Yellow Bricks

by Duncan Epping

opportunity

Shift in focus… Go Storage & Availability OCTO!

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Almost a year ago I joined the Office of CTO under Paul Strong. My main focus was SDDC, but I naturally gravitated towards the core platform (vSphere) and software defined storage and topics like availability. Not just my personal preference, but also a common requested topic for public speaking engagements. Most VMUG speaking requests I receive are around VSAN, VVols or vSphere HA. Each year I take some time to reflect on where I am, what I do, and where I want to go. This year I asked myself what really excited me in todays world of IT/infrastructure? What am I most passionate about? What do I enjoy talking and writing about the most?

Having written books on Virtual SAN and vSphere Clustering, and countless blog posts on the topic of software defined storage, BC/DR and availability it was pretty obvious what I am most passionate about. I like talking and writing about Virtual SAN, Virtual Volumes, Site Recovery Manager and it is safe to say that I am a vSphere HA fanboy. I am most passionate about Storage & Availability, that much was obvious

At an internal event I had a conversation with Charles Fan and Christos Karamanolis. The Storage & Availability BU was considering creating an Office of CTO and they asked if I would be interested in collaborating in some shape or form. For me this was a no-brainer. Knowing what is coming for Virtual SAN and Virtual Volumes (and future products we are working on) I asked myself if collaborating would be the best option or if I should take that next step. The decision was easy, as of this week I have officially joined the Office of CTO of the Storage & Availability BU.

In the Office of CTO I will be responsible for connecting our R&D team with customers, partners and our field. I will be evangelizing software defined storage and availability, primarily in EMEA and APJ. I will focus on defining and communicating VMware’s vision and strategy, and be an active advisor for our product roadmap and portfolio. I can’t be more excited than this, I am super enthusiastic about all what is to come out of our business unit and it is extremely energizing to say the least to talk to our customers about what we do today and what is coming tomorrow. As a big plus I get to work with my friend Rawlinson Rivera once again, and report in to someone I greatly respect namely Christos who will be heading up the team. Make sure to read Christos’s blog post on the team that has being formed and some hints of what you can expect in the future. Lets get busy!

Thanks Charles, Christos and Paul for this great opportunity!

Changes – Joining Office of CTO

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Almost 2 years ago I joined Integration Engineering (R&D) within VMware. As part of that role within Integration Engineering I was very fortunate to work on a very exciting project called “MARVIN”, as most of you know MARVIN became EVO:RAIL, which is what was my primary focus for the last 18 months or so. EVO:RAIL evolved in to a team after a successful prototype and came “out of stealth” at VMworld when it is was announced by Pat Gelsinger. Very exciting project, great opportunity and an experience I would not have wanted to miss out on. Truly unique to be one of the three founding members and see it grow from a couple of sketches and ideas to a solution. I want to thank Mornay for providing me the opportunity to be part of the MARVIN rollercoaster ride, and the EVO:RAIL team for the ride / experience / discussions etc!

Over the last months I have been thinking about where I wanted to go next and today I am humbled and proud to announce that I am joining VMware’s Office of CTO (OCTO as they refer to it within VMware) as a Chief Technologist. I’ve been with VMware little over 6 years, and started out as a Senior Consultant within PSO… I never imagined, not even in my wildest dreams, that one day I would have the opportunity to join a team like this. Very honoured, and looking forward to what is ahead. I am sure I will be placed in many uncomfortable situations, but I know from experience that that is needed in order to grow. I don’t expect much to change on my blog, I will keep writing about products / features / vendors / solutions I am passionate about. That definitely was Virtual SAN in 2014, and could be Virtual Volumes or NSX in 2015… who knows!

Go OCTO!

Changes: I am joining VMware R&D!

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I just wanted to let all of you know that I have decided to take on a new challenge within VMware. Per December 1st I will be joining the R&D organization as part of Integration Engineering. In this team I will be providing operational and architectural feedback on our products to engineering and I will be exploring new possibilities with our products. Needless to say I am very excited about it!

I want to thank my management (Kaushik Banerjee and Bogomil Balkansky) for supporting my move and supporting me the last two years within Technical Marketing. I also want to thank all of my Technical Marketing friends for the fun projects we worked on together.

I am looking forward to getting started within Integration Engineering, and I am thankful for this awesome opportunity. I have been saying this at every single session I presented, but just as a reminder, if you have feedback around products / features / work flows / operational efficiency, don’t hesitate to let me know.