MSPs Prepare for VMworld 2009
Managed services and virtualization. The two have been converging for several years. But even I’m surprised by all of the MSP-oriented activity that will likely occur at VMworld 2009 (Aug. 31-Sept. 3, San Francisco). Here are some initial thoughts.
Let’s start with the basics: Vendor involvement. Many of the companies MSPmentor tracks — Asigra, Azaleos, Catbird, ConnectWise, Rackspace, and so on — plan to exhibit at VMworld. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. MSPs and their software providers are seeking to blend on-premise and cloud offerings. And increasingly, those cloud or SaaS (software as a service) applications need to be virtualized.
I’m also curious to see if the desktop virtualization theme continues at VMworld 2009. In recent days, I’ve heard from a range of technology companies (and a few MSPs) that are involved in desktop virtualization partner programs.
I’ve heard from a few readers who plan to attend VMworld. If you’re among them please tell me more. What are you hoping to research at the conference? And what role will virtualization play in your business for the rest of 2009 — and beyond?
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Joe,
Alteritech will be attending the conference this year.
Virtualization is at the core of our service offerings, we provide over 40% of our customers with a dedicated virtual hosting environment from our datacenter and this percentage increases on a monthly basis. We also build and manage our customers on premise virtual environments.
We’ll specifically be looking at VMWare’s View product, Cloud OS, and datacenter management. Our roadmap includes launching a desktop as a service solution based on VDI later this year. We currently provide this service via terminal services.
Will you be attending?
Nick: Thanks for sharing a bit about your virtualization interests.
I’m still not sure if I’m going to attend VMworld. There’s a chance I may instead attend Red Hat Summit (Chicago) the same week plus we have some things brewing at Nine Lives Media Inc. that could force me to stick closer to my home office.
Let me know what you spot at VMworld.