Well… it may not be much of a surprise that the Raising The Bar event on July 12th was regarding the release of the latest version of the vSphere product line.
So, what is this release all about? Excellent question! I am glad you asked.
When I think about all of the new features and updated functions, I cannot help but characterize the release as focusing more on storage than any release before. While the software iSCSI stack was heavily improved with vSphere 4, we are seeing more and more storage-related functions in vSphere 5.
One of my sweet spots in virtualization is how virtualization products can really benefit the SMB environment. Previously, VMware has provided SKUs for the ESXi and vCenter components. However, this time around, there are very specific product decisions and options available for the SMB markets. This is absolutely fantastic and really helps cement the role of VMware in the SMB markets. Plus, in many instances, what is good for the SMB market is also good for the Enterprise Remote Office / Branch Office configurations.
Additionally, this release of vSphere really pushes the cloud-platform along very nicely. We are going to see some more flexibility in how we can implement and operate within our private clouds as well as integrate with public clouds.
Finally, the one thing that people hate to see… changing in licensure. I promise to cover this topic in more detail in a blog post soon. However, suffice it to say that with any licensure change, people are not going to be happy. One little goodie is the Advanced SKU… say good bye to Advanced and hello to Enterprise!
When it comes down to it, I really feel like vSphere 5 is a compelling product line for new customers and existing customers to adopt. The component product lines (SRM, vCloud Director, ESXi, vSphere, etc…) have great additions and changes that should increase the adoption rate across all customer markets. Larger customers or people with higher density server deployments are going to have to evaluate the new features and licensure requirements to determine proper deployment… but, that is to be expected.
I encourage you to reach out to the vExpert community, the VMware community, local VMUGs, and VMware Account Representatives to get more information on the new product line as the posts roll out over the next couple of weeks.
I cannot wait to get my grubby hands on the production release and get it rolled out.
Happy vSphere’ing!
