VMware Partner Exchange 2014 in San Francisco!

Posted on 13 Feb 2014 by Ray Heffer

Master the New Reality, the theme for this week as PEX 2014 kicked off in style. I managed to sit next to the press and bloggers during the general session and Twitter was on fire as VMware announced it’s commitment to the Software-Defined Enterprise and bold moves in 2014 including the intent to acquire AirWatch. I’ve been working for VMware since 2011, and despite that I’m still buzzing with excitement after listening to what’s coming in 2014, especially with End User Computing. Dave O’Callaghan and Carl Eschenbach reflected the thoughts of us all at VMware in respect to how important partners are for delivering professional services. Carl also stated that the VMware strategies remain the same in 2014 as they did last year; End User Computing, Software Defined Data Center and Hybrid Cloud.

My experience as a VMware employee was just as exciting for me, as it was for the partners attending the event. Fuelled by Starbucks coffee (you’re never more than 100 yards from a Starbucks in San Francisco!), my aim for PEX was to mentor some budding VCDX candidates and deliver EUC3150-WS ‘Doing it for Real! Architecting VMware Horizon View”. Despite having to catch a flight back to the UK immediately after my presentation, leaving the participants working on the Horizon View case study, it was still great meeting both new and familiar faces.

If you’re a VMware partner and have never attended Partner Exchange before, then I would strongly recommend it. It’s smaller than VMworld, but still a massive event with over 4,000 attendees, 150 breakout sessions, in addition to workshops and partner roadmaps. If you attend PEX in 2015 then I have no doubt that you’ll come away buzzing with a bunch of VMware tech you want to try out, and armed with knowledge to implement your strategy or solutions with VMware.

I’m also really pleased to hear that my friends at Colt won Service Provider of the Year, with Gideon Wilkins and Ian Hutchinson picking up the award yesterday (Feb 12 2014). You can see Gideon discuss what Colt is all about in this video:

I will certainly look forward to continue working with Colt in 2014 and beyond.

Also during Partner Exchange, in a hotel that I cannot name… the VCDX defences are underway. Having only recently completed my VCDX defence in Barcelona last year (VMworld Europe 2013), I know exactly how nervous some of the candidates will be. I managed to catch up with a couple of them prior to their defence, and hopefully I was able to give them some encouragement and confidence that this is real and achievable goal. You’ve got to give these guys credit, especially with a good friend and colleague still suffering from the jet lag after a 20 hour flight!

All of this has got me looking forward to VMworld this year, can’t wait to see you all there!