Cloud

VMware Explore 2022: What to Expect From This Year’s Event

As hybrid arrangements gain ground, IT teams must provide reliability and security for online collaboration.

Joe Kuehne is an Associate Editorial Director at BizTech magazine.

The pandemic has driven a mass migration to cloud environments that enable flexible hybrid work. Massive numbers of employees have shifted to hybrid work, supported by an increasingly multicloud world.

However, multicloud success depends on constant connectivity, which has become a multipronged issue. Simply providing access to end users is no longer enough. That access must be seamless and reliable, even if it’s being established on someone’s home network or via a public connection. Working from anywhere means employees are expecting the same sort of access in the office, at home or on the road.

In each of those settings, employees may be using multiple devices — some secured, others not. They may be running on unsecured networks and interacting with personal devices that could compromise an organization’s security.

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These are the factors driving digital transformation that enables work to happen anywhere without compromising security or privacy. They’ll be front and center at this year’s VMware Explore (formerly WMworld), a hybrid event featuring an online component and in-person events in San Francisco. From Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, attendees will have access to keynote speakers, breakout sessions and peer networking chats designed to dive deep into how technology can help your organization meet the changing expectations of employees and customers alike.

Here’s what attendees can expect from this event.

Leveraging the Flexibility of the Cloud to Drive Digital Transformation

Of the four main focus areas for this year’s event, three of them have to do with the cloud: accelerating cloud transformation, building and operating a cloud native platform, and connecting and securing clouds and apps.

VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram and president Sumit Dhawan will present a session titled “The Multicloud Universe: Bold Innovations and Insights to Accelerate Your Business.” They will examine how multicloud environments are enhancing the work experience in an increasingly digital world and “driving transformation from servers to storage to cloud to apps,” according to the event website. Mark Lohmeyer and Purnima Padmanabhan, both senior vice presidents and general managers at VMware, will offer their views on how to reduce complexity when using more than one cloud.

Tom Gillis, senior vice president and general manager of VMware’s networking and advanced security business group, will speak about networking and security in the cloud, highlighting “how VMware is enabling customers to implement zero trust across multicloud environments with zero appliances, zero tickets, zero taps and zero disruptions,” according to a news release.

WATCH: Find out how Cisco is delivering continuous trusted connectivity.

Adapting to the Expectations and Needs of a Hybrid Workforce

The event will also focus on the changing needs of the workplace. Hybrid work has drastically changed the way we work, and that evolution will continue. Shankar Iyer, senior vice president and general manager of end-user computing at VMware, will share his thoughts on how hybrid work will continue to change and “how technology can be used to rebuild culture, address employee experience gaps, and optimize security,” according to the site.

Whether the concern is adapting to the demands of hybrid work or enhancing security to defend against attack, innovation is the key. Several sessions at VMware Explore will highlight how technology can be leveraged to modernize and innovate. VMware CTO Kit Colbert will offer a session titled “Innovation Through a Different Lens.” Colbert will offer his thoughts on the most important opportunities and challenges organizations face and why it’s necessary to change to a customer-centric approach to innovation.

Keep this page bookmarked for articles from the event, and follow us on Twitter at @BizTechMagazine and the official conference twitter feed, @VMwareExplore.