The day has finally come where over 4,000 VMware partners and executives, in over 80 countries around the globe, gather together and Dare to Thrive in this ever growing and evolving high tech industry.
General Session Highlights
Day 1 of Partner Exchange 2015 began with a General Session keynote led by VMware President and COO, Carl Eschenbach. He touched on how important you, our partners are to VMware and drove home the point that partners are not an extension of our sales force, but instead, are our sales force. It is critical that in today’s fast paced industry we continue to “dare” one another to be disruptive.
VMware’s CEO Pat Gelsinger then took center stage and spoke about the idea of bridging two worlds—the client-server era to the mobile-cloud era in a city that is known for it’s bridges. He talked about being brave, and again, brought back the idea of Brave New IT –optimized for rapid development and delivery of all applications, for safe consumption of any device. The new model of IT is instant, fluid and secure. Next, he spoke about the ingredients for the Software-Defined Data Center. Have a look at VMware’s Architecture for IT below.
Following Mr. Gelsinger came Bill Fathers, VMware EVP & GM of Cloud Services, Raghu Raghuram, VMware’s EVP and GM of the Software-Defined Data Center, and finally Sanjay Poonen, VMware’s EVP and GM of End-User Computing. Each gave a 5-minute elevator pitch and spoke to their line of business.
It wasn’t long before Dave O’Callaghan, VMware’s SVP, Global Channels & Alliances, and Todd Surdey, VMware’s VP of Strategic Alliances & Emerging Markets, joined Carl and took a deep dive into how VMware is evolving our Selling Motions and Targeted Selling through Power Plays. Carl closed by telling everyone that in 2016, Partner Exchange will become a Partner Business Summit for Business Leaders.
Getting Social
The day continued with the Solutions Exchange and partners visiting the Social Media Rally Station where they learned how to take their social and online profiles to the next level and start better engaging with their audience. If you have yet to do so, be sure to check it out tomorrow from 10am-4pm PST in the Foyer of Moscone West, Level 2.
Launches & News
No Partner Exchange would be complete without a list of exciting launches and news. Check out the exciting Software-Defined Data Center news that came out yesterday, and learn more about the new programs & new and updated solution competencies that launched today.
Day 1 continued with VMware Boot Camps, Hands-on Labs, New Route-to-Market Keynotes, Breakout sessions and an Executive Forum and Global Awards. Congrats to our partner winners!
This first day of Partner Exchange was nothing short of fantastic. The air was buzzing with great ideas, collaborations, and high-touch opportunities with VMware executives. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store.
See you at General Session keynote!
The VMware Partner Network Team
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