VMworld 2017 in sunny and RIDICULOUSLY HOT Las Vegas has begun!

Seriously, it’s really hot out here, with temperature highs the next three days at 107F!  Thankfully, VMworld is an indoor affair.

Here’s a recap of the opening general session.

• Science fiction is becoming science fact
• The biggest change today is our expectations
• We get bored with newer innovations faster
• Many industries have not digitally transformed.  Retail is only 10% digital as an example.
• VMware’s goal is still to give access to applications on any device, anywhere
• Workspace ONE aimed to be consumer simple, but enterprise secure
• Airwatch is now working closely with HP device-as-a-service offering
• Capital One sees themselves “as a technology company that happens to provide financial services”
• VMware wants to make the cloud easier and seamless
• VMware Cloud Foundation 2.0 to be released
• vSAN is now at 10,000 customers
• DellEMC is releasing VXRACK.
• Run any application in vSphere and move it to AWS, and manage it through VMware.
• Medtronic changed philosophies from being a device company to being a services company.
• Medtronic – “Going into the public cloud is… going into it for the long haul…  There will be good days and bad days.”  Very much worth it though for their goals.
• NSX is what ESX was for VMware’s first 20 years for its next decade.
• Sysco uses NSX for microsegmentation for even their most sensitive workloads.
• Sysco’s CIO was able to build a web server in AWS using VMware’s management software in a virtual data center there in under 4 hours between other tasks.
• Over $100,000,000,000 is spent on security.
• The IT industry has failed on security.  It needs to be rebuilt from the ground up using technologies like NSX.
• We must also go back to the basics with simple principles – least privilege, microsegmentation, encryption, multi factor authentication, and patching.
• VMware helping with federal legislation to improve cyber security.
• We need to ensure good, not chase the bad for better security.
• VMware Appdefense – machine learning to detect when things deviate from good, and automate response.
• IBM Watson will be used in a partnership with VMware Appdefense for analysis and action.
• Good to see American Red Cross and discussions about the devastation of Hurricane Harvey to raise awareness.
• CIO top spending priorities — Cloud, mobile, security