blogger’s pass this year and I aim to blog about whatever I learn during the sessions or when I see something worth keeping an eye on. I haven’t crammed my schedule full of sessions but I do plan to go to some that I feel are important to my focus this and next year: vRealize Automation and NSX.

As you know, this list might change but here is what I have in mind to attend:

MGT1969 – vCloud Automation Center and NSX Integration Technical Deep Dive
MGT2525 – Chasing the White Rabbit all the Way to Wonderland: Extending vCloud Automation Center Requests with vCenter Orchestrator
SEC1746 – NSX Distributed Firewall Deep Dive
NET1586 – Advanced Network Services with NSX
NET1468 – A Tale of Two Perspectives: IT Operations with VMware NSX
NET1589 – Reference Design for SDDC with NSX & vSphere
NET1974 – Multi-Site Data Center Solutions with VMware NSX
MGT2487 – Built to be Extended: vCloud Automation Center
STO3098 – Virtual SAN Best Practices for Monitoring and Troubleshooting

This means starting VMworld a bit session heavy but becoming lighter as the days go by – one must be ready for all the walking, gatherings and parties etc.

But like I said, VMworld is not just about sessions and labs for me. It’s also about meeting all the like-minded virtualisation enthusiasts, gathered together at the conference and having good conversations with them. There is rarely a chance to do that anywhere else. VMware has a very knowledgeable and generous community on Twitter and it’s a joy when you meet some of those in person. If you’re attending this year’s conference, then it will be great to meet up. I’ll most likely be in the Hangspace or with the @Xtravirt Gang, in between sessions and Partner Exchange. My Twitter handle is: @AtherBeg

This is also not a bad place to take a VMware exam. They’re 50% off and is an excellent opportunity to take a VCAP Exam, if you feel prepared but haven’t taken it before. This is especially true for VCAP-xxA exams as people generally complain about sluggishness at exam centres for these ones but it’s very likely to have good response times at VMworld. I would recommend the Monday for it as your energy levels will probably go down as the conference progresses.

And lastly, who can forget the parties! There haven’t been many announced yet but I am definitely booked for the @PernixData one. Get yourself registered for whichever parties you get invites for as they’re definitely a nice end to a hectic day at the conference and awesome chats with whoever is attending is a very valuable bonus!

If you haven’t booked the conference yet, I hope you get a chance to do that. Here are the links to “Registration” and “VMworld” pages.

Hope to see you there!

VMworld - No Limits