VMTN Blog

We're having a great conference here in Las Vegas and it's winding up. The flip side of the overwhelming size of this year's show is that there are dozens of attendees on the ground blogging and twittering. In years past, I've tried to gather links from all over and add commentary as well, but for now let me just link out to the boots on the ground for your reading pleasure. If you're reading along this week, you can also check out Planet V12n for a good selection, but like a river of news, that water will be gone by next week. So this is still a bit of a treasure-hunt in the linkage. Come back next week for more overviews and summaries.

Scott Lowe has been doing yeoman's work balancing meetings with detailed session blogging. Take it all in at his blog. He also sat down with me earlier today for a podcast that I'll have up later.

• PO2061: VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 Database Best Practices
• PO1644: VMware Update Manager Performance and Best Practices
• TA2644: Networking I/O Virtualization
• VMware Keynote - Automating DR with VMware SRM
• More VMworld 2008 Day 2 Coverage
• OVF Format Released, VMAN Initiative Launched
• TA2659: Managing ESX in a COS-less World
• VD2422: Offline VDI
• Very Brief Thoughts on the Keynote

Rich Brambley is also doing a great job at VM /ETC in his second year of VMworld session blogging. He's got more coming from Thursday.

• Managing ESX in a COS-less World #TA2659
• Designing the Next Generation Data Center #KN EMC
• Linux Strategy and Roadmap #TA3201
• Re-architecting Data Protection Processes with Data Deduplication and Virtualization Technologies #BC3819
• Joint VMware and NetApp Best Practices for Running VI3 on IP Based Storage #TA2784

Duncan Epping from VMware at Yellow Bricks was blogging from across the pond.

• Future version of VCB not an installable anymore i.e., it becomes an API
• Virtual Infrastructure Management Assistant aka VIMA
• Another day…

And some more general coverage of the show:

• Scott Weisler @ System Center Forum: VMWorld 2008 Day 2 - The Virtual Datacenter, Desktop and the Cloud and The future of Enterprise Virtualization from VMWorld 2008 - Day 1 (Monday)
• Hyper9's David Marshall @ InfoWorld:Day one of VMworld 2008 and the debut of Paul Maritz
• virtualfuture.info VMWorld 2008 - Tech preview: vCenter Orchestrator
• Sean Clark on Wednesday's keynote @ vmwareunderground:

  Was I the only nerd sitting at this keynote feeling like a kid in the candy store? What an impressive array of innovation! My highlights are ranked as follows:
  1. vCenter as a virtual appliance!
  2. VI Client for any client platform
  3. Client hypervisor
  4. Linked clones and quick prep of VDI images.

• I apologize for the ra-ra as well, but I'm damn proud of VMware also and what we showed off during the conference this week, just like my colleague Kenon Owens. In line last night I was taling to a fellow attendee in line waiting to get into a Mustang, and he said this was his first VMworld, but he rarely goes to keynotes -- oh man, I told him, at VMworld that's a big mistake. The Tuesday keynote is where you get to see all the good stuff.
• Jon Brodkin @ NetworkWorld: 10 things seen and heard at VMworld
• Bridget Botelho @ SSV: VMware CEO fields questions at VMworld 2008

  During his keynote, Maritz talked about deconstructing the operating system to better deliver applications, and one reporter asked whether VMware's Virtual Data Center Operating System and ideas about deconstructing OSes is designed to threaten Microsoft.

  "It is not a direct threat, but an indirect one," Maritz said. "[Deconstructing the OS] is also not an idea that we have cooked up on our own. It is something that has to happen to address changing application needs," Maritz said. "You have to have a sophisticated view on this, but of course, when you have the most to lose [i.e., Microsoft], you tend to be the most conservative."

• Alex Barrett @ SSV lends some context to Steve Herrod's Wednesday keynote around the vClient initiative. I need to pull together all the material posted on this -- it has gotten lost in the server and VDC-OS news. At CTO keynote, VMworld crowd starts to understand vClient

  “I need that right now,” said the attendee sitting behind me at the conclusion of Chen’s demonstration. “Heck, I needed that yesterday.”

  I think part of the crowd’s enthusiasm simply had to do with finally “getting it.” Unlike Maritz, Chen used the word ‘hypervisor’ to describe the “thin-client virtualization layer” that drives VMware’s vClient idea of being able to manage disconnected laptops as well as connected VDI thin clients. By saying the H word, 14,000 VMworld attendees had a collective aha moment.

• Keith Ward @ Virtualization Review VMworld Wrap, Day 2.

  I like the idea of one general coordinating all that, and that's what VDC-OS promises to be. Not new, not earth-shattering stuff. Pretty low on the "sexy" scale. If you think about it, though, VMware has never been a sexy company. It's really an engineering outfit, and even though a new release of VMware Infrastructure is exciting for IT admins and the like, it's not like a new iPhone coming out, or even on the level of the new Chrome browser. Those are things everyone can immediately understand and relate to. Nonetheless, it's a strong step forward, and ultimately moves the bar higher for Microsoft. VMware obviously wants to keep its multi-year technology lead over Redmond, and has done that.

• EMC's Bill Petro. VMworld 2008: a Veritable Verdant Venture (Green) and VMworld 2008: Day 2 Review - Virtually Anything is Possible. The former is where I found out about the messenger bags made from recycled VMworld 2007 banners ($120, very cool, a few left but you'd have to ask me to ask Joyce to get you one). I've also noticed a few snarky remarks about having the party at the racetrack as not being very green, and I guess I'd agree. The latter is about social media at VMworld 2008, and it features a picture of me, so I highly recommend it.

Enough for now. They've kicked me out of the Solutions Exchange. More hotel blogging later.

from Viktor van den Berg:

All rights reserved        

Pictures copyright Sven & Johan of virtualfuture.info, shown here liveblogging.

Steve Herrod in action:

© All rights reserved Viktor van den Berg.

OK, the bloggers are in the house. I'll update this post as I spot liveblogs and coverage of today's keynote, which is traditionally the tech/future keynote.

Keynote webcasts

• Check out Twitter search for VMworld  [seems to be sick -- alternate search.]
• Lode Vermieren's vmlive stream or this webpage record of the vmlive stream. (with slide pics!)
• Scott Lowe liveblog
• virtualization.info liveblog
• Dave Siles liveblog and a photo stream on twitpic
• Michael Keen liveblog and Twitter stream
• Rich Brambley liveblog
• Sven Huisman & Johan Van Zanten liveblog
• Bill Petro tweetstream
• Pics from Marnix Vrambout including slide pics

Coverage already coming in:

• Dan Kusnetzky @ ZDNet

More Twitter coverage:

Todd liked the AppSpeed demo: "Vappspeed demo is incredible. It is able to map down to sql statement level and monitor perf. Killer features"

VC on LInux in a Virtual Appliance? Sean Clark gets going on Twitter: "I know I'm not going to able to stand up for a while!!  VCenter on nix?  That is moist and chewy!" [Indeed.]

wilso4jm: Way to go vmworld for rick rolling everyone in the audience. I have so much more respect for VMWare now.

Scott @ DellTechCenter: New vFaulttolerance is very slick. One click to enable

More Lab Openings! "VMware Datacenter Technology Preview" -9:30-11:30; 1:00p-3:00p and 3:30p - 5:30p Wed&Thu. Palazzo Ballroom E

Bridget Botelho @ Server Virtualization Blog VMworld 2008 is packed…Good God, who is manning the servers?!

The volume of IT administrators who are here in Vegas this week makes me wonder in a slight panic, who is manning all of the servers?

Too many announcements to absorb, so the Channel Virtualization Blog does a round-up for you: VMworld 2008 - Industry News in the shadow of VMworld,

VMworld.com blogs continue to grow. Right now I see Todd Muirhead @ Dell's Paul Q&A Notes, Disappointed in the BOFs (more on that later), Pictures from VMworld, and more. Go to the main vmworld.com blog page and start scrolling.

Veteran MSFT watcher Mary Jo Foley @ ZDNet on what Microsoft is doing in the datacenter beyond Windows Server VMware’s Datacenter OS: Windows isn’t the competition

James Staten @ Forrester Link: Cloud Courting: Round 1 about clouds, Xen, xSP margins, and OVF as a commoditizing force

itsjustanotherlayer.com VMworld 2008 - Day 1

What is interesting is that the vDatacenter OS is not really a single product line.   Its more of a framework layout.   A set of potential coming APIs that will define all the interfaces openly across all the areas

and also Brand spanking new writing from VMworld 2008

Checking out the new marketing perspective from VMware and I think they are finally at the right level.   Virtual Infrastructure was a step in the right direction about 2 years ago and now they are at vDatacenter OS or vDC-OS.   I’ve been talking about the power of being able to treat most if not all configurations as software for the past 4 years.  VMware is now accepting that fact and has most if not all the pieces in place finally with the ability to talk more closely to the Storage and Networks and Manage the environments with tools like Lifecycle Manager (Dunes VS-O).

VMware: REAL Write Once, Run Anywhere

Virtual Strategy Magazine - Maritz Speaks to the VMworld 2008 Press.

Maritz’ response was clear, that a bit of turmoil and turnover is expected when a company undergoes executive leadership change. He described VMware’s future as “a journey we are going to embark upon.”

He also emphasized that the plan laid out this morning is aggressive and noted that, “We’re going to need all the friends we can” in order to succeed with vCloud, vClient and the Virtual Datacenter Operating System.

Ton Valovc @ Virtualization Review Valovic on Virtualization: VMware: The Vision Thing. I think this is one of the more interesting points about the VDC-OS -- a big vision but backed up by actual features that are completely understandable in the context of current services and features.

My take at this juncture is that it’s essentially more detail and some incremental forward movement on what VMware calls the "data center of the future" and Microsoft calls "Dynamic IT", a complex construct that's all about automating VM-based processes and making them “elastic, self-managing, and self-healing” to use VMware’s terminology.

The blogging continues from all parts of VMworld. (hat tip to Duncan for some of these links)

The shirt says "Real Men Use Real Hypervisors"

virtualfuture.info

• Paul Maritz goes “virtualfuture” green
• VMworld 2008 - New Feature: Fault Tolerant
• VMworld 2008 - VDM 3.0 to be released this year !
• VMWorld 2008 - future features

Scott Lowe

• TA2668: VMware ESX Architectural Directions
• BC2621: Fault-Tolerant VMs in VI: Operations and Best Practices

Colin McNamara - Cisco releases Nexus 1000v virtual switch for VMware

Rich Brambley - TA3807: VirtualCenter Directions (live blogging)

Colin Steele @ ChannelMarker Maritz flattered by Microsoft’s guerrilla marketing

Andrew Kutz: VMworld 2008: Looking Back At Day 1

Ultimately the first day was best summed up by the champion of VMware bloggers, John Troyer. I was sharing my thoughts with him and he made a pointed statement: VMworld 2008 is not about virtualization, it is not about the hypervisor; VMworld 2008 is about the ecosystem that VMware has created. What John means is that we are at a point in this field where the virtualization aspect is no longer important. We get it. We can virtualize. Now, what do we do with it?

I apologize for quoting Andrew quoting me, but I wanted to clarify a bit. I certainly didn't mean the hypervisor is a commodity. My point was that it's not about a single hypervisor partitioning a single server anymore. That's 2004. In 2009 it's about producing an extensible, flexible platform for the datacenter and building the ecosystem of partner functionality around it. That's my take on why the VDC-OS is an important concept.

Eric Sloof is shooting a lot of video. Some of the audio is challenging, but worth it if it's a topic you're interested in:

• VMworld 2008 | Question and Answer Session with Paul Maritz
• Designing the Next Generation Data Center - Cisco and VMware
• VMworld 2008 | VMware PowerShell session video
• VMworld 2008 | Interveiew with Dmitry Sotnikov
• VMworld 2008 | Interview with Carter Shanklin
• Interview with LucD the VI Toolkit Scripting contest winner

Steve Wilson's Weblog (@ Sun): VMworld Day 0

Definitely check out the twitter stream if you're interested in what's going on as it goes on. It's a potent mix of notes, self-promotion, news, technology insights, and complaints about the wi-fi.

#VMworld #Cisco  Good documentation on the Nexus 1000V virtual switch. http://is.gd/2Jb7
vmworld: DellTechCenter: ta2920 is great session. it's the VDC-OS session but not shown as that on the session description
ColinSteele: Maritz says Microsoft's guerrilla marketing campaign at VMworld was flattering: http://snurl.com/3qwsz
mvaughn25: @vmworld Used the storage vmotion plugim for 3.5, seen a preview of the native solution in ext release. One of many cool new features
DellTechCenter: Hot add vcpu to a VM is coming as well as syncronous VM fault tolerance  in 09 - according to session I am in. Very cool #vmworld #todd
tomaste: Walked out of AD2384 (Capacity Management) Very high level. Appropriate for a non-techie.
tradeshownews: (PHOTO) VMware President and Chief Executive Officer Opens VMworld 2008 - http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080916006630/en
kevinreedy: "VMWare ESX Architectural Directions" was great. Birds of a feather wasn't worth the time. Now going to the Lab Manager lab #vmworld
scott_lowe: #VMworld BC1693 is a good look at the considerations for SRM design
autumntt: Cisco makes headlines at VMworld Conference. Hear what VMware's CTO has to say about network virtualization http://tinyurl.com/6z4dua
moesch: liveblog from a joint netapp & vmware session at VMworld http://twurl.nl/e4zeoe
mrpiercy: The number one thing I learned at VMworld? Computer geeks come in all shapes and sizes.
vmworld: utopianmirage: just had a long talk with hyper9 and i am excited. Web 2.0 meets datacenter single pane of glass!
vmworld: LeftHandView: is your storage running with true storage virtualization? If it's tied to HW the answer is no.
Banzai51: @vmworld LeftHandView: what is different about 'cloud' computing vs the miserable failures of SaaS of the past?
vmworld: LeftHandView: The cloud addresses all market segments, similar to the internet or SAAS apps.
echwhack: TechWhack: VMware President and Chief Executive Officer Opens VMworld 2008 http://tinyurl.com/5by8j5
tech2tw: GigaOM: Cisco Virtualizes The Network, The Data Center: At the VMWorld Show, Cisco took the first .. http://tinyurl.com/6aouxb
craigbalding: #VMworld ESX will have ASLR + NX in addition to VMsafe

Liveblogging tomorrow: we will have tables & they promise me better wifi. For those watching from home, you may or may not get liveblogging in Steve Herrod's keynote Wednesday morning. Cross your fingers. Keynote webcasts.

Posted by Sushant Rao
Sr. Technology Alliance Manager

For years, we've been seeing that virtualization has become a major component of our customers’ datacenters.  As a result of the cost savings and improved management productivity compared to physical environments, they are standardizing on virtualization as a better way of computing.

For most companies, their end-to-end management processes cut across several technology domains and tools.  Therefore, virtual infrastructure needs to integrate with other management tools to deliver virtualization-smart management that takes advantage of the benefits of VMware virtualization.

One customer brought up provisioning as an example.  When a user wants to get an application deployed, they open a ticket with the service desk.  After the request has been approved, there is an automation process.  This process will provision a host, storage and the network if the current virtualized infrastructure doesn't have enough capacity.  At this point, VMware products would come into the process.  Lifecycle Manager is used to provision the VM and then the VM would be deployed and added to VMware Infrastructure.  Then, the service desk needs to be notified that the request has been completed. The whole process covers a number of different products and tools

In addition to protecting their investments in existing management tools, better integration with VMware virtualization means easier training for their staff and more efficient processes.

So, what is VMware doing?

VMware has had open APIs for integrated management for some time now, but recently we expanded our investment by creating the VMware Ready Management Initiative and defining vCenter Extensibility.  vCenter Extensibility provides structure for these APIs (which interface should be used to do what), while the VMware Ready Management  Initiative defines a qualification program for integrated solutions with partners (i.e, VMware Ready Management Solutions) and a roadmap for future management capabilities (i.e. incorporating B-Hive and other new products).

Taking a look back at the customer's provisioning example earlier, how would the VMware Ready Management Initiative make a difference?  Well, with better integration, the systems for service desk, provisioning of the virtualized infrastructure (if necessary) and provisioning of the VM will work cooperatively.  The whole process can be automated as approval of the request kicks-off the systems that provision the host, storage and network, which in turn kick-off Lifecycle Manager to provision a VM.  In addition, once the VM has been added to VirtualCenter, the service desk will be automatically notified that the VM has been created.

The main benefit to customers is that they will have a standardized, automated management process across multiple types of infrastructure.  An ancillary benefit is that companies will have an easier time selecting partner products for evaluation as well as deploying these products.

We've talked with a number of companies about VMware Ready Management Solutions.  One company in particular, a large, national healthcare company is looking forward to this initiative because they feel it will simplify their management processes, reduce the number of products they needed to evaluate as well as focus their testing on the functional aspects of the products.

Please follow these links for more information about the VMware Ready Management Initiative and vCenter and the press release.

[Updated many times, the latest Tuesday night.]

Keynote webcast

I'll update this entry with coverage of Paul's Tuesday keynote as it becomes available.

• virtualization.com liveblog (updated with excellent Q&A session notes)
• Scott Lowe liveblog
• Rich Brambley liveblog and Q&A session liveblog
• Ryan Marimon @ VMhero -- with pix!
• Paul Kusnetzky @ ZDNet
• Dave Siles
• Yan from CohesiveFT
• pictures from the keynote by Marnix Vrambout
• Michael Keen with his take on the keynote.
• Bob Plankers thought it was "evolutionary, not revolutionary, but good nonetheless." [I like how VDC-OS is a big vision backed up by these understandable evolutionary steps. --jtroyer]
• virtualfuture.info
• virtualization.info I don't agree with Alessandro on SMB -- although the vision talks about the datacenter, medium businesses may be among the first to use excess capacity from a federated cloud.
• EMC's Bill Petro
• EMC's Mark Twomey likes what he heard. Maritz sends VMworld into orbit.

  I've never been a VMware die hard but with the vision VMware has right now it's a crown jewel. Irreplaceable. If you didn't own some or all of it you'd now wish you did. What would you swap it for in IT? I don't know? Do you?

Extra special Virtually Anything is Possible, even having Apple Update pop up during the keynote.

And the journos weigh in. Am I unfair in stereotyping them as playing up the competition aspect of this morning's keynote rather than the technological vision (ie, the cool part)?

• Patrick Thibodeau @ Computerworld: VMware CEO Paul Maritz says operating systems being 'deconstructed' 
• Paula Rooney @ ZDNet Maritz: VMware’s Virtual DataCenter OS, VMware View is better next gen operating system than Windows and Hyper-V
• Scott Fergusion @ eWeek VMware CEO Maritz Addresses Virtualization, the Cloud and Challenges from Microsoft
• Bridget Botelho @ SearchServerVirtualization VMworld 2008 kicks off with address from new CEO Paul Maritz
• Jeff James @ Windows IT Pro does focus on the tech  VMworld 2008: Maritz Discusses VDC-OS, vCloud, vClient
  
• And Keith Ward of Virtualization Review actually says that Paul didn't address competitive issues enough. What VMware's Maritz Did Not Say

We were all set for the Twitter questions, and then Paul ran out of time. (You might have seen the Twitter screen at the end.) We hope that Steve can address them tomorrow.

From Twitter:

Because of a communications snafu (mine), we didn't have Internet coverage in the Paul Maritz's keynote this morning.  I expect keynote coverage to be available shortly.

We'll try the liveblogging thing again tomorrow. At least you don't have to wait for the paper edition these days!

Keynote webcasts are available here.

As reported all over Twitter, wifi in the Venetian rooms is a bit overwhelmed by VMworldians, so we'll keep this short, sweet, and text-based.

Speaking of Twitter - after Paul's general session tomorrow, he's doing a Q&A. He will take several questions from Twitter, so 'd vmworld' and ask away. During the keynote you can still ask but they're going to be turning off the re-tweeting temporarily, since I think they're going to project it, and since I know I couldn't resist tweeting something funny, and I've met some of you, I know you couldn't resist either. They'll turn it back on afterward. Anyway, ask Paul a question. He's done several Q&A's internally at VMware and he's good.

VMware Fusion 2.0 has been released. Let's not forget as we talk about all this server virtualization that VMware has by far the best client/hosted virtualization platform as well. How could this all tie in to our roadmap? Hmmm, magic 8 ball says ask again Tuesday morning...

Sven at virtualfuture.info found his cartoon version up on the wall. He had this to say about Paul speaking at Partner Day. "Paul Maritz gave his keynote, and it was good to finally see the new CEO live in action. He had a very clear story. I’m confident this guy is going to lead VMware to the next level."

Who else has seen their cartoon doppelganger? Pics or it didn't happen.

Mike Laverick seems to be a little jet-lagged after flying over from RTFM-ed.co.uk-land, so it would be cruel to embarrass him by linking to his posts on virtual rainbows, Dr. Evil, and his new guitar. Oh, and some "coming in 2009" videos. Also, the man is a genius and the preview copies of his SRM book already sold out at the bookstore. Sorry.

Rich at VM /ETC posts so I don't have to:

Holy vMoley, I was just blown away by the 3:30 pm Partner Day session titled Sneak Peak Into Future Virtual Infrastructure. I thought I was ready. I researched the new VMware VDC-OS and vCloud announcement last night and I saw the list of new features. I even read the new feature posts by Duncan at Yellow-bricks.com and Scott over at blog.scottlowe.org, but I had no idea. This concept is such a game changer that it is almost hard to believe. The features by themselves don’t do proper justice to the technical possibilities they create together.

What’s even more amazing is that you can see and understand how VMware got to here. There is not a “black magic” technology we are being asked to accept on faith. VMware has taken most of the pieces of their individual virtualization products, enhanced and improved them, and put them all behind the vCenter (the new VirtualCenter) GUI. Once again let me point you to yellow-bricks.com for Duncan’s post with details about the new vCenter.

Andrew Kutz at SearchVMware.com wants VDC-OS to be a push-button/off-the-shelf product.  I disagree -- I think we want to strike a balance between customizability, ease-of-use features, and vision/roadmap. I also think we all should approach tomorrow's keynote with an open mind. (Andrew also applauds the new academic community go-virtual.org.)

I’ve been thinking about VDC-OS all morning, trying to figure out that nagging feeling in the back of my mind. Something feels so familiar about this new, seemingly fantastic, initiative from VMware. And then it hit me — VDC-OS is an initiative! IT professionals expecting an off-the-shelf software-in-a-box solution from VDC-OS will be disappointed. VDC-OS is made up of several components, all of which will, I am sure, have their own sets of individual highlights and disappointments.

Chad Sakac of EMC breaks down vStorage into several components. I'm not a storage guy, so I'm just going to go with "more APIs = enable partners to each shine with their own differentiated brilliant light = cooler features for you."

Philips Sellers was in the Partner Day briefing and appears to have taken very detailed notes on the VDC-OS features.

AlexD only got through a third of the Solutions Exchange tonight and had a good schwag haul. He also lists some of the contests -- there are many more. Looks like big prizes are in fashion.

Blogs at vmworld.com are really taking off.

I want to thank everybody who stopped by the Communities Lounge at the reception tonight, and if you have time or just need to sit, drop by during the week and get a t-shirt. Also, I've got a podcasting setup going, and here's an open call to any blogger, analyst, journalist, or any attendee with something to say -- I'd love to do a quick 5 or 10 minute podcast with you about what you think about the new announcements, the keynote, and the show in general. Much better than interviewing execs.

This Internet connection is making me stabby. I've had line printers on dial-up better than this. More tomorrow.

The liveblogging starts at 8:00 am PDT.

I see how it's going to be this year. Crazy.

Articles covering the VCD-OS announcement:

• Maureen O'Gara @ SYS-CON Media: VMware to Microsoft: Choke on My Dust. heh.
• Scott Ferguson @ eWeek:  VMware Adds Cloud, Desktop Infrastructure to its Virtualization Roadmap.
• Patrick Thibodeau @ ComputerWorld: VMware, virtualization rivals step into the ring at VMworld.
• Toon Vanagt @ virtualization.com vCloud: Vmware to be cloud computing provider too, but inside your private DC and not tomorrow. Toon makes a good point, but I don't think it's internal vs. external clouds, it's more of an 'and' rather than an 'or.' You can both have a choice of external providers + your own data center, depending on needs, scale, SLAs, etc.
• James Niccolai @ PC World (and CIO.com) VMware Tries to Expand Throughout the Data Center. 

Blogs discussing it:

• Duncan Epping: VMware’s first announcements. » Yellow Bricks. (Big vision backed up by real hot features.)
• Scott Lowe
  • Link: VMware’s Virtual Datacenter OS (talking about the big picture)
  • Link: Follow Up on the VDC-OS Announcement (talking about individual features)
• Rich Brambley
• Chris Hoff: Link: Rational Survivability: VMWorld 2008: Forecast For VMware? Cloudy...Weep For Security?.
• Chuck Hollis (EMC):  Chuck's Blog: Big Visions From VMware. Just read it. VDC-OS as an extension of where we are today in 2008 -- not vapor. Concept of multiple clouds, including the "enterprise resource cloud."
• Scott Ossterreich (Cassatt): Fountainhead: An early analysis of VMware vCloud and VDC-OS
• James Urquardt: The Wisdom of Clouds: Let the Cloud Computing OS wars begin!.
• Mark Twomey sees a new world being exposed through vStorage APIs: Storagezilla: vStorage, PowerPath and a few random thoughts..

You Are There:

• Marnix Vambrout: My First set of random pictures of VMworld2008 Las Vegas
• Make sure you check out the VMworld.com discussions and photos
• dsiles on Twitpic
• delltechcenter on Twitpic

Also be sure to check out SearchServerVirtualization:  VMworld 2008 conference coverage.