- of
Virtualization Draws Record Crowd to VMworld 2010
by Chris Preimesberger
Welcome to VMware's World
The first thing attendees saw as they obtained their credentials and headed off for the bag room was this '50s-style rest stop.
Swag Loading Zone
New VMware backpacks loaded with goodies, including the usual T-shirts and memory sticks, were to be had here for people with credentials.
Intel's Image of the Cloud
The world's largest chipmaker, Intel, probably portrayed the cloud computing idea best with this large mural at its information booth.
3PAR in the News
Staff members of the California-based utility storage maker, which has been the object of a multibillion-dollar bidding war between Hewlett-Packard and Dell, were eagerly awaiting news as to which company would ultimately end up owning it. They would have to wait for the winning HP $2.4 billion to come in on Sept. 2, Day 4.
Roaring to Go
Storage controller maker Emulex had one of the most interesting booths, with this high-powered off-road bike gaining a lot of attention.
Dell Shows Off SSD Servers
Dell exhibited several of its new solid-state servers at the show.
VMware's Big-Time Road Show
Host VMware showed off its shiny, extra-long 18-wheel touring truck at the show. The trailer is rigged with a living-room style layout for VMware staff members, who travel around North American doing demonstrations of the company's latest technology.
Another View of VMware's Touring Truck
Here's a view of the other side of the big truck, which was a popular place to visit all day long.
Stopping VM Sprawl
F5 Networks' simple message: Use us to control your virtualization deployment.
Choosing the Home Style Approach
Compellent, which makes virtualized storage systems for midrange and small businesses, went with the easy-chair, living-room style booth.
Making Some Virtual Storage News
Compellent CEO Phil Soran (second from right), VMware COO Tod Neilsen (right) and two executives from Heineken Netherlands describe the multinational beer brewer’s new virtualized storage deployment at a live press conference in the main lobby of Moscone South.
Quest a Popular Place
Quest Software, which announced a day earlier that it is serious about entering the virtualization optimization and management space—despite a lot of high-profile competition—was a busy location each day of the show.
Wyse Place to Be
Wyse, which makes virtual desktop and thin client deployment software, also had a huge crowd at its booth for the entire show.
Best VDI Deployment in the Show
That honor went to upstart Kaviza, which has been winning awards quite often lately. The VDI category at VMworld had the largest pool of entrants (about 35) of all categories. From left are Senior Engineer Lars Ehlers, Sales Manager Eulisha James, COO Krishna Subramanian, and CEO Kumar Goswani.
Virtualization Technology News & Reviews 
iPad 3: 10 Design Ideas Apple Should Borrow
10 Hot Tech Products Sure to Fire Up the Market in 2012
iOS, Android App Economy Fuel 500K U.S. Jobs: TechNet
Microsoft's Windows 8 Minimized Ribbon, Sensors Among New Feature[..]
NoSQL Database: 5 Ways to Make It Enterprise-Ready
Facebook IPO: 10 Facts You Didn't Know Before the SEC Filing
See All Slideshows
Plenty of IT events during the last two years have been "ghost towns," in the words of at least one respected IT analyst, Charles King, and he's right. However, this year's seventh annual VMworld conference and expo at San Francisco's Moscone Center belied that image. More than 17,000 people roamed the show floor, crowded technical meetings, and heard VMware executives and their industry partners talk about their technology "road maps" in general sessions. Virtualization continues to be a huge topic of discussion. Following are some snapshots of various parts of the show. (All photos by Chris Preimesberger, eWEEK)