It was my first ever participation at VMworld, and I did so because I wanted to see if my observations of VMware engagement was the same in real life as it was over social media.

Why VMware
Simply put, VMware is the 800-pound gorilla in virtualization.

As someone 100% focused on delivering solutions based on Microsoft products and technologies, Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization product, in both Hyper-V Server and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V versions, were choices one thru ten for us.

We are architecting for it, we have deployed it, and we are pleased with it.

However, as we are attempting to move further upstream to larger businesses, I find that it would be remiss of me not to at least find out more about VMware.

Genesis to here
One of the first things I noticed about VMware was the incredible level of engagement by extremely reasonable people who were expert in it.

From basic users to authors, to VMware staffers, I was impressed by the intelligent responses I got to even the most n00bish of questions.

It was quite refreshing, and reminded me of an enhanced version of the community old Novell used to enjoy back in the NetWare era.

Then in 2009, I met John Troyer who manages social media outreach for VMware at the inaugural Tech Field Day in San Jose.

He was friendly, engaged very well, and was highly regarded by the entire delegation of influentials to that event.

Subsequent to that, I followed John on Twitter, and became his Facebook friend. From then on until now, I have been fascinated with the subtleness with which he has helped people get with VMware. My questions for help to him were answered promptly, and a call for reading materials was similarly dealt with; said request culminating with a Twitter shout out that I believe received no less than 75 immediate recommendations, and about a similar amount over a two-week period.

Suffice it to say, I was impressed.

As 2010 moved along, I was able to learn more about VMware, and finally decided that it warranted a closer look.

I called for a pilot program to determine just that, and the results were positive.

With those results, I wanted to embark on Phase 2: visit VMworld and see for myself if the level of engagement was real, or a figment of my feeble mind.

Luckily, I was invited to be embedded into the event by HP, and I gladly accepted.

VMworld 2011
The event had a very palpable excitement about it, with participants eagerly interacting with each other and exchanging tips, etc.

This global coterie of VMware users, partners, developers, authors all wanted one thing: community. Community with each other leading to doing their jobs better.

I worked the crowd, asking questions of their experience about VMware and VMworld from random people. To a man (and woman), the answers were about the same: they were glad they came, they were enjoying themselves – hard not to do in Las Vegas, right? – and they would do it again.

The vExperts
I hate to be boastful, but I do know a significant number of vExperts.

Who are vExperts, you may ask.

Well, vExperts are VMware’s premier evangelists, a global group of people, and not just technical experts, proselytizing the virtues of VMware, either from a design, implementation, or use standpoint.

I was surprised to find out that I was either following, or being followed by a number of them, with what I would call friendships with most.

Pretty humbling, I must confess.

Meeting new vPeople in Real life
Over the past couple of years, I have met quite a few vPeople, as I term the VMware professionals I have come to know. As a result, it was good to meet them in real life.

VMware and the Cloud
What was evident from VMworld 2011 is that VMware understands that the cloud is it.

Everything pointed that way.

It is good to see that VMware realized that the cloud is where a lot of revenues might be coming from, be it private, public, or a hybrid.

Microsoft realized that, and Windows Azure is further along at this stage. However, VMware is a pretty nimble company, and I have no doubt that they will catch up.

It is shaping up to be a battle royale, what with VMware’s lead in virtualization and management of the same, and Microsoft’s formidable prowess in developer tools, coupled with the Windows franchise.

HP at VMware
At this VMworld, HP showcased its close relationship with VMware – the company, and the product.

Boasting a veritable army of VMware professionals, HP also had the HP Cloud Advisors available. The Cloud Advisors gave daily briefings on the creation of cloud infrastructures, drawing from their backgrounds in server hardware, networking, virtualization, datacenters, and of course, services. Quite impressive.

Not to be left out, HP Storage debuted their new HP 3Par P10000 storage device. Calvin Zito, @hpstorageguy on Twitter, made the video below.

Going forward for us
VMworld impressed me, and has validated the decision to not only give it a shot, but also for announcements that are forthcoming.

VMware is very engaged, and staffers are very good at helping out.

I will have a lot more to say in the near future

Acknowledgements
In no particular order:

John Troyer and his team at VMware for the invite – both last year and this. I cannot give John enough props for all the subtle prodding and encouragement to get here.

Kristie Popp, Becca Taylor, Calvin Zito, Marc Farley, Kristi McDonald, Kristen Reyes, Doug O., and everyone at HP for inviting me to be embedded into VMworld and a myriad number of events. In fact, when I write my social media book, it would be about an organizational unit (OU) that truly gets it at a technology company.

Ivy Worldwide. What more can I say?