After several very successful editions of the Dutch VMware EUC TechCon (vEUC TechCon), there is no way we would skip 2023. The vEUC TechCon was held this year on June 22, and thanks to the VMware End-User Computing community, it was another very successful edition!
I attended the event and also presented a session, so I’m writing about my experiences at this great event. It’s like a VMUG, but the focus is 100% on VMware End-User Computing. Because of this focus it attracts like-minded people — customers, partners, VMware employees, and the community — and it always creates a very positive buzz. I’ve attended and presented at many events before, but the ambience of the vEUC TechCon is unique, and I always look forward to joining this event. And I’m not alone in this, because I heard similar comments from a few attendees.
That’s why I’m excited to share the good news: the vEUC TechCon is expanding and going abroad! There are currently talks to organize events under the same name in the United Kingdom and Germany, so keep an eye on Twitter for announcements!
Report from the 2023 Dutch edition of vEUC TechCon
Here is my review of the 2023 Dutch edition. I hope you enjoy it!
This time the event was organized in Utrecht, right in the middle of the Netherlands, at a really great conference center. The team picked a good place and did a fine job of planning this event: plenty of parking space, good drinks and food, and a nice room with comfortable chairs. Hats off to the vEUC TechCon team!
The topics this year were equally divided between VMware Workspace ONE and Horizon, and all of the sessions were a technical level 200–300 so there was a lot of good content to gather.
The event was sold out, with more than 70 attendees, which is a perfect size crowd if you ask me. Not too big, but big enough to have good interactive sessions with questions during the talks.
Matt Evans started the day and did a great job with the opening keynote: “What You Need to Be Thinking About When Providing an Anywhere Work Platform.” Matt presented an update on the current trends when designing an “Anywhere Workspace” solution. In addition to providing a comprehensive overview of the hybrid work solutions, he also talked about Day 2 operations and shared details of some digital employee experience (DEX) features.
After that, Matt Langguth presented “Horizon Cloud on Azure: Tales from the Field.” You might know Matt from his blog. He flew in from the United States and did a great job sharing his lessons learned with the community.
During his session he explained the key differences between the first generation of Horizon Cloud on Azure and Horizon Cloud next-gen. It was good to have these real life lessons shared, because this is a hot topic for many customers.
Next up was Weis Mateen with a deep technical session on PowerShell with APIs .
This was his first time on stage, but he came well prepared and openly talked about his nerves with the audience. Another wonderful example of why this event is such a great success: the audience showed sympathy and really helped Weis relax and get through his presentation. As first-time presenters often do, Weis had so much material that he only made it through the first half. But his content was so good that we all agreed at that moment that he needed to come to the next event to share the rest.
The next session was presented by Johan Dijkstra and Mikhail Zuskov on Workspace ONE for Linux workloads.
They are both consultants and in their daily work they are frequently asked whether it is possible to manage Linux systems. Personally, I also see a great rise of Linux in the market — for developers in particular. In addition, there are an ever-increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected to the network. As the Linux ecosystem continues to expand, it is critical that organizations have a strategy for remotely securing, configuring, and supporting Linux systems. In this presentation, Johan and Mikhail provided the latest updates and benefits of using VMware Horizon and Workspace ONE for Linux management, and how these tools can help organizations operate more efficiently and securely.
Next up was my session on how to replace Intune Windows Autopilot.
The session focused on Workspace ONE Drop Ship Provisioning Online. This new feature introduces the option to self-register devices in the Workspace ONE UEM console.
I talked about the use cases and benefits drop shipping brings to customers. This new feature will save IT a lot of time and improve the user experience when onboarding new Windows devices. It is also a better alternative than Intune and Windows Autopilot (if you ask me 😉), because it saves you from buying additional Azure P2 licenses.
We were still on schedule because the organizers did a great job in keeping track of time. Between the sessions there was plenty of opportunity to catch up with colleagues, partners, and customers over a cup of coffee and some snacks. Did I already mention that the organization picked a really good place to host this event?
The final session before the BBQ was presented by Johan van Amersfoort: “VMware Horizon with Intel GPUs: Do or Do Not?”
This was a new presentation from Johan, and a really good one! He talked about the new Intel Flex140 GPU and how it can be used for GPU acceleration in Horizon VDI environments. I’m not going to give away spoilers, because Johan will present this talk at other events as well. But if you have the opportunity to see this talk, don’t hesitate — just go!
In Johan’s own words: “Learn about the newly announced Intel Flex140 GPU and its potential as a game changer for VDI. But is it really a game changer? And if so, what game does it actually change?”
This session dove into the technical details, including API support and encoding, but also the potential use cases and deployment considerations for VMware Horizon.
Before we ended the day with a BBQ buffet and drinks, first it was time for the traditional vEUC TechCon Quiz. This has become a tradition, and the prizes are always a nice bonus. This year you could win the one and only “EUC King” trophy!
After a lot of fun questions and the award ceremony, it was time to eat. I spoke to a gazillion people and came home energized and full of ideas and action items. I’m already looking forward to next year’s event, and I’ll make sure to prepare even more to try to take home that “EUC King” award!
More on vEUC TechCon: How it all started
Interested in knowing more about this event? The VMware End-User Computing Tech Conference was created in 2017 to raise awareness of VMware’s EUC products among the community. The goal is to organize an annual event that focuses on knowledge sharing and the exchange of ideas. The concept of vEUC TechCon was conceived by the then-members of the international VMware EUC Champions program (Rob Beekmans, Sven Huisman, and Johan van Amersfoort) with support from the VMware Netherlands EUC Team (Ton Hermes, Huib Dijkstra, and Edwin de Ron).
Currently the vEUC TechCon leadership team consists of the following individuals:
Jesper Alberts, EUC Consultant at ITQ
Hans Kraaijeveld, EUC Architect at Fondo / PQR
Ivan de Mes, Solution Architect EUC at Orange Business
Sander Noordijk, Solution Engineer Digital Workspace at VMware
Remi Schipperus, Solution Engineer Digital Workspace at VMware
Dennis Sigmond, Senior Solutions Engineer at VMware
You can reach the vEUC TechCon team at [email protected].
The agenda, call for papers for next events, photos, and more are on their website.
Or you can find and connect with them on Twitter: @vEUCTechCon.
