VMware VMworld 2016: Top 50 Highlights

As VMware's VMworld 2016 unfolds in Las Vegas, ChannelE2E will be compiling all the major news and develops into one continuous blog. This one. We expect to offer you at least 50 updates between now and VMworld's conclusion on Sept. 1, 2016. So let the games -- and the blog -- begin. Here's the lineup so far. Keep checking back for more updates every few hours. 1. VMware Partner Program Updates: VMware overhauled its partner program ahead of the conference. Channel Chief Ross Brown's goal: Inspire partners to build business practices around VMware's NSX (network virtualization) and VSAN (virtual SAN) offerings, among others. 2. Multi-Cloud Management: Watch for VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger to announce and discuss NSX multi-cloud management tools, which should allow partners to managed and safeguard workloads across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and additional cloud platforms. 3. Rapid NSX Deployments: VMware acquired Arkin Net in June 2016. The reason? Arkin makes tools that speed NSX deployments. It's a safe bet VMware will offer more details on how the tools can accelerate software defined data center (SDDC) projects. 4. Early NSX Adopters: More than three dozen companies will explain NSX case studies and the business drivers for network virtualization during the conference. 5. Veeam's Next Moves: Veeam, the business continuity software provider, rolled out an Availability Platform for the Hybrid Cloud. It's designed for virtual, physical and cloud-based workloads. Veeam has dominated the market for VMware-centric virtualization backup. The company has also expanded into the Microsoft Hyper-V backup market. But numerous rivals are now responding with physical and virtual backup systems... 6. Network Functions Virtualization: As you may have heard, major telcos and communications service providers (CSPs) are embracing NFV. Now, VMware is pitching in with some assistance. The company has launched "VMware Ready for NFV" certified solutions. The new certified solutions from Brocade, Check Point, Infoblox, Mitel and Netrounds support virtualized mobile infrastructure and SD-WAN. 7. Who's Your Daddy?: Will Dell complete the EMC buyout -- and therefore gain a big stake in VMware -- during VMworld? We sort of doubt VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger wants to shift the event spotlight to Dell. But there's always the chance that Dell will complete the EMC buyout during the conferences... 8. Microsoft Attacks VMware: Microsoft is offering free Windows Server 2016 licenses to customers that switch from vSphere to Hyper-V. It's intriguing but make sure you read the fine print. 9. Cloud Backup: ViaWest has agreed to offer Rubrik's cloud data management platform to ViaWest's clients. The solution will be on display at Rubrik booth #1131. 10. All-Flash Systems: Hitachi Data Systems has unveiled All-Flash Systems that support VMware NSX, Docker containers and more. Keep a close eye on Hitachi Unified Compute Platform for additional moves... Continue on to page 2 and items 11-20 Here's Page 2 of our VMworld conference coverage... 11. Replication & Resilience: Veritas Technologies launched Veritas Resiliency Platform 2.0, which is designed for workload migration, failover, failback, data protection, and non-disruptive recovery testing. 12. OpenSack, NSX Security: Fortinet will demonstrate integration between the FortiGate VMX firewall and VMware NSX and VMware Integrated OpenStack environments. You can find more details here. 13. Cloud Infrastructure Management: Xangati will demonstrate its Cloud Infrastructure management solutions (booth #2715). Cloud service providers leverage the company's predictive analytics platform to achieve their SLAs for virtualization infrastructure and VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) environments, the company claims. 14. All-Flash Storage Management:EMC released new application integration and management features in the EMC XtremIO all-flash storage platform for VMware and Microsoft virtualized environments. Attendees can get details at booth #1223. 16. Dell Engineered Systems: Michael Dell has vowed to develop engineered systems featuring Dell and EMC hardware running VMware software. Sounds a bit like a counter to Nutanix and other hyperconverged offerings... 17. Solid State Storage: Western Digital Corp. says its HGST-branded Ultrastar SN150 PCI Express (PCIe) NVMe solid state drive (SSD) is now certified for use with VMware Virtual SAN and vSphere. That sentence just rolls of the tongue, eh? 18. ExtraHop: ExtraHop, which offers real-time wire data analytics, has launched new integrations with VMware's Realize Suite -- including vRealize Orchestrator and vRealize Operations Manager. The integrations give partners and customers real-time visibility into the performance, availability and security of software-defined data centers (SDDC). 19. VMware Cross-Cloud Architecture: Here's the official announcement about VMware launching cross-cloud architecture tools and services to manage workloads across multiple public clouds. 20. VMware for MSPs: The virtualization giant is trying to build next generation MSP partner engagements. Details surfaced here. Continue on to page 3 and items 21-30 Here's Page 3 of our VMworld conference coverage... 21. Flash Storage Arrays: Tegile Systems launched the IntelliFlash Cloud Platform, a rack-scale all-flash platform designed for Fortune 1000 enterprise companies looking to achieve the cost benefits of cloud architectures and the reliability and control of on-premises storage solutions, the company claims. 22. Free Virtual SAN Software: DataCore Software, a provider of Hyper-converged Virtual SAN, Software-Defined Storage andAdaptive Parallel I/O Software, is offering free license keys for its Parallel I/O-powered DataCore Hyper-converged Virtual SAN software to VMware vExpert, VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX), VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP), VMware Certified Professional (VCP), and VMware Certified Implementation Expert (VCIX) professionals. The not-for-resale (NFR) license keys -- available for non-production uses such as home labs, course development, training, feature testing and demonstration purposes -- are intended to support virtualization consultants, instructors and architects involved in efforts aimed at managing and fully leveraging storage assets. The offer is good for September. 23. More Backup: StorageCraft Technology Corp. released StorageCraft VirtualBoot for vSphere, which the company claims makes recovery of data and systems exponentially faster and more efficient. The technology gives StorageCraft ShadowProtect SPX users the ability to rapidly virtualize backup images as guest virtual machines (VMs) directly on VMware ESXi hosts without the use of an intermediary appliance or secondary conversion process. StorageCraft, backed by private equity dollars and a new executive team, has a massive MSP and reseller partner base. 24. English, Please: The following it taken directly from a Nexenta press release: "Nexenta has validated VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN) customers are eligible for an exclusive promotion of NexentaConnect. NexentaConnect for VMware Virtual SAN provides NFS and SMB file services for Virtual SAN with integrated management through VMware vCenter. The resulting solution brings software-defined file services to VMware Virtual SAN hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) customers." Here endeth the jargon. 25. Freemium Infrastructure: Maxta Inc., a provider of software-based hyperconvergence, introduced a freemium licensing model for its MxSP software. The new licensing model, targeting the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) segment, allows enterprises to evaluate, test and deploy HCI in their IT environments, Maxta says. 26. VMware, IBM Partnership Expansion: Organizations can now automatically provision pre-configured VMware Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) environments on IBM Cloud in hours versus weeks or months. The platform integrates VMware vSphere, VMware Virtual SAN, VMware NSX and VMware SDDC Manager, and gives customers broad choice in their infrastructure decisions, the two companies said. VMware and IBM previously announced hosted desktop services in the cloud. 27. Docker APIs for vSphere: VMware has introduced new capabilities for its VMware vSphere Integrated Containers, which enables users to provide a Docker compatible interface to their app teams, running on their existing vSphere infrastructure. 28. More On OpenStack: Keep an eye on VMware Integrated OpenStack 3. The latest release of VMware's OpenStack distribution is now based on the OpenStack Mitaka release. The company claims the new release makes it easier to deploy OpenStack clouds. 29. Windows 10 Management: There's lots of chatter about VMware's Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) for Windows 10, which apparently blends enterprise mobility management (EMM), PC lifecycle management and security capabilities into a single platform... 30. VMware Monitoring: LogicMonitor says it has hundreds of customers monitoring VMware software with its SaaS-based IT infrastructure performance monitoring platform. LogicMonitor can monitor over 100 metrics at the vCenter (datastore, host, network, VM counts), cluster and host (failover state, total memory, CPU, disk usage, etc.), and individual VM levels (memory, CPU, disk usage, etc.), the company claims. Continue on to page 4 and items 31-40 Here's Page 4 of our VMworld conference coverage... 31. VMware, SAP and SDDC: VMware and SAP have had a strategic partnership for almost a decade, notes TechRepublic. But take a closer look and there are new ways to automate SAP atop VMware's software defined data center technology... 32. A Hint of Irony: Michael Dell committed to maintaining VMware's independence, even as Dell finalizes the EMC buyout. (EMC is a major VMware shareholder.) Across town from VMworld, another Dell company -- SonicWall -- truly was celebrating its independence. About 700 partners at the SonicWall gathering were praising Dell's decision to sell the company, which essentially returns SonicWall to a pure channel strategy. 33. Desktop Virtualization: Liquidware Labs, which focuses on "desktop transformation solutions," demonstrated a VMware Horizon alternative that allegedly enhances all types of customer desktops. 34. Open Source Hardware: iXsystems, which develops storage and servers powered by Open Source, unveiled iXRack, a converged rack-scale solution that allows customers to deploy thousands of virtual machines in support of hyperscale business-critical applications, including scale-out, scale-up, database and object storage, virtualization, VDI and IaaS, the company claims. 35. Dell Hardware for VMware, Part I: First up there's the Dell Validated System for Virtualization, which "delivers on the promise of service-defined infrastructure, resulting in the industry’s most flexible converged system to-date," the company claims. 36. Dell Hardware for VMware, Part II: Next up there's Dell Solutions for VMware Virtual SAN Ready Nodes. This is designed for desktop and application virtualization. 37. Dell Hardware for VMware, Part III: Dell also announced support for VMware Blast Extreme remote protocol for Dell Wyse Windows-based thin clients. The result, Dell claims, is increased flexibility and management for the Wyse offerings. 38. Business Continuity (And More): Axcient unveiled version 1.5 of its Fusion Cloud, which continues to pivot the BDR cloud provider to toward midmarket customer needs. From Here to 49: Check this blog multiple times daily now through Sept. 1, 2016. We'll continue to offer real-time updates leading up to and throughout VMworld 2016. 50. Your VMworld News: If your company is making news announcements at VMworld, then email me the information: [email protected].