UK VMUG 2018 Preview

Nov 28, 2018 · 2 min read · vmug vmware #ukvmug ·

In two weeks I’ll be heading up to the annual UK VMware User Group meeting. This year a later VMworld Europe has pushed this conference’s date into Christmas season from it’s usual home in November and, speaking of homes, it’s relocated from the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham to the National Space Centre in Leicester. “The Sky’s the Limit”? – not here.

The Keynotes are going to be held in the museum planetarium and I’ve heard rumours that Joe Baguely, VMware CTO, is pretty excited about the possibilities this could bring to his opening address. At the other end the day VMware’s HCI Chief Technologist Duncan Epping is giving the closing keynote so you can expect even more great tech coverage here.

It doesn’t end there though, with over 40 sessions to choose from on the day plus over 30 ecosystem vendors represented the UK VMUG is often referred to as a mini-VMworld. It’s large enough to have a range of technical depth whilst still covering a breadth of topics. Sessions cover the entire VMware stack, from vSAN to VVols, HCI to VDI, vRealize to NSX, VMs to Containers, and on-premises deployments right through to the public cloud. I always return from this event feeling I have learnt something relevant to my daily role, and something new for the future.

Any good conference starts the night before and this one is no different with it’s vCurry (held in the venue itself) which is usually accompanied by a fiendish vQuiz. Googling on your phone under the table will only get you so far in this one. The vCommunity (who are partly responsible for sticking a v in front of any noun they can) will be out in force there, and right through the event on Thursday.

On the subject of community, in the afternoon I’m talking alongside vExpert Pro Gareth Edwards as we discuss VMware’s global advocacy program; what it involves, the benefits of achieving the award, and how to go about applying to join the current crop of 161 UK vExperts for the 2019 programme.

Checkout the full agenda for more details of this and the other talks.

If you’re reading this before 13th December 2018- Register at the link below, and I’ll see you in Leicester:

https://www.vmug.com/Attend/VMUG-UserCon/2018/UK-VMUG-UserCon-2018