I cannot think of a technology event that I have ever attended where record crowds were the best indicator that the economy is still struggling. But if there was ever an exception to that rule, VMworld 2010 is probably it.
As someone who has worked at a Fortune 500 company, I can appreciate how the last thing anyone in those companies wants to do is change anything that they are doing. Storage folks are especially risk averse and have historically been one of the slowest to adopt new technologies, especially in the enterprise space.
The continued uncertain state of the economy has changed all of that. Suddenly critical important advances in storage technology such as deduplication, scale out storage clusters, data management virtualization, and even storage virtualization which has been languishing for nearly a decade are gaining new interest, moving ahead and being adopted by enterprise storage shops equates to break neck speeds (in under two years).
As to to why this is the case, the reason is simple: the economy is still struggling and 2011 looks bleak at best by even the most optimistic of estimates. In light of that, companies are suddenly much more willing to examine and look at the the most efficient, cost-effective solutions that they can possibly get.
This means that as they look at their data center budgets, they are taking a much more inclusive look at all of the costs it incurs. This includes maintenance, power, service contracts, software licenses, floor space, data protection, and heating and cooling and viewing it more holistically in an attempt to shave costs while still growing the business.
As they do this, they are realizing the inefficiencies of their current ways and how virtualization in whatever form it takes (desktop, server, I/O, storage, etc.) is the only way out of this mess. Further, since they are going to spend some of this money anyway as operating expenses in the form of utility bills, rent, maintenance, etc., and can redirect that towards virtualization technologies that not only lower these costs but negate the need to spend capital dollars, why would they not do it?
So that is why 17,000 registered attendees are standing butt cheek to butt cheek on every square inch of the show floor and jam packing every session at VMworld. They know their jobs are on the line as 2011 looks uncertain at best. This means that their company needs better technologies to become leaner and meaner to not only remain in business but compete and grow.
So when organizations look at what solutions are available on the market and where to go to find those technologies, there are a limited number of choices. However it is clear that after attending VMworld 2010, it is a preferred choice for many to help them find solutions to the tough problems that they are having.