VMworld Europe 2017 - General Session Keynote

I attended my second VMworld this year, which you may find odd as I rarely blog about virtualisation or VMware.  VMware is changing and security is now more apparent in the solutions and roadmap.  

On Tuesday 12th September, we had a General Session Keynote from Pat Gelsinger - VMware CEO.

The VMware vision was similar to the previous year, but there are new partnerships with telcos, moving the telco networks closer to cloud, as well as the growth of IoT.

Gelsinger talked about the mix of devices, applications, and platforms causing the core challenge.  There needs to be anywhere access for people to the applications, but it's complicated.  There is a mass of devices, applications, services and security.

He is only reiterating the challenges securities have been facing for a number of years, with the increase in Shadow IT, less complimentary but highly connected applications, and uncertainty of any associated security.

Workspace One is the solution, grown from AirWatch to supporting iOS, to work with many more operating systems, including Google Chrome.  

MDM (Mobile Device Management) solutions have had to grow into EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) solutions, w here it's no longer just the management of the device, but also the applications, the content, the availability and in my world, the identity and security.

Gelsinger moved to security, highlighting the target has moved form just applications and data, to user infrastructure, including users and devices, but also cloud infrastructure of the network and compute, as these are seemingly under the control of the security team.

The gasps when some of the audience was shocked with this slide, where the security guys have been working with and understanding a number of different areas.  Security people know that security spend is increasing, but the cost of breaches are increasing even quicker.  As Gelsinger says, "your spending more and falling further behind", "something is broken" and "we the tech industry have failed you the customers".  "We need a new approach"

There needs to be move from infrastructure to secure infrastructure.  Security needs to be built in, not an after thought, as I have been saying for a number of years.  There needs to be an integrated ecosystem, leveraging quality solutions and products, where you do not excel.  All of this with cyber hygiene regime. 

I'm glad that a tech giant like VMware is embracing cyber security and embracing the areas, I believe are the most important.  The pillars of cyber hygiene are important for every environment.  

Least Privilege, Micro-segmentation, Encryption, Multi-Factor Authentication and Patching, have been evangelised by security experts for a number of years.  So great to these elements are now considered mainstream.

As expected the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) came up in the keynote, and of course VMware are able to support the regulation by securing the data, automating governance and secure operations.

Gelsinger introduced VMware AppDefense and how it helps the security challenge able to capture, detect and respond.

VMware approach is looking at the security challenges of a business, without the business itself becoming a security expert.

I think it's a very exciting time for a security person to be looking at VMware, and I'm glad I was at VMworld Europe 2017 to see this for myself.

For those unable to attend, the General Session is available to watch here: https://www.vmworld.com/en/europe/video/general-sessions.html (where I also got the screen grabs, as the photos didn't come out so well)

VMworld 2016 Europe - Barcelona

After a number of years of meaning to go, I have finally attended my first VMworld.  As the recent strategy is the incorporate security into VMware solutions, it makes sense that my years in the security field would finally coincide with the virtual world.

I attended with my friend and work collegue, Anthony Poh, who runs this blog dedicated to all things virtual: https://thevirtualunknown.co.uk/

The experience was incredibly valuable from a work front.  VMworld allowed me to meet and engage with some very high level executives, allowing me to honestly share our thoughts, challenges and ideas.  I got the opportunity to attend a number of roundtables with my peers from across the world and understand where they are at.

It also led me to be asked participate in a Q&A session around MTI's strategy and approach to VMware NSX.  It meant going on stage in front of 400-500 people and be quizzed about what we do, which led me to write a LinkedIn post about it: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stage-fright-presence-andrew-tang

My only criticisms about VMworld is the amount of walking between the breakout sessions, Solution Exchange and lunch.  While I'm talking about lunch, it would have been good if there was enough to feed everyone who attended.

Despite these issues, the value from attending outweigh the minor niggles, and I hope to enjoy VMworld Europe again in 2017.

Below is a transcript of my LinkedIn post:

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I've just got back from my first VMworld in Barcelona. I had no idea of the scale, content and knowledge available in one massive conference centre, predominantly around one vendor.

My world has been IT Security for over a decade, with little appreciation that virtualisation is on a completely different scale in IT minds. I would have been very lost were it not for my colleague and friend, Anthony Poh, who is much more experienced in all things VMware and VMworld!

I was asked to attend a Q&A session at one of the Partner Exchange, which turned out to be Accelerate Network Virtualization presented by Rajiv Ramaswami, EVP and GM, Networking and Security at VMware; Dom Delfino, VP of Worldwide Sales and Systems Engineering, Networking & Security at VMware; and Louise Ostrom, VP Network & Security, EMEA at VMware.

I felt like a little known support act to some of greatest artists in the world, worried that what I had to say in front of other partners and vendors wouldn't be of interest and value, but when you get a chance to get your thoughts straight, I realised that MTI had a lot to offer and I was comfortable talking about it on a big stage to an audience of a few hundred people.

The confidence of being on stage came from a familiarity of the topic, rather than memorising a script. I was able to show that MTI is a solutions and service provider in Europe; having offices in the UK, Germany and France, providing Datacentre, Security and Managed Services. We discussed MTI's adoption of VMware NSX and how NSX is the foundation to some of our offerings with integration to our key security partners in Trend Micro and Palo Alto.

Like life, the presentation wasn't scripted and, equipped with my new found confidence, I hope I get the opportunity to do some more in the future!