The VMworld Schedule Builder is released for the Las Vegas conference, and if you are registered to attend, you can now begin signing up for your favourite break-out sessions. Simply go to vmworld.com and click on Las Vegas conference link, then look in the left nav for the schedule builder link.
And early bird discount for VMworld Copenhagen is still available until July 29th, so hurry if you plan on going.
Also, the VMworld team is inviting everyone to send in their videos to be used as part of the opening keynote session at VMworld this year. Go to vmworld.com and click on the blue button on the right which says “Be part of the VMworld Opening General Session” to find out how you can participate.
Unless you spent the last 8 days under a rock, you already know that last week we have released a number of new Cloud Infrastructure products, among them vSphere 5, vCloud Director 1.5, vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5, and vShield 5. Our CEO Paul Maritz and CTO Steve Herrod announced the release in a live webcast that was attended by dozens of thousands of people. If you were there, good for you! All the news and a bunch of resources are of course linked front and center on vmware.com
On Facebook, the Fusion team is looking for Beta participants for the upcoming new version. They have also shared a blog post about OS X Lion and its new features. Go to facebook.com/vmwarefusion for more details.
The vCloud team has shared a link to a blog post by Matt Sarrel about how vSphere 5 is setting a new standard in virtualization and cloud computing. You can find it at facebook.com/vmwarevcloud
The VMware View Bootcamp, is in full swing. It started yesterday, and at this point, two videos of the nine-part series have been released. It is not too late to jump on the bandwagon and learn about VMware View technologies. Go to vmware.com/go/viewbootcamp and join in the fun.
And now, a look at the upcoming events in the world of virtualization.
The VMware Forum is in Minneapolis on the 21st, after which it will take a short break until August, at which point it will head over to Colombia. The web page with details is as usual linked from vmware.com homepage – in the grey box that says “VMware Forum 2011” on the lower left.
We have six cool webinars coming up soon, covering a variety of topics from three common misconceptions about SAP virtualization, over transition to ESXi, to Application Modernization in Practice. They all are listed at webcasts.vmware.com
That last webinar I mentioned, about Application Modernization, is definitely the one to put on your calendar if you are working with middleware on a regular basis. This webcast has IDC analysts, a NewEdge data architect, and of course our very own VP of Application Platform, Shaun Connoly. Folks, this will be worth your while.
Our friends at EMC are hosting some live webinars covering EMC solutions for VMware, a couple of them together with our VP of Product Marketing, Bogomil Balkansky. Go check them out at vmware.com/go/emcwebinars
From our community of users, there’s a few cool things coming up too.
First, there’s the drawing to win a free trip to VMworld, with all bells and whistles from vDestination. To enter this contest, post one comment/reply on the blog announcement with:
* Your favorite thing about VMware
* What you look forward to most at VMworld 2011
* And who you hope meet at VMworld 2011
You can find the announcement and the rules of the game on vdestination.com
Also, there is another contest going on to win a trip to Vegas for the VMwold show, and this one is put together by Niketown588.com
In order to enter, you have to email the organizer, and then eight people will be randomly selected to participate in the contest. The contestants then will have to blog about four or so virtual classes that they will have to attend. All eight of them will be flown to the show, where the winner will be announced. All eight contestants will win something, but the main winner will get a little more. The prizes are secret at this point, so I don’t have much more info. Go to niketown588.com to read the full announcement and to enter.
The following VMUGs are meeting over the next seven days: Sydney, Austin, Boise, San Diego, Adelaide, and US-Federal. New England VMUG’s Summer Slammer is tomorrow, and aside from cool talks, there will also be free lobster and steak at the end for all. You can find more details and registration links for all the VMUG meetings at myvmug.org by clicking on “Events.”
