So yeah! That time of year landed again! Time for VMworld 2019. This year it’s back in San Francisco after being in Las Vegas the past 3 years due to remodeling of the Moscone center. I must say, it looks pretty darn sweet now! VMworld was here in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012–2015, 2019. Las Vegas was hosting 2005, 2011, 2016-2018.
The Moscone Center complex consists of three main halls:
- Moscone South is located to the south of Howard Street. It is three stories tall. It opened in 2017, replacing the original Moscone Center building that opened in 1981. A Keith Haring sculpture stands outside the hall at the corner of 5th and Howard streets.
- Moscone North is located to the north of Howard Street.
- Moscone West is a three-level exhibition hall located across 4th Street from Moscone North.
Moscone North and South are connected by a pedestrian bridge over Howard Street, as well as by the underground exhibition hall, which extends far beyond the aboveground structures and beneath Yerba Buena Gardens and the Metreon entertainment center. The massive underground hall has been described as a bunker. Together, Moscone North and South have 504,000 square feet (46,800 m2) of contiguous exhibition space, two ballrooms, 82 meeting rooms, and 107,000 square feet (9,900 m2) of pre-function lobby space.
This year is my first time to San Francisco and was blessed by VMware with a Blogger Pass! Next to that blessed with the company I work for, ITQ, for sending me over together with Johan van Amersfoort. Last year I went to VMworld in Las Vegas and the two years before that I went to the EU versions. But that’s not it! Even took my wife with me this year so she can have a short break before starting her new job!
Day One
For me, day one started at 07:00 picking up my badge! Since I was hit with the bad juju jet lag which was making me clear awake at 03:00 I thought, what the heck, lets badge up 🙂
After this, I went with my wife to see Alcatraz and Pier 39. Had to take in some of this local awesomeness.
Then I returned 14:00 to pick up the vExpert Swag! This was a pretty sweet bag, sticker and a Raspberry Pi 3B! Corey Romero, the vExpert & Advocacy – Manager at VMware did a great job! Thanks Corey!
Went to the Partner General Session at 16:00. Since I also work for a VMware Partner, ITQ, I want and had to be included in this session. Pat Gelsinger, Jenni Flinder and Susan Nash gave us Partners a great update! Fun to hear that Pat buys more companies than Jenni does shoes 🙂
Updates on:
- Partner Connect and that it goes live on 29 February 2020!
- The acquisition of Pivotal and Carbon Black.
- The multi-cloud strategy.
Then the Solutions exchange opened at 17:00 with the Welcome reception. Here you can kick off your VMworld experience which is sponsored by Veeam. Did a stroll over the Solutions exchange and talked to a lot of people I know from the community or other vendors! Was great to see you guys and gals again!
At last, I went to the VMUG Member Party in the SPiN San Francisco. Had a couple of beers with the guys and was great to see Micheal Dell, Sanjay Poonen and Brad Tompkins!