Updates from VMware Partner Exchange 2013 - Day 2
The following updates from Day 2 of VMware Partner Exchange 2013 arrive courtesy of Xand Senior Vice President of Technology Denoid Tucker. Take it away, Denoid!
Live Updates from VMware Partner Exchange – Day 2
By Denoid Tucker
Day 2 of the general conference session brought out the two top VMware executives to talk about the focus for VMware in 2013, starting with newly appointed VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger. Pat kept it pretty high-level and boiled the agenda down to three major initiatives: The Software Defined Data Center, Hybrid Cloud, and End-User Computing.
The “Software Defined Data Center” is a term hot on VMware’s lips this year. Pat describes it as essentially abstracting the fundamental components of the data center-- compute, storage, and network—and then “pooling” those resources to be used across differing workloads, with the end goal of then ultimately automating the delivery and management of those resources.
“Hybrid Cloud” as VMware defines it is their ever-expanding support for the management and integration of other Cloud platforms running alongside VMware products. With VMware’s acquisition of DynamicOps back in July of last year, they now have the ability to provision Cloud services between different hypervisors and Public Cloud providers. The rebranded solution is now called vCloud Automation Center. Based on the features and functionality of the product, vCloud looks to be solidly in line with VMware’s vision for fully managing the entire Cloud ecosystem.
“End User Computing” is VMware’s expanded version of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to include all kinds of devices, including smartphones and tablets, to create an end-to-end platform for workforce mobility. With their newly renamed group of products called Horizon Suite, VMware continues to expand it focus beyond virtualizing desktop environments, with the aim of offering users access anywhere, anytime, and on any device. I believe this will revolutionize the way we all work and interact with the applications we use on a daily basis. Horizon promises to extend the same accessibility that our personal, social, and entertainment mobile apps provide today to enterprise environments. The platform itself is not the end of the discussion, however. The success of End User Computing success will ultimately rely on the end-user’s experience. If not designed, deployed, and managed properly the new suite could create frustration with end-users.
Next up was VMware President and COO Carl Eschenbach. Carl launched right into the numbers and really got the assembled partners fired up about the market opportunity in 2013. Carl reiterated throughout his talk that 85% of all VMware sales come from partners like Xand, and has held steady at that level for several years with no indicators of changing in the future. Eschenbach shared some other interesting statistics as well:
- VMware’s bookings were up 40% from Q3 to Q4 2012.
- They are experiencing 22% Y/Y revenue growth.
- The Managed Services market will grow to $41.5 billion in 2013.
Carl tied these numbers to the fact that VMware sells almost no services to end customers, counting on service providers to provide this role to end-users. VMware continues to be primarily interested in license revenue. Carl also emphasized that the push to the complete Software Defined Data Center resided squarely in the hands of the partner base—VMware is counting on partners to make this future a reality, and their opinion is that the future is bright.
That’s it for today. I will get into some technical details around virtualized storage, sizing and performance pitfalls for high-performance Clouds, and End User Computing later this week.
Denoid Tucker is Xand’s Senior Vice President of Technology.