VMware looks to be launching its long awaited sixth version of vSphere on February 2nd.

The Reg is in receipt of a “hold the date” for a February 2nd event. We're also aware of chatter among the VMware faithful that those involved in the vSphere 6 beta are being asked to prepare themselves for “our biggest launch event to date“ on and around that date .

vSphere 6 has been in beta since June 2014, with testers sworn to silence under a non-disclosure agreement.

That agreement appears to have held: the vBlogosphere is largely devoid of hints and The Reg's sources are conspicuously reticent to mention much about the new release other than to say it addresses scale and reliability.

Virtzilla told us all a little about the release with a October update, but there's still no word on the final feature set.

The Reg's virtualisation desk believes the new release will go large on hybrid cloud, with the already-revealed Platform Services Controller's (PSC's) single sign-on and links to several pieces of VMware management software suggesting improved ability to manage infrastructure across multiple sites. VMware's super keen to get its customers into its vCloud Air service so we expect PSC and lots of other clever bits to make using hybrid cloud stupidly easy.

At a guess – the above speculation was based on evidence – it would make sense for VMware also to introduce new cloud-based services. The likes of disaster recovery are obvious applications for the cloud. Hybrid applications/services that improve IT departments' lot will give organisations more reason to adopt hybrid cloud than elasticity or capex savings.

VMware will need to deliver: signs are that the release of Windows Server likely to land late this year or early next will also be big on hybrid clouds. Redmond will have months to copy whatever VMware cooks up, is still improving Hyper-V and has a scale advantage with Azure. This one's far from over. ®