The VMworld session scheduler for the US version in San Francisco was released this week, which means it’s agenda building time! More then ever, VMworld has tons of sessions that are really interesting and it might be hard to pick. I tried and this post contains some of my favourites.

Let start with my own two sessions:

How GPU-Assisted ML for Medical Research Proved to Be a Force for Good [HBI1546BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=HBI1546BU

This session is a deep dive presented by Niels Hagoort and myself on how to use vSphere, NVIDIA vGPU for Deep Learning workloads and how you should design your infrastructure to do so. It will contain demos 🙂

VMware EUC as a Force for Good [ADV2485BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=ADV2485BU

This session discusses the same topic as HBI1546BU but here Huib Dijkstra and I address it from a whole different angle, namely the business side of things and from an EUC perspective. How did we approach the project, what challenges did we face and how did we solve them.

There are tons of other sessions, so it’s hard to choose. These are a couple of my favorites:

Showcase Keynote: Becoming a Champion of Digital Employee Experience [DW3459KU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=DW3459KU

Last two years, this EUC showcase keynote was one of my favorites. Shawn Bass inspires the audience while announcing new stuff and showing tons of demos. What’s not to like? 🙂

The Virtually Speaking Podcast LIVE: The Future of IT – How Will You Fit in? [HCI1894PU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=HCI1894PU

I’m a big fan of the Virtually Speaking Podcast and have been a guest on it a couple of times. Will be looking forward seeing Pete and John in action.

vSphere HA and DRS Hybrid Cloud Deep Dive [HBI2186BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=HBI2186BU

vSphere HA and DRS are topics that are still the core of every VMware-based infrastructure I have designed and built. How to apply them when extending to a cloud is an interesting topic which I would like to know more about. Besides that, Duncan and Frank on stage is always fun to watch and learn.

Machine Learning with GPU Using Cloud Automation Services and Bitfusion [MLA2612BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=MLA2612BU

Moving High-Performance Computing workloads to a virtual platform has some challenges in terms of multi-node or distributed computing, especially with traditional applications that don’t have those features inside the app. Bitfusion Flexdirect can solve that challenge, which I want to know a lot more about.

“If This Then That” for vSphere – The Power of Event-Driven Automation [CODE1379U] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?showMyInterest=true&search=CODE1379U

Event-driven automation is something I focus on outside of my work at ITQ. Primary from a home-automation perspective. I’m very keen to see if I could use a same way of automation to automate my homelab 🙂

Running GPU-Accelerated Data Science Workflows Virtually using NVIDIA vGPU [MLA3390BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=MLA3390BU

Data science workloads require a completely different approach. I’m keen to see how NVIDIA GPU Containers can be leveraged to easily deploy these workloads and managed through technologies like VMware PKS.

Leveraging the Latest Server Technologies in vSphere [HBI2362BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=HBI2362BU

I have been working with GPUs for quite some time, and mostly in the VDI or gaming space. Nowadays GPUs and FPGAs are capable of running specific workloads much more efficient than CPUs do. I’m interested to learn more about these trends in this session presented by Niels Hagoort and Ziv Kalmanovich.

What about EUC?

There are also tons of great EUC sessions, but since I’m part of the EUC Champion program, we have a separate insiders track at VMworld for that. I do want to highlight some sessions which I think are ones to look out for:

Horizon Linux Desktops: Just the Good (well, maybe some bad) [EDU1971U] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=EDU1971U

Linux VDI is gaining general interest by (for example) data science use cases and because of the complexity (posted this first article in a series), I like to know more about challenges others faced when building and cloning desktops.

How to Template a Non-Persistent VDI Solution for Your Enterprise [ADV1322BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=ADV1322BU

Building a base image for a VDI is a true art. It’s complex and with Windows 10 being updated on such a high pace, using the proper tools and methodologies is essential. Hilko will explain the details of how VMware recommends building the base image for Horizon.

Architecting Workspace ONE: The Official Reference Architecture [ADV1110BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=ADV1110BU

Two years ago, the first version of the reference architecture for VMware EUC solutions was released. It has evolved into an essential tool that helps to build the VMware EUC designs. This sessions focusses on the Workspace ONE reference architecture including new components like Workspace ONE Intelligence.

The Official Reference Architecture [ADV1111BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=ADV1111BU

This session is similar to the previous one, but strongly focusses on the Horizon side of things (including Horizon 7 on VMC).

Not Just Physical: Workspace ONE UEM Management of Horizon VDI [UEM1455BU] https://my.vmworld.com/widget/vmware/vmworld19us/us19catalog?search=UEM1455BU

Managing persistent VDI is always a challenge and requires the right tools. Workspace ONE UEM might be such a tool and I’m really interested to see if that is the case.

Keep an eye out for more!

I hope this list gives you an overview of the sessions I’m curious about. Keep track of my blog and social channels as I will post some more must-sees and must-dos for VMworld US and VMworld EU 2019 in the next couple of weeks.

