So day 3 is in the books. It was pretty much a continuation of day two with some very good sessions. Some better than expected, others not.
Deploying Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
This session started out pretty slow with a VDI 101 review. Sometimes I have to remember I’m at a Cisco conference and not everyone is dealing with virtualization every day like I am. By the time it finished I found it very informative. The presenter had some very good statistics and test results comparing the different remote protocols (RDP, ICA, and ALP), how they handle different content, and how devices such as Cisco WAAS can make them even better. We also covered some architectures and recommendations for deploying these devices to increase scalability and reduce bandwidth to clients. Other topics and optimizations were covered such as print jobs and video streaming.
End-to-End Data Center Virtualization
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a lot from this session except maybe a rehash of many things already covered in more detail in other sessions. In fact, I had planned to duck out of this one early to go meet with Chad Sakac and Stuart Miniman for a few minutes at the EMC booth. I didn’t get there on time….
A huge amount of information in this session…I mean, like 120 slides of network diagrams, protocol stacks, suggested architectures, etc. How we got through what we did in 2 hours is amazing. This was a complete walk through of Cisco’s vision for a truly virtualized data center. Not just VMware on servers, but everything and how you deploy it, connect it, and manage it. It took everything from other sessions and put it all together. By far the best session I’ve had and it will take a lot to beat this tomorrow.
Super Session: Data Center Virtualization Architectures – Road to Cloud Computing
Not a whole lot to this session. Virtualization Architectures? Not really… It was an executive overview of Cisco’s virtualization offerings like UCS and Nexus. Nothing new here if you’ve been keeping track. Yesterday’s Intel session was more informative. Then again, I have to remember that not everyone is up on the latest virutalization offerings here. There are a ton of attendees focused on routing, switching, voice, and WiFi. In fact, I’m a pretty small minority at this conference.
Panel – Next Generation Data Center
Good panel event. I like being on panels during an event and attending them as well. Sometimes it’s nice to not be on the spot and I get to ask questions. Great panelists for this one including representatives from EMC, NetApp, VMware, Cisco, Panduit, APC, and Oracle. Most of the questions were directed toward the cloud computing concept, what it takes to get there, and the obstacles people face.
Almost Over…
Tomorrow is the last day of the conference. My day, again, focuses on virtualization and the data center. My first session is on the Nexus 7000 architecture and should make my head hurt at 8am.
