VMworld 2021 is going to happen from October 6-7, 2021 (EMEA). This year you can expect so many sessions and presentations about the options you have when combining different products together, that help you to reduce complexity, provide more automation and therefore create less overhead.

Let me share my 5 personal favorite picks and also 5 recommended sessions based on the conversations I had with multiple customers this year.

My 5 Personal Picks

10 Things You Need to Know About Project Monterey [MCL1833]

Project Monterey was announced in the VMworld 2020 keynote. There has been tremendous work done since then. Hear Niels Hagoort and Sudhansu Jain talking about SmartNICs and how they will redefine the data center with decoupled control and data planes – for ESXi hosts and bare-metal systems. They are going to cover and demo the overall architecture and use cases!

Upskill Your Workforce with Augmented and Virtual Reality and VMware [VI1596]

Learn from Matt Coppinger how augmented realited (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are transforming employee productivity, and how these solutions can be deployed and managed using VMware technologies. Matt is going to cover the top enterprise use cases for AR/VR as well as the challenges you might face deploying these emerging technologies. Are you interested how to architect and configure VMware technologies to deploy and manage the latest AR/VR technology, applications and content? If yes, then this session is also for you.

Addressing Malware and Advanced Threats in the Network [SEC2027] (Tech+ Pass Only)

I am very interested to learn more cybersecurity. With Chad Skipper VMware has an expert who can give insights on how the Network Detection and Response (NDR) capabilities if NSX Advanced Threat Prevention provide visibility, detection and prevention of advanced threats.

60 Minutes of Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) 3rd Edition [MCL1853]

Learn more about NUMA from Frank Denneman. You are going to learn more about the underlying configuration of a virtual machine and discover the connection between the Generapl-Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU) and the NUMA node. You will also understand after how your knowledge of NUMA concepts in your cluster can help the developer by aligning the Kubernetes nodes to the physical infrastructure with the help of VM Service.

Mount a Robust Defense in Depth Strategy Against Ransomware [SEC1287]

Are you interested to learn more about how to protect, detect, respond to and recover from cybersecurity attacks across all technology stacks, regardless of their purpose or location? Learn more from Amanda Blevins about the VMware solutions for end users, private clouds, public clouds and modern applications.

5 Recommended Sessions based on Customer Conversations

Cryptographic Agility: Preparing for Quantum Safety and Future Transition [VI1505]

A lot of work is needed to better understand cryptographic agility and how we can address and manage the expected challenges that come with quantum computing. Hear VMware’s engineers from the Advanced Technology Group talking about the requirements of crypto agility and VMware’s recent research work on post-quantum cryptography in the VMware Unified Access Gateway (UAG) project.

Edge Computing in the VMware Office of the CTO: Innovations on the Horizon [VI2484]

Let Chris Wolf give you some insight into VMware’s strategic direction in support of edge computing. He is going to talk about solutions that will drive down costs while accelerating the velocity and agility in which new apps and services can be delivered to the edge.

Delivering a Continuous Stream of More Secure Containers on Kubernetes [APP2574]

In this session one can see how you can use two capabilities in VMware Tanzu Advanced, Tanzu Build Service and Tanzu Application Catalog, to feed a continuous stream of patched and compliant containers into your continuous delivery (CD) system. A must attend session delivered by David Zendzian, the VMware Tanzu Global Field CISO.

A Modern Firewall For any Cloud and any Workload [SEC2688]

VMware NSX firewall reimagines East-West security by using a distributed- and software-based approach to attach security policies to every workload in any cloud. Chris Kruegel gives you insights on how to stop lateral movement with advanced threat prevention (ATP) capabilities via IDS/IPS, sandboxing, NTA and NDR.

A Practical Approach for End-to-End Zero Trust [SEC2733]

Hear different the VMware CTOs Shawn Bass, Pere Monclus and Scott Lundgren talking about a zero trust approach. Shawn and the others will discuss specific capabilities that will enable customers to achieve a zero trust architecture that is aligned to the NIST guidance and covers secure access for users as well secure access to workloads.

Enjoy VMworld 2021! 🙂