In the week of VMworld, Monday is traditionally Partner day and Partner day always starts with the Partner keynote.

This years keynote was presented by Andy Hunt, VMware’s VP Channel, Alliances and SMB. 1800 partners registered for VMworld Partner day and tomorrow another 7000 visitors are expected which is 15% more than last year.

After a brief introduction on stage Carl Eschenbach, co-president VMware Customer Operations. Carl thanks all the partners for making VMware successful. Despite hard economic times VMware and Partners showed a strong growth in revenue (37%) and 85% of all revenue is done through partners.

Today VMware will publish the Q3 results after markets close in the US, and it looks to be very promising.

Next topic is the ecosystem for cloud computing. Moving from mainframe, to PC/Client-Server, Web to Cloud. These platonic shifts only happen every 10 to 20 years. The cloud is such a platonic shift and will drastically shift the way we deliver IT services. According to Gartner ‘Virtualization is a modernization catalyst and unlocks cloud computing‘.

The next change Carl foresees is that applications are becoming more device, OS and browser neutral, causing a disruption of the desktop management.

Next on stage, Maurizio Carli, VMware’s Sr. Vice President and General Manager for EMEA.

Maurizio sums up the key EMEA priorities in 2011:

  • Continue to grow on core;
  • Extended reach;
  • Invest in the future.

VMware wants to expand the footprint in customer base business critical apps virtualization and continues to invest in emerging markets. Extended reach by a better segmentation between Enterprise and SMB. Accelerate growth in enterprise management and desktop. Grow the skillset and practices across all product folio. And last but not least, invest in the future by programs to support their partners and strengthen the relationship with SI/SO and service providers.

According to Maurizio there’s a big opportunity because Gartner predicts that over 76% of businesses are moving one or more applications into the cloud. As an example he mentions SEGA which uses VMware vCloud Director to develop a secure on-line game delivery system, able to withstand peak utilizations.

Maurizio promises strong continues growth, bigger portfolio and VMware’s commitment to success.

Tis is the end of  Maurizio’s presentation and Andy introduces Alastair Edwards, principal analyst from Canalys.

Alistair’s presentation was a bit dull but the take-aways which stuck with me were:

  • Plan for double digit growth in 2012;
  • Prepare for a change in your revenue mix, identify your future investment path;
  • Weave consumerization into your offerings, help customers understand the implications;
  • Plan for a radical change to software models.

Next up for the final session is Scott Aronson, VMware’s Sr Vice President for global channels and Alliances. Together with Andy he discusses the top 5 questions asked by partners. The most important one for me: ‘The partner ecosystem is evolving. How do you see different kinds of partners fitting into VMware’s priorities?’  Their answer was that VMware has 1300+ technology and consulting partners, 25.000 channel partners, 59.000 VMware professionals and 2600+ vCloud Service Provider partners. VMware has to make it easier for the different partner types to work together. A bit of an open door answer but I think it’s difficult to lay out the vision for the VMware Partner eco system in a short Q & A.

All in all, I didn’t hear many new things. It’s great to hear that the VMware market is growing and that we all can benefit from  it if we keep in mind that the environment is changing. When we adept to the coming changes, we as VMware Partners, are in the driver seat.