Conference Thoughts and Opinion

Event in General
- For me it was fine with the concentration on management / best practice and the move towards cloud technologies - but if you weren't interested in these or client then you'd perhaps be a little disappointed
- The discussion has moved on from why to virtualize to a more mature discussion about how to virtualize well, how to manage the environment and benefits that are beyond pure consolidation
- Well organised, good facilities, good food and plenty of it (its VERY difficult to avoid the breakfast pastries) all the staff were very helpful and friendly, easy registration etc. etc.
- I missed a couple of sessions as they were full before I arrived - but I did leave pretty much every session until 5 mins or so before the start (to make best use of networking facilities and time to catch up on email), so perhaps I should set more time aside to ensure a seat - where I missed the session I wanted to go to, there was always my 2nd or 2rd choice to fall back on

Most Interesting Products / Sessions
- vCloud Director - good to see someone taking the initiative in developing an approach that could work across your internal cloud and external cloud providers.  Will VMware succeed in making this an industry standard?  Time will tell, but when companies try to sell their approach as a new standard, it usually takes a long time to get other companies on board.  VMware do have a massive market lead, so perhaps the can make it happen.
- vCloud Request Manager - nice portal and will work well for internal cloud adoption - see above about industry adoption
- VMware Project Horizon - great concept - re-presenting content to match the client device.
- VEEAM - looks very interesting for VMware management - an award winner and lots of customer interest on their stand.
- EMC VFLEX - picked up on this towards the end of the conference.  Looks like storage federation between datacentres across MAN distances has become a reality.  Excellent potential for much faster DR recovery times and simpler, automated processes.  Early days of course, and some question marks over scalability.  One to watch and I'm sure the other storage vendors will catch up and compete very soon.
- CIRBA - spoke to the guy who invented this stuff and its pretty difficult to keep up with the potential of this software.  Its more than just monitoring, capacity management, planning and what-if scenarios, it could be difficult to know where to start.
- Panologic - "zero client" IP client - tiny, easily replaced by a spare in the cupboard (no need for on site engineers at remote sites), send a new spare out in the post.  Packaging with VMware View to provide the VDI client looks good.  Needs LAN connectivity to the VM though.
- Wyse - similar to Panologic.  Getting expensive to manage thick clients out of the office / branch and into the data centre has to be a good way to go, if the business case can stack up.
- VMware - providing direct access to a number of senior technical team leads to help shape their thinking for new products and functionality upgrades.

Venue
- A long way out of the city centre, but thanks to EMC sponsorship of Metro tickets for the week, that wasn't really a problem - it was a 30 minute walk and Metro ride from our city centre hotel
- Good refreshments - plenty of breakfast pastries
- Well organised and signposted
- Registration was quick and effective
- Other than that, it was very efficient and therefore rather soulless, but that's to be expected


Solutions Exchange
- Large enough to remain interesting to drop into over the 3 days
- All the relevant vendors seemed to be there
- How did I manage NOT to win so many iPad prize draws???
- Most of the vendors seem to have got it now - you have to be able to get your message across in 10 to 15 minutes as most delegates are trying to squeeze in as much as possible between sessions, over lunch etc.
- Shame that some competitors (e.g. Microsoft) are given a compromised stand - VMware should be confident in its own products in the market place
- What happened to the fun and games during the Tuesday evening reception?  I'm guessing its the impact of the economy - it makes sense to cut out the fripperies before anything else
Copenhagen
- I enjoyed the city and its general vibe / atmosphere - its very "central European"
- Being so cycle centric is so refreshing compared to the UK.  Imagine, as you turn left in London, stopping to let all the cyclists go straight on before you complete your left turn - its a different attitude in Copenhagen
- Very expensive.  Food and drinks are almost a luxury
- There's enough to do on a budget to fill 2 or 3 days, but probably not much longer unless you are very keen on visiting every museum and gallery available
- It's not far to Sweden if you fancy a day trip
- Friendly, polite and helpful people - I should feel guilty about speaking English all the time, but the locals are better at it than most of us native English speakers

Hotel
- Excellent.  The room was small but very nicely furnished, modern and warm.
- Great value for money in such an expensive city
- Very well located for easy walking or cycling to all the main attractions and facilities in the city
- Breakfast expensive, so we relied on the pastries at the conference centre

Party
- Good venue - all in one big room meant there was a good vibe and plenty to see and do, including the video games etc.
- Clearly on a lower budget than previous years but the props were still fun and added to the atmosphere - fitting well with both of the bands
- Limited range of drinks available, but they were all included, so it would be churlish to complain!
- Although Bjorn Again were good fun, I would happily have listened to (and sung along with) Mad Hen for the whole of the evening
- Well done VMware for making the social event so informal and fun once again

Could Do Better Department
- VMware defending themselves against other hypervisors was less than graciously delivered
- Microsoft stand where they were banned from discussing Hyper-V unless visitors asked about it - not sure why VMware are so worried about the product - they can stand up to the comparison on merit (and Microsoft's pricing claims) without such blunt instruments
- Find a location where the beer is affordable!

Technology Preview of Project Horizon Weds 15:00

Noah Wasmer, Director, Advanced Development, VMware
Tiffany To, GPM, Advanced Development, VMware

Another very full session - clearly the keynote on this topic has generated considerable interest

Products under development disclaimer

Next Gen end user computing - the top tier of VMware's view of 3 tier model (middle tier is vCloud Apps Platform, base tier is vSphere infrastructure)

- 75% of ISVs deliver their new apps through web presentation layer - SaaS, virtual, on premise
- Diversity of connecting devices (e.g. 1,000 new types of Android devices will hit the market in 2011)

VMware approach
- single sign on for SaaS apps - aligned with internal apps and controls
- single sign on regardless of device
- looking to use industry standard protocols
- thinapp wrap can add a security layer and can be leased out to non-managed platforms and that lease can be withdrawn when required
- embracing App-V, XenApp, Dropbox (allows users to post data so they can get to it from any location / device), Salesforce etc
- Vmware proposing management of directory federation
- for traditional desktops an app icon will appear as standard, smilarly for other devices that same app will look native to the OS / interface
- modernizing Windows clients using apps isolation / portability
- need to mobilise and sync data
- looking to make externally hosted SaaS look like part of the enterprise.
- Secure STS at the enterprise boundary will talk to VMware Horizon which in turn will talk to the SaaS provision
- Horizon STS will be vAppliance or will run on Windows IIS
- Uses SAML for security passes token across the boundaries, only the token is passed, not the credentials

- Agent specific to each device will advise the service of the device type requesting access which allows the app to be presented in the appropriate format
- Admin can control which devices can access each app

Windows Apps
- ThinApp can allow patching but mitigates conflicts
- Horizon will track apps usage, allow self service, consumerization of devices
- Horizon will allow deployment / leasing of ThinApp wrapped apps to any device anywhere
- ThinApp packaged apps can be lodged in the Horizon cloud and automatic updates from ISVs can be automatically applied
- User credential requirements can be included in the ThinApp wrapper

- Horizon manages the policies of apps / user / device / time mix
- Deactive device access, app access or user access to apps
- Provisions the apps on the devices and, where necessary, creates the user with the SaaS supplier

Data
- Sync roaming profiles across devices
- Sync data around platforms and enable sharing of data between users but across multiple devices
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Self Service and Workflow Automation for the Private Cloud Weds 13:30

John MacLean, Director, Product Management, VMware

Strategy is virtualization, automation and self-service
Self service drives efficient consumer data collection, is the basis for freedom of choice
Workflow is automation of the regular tasks

vCoud Request Manager interfaces with the vCloud Director vCloud API so that you can layer this over private clouds and compatible ISP cloud services
VMware Service Manager (ex EMC) - service desk, config & change, asst management, service request fulfilment to business users

Service Request Fulfilment:
- Hierarchical view of IT service catalogue - can include chargeback for each service
- When a request is created, data can be collected as per the design required - so can collect data from requestor based on tabs, collapsible sections, dates, drop downs etc.  Includes option to lease the selected resources
- Workflow generated through graphical interface and diagramming.  Many of the workflow tasks are hidden from the user (e.g. update inventory, email notifications).  Audit trailed, role based permissions.
- SLA responses are configurable - e.g. standard vApp driven VM can be minutes but custom can be weeks
- Tasks can call out or use connectors (e.g. VMware config mgr, EMC storage, 3rd party technology), write your own connectors.
- Connectors support discovery, events and push actions
- Connectors include vCloud Director

vCloud Request Manager (launched at VMWORLD Europe 2010)
- Adds workflow approval process to requests
  - Consumer (e.g. developer / trainer) selects an app from service catalogue
  - Feedsback to consumer when the app is up and running, post approval process
- Tracks software licence consumption
  - Need to associate licences with a vApp
  - Consumes and releases licences as apps are created and destroyed
- Policy Based Cloud Computing
  - Admin sets up blueprints that include chargeback etc.
  - Brings consistency through deployment of vApps (they're stacks!)

vApp templates can be exposed according to the permissions of the user