Get ready for an insightful journey.

Join us at VMware Explore

Las Vegas, Nevada | The Venetian
August 21 – 24, 2023

Over five weeks, we will be featuring perspectives from five esteemed speakers of VMware Explore 2023 Las Vegas. They have graciously agreed to answer the same set of five questions relating to the event, providing intriguing and informative content for our attendees. Be sure to check back each week as we unveil their responses, building up to the highly anticipated Las Vegas event.

Name: William Lam
Title: Senior Staff Solution Architect, VMware
Bio: William Lam is a Senior Staff Solution Architect working in the VMware Cloud Solutions team within the Cloud Infrastructure Business Group (CIBG) at VMware. He focuses on Cloud Native, Automation, Integration and Operation for the VMware Cloud based Software Defined Datacenters (SDDC) across Private, Hybrid and Public Cloud offerings.

5 Questions

1. Why is attending VMware Explore valuable to VMware customers?

One word, networking. After attending the past 14 VMworld/VMware Explore, I still believe the most valuable part of the conference is for our customers to connect, share and learn amongst their peers. For me, the insightful conversations that I have had with our customers and partners is what I most look forward to at VMware Explore.

Our customers also have the unique opportunity to get access to the numerous product managers, designers, and engineers to discuss their in-depth challenges directly with the folks building the products and services. You won’t find this much VMware brain power at any other event in the industry.

2. What innovations are you most looking forward to learning about this year?

I am really excited about the work that we are doing at the Edge, especially with Project Keswick. Running at the Edge, especially at scale, presents a number of interesting challenges from provisioning to monitoring to the management of both the infrastructure as well as the application deployments. I don’t know what the Keswick team has in store for VMware Explore, but definitely keep an eye out for this project!

With the explosion of new AI powered applications, organizations must quickly understand and adapt their business to this new AI world. The Infrastructure that IT provides has never been more critical and I am looking forward to hearing about the new VMware platform innovations that will enable our IT Admins to provide the best platform for building and running new AI workloads to meet the new business demand.

3. Can you give us a brief description of what your session/sessions will cover at VMware Explore?

I am super excited for my breakout session this year as I get to deep dive on a topic that I am very passionate about, which is VMware Home Labs. Whether you’re building your first lab environment or looking to explore some of VMware’s newest offerings such as vSphere+ or VCF+, there will be something for everyone, you definitely will want to sign up early!

In addition, I will also be participating in the popular Meet the Expert Roundtable and I will be covering Multi and Hybrid Cloud Solutions spanning our various offerings from vSphere, vSphere+, VCF+ and VMware Cloud on AWS to just name a few. Customers can bring their burning technical questions and this is also a fantastic way for attendees to learn from each other in a more intimate setting.

Finally, I have also partnered up with our VMUG organization and I will be doing an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) style session at the VMUG booth in The Expo floor. This is another opportunity to chat if you are unable to make the sessions above or just want to drop by and say Hi!

4. What is something you think someone new to VMware Explore should know before going to the event?

If this is your first VMware Explore, it can certainly feel overwhelming with the information overload. You might feel that you need to fully book up your schedule and attend as many breakouts as you can. You do not. All sessions will be recorded and available to watch after the conference.

What is not available after the conference are the people. Try to balance the number of breakouts you attend and network with as many people as you can. If you are not comfortable with starting a conversation in a larger crowd, drop by The Expo floor or the community lounges to find a small group or even an individual to start a quick chat and see what you might learn.

Lastly, remember to take a break, both physical and mental. Walk outside to get some fresh air and make sure to stay hydrated!

5. What do you gain, as a speaker, from attending VMware Explore?

As a regular speaker at VMworld/VMware Explore, my participation is not only focused on sharing information but also actively learning from our attendees. Through the many conversations in the past, I have been able to gain new insights and perspectives that I can then advocate on behalf of our users as we develop new products and services at VMware. Some of the technical challenges that our customers share is also an education opportunity where I can provide the latest techniques and best practices on tackling some of these challenges, which typically will result in future blog posts that I can share more broadly with our VMware community. Every time I leave the conference, I always come away with a sense of excitement for all the amazing things that our customers are doing with our products and services and the impact it has made across all industries and segments.

Gain valuable insights that could impact the trajectory of your organization.

Make sure you check back each week for the upcoming interviews, and don’t wait another minute! Register now for VMware Explore 2023 Las Vegas so that you can maximize value for your business and learn from industry-leading experts in one convenient location.