Another VMware Explore has come and gone! Thousands of attendees have headed home from Barcelona ready to implement new strategies, skillsets, and tools for making digital transformation happen.
It’s no secret that converting traditional data centers into virtualized, modernized environments can be a daunting task. In fact, the general session was kicked off by CEO Raghu Raghuram, who discussed what the typical customer’s journey looks like.
Raghu Raghuram speaks from the main stage about moving from 'cloud chaos' to 'cloud smart.' (Credit: VMware)
Most organizations that are racing to keep up with the speed of innovation have quickly discovered that without the right support or tools in place, a multi-cloud strategy can get complex fast. You’re not alone if your IT team has been faced with:
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A persistent lack of skills, not just among developers but also with cloud, site reliability engineers (SRE), and platform technologies
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Weighty enterprise applications that are difficult to modernize
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Fragmented infrastructure that creates inconsistencies from developer experience to the security model
Raghu talked about how VMware takes teams out of “cloud chaos” and into “cloud smart” by helping them build and operate a cloud native platform, accelerate cloud transformation, and empower the hybrid workforce. (In fact, Raghu has written about that journey in detail.) Catch a replay of the general session here.
This past week in Barcelona, we all learned the best ways to:
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Deploy the right cloud for the right app and invest in a unified developer experience
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Run apps in a consistent infrastructure with proper resilience, security, and cost efficiency
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Remove friction for people using many apps (e.g., a traditional datacenter, SaaS, and cloud native)
What else did our attendees see and do at the event?
Learn from firsthand customer experiences
VMware customers brought their digital transformation stories to life and shared how their companies have been propelled forward by implementing cloud smart strategies.
Betty Junod speaks with Drax Group's Mark Leonard at VMware Explore Europe 2022. (Credit: Darin Zook)
During "Key stages in the modern app journey," Mark Leonard, director of IT for Drax Group, spoke with Betty Junod, vice president of modern applications at VMware. Drax Group is a renewable energy company with an ambition to become a carbon negative business. This team was faced with the challenge of merging six companies with divided IT strategies into one well-oiled machine. As Mark said, “If you’re going to save the planet, you need to be getting on with things… we chose Tanzu because it was ready to go.”
With the help of VMware, Drax was able to create what they call the “Drax target architecture,” which includes three hubs: a data hub, an integration hub, and a microservices hub. Mark knew that to be successful they had to move quickly and therefore could not build this themselves. After making the investment with Tanzu, not only did the IT team hit the ground running, but their investment has already come back in just nine short months.
Get the latest from VMware Tanzu: A platform for modern applications
During this session, Betty also introduced some exciting new capabilities just added to the VMware Tanzu portfolio and the efforts that are being made to build a “truly multi-cloud community.” Tanzu for Kubernetes Operation is a solution that is inclusive of VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, VMware Tanzu Mission Control, VMware Tanzu Service Mesh, VMware Image Builder, which all include new enhancements that are helping our customers transform businesses and become digitally smart. Check out what’s new with Tanzu in the recent news rollup blog.
Betty Junod on stage at VMware Explore Europe 2022. (Credit: Darin Zook)
Unify developer and operations teams with VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations
During a packed session called “Bring dev and ops together with Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations,” Darin Zook and Ryan Conley led a powerful discussion about managing complexities and simplifying infrastructure across clouds. As multi-cloud adoption has increased, so has the complexity of managing various cloud properties and infrastructure silos. This has only further enlarged the gap between developer and operations teams as they strive to deliver workloads faster with ease, while also maintaining security and governance standards at scale and across clouds. This session unpacked how Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations can help teams address these challenges by providing a curated platform that eliminates guesswork and helps drive consistent platform operations across the enterprise while providing developers with resources they require at their fingertips.
Darin Zook, Ryan Conley, and Christoph Villnow present about Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations. (Credit: VMware)
Christoph Villnow, a virtualization consultant from ITQ Consultancy GmbH, shared the details of his firsthand experiences using VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations and CloudHealth to address these challenges.
See how it’s done by watching demos
Cindy O’Brien and Antonio Gallego show what's new in Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.1. (Credit: VMware)
All the learnings, announcements, and customer stories wouldn’t be complete without some demonstrations! In “How to simplify Kubernetes operations with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.1,” Cindy O’Brien and Antonio Gallego showed off the latest Cluster API feature, Cluster Class, and Carvel tooling. The audience learned how to reduce the need for redundant templating and how to customize their own clusters.
Make lasting connections with the experts
One of our goals is to ensure our customers are fully supported during each step of their digital transformations. Our team of experts is here to guide you not only at events like VMware Explore, but all of the time!
Hands-on Labs gave attendees a chance to experiment with VMware products. (Credit: VMware)
You can check out VMware Explore 2022 highlights by viewing the following list of our most highly attended sessions at the live event. However, feel free to delve further by watching the replays of all of the sessions.
- Get started with containers, Kubernetes, and Tanzu
- Secure and monitor Kubernetes clusters with VMware Antrea, NSX, and vRealize Network Insight
- Bring dev and ops together with Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations
- Learn what it takes to operate a multi-cloud, Kubernetes-based platform
- How to simplify your Kubernetes operations with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid
- The journey to multi-cloud starts on-prem
- Build a modern Kubernetes platform on VMware Tanzu for 5G: Charge apps with Ericsson
- Domino and VMware Tanzu: How infrastructure virtualization accelerates data science
- Run modern Kubernetes applications with Lumen Edge Private Cloud
Keep in touch
We can’t wait to see you at our next event. In the meantime, stay tuned for the latest news.
