Larik-Jan looks back on VMworld 2019
Earlier this month, several of our colleagues attended VMworld in Barcelona. VMworld is a four-day conference for virtualization and cloud computing, where VMware showcases its new strategy and products. Larik-Jan looks back on VMworld and highlights the most interesting developments presented there. Larik-Jan, CEO of Fundaments: “We have been attending VMworld for years. During this conference, we gain insight into VMware’s strategy and test it against our own. In addition, we are updated on the latest developments and innovations through keynotes, strategic round-table sessions, and hands-on labs.” In recent years, Larik-Jan has seen a clear shift in VMware’s market approach. “It is now much more focused on VMware partners than on end-users. This makes perfect sense, as everyone is looking at the cloud and eventually comes into contact with a cloud partner, such as Fundaments.”
Effective networking
“VMworld offers plenty of networking opportunities. I now know quite a few people within the VMware ecosystem with whom I can spar on a strategic level. Furthermore, there are over 14,000 visitors, so there are plenty of networking opportunities with peers from the Benelux, as well as with suppliers like Cohesity, Zerto, and Dell. You might also just run into potential customers from the end-user segment.”
Project Pacific, Carbon Black, and Public Clouds
“For me, three interesting developments were showcased this year. The first is Project Pacific. With this project, VMware vSphere and Kubernetes come together, transforming vSphere into an optimized, native Kubernetes platform.” When asked what this means for Fundaments, Larik-Jan responds: “In 2020, Fundaments will implement a container platform. On this platform, we can host containers in a way that works well for our ISV customers. It is a logical step to embrace this with the availability of Project Pacific, so we can offer an optimization step for our Kubernetes platform.
In addition, we were told how VMware has embedded the renowned security company Carbon Black into its strategy and products. This acquisition represents the evolution of VMware’s security strategy, where security functions are built into the infrastructure and into workloads, clients, and applications. This is a fantastic development for the ISV market because it allows us to elevate their application environment to a much higher security level. We also help our MSP customers embrace the same security technology so they can offer secure applications to their end customers.
The third development is the increasingly intensive integration with public clouds. A very important step when it comes to multi-cloud solutions on the one hand, but also for the ability to port workloads. This gives us powerful tools to realize everything technically to deploy that porting for a good exit strategy for our customers.”
Festive conclusion
“During VMworld, you are bombarded with a huge amount of information. To extract the right things, exchange visions, and spar, we organized a wonderful Wine & Dine this year. A pleasant and meaningful feedback moment with like-minded people from the cloud world. During these moments, it is good to be able to test what the right solutions are for our customers. Ultimately, it is all about focus and everyone doing what they are best at. Fundaments provides the right tools to achieve that,” says Larik-Jan.
