Ray Heffer, Double VCDX and Global Cloud Architect for VMware

Who I am…

I’m a Senior Cloud Solutions Architect and End-User Computing (EUC) specialist at VMware working within the vCloud Air Network, a partner program consisting of over 4,200 cloud service providers world-wide. With over 20 years of experience in the IT industry I am a veteran of Unix and Linux and have managed data center environments for service providers, government sector and private organizations. In 2016 I moved with my family from the United Kingdom to North Carolina, USA.

I am certified as a Double VCDX #122 (Data Center and Desktop) since 2013, AWS Solutions Architect Associate and I have 15 VMware certifications in total, and if you are one of the unlucky ones you will see me as a panelist on the VCDX program!

What I do

End-User Computing (EUC) architect and specialist since 1997 with Citrix WinFrame (on floppy disks!). Focused on architecting the Digital Workspace for our service providers (vCAN). Exploring AWS and Azure and synergies with VMware (Horizon Cloud, VMC, cross-cloud). I provide architectural guidance, design and technical leadership, driving adoption of the latest VMware solution portfolio.

Always learning. I love to code (JavaScript / Node.JS) and have a passion for public speaking, having delivered an average of 10 sessions every year to large audiences at VMworld US and Europe, Partner Exchange and internal events (Tech Summit) in Indonesia, Australia and VMware User Group (VMUG) conferences in the UK and Netherlands.

I love to write, design, code and innovate. I designed the Horizon Sizing Estimator, and continue with major contributions to End-User Computing (EUC) technical publications and white papers. I also contribute to the VMware vCloud Architecture Toolkit (vCAT) blog, and I’m part of the vCloud Air Network architecture review board.

Fun Stuff

I’m a competitive PC gamer so in my spare time I’m often on the Summoner’s Rift playing League of Legends, or more recently I’ve been playing a lot of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). As a father of two girls I like to take my health seriously too, so love to workout at the local gym trying to build those gains!