Win A Free VMworld Pass From boche.net

June 6th, 2010 by jason Leave a reply »

6-6-2010 12-31-26 PMThe economy has been rough.  Individuals and businesses have felt the impacts in various ways.  Reduction of income or revenue.  Increased operational expenses.  Reduction in valuation of homes or assets.  Downsizing of staff.  The slashing of budgets, including training, conferences, and travel.  Those who are in verticals which tail economic trends by a year or two will begin feeling the impacts soon.

As a reader of this blog, you already know VMworld 2010 in San Francisco is just a few months away.  If you’re like me, you’re wondering “How am I going to get there this year?”  Due to the reasons I’ve outlined above, details are sketchy on whether or not you’ll get to go.  Management says “Ask again in August, we’ll let you know.”  It doesn’t sound promising.  Or maybe you’ve already been told “It’s just too expensive given the economy, sorry.”

boche.net would like to help.  If you can get yourself to the door of the Moscone Center, boche.net will get you in.  This is a $1,895 value if you were to purchase a conference pass at the door.  There is no purchase necessary for this contest other than your own T&E (transportation, hotel, van down by the river, etc.)  On Friday June 18th, 2010, one random and lucky winner who has followed the contest rules completely (detailed below) will be revealed.

The intent here is not to save a company money.  Rather, to make the difference between someone going to VMworld versus not going.  Therefore, I would appreciate it if entries would be limited to those who do not already have budget approval for the VMworld conference pass.  At the same time, should you win, you owe it to yourself and the other contestants to follow through and attend the conference.  It would be a shame for the pass to go to waste.  Perhaps another blogger or vendor would like to co-sponsor airfare or hotel for the winner.  Consider this an open invitation for co-sponsorship.

Be sure to read the VMworld 2010 FAQ so that you thoroughly understand the conference logistics, ensuring you are an eligible candidate to attend.

Update 6/6/10: I’m happy to announce that Gestalt IT has graciously offered to pay for the airfare.  In addition to the VMworld conference pass, Gestalt IT will provide the winner with round trip airfare, up to $500.  All we ask in return is that the recipient provide a post-VMworld write-up of what they learned from attending the conference.  This could be a written document, a blog post, a video, you choose.  Thank you Gestalt IT for your donation!

Contest Rules:

  1. Post one comment/reply and only one comment/reply to this blog article below.
    • Include your first and last name.
    • Provide a valid email address when completing the comment form.
    • Include a short bio about yourself and how you use VMware currently or how you would like to leverage VMware products.
    • Include three (3) things you are looking to gain from attending VMworld 2010 (ie. Why do you want to go?)
    • Contest entry must be recieved by noon CST Thursday June 17th, 2010.
  2. One (1) random winner will be chosen Thursday evening June 17th, 2010.
    • Winner will be contacted via email address provided above.
    • Winner will recieve a VMworld 2010 San Francisco conference pass.
    • Winner will receive airfare up to $500 from Gestalt IT.
    • Winner will provide a post-VMworld write-up of what they learned from attending the conference to Gestalt IT.
  3. Contest results will posted Friday June 18th, 2010.
  4. The conference pass is non-transferrable and non-refundable.
  5. Hotel, meals, and other expenses are not covered by boche.net.
  6. No purchase necessary.

Good Luck!

Update 6/17/10: 

WooHoo!

A name has been randomly drawn and we have a winner! Congratulations to contest winner Greg Stuart who will be receiving a VMworld 2010 conference pass and round trip airfare (up to $500).  Greg’s winning entry and BIO is listed below:

I currently work for an organization that has begun to leverage VMware more and more. I’m new to virtualization and would like to gain a better knowledge of the VMware products, attend some hands on sessions and come back with solutions that I can employ in our environment. The ability to discuss scenarios and solutions with vendors in person would be awesome.

I’m pleased with the outcome of the contest.  Greg is new to virtualization and I think there is a lot of valuable information he will be able to pick up at VMworld.  Better yet, VMworld is a 4 day event this year – Monday thru Thursday instead of 3 days as it was prior years.  This affords Greg the opportunity to take in a whole extra day of content.

Thank you to all who participated in the contest including Gestalt IT for contributed the round trip airfare.  Although there could ultimately be only one grand prize contest winner, my hope is that you all will make the show this year somehow.  There are nearly 90 comments/replies to this post explaining the values which VMworld can provide. Much of this content could be borrowed to write or improve your own compelling justification, hopefully earning you a trip to VMworld.

Everyone have a great weekend!

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No comments

  1. Rob Markovic says:

    Greetings, @vRobM here.. believe it or not, I’ve never made it to a VMworld yet, so here’s my chance!
    I use VMware bits to test new OS-es and applications, as well as try to install ESX/i on hardware not on the HCL 🙂
    I’d like to go because I’ve never made it in the past, want to meet up with all of you, and see how everyone else is cleverly using the products.

    Cheers

  2. Ooh! Can I (Christopher Kusek) enter this contest in how VMware has (or will) allow me to leverage Virtualization in the internets and the world? I mean, I’m not saying I’m looking to gain insight into CLOUD COMPUTING, or the Journey to a VDI DEPLOYMENT, nor how to make my APPLICATIONS THIN enabling further flexibility….

    But If I were… That might be a reason to attend 🙂

  3. I’m currently a virtualisation specialist for a global accountancy firm running a 2000+ VM estate of mixed 3.5 and 4 hosts.
    I’d like to go to the US VMworld as
    1) There are a lot of the EcoSystem Partners that choose to only attend the US conference
    2) I’d like to get some face to face time with AME based members of the Vmware communitee
    3) I want to be able to do my first conference blog from the largest worldwide VMware conference.

  4. Heiner Hardt says:

    I work as consultant in a business partner for HP and VMware. My focus is on several projects involving consolidation and virtualization environments. I have certifications like VCP, MCSE, and HP AIS and ASE.
    In this Vmworld I´m looking for more skills about new features in Vsphere platform, understand better the VDI platform and improve my knowledge in some concepts of the engineering of Vmware products.

  5. My name is Gert Van Gorp,
    I am on VMware WS since 2000, GSX / ESX since 2003. Since 2 years also VCI. I get best out of both worlds, doing training and doing consultancy (design / rollout) VCP2 -3 4
    Reasons to go to VMworld,
    1. Learn more on new releases and doing labs
    2. Learn more about new products in the vEco system from third party vendors
    3. networking with fellow vmware specialists.

    Greetings

    Gert

  6. Rob Patrick says:

    I work as a sys admin global energy company. Currently I am working towards 100% virtualization in my local DC.

    From Vmworld I will be looking to gain information on how new Vmware products could help my company on a global scale, gain more information on utilizing View for a VDI infrastructure and further my overall knowledge of the current Vmware platform in order to help me attain the VCAP-DCA certification.

  7. Thanks Jason for giving someone a chance to attend VMworld 2010.
    I work for an International manufacturing company, as their North America VMware admin. VMware was first deployed at my data center in Bartow, FL and has become an example for our global data centers.
    1) VMworld would expose me to a number of products that may help us better utilize our limited IT budget.
    2) Based on the VMworld session voting, it looks like there will be a lot of amazing content to absorb and share with others
    3) This would finally give me an opportunity to meet the most respected people in the industry. Especially those that I follow on Twitter.

  8. I’m *not* entering as I’ve already got an entry, but I just want to say this is a great thing you’re doing.

  9. I’m a 10 mile wide / 10 foot deep sysadmin in the (really) SMB arena. Virtualization, specifically VMware has been a valuable technology in my current position for the past several years. It is one of the areas I have reasonable depth with and thoroughly enjoy as well!

    1) I enjoy learning and translating large business / enterprise concepts to small business reality.
    2) Staying current on virtualization technologies and product roadmaps.
    3) Meet and interact with other virtualization professionals.

    Thanks for the drawing!

  10. I work as a SysAdmin at the University of Northern Iowa in the Network Services department. We’d been using ESXi internally for several of our own servers, but I just finished building out a larger system to use University-wide, so we’re really just getting into a “serious” deployment now. I completed my VCP on May 7, and am trying to cram as much knowledge into my brain as possible this summer.

    As for VMWorld, I’d probably most love to spend some time getting real-world advice from people who have been running Vsphere as a service, and gather a lot of best practice information that I can use. I’d really like to get some hands-on time in the labs with some of the features we haven’t licensed, so I can try to get that Enterprise Plus upgrade sold to management. As I’m also the “backup guy”, I’d really like to spend some time looking at data protection in a VM environment. Last, but certainly not least, I’m dying to spend a few days in rooms with people smarter than me, letting me sponge off their knowledge!

    Thanks for doing this, by the way! I’ve been scratching my head to see if I could come up with the money to get to VMWare, and I could definitely cover the hotel and travel, but the conference fee was going to hurt too much! And good luck to everyone who enters!

  11. Nick Weber says:

    Hello,

    I’m a IT professional for a global manufacturing company. We have been using VMWare for a few years now and currently 90% vitalized in our WinTel environment.

    Currently we backup our current environment and and replicate the backups off-site. We want to re-architect our VMWare DR environment and implement vCenter Site Recovery Manager. We also slowly started to do some research on VDI for the business, an now we want to implement more automation via PowerShell. If I attended VMWorld this year these would be my top ares of interest.

    Again:

    1. vCenter Site Recovery Manager
    2. VDI for the business
    3. PowerShell automation

    Thanks

    Nick

  12. Dwayne says:

    Hello

    I am regional manager for Data Centre Operations for Health Region in Canada. We have over 500 VDI desktops and have our server enviroment virtulaizied. I looking for more ways to intergate VMware and Health care to help improve patient time to care.

    I would like to go for:

    1) Healthcare -VDI
    2) Network with companies like GE, Cerner and EMC’s of the world
    3) Investagate Cloud Stragety between all Health Regions to form a better EMR.

  13. jason says:

    Just a quick note to the many people who have already entered the contest – Gestalt IT has been added as a sponsor of this contest and will be providing airfare for the winner in return for a post-VMworld write-up. Contest rules have been updated accordingly. As a result of the dynamic change of the rules, if you wish to opt out or remove yourself from the contest before the drawing, please let me know via email: jason at boche dot net. Hopefully that is not the case.

  14. David O'Connor says:

    Hey Jason!

    I am currently a VCI and practice as an active trainer and consultant (about 40/60), working out of .au

    Attending VMWorld would be a great opportunity to pick the brains of some of the vExperts and vmware ninjas in person and ask the questions that always arise when you listen to the sessions afterwards then and there.
    Like I tell my students, the real value of live events is the networking and interaction with others who are doing similar things as you but with the different perspectives you just dont get in your own situation.

    thanks for the opportunity – and best of luck to everyone else going for the grab 🙂

    David.

  15. Hello,

    I am a VCP and I’ve been using VMWare since ESX 2.5 and loving it every day! Currently I am managing the infrastructure for a romanian bank with 200VMs and planning to implement VDI.

    There are many reasons I would like to go: meet with the super bloggers like you, get the opportunity to talk to the presenters, learn about new View features, take a discounted VCAP exam, etc.

  16. Jon Kohler says:

    Hey, this is Jon Kohler (@JonKohler). I am a Systems Engineer / VCP4 at Competitive Computing in Colchester, VT. I am working on two major VMware projects currently, one being a district wide ESXi implementation / upgrade from 3.5 for a school district here in VT as well as a massive View 4.0 deployment at a large financial institution (as well as providing AdHoc VMware support during the process). I have been looking forward to going to VMworld all year; however, the budget to do so recently got yanked and I am one of many unlucky ones who gets to sit the bench this year.

    I am extremely passionate about VMware’s product offerings as well as future direction / vision. I was looking forward to going to all of the wonderful sessions I have seen posted up for approval, meeting others who are passionate and knowledgeable about VMware’s products (No VMUG’s in Vermont and we are one of the few VMware partners in the area), as well as attempting to suck up as much knowledge as I possibly can as I plan to be submitting my VCDX application in August and (hopefully) sitting for the defense in November. I am also interested in picking up as much PowerShell scripting / automation as possible.

  17. Tom Becchetti says:

    Jason,
    After all of these years working with VMware, My companies that I have worked for have never had the budget to send me to VMworld. At VMworld I hope to learn new advancements in VMware, increase my network of VM experts and see what new products vendors have to offer for VMware. Please enter me in your contest.

    TB

    P.S. Great blogs!

  18. I currently manage a television production environment and would like to learn more about how vmware could improve our testing and rollouts for new software or technology.

    I would like to learn about virutalization products, network, and discover ways to implement virtual servers in our current infrastructure.

  19. Jamie Orth says:

    Awesome contest Jason!!!

    As an employee in providing I.T. support and guidance to banks and credit unions over the past 20 years I am truly amazed at what VMware has allowed in just the past few years.

    Located in Central Florida (think Hurricanes) and being a regulated industry (FDIC, NCUA, OCC, SEC – just to name a few) one of the most importing things in this industry is Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. Virtualization has changed the game in that regards.

    My current company started late in the game with ESX 3.5 although I have been using since the 2.x days. We currently are on vSphere, have 2 datacenters, and use SRM. We are testing View for different business units as well.

    Why would I like to go to VMWorld?
    1) I have never had the chance to go….seems either job turnover (think bank merger) or the economy (not allowed any conference on the west coast) has been a factor…
    2) I am active in both the Tampa and Orlando VMUG and would love to report back on the experience.
    3) Getting to meet some of my peers, along with some of the vendors I have dealt with over the years.
    4) More education about VMware!!! Whats coming out, hands on with products we dont have, etc!!!
    5) SWAG? Parties? ( ok, I have only read about this, but hey, why not have some fun as well!!)

    OK, thats more than 3…..

    Thanks again for the opportunity Jason and Gestalt IT!

    Regards,
    Jamie Orth
    jamie.orth@pefcu.com

  20. We currently are have 15 physical host (10 for production servers, 3 at DR site and 2 for VDI) running almost 200 VMs of some sort of fashion. Our community college is facing a huge reduction in state funding for the next couple years. I am looking for new and/or more efficient ways to leverage our VMware infrastructure to help save us some $$ so our staff does not get cut to deeply.

  21. My name is Kevin Houston and I run a blog called BladesMadeSimple.com. I’ve been in the IT industry for 13 years focused on servers and virtualization. My goal with my blog is to help make blade servers “simple.” I’m finding that virtualization on blade servers is becoming more of an interest for users. My full-time job (non-related to my blog) is running a virtualization practice for a Solutions Provider so I use VMware Workstation to demo how VMware works. (I have ESX inside a VM on VMware Workstation.)

    At VMworld I hope to:
    1) partner up with vendors to learn more about how to enhance virtualization on blade servers
    2) learn more about virtual solutions, like Virtual Desktops, that may be a better fit on blade servers
    3) I hope to network with other VMware professionals who are experts in virtualization so I can understand what has worked for their environments.

    Thanks for the opportunity!

  22. David Hurst says:

    Great contest. Thanks for the opportunity.
    I am a network architect for a mutli-state general contractor. I have designed and manage two data centers. I am currently running virtual servers on a blade infrastructure with NAS as storage on ESX 3 and VIC 2 in both datacenters. I have virtualized several application servers, file servers, and SQL servers. I have a virtualized Documentum system that I manage. I run VMware Workstation on my desktop with several test/development networks and systems.
    I am currently planning and working on upgrading our ESX and VIC to vCenter.
    We are also looking at implementing VDI and looking at VMware for this.
    My goals would be to gain more info about vCenter to prepare out systems and to plan hardware upgrades in our datacenters, to learn more about VDI, and to network with the experts and other attendees.
    My company permits me to attend one conference each year. I recently attended EMC World but would really like to attend VMworld to enhance my skills in this area.

  23. Nico Müller says:

    Hey there,

    I’ve been involved in Virtualization projects since 2006, currently operating over 200 VMs on 8 vSphere-Hosts across 2 locations in Germany. Hence we’re currently heading towards a VDI implementation, I’d like to attend the Desktop Virtualization track (1), exchange experiences with other so called “Virtualization Evangelists” (2) and hopefully there’ll be a another Golden Gate Brigde VMRun, which would be (3) 🙂

    Bye and good look to everyone!

    Nico

  24. Eric Krengel says:

    Hello,
    I am currently a Systems Engineer working for a smaller company, that has about 8 hosts at 2 different locations. Each location has their own NetApp storage. I want to attend VMworld because:
    – To learn the latest and greatest of what’s out there, and best practices
    – More information on deploying a VDI environment
    – Networking with other Engineers and VM experts

  25. Mike Lowe says:

    I use fusion on my laptop and my employer, a large university, runs all of our enterprise services on it. When we moved into our new data center last fall, we didn’t move any hardware, we just bought the scheduled replacements and migrated.

  26. Sean Massey says:

    Hello. Thank you for the great opportunity.

    I am currently a systems administrator for a global manufacturing company. We currently don’t do a lot with VMware.

    On the business side, I have used VMware products in the past to consolidate servers in my data center, test new operating systems, and deploy applications that were not supported on 64-bit operating systems.

    Outside of the business world, I run a server utilizing VMware’s free products in my own personal test lab. This lab has been part of my effort to finish some Microsoft certifications and learn about other operating systems.

    I would like to go to VMworld to:
    1. Network with other VMware professionals
    2. Learn more about the available and upcoming products so I can convince my employer to take a closer look at virtualization.

  27. Shawn Molnar says:

    I’m a Linux Sysadmin for a company with over 230 stores, we have 12 ESX boxes hosting close to 200 windows and linux servers in our test and production environments. I’m relatively new to ESX since I started this job, so what I’d like to do at VMworld:
    1) Learn how to maximize the potential of our virtualizing hardware.
    2) Learn about other up and coming products to help our virtualization strategy.
    3) Network with other VMware professionals.

  28. Brian Andersen says:

    I’ve been involved in virtualization for the past 2-3 years and currently am working in the financial space in Chicago. My current company uses no virtualization, but I’m working on it!

    I went last year and really enjoyed myself. I’d like to 1) spend a lot of time on the show floor learning about the products to make managing easier (especially now that vSphere and the new APIs have been out a year), 2) attend as many labs as possible to learn more about features I use very little, and 3) interact with other people who love VMware.

  29. I work at a mid size company that’s really taken to Virtualization. Instead of doing more with less, we have been able to do much more with the same. I am one of two unix/vmware admins, and one of a small 6 person core IT group. Outside of work, I enjoy traditional film photography as a low-tech hobby, developing my own film and printing in a darkroom.

    Most of my time is spent managing Lab Manager. Our embedded systems group uses it extensively for automated software testing, as well as their corresponding QA organization. This year we are adding multiple LM system support to our build/test system and expanding access to our IT and Desktop Software groups for self-service VM service. Lab Manager is becoming an internal IT cloud engine for us. We plan to use multiple installs of Lab Manager for availability, since it is becoming a key component in our software engineering process.

    The things I am looking to get out of VMworld: (1) More Lab Manager user contacts to bounce ideas off of, (2) Ideas for front-ending VMware infrastructure, synchronizing templates, and ways to make LM more scalable and available as a service, and (3) learn about and see real-world examples of other VMware products to see how much more we can get out of our IT infrastructure. I’ve been focused on LM for so long I want to see what innovation is being done elsewhere.

    Cheers,
    Jason

  30. Steve Beaver says:

    Hi my name is Steve Beaver and I am a virtualization addict. They say the road to recovery is to first admit you have an addiction, but I really get alot of enjoyment from my addiction and I do not think it is harmful to my health. I get a chance to design and deploy some really cool virtualization concepts and really enjoy the concept that with VMware virtualization there are so many things that you can do that if you really get the chance to think outside of the box that there is really no solution that would not work virtualized on VMware. This and automation for the virtual environment has been my addiction for what seems like a blink of an eye back to the ESX 1.x days.

    This is my first year not really having company support to attend the conference and the things I look forward to getting from the conference are the networking with all the truly brilliant people in the industry as well as seeing all the new and exciting products and services that are out and or coming out. Lastly this is the best area to learn new tricks of the trade from the brilliant people I mentioned earlier that are willing to stand up and share the knowledge and passion for virtualiztion.

  31. I would love to meet co-workers in the field. We don’t have such a conference in the area of holland. I am working with vmware view and esx and would love to attend

  32. Matt Lorimer says:

    I’ve been using VMware ESX since 2.5, and administering it the last 2 years. Currently I administer ~60 ESX hosts and ~300 guests. We are working on a POC of View. If I make it to VMworld, I would like to learn more about troubleshooting tactics, howto setup/configure View and learn more about best practices and tips/tricks.

    @jasonboche @GestaltIT – Thanks for doing this contest.

  33. Natalie Lind says:

    I work for a small insurance company in CA as a systems admin. A couple years ago we began the virtualization of our datacenter. This process has done wonders for the company’s growth. However, we began this process with little to no training and have found things out the hard way. By attending VMworld, I hope to learn about best practices and upcoming products. Desktop virtualization is on the horizon for my company and I would like to know best practices for performance and reliability. In that same vein, I am also interested in learning more about ThinApp. Finally, I would like to know more about the disaster recovery products VMware offers. A coworker of mine won a free-pass to VMworld last year and the knowledge he brought back significantly helped our datacenter. I hope that this year will be no different.

  34. Hi,

    As a Vmware Certifed Instructor and vExpert it is tough not to have the chance to go to vmworld this year in San Francisco.

    What I want from vmworld is 1) networking 2) see all of the great sessions and 3) go through the solutions exchange to see all of the cool products from upcoming vendors.

  35. Jim Guinn says:

    Our company currently uses ESX/ESXi in all its offices for consolidation and HA. We are looking at a Vsphere migration soon. I hope to learn the best practices for this and all the new features of Vsphere. We also would like to learn more in the labs or thru networking for a better way to maintain/update a DR site. The labs I feel would be invaluable to learn all the latest tools & options from VMware. I have not been able to attend VMworld and this year we had no money in our budget.

  36. Adam Lund says:

    I work for a medium sized retail store chain as a Systems Administrator. We are currently in a testing phase of VMWare.

    My reasons to go to VMworld,
    1. Learn more on new releases
    2. Learn more on Desktop Virtualization
    3. Networking opportunity for virtualization contacts

  37. Eric Wahl says:

    I manage 1400 vm’s in a 3.5 environment. we are migrating to a 4.0 and would like to learn more about migration strategies and problems. I have never been to VMworld and would like to opportunity to go.

  38. Kory Mohr says:

    Hi there. I work for a private non-profit K-12 school where we have a vSphere deployment on three ESX servers. We’re expanding to a fourth server this summer as well as planning a conversion to ESXi. In addition, we’re heavily evaluating View 4 for our middle and upper school libraries as well for replacing aging workstations throughout our Administrative department. I’m the school’s Network & Systems Administrator, having completed the Fast Track coursework and studying for my VCP4 certification.

    I’d like to gain the following from VMworld:

    1. How to most efficiently and cost-effectively utilize VDI in an academic environment.
    2. How to make the best use of our various capacities from storage to host utilization and performance, etc.
    3. Various methods of backing up and archiving VMs and data.

  39. Jiri Kucirek says:

    Hi Jason,
    Thank you for the great opportunity.
    I’m currently a virtualization engineer for a global logistics company running a 2000+ VM on 150 vsphere hosts. With VMware product I’m working for 12 years (I started with ESX 1.0 :-))
    1.) VMworld would expose me to a number of products that may help us better utilize our IT budget
    2.) Staying current on virtualization technologies and product roadmaps.
    3.) Find monitoring and reporting software to be able report our large and complicated environment.
    Thanks
    Jiri

  40. sarah johnson says:

    Hi,
    I currently work for a major healthcare company supporting the storage and distribution of medical images in several hundred datacenters across the US, Europe and the pacific rim. With the volume of sites, my role is to quickly make sense of the given topology along with whatever level of detail is provided.
    My goals would be the following:
    (1) Hear some case studies of how other people fixed problems. No pretty marketing powerpoints, I want some sleepless nights behind those slides.
    (2) More about SRM. The best practices and some of the gotchas. Again, the real-er the better.
    (3) Resource management for performance. This is the big one with virtualization for me. How to collect/mine/interpret the data for answers.
    (4) Get me out of my house. I work from home and I get a little (ok a lot) stir crazy.

    Thanks for the opportunity 🙂
    [ ]

  41. Janåke Rönnblom says:

    Great initiative!

    I recently changed jobs and also acquired my VCP4 exam! Im the operations manager in our small company were we provide hosting and services for local companies. We also provide installation and support for VMware on our customers premises. I have been to VMWorld Europe previously but have never been able to go to the US conference due to cost. These are my reasons for going:

    1. meeting and talking to other service providers and fellow users that use VMware products to learn and improve our own processes.
    2. learn more about automation (powershell, tools) since this will enable us to run a smarter and more efficient setup
    3. for all the the great sessions and labs!
    4. meeting vendors and not only VMware VARs but more importantly ex. storage vendors who not all of them come to Europe.
    5. Going to San Fransisco and the famous VMworld party 😉

    -J

  42. Craig Waters says:

    I’m a technical consultant specialising in VMware, in the 3 years I have helped my current customer I have seen IT change for the better, we’ve gone 95% VM, implemented SRM on a DR project that for the last 5 years could not be done, I can upgrade ESX hosts during production time (which means more time for family – thanks VMware!)
    1. Would love to meet some of the big names in the blogasphere
    2. Win a job at VMware / EMC – often I am better informed than the vendors I deal with, batting for the wrong team 🙂
    3. Find out about the latest stuff, attend real technical labs, be ahead of the game back here in Australia.
    Sent from my iPhone

  43. Simon Loftus says:

    I work for a small IT (11 pax) consulting company in Australia, servicing a range of Federal Government and private corporations. My specialist area is definitely VMware’s product range, but am trying to kick-start the storage arm of the business as well. I have been working with and designing solutions utlising the full range of VMware’s product suite for 3+ years.
    It is expensive to fly from Australia on my own ‘dime’ and this opporunity definitely wouldn’t go unappreciated.
    I’d love to attend VMworld –
    – in order to enhance my knowledge across VMware and partner product ranges,
    – utilise VMworld in order to catch up with current and future customers as a pre-sales activity, and
    – ustilise the range of hands-on labs to increase my in-depth knowledge of the product range, especially around View, Cloud and automation and management (Ionix) suites

    Fingers crossed!

  44. Gary Martin says:

    I’m a Systems Adminstrator with a 5 host ESX cluster with around 150 virtual machines. Have some other stand-alone ESX hosts We have Netapp, Cisco infrastructure, Blades (HP) and use FCP, iSCSI and NFS connectivity. Never been to a conference, let alone VMWorld as the company usually put me back in my box after I have performed my task.

    Primarily interested in
    1. SRM (already have Snapmirror at DR site, so need to build the next bit.
    2. Attend labs to see how other are doing it.
    3. Network and talk tech with people who understand what I am saying rather than nodding politely.

  45. Mickey Mouse says:

    If the name is chosen at random, why does the rest matter?

    My name is mickey mouse, and i’m 82 years old, i’ve been in virtualized and advanced technologies for since 1928….

    pick me pick me!!!

    /not to be a jerk, just wondering why i need to spill my guts for it if its picked at random…

  46. Sylvain Huguet says:

    Hi Jason, and thank you for this opportunity you give us!

    I’m a junior IT consultant for an IT services company here in France. My work is to help our customers plan their virtual deployments by assessing their particular needs and designing a custom architecture for them.

    I’ve been interested in the virtualization world, and especially VMware, since 2006 when I’ve been exposed to the joys of GSX server during an internship. Since that time I’ve learn my way around most of the VMware products, as well as acquired my VCP certification.

    Why do I want to attend VMworld 2010 ? Gosh, I so wanted to go to Cannes last year when the european version of the event took place in France, but back then I didn’t have the luxury to take vacancy ! Anyway, this year, with a little bit of help on your part, I’m sure I can be there and take part to “the real thing”.

    I’ve attended other conferences from other vendors and what I like the most is the buzzing activities and feel when you’re in. Everywhere you meet people that have new and fresh ideas and what’s beat ? they are willing to share them with you !

    I’m a full-time learner, I can’t help but try to stay afloat with all the informations regarding VMware and the VMware-ecosystem coming in every day on blogs/twitter/IRC.

    VMworld symbolize all of that, I’m kind of a VMware fan, and will be greatly honored to attend this major event.

    Thanks for giving us a chance !

  47. Nick Fritsch says:

    Jason, first of all, thank you for your blog and your expertise that you choose to share with the IT community.

    I am a System Administrator who manages a 5 host ESX 4.0 environment. I have never had any formal VMware training. The only experience I have is what I gain from using the product and that from which I gained from attending VMworld 2008 and by reading such books as Scott Lowe’s Mastering VMware vSphere 4.

    As already mentioned, we have 5 ESX 4.0 hosts. I also utilize a single ESXi 4.0 host for a test environment. That environment is completely segregated from our production environment and houses it’s own domain controller, exchange server, etc. I also utilize VMware Player for both myself and those users who need an additional workstation for application testing, product development, etc. but don’t want the hassle of a KVM.

    First of all, I want to attend VMworld 2010 to simply gain the experience from being around other professionals, listening to them talk and hearing about real world experiences that others have had. In particular though, we are currently looking into implementing SRM so that would be one area of focus I would concentrate on. Second, we are starting to research a VDI implementation so I would like to get a feel for what that is going to implement from a infrastructure perspective. Finally, I simply want to gain more advanced knowledge of ESX.

    Thanks Jason!