The annual Chicago VMUG Users Conference will be held on Tuesday October 22nd and you will not want to miss this one.  With the recent announcements at VMworld, this will be a great opportunity to learn about the new offerings that will affect the industry.  Oh, and by the way, there is an opportunity to win a brand new VMware home lab valued at $4000.

Jay Cuthrell is a thought leader within the Office of the CTO at VCE (A company formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware, and Intel) working with service providers, systems integrators, ISVs, and media & entertainment companies to deliver converged infrastructure. He is a frequent industry speaker currently based on the West Coast of the United States. Previously, as a strategic technology consultant with cuthrell.com he worked with service providers, startup companies, and investment groups in addition to writing for ReadWrite and Telecompetitor. He has held CTO, VP, and GM roles at Digitel and NeoNova (an Azure Capital and Bridgescale Partners portfolio company) and infrastructure consulting roles working domestically and internationally for Fortune 500 clients. He also served at Scient (formerly iXL now Publicis), Nortel, Analysts International, IBM, and NCSU College of Engineering. He holds a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University and grew up in Beaufort, NC. His blog can be found at fudge.org

Symantec will be delivering the lunch time keynote on “Overcoming the Challenges to Virtualizing Tier 1 Business Critical Applications”.

“Symantec was founded in 1982 by visionary computer scientists. The company has evolved to become one of the world’s largest software companies with more than 18,500 employees in more than 50 countries. We provide security, storage and systems management solutions to help our customers – from consumers and small businesses to the largest global organizations – secure and manage their information-driven world against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently than any other company. ”

Solutions Exchange

More than 70 VMware partners will be at the event handing out swag and answering questions.  There will be free time to mingle with vendors, meet industry experts and see product demos that you may not have seen before.  The full list can be found here:  http://www.vmug.com/p/cm/ld/fid=902

Give Aways

The Chicago VMUG team always has stuff to give away.  Usually we have books, jackets, shirts etc and a VMUG Advantage membership.

This year, we’ve got some great sponsors like VMware and American Digital to donate some hardware and licenses for a new home lab!

Social Media Room

This year we will have a dedicated room for bloggers, pod-casters and just about anyone who wants to hang out and chat.  Below is a list of the social media personalities that you might see if you (and we encourage you too) stop by!

• Lauren Malhoit – AdaptingIT Podcast – Lauren is a well known vExpert and EMC Elect who has amazing discussions with women in technology.
• Kasia Lorenc – Tom’s IT Pro – Kasia is the Managing Editor for Tom’s IT Pro, a site focused on all sorts of technical goodies. She also has an excellent video series called Top 5 in Tech that covers a wide variety of weekly news. If you have a passion for writing about tech, make sure to make an introduction!
• Andy McCaskey – SDRNews – Andy is the mind behind the magic at SDRNews, a very popular podcast and broadcasting show that covers technology, the enterprise, and is often found at major tech conferences. Check out his channel on Roku here.
• Brian Suhr – VirtualizeTips – Brian has been contributing to the community as a blogger and vExpert for years, and recently acquired his VCDX at VMworld. Come chat with one of vSphere-Land’s top 50 virtualization bloggers.
• Chris Wahl – WahlNetwork – Chris needs very little introduction.  A Chicago VMUG leader, VCDX and vExpert.  Chris was recently listed as 12th on the vSphere-Land’s top 50 bloggers list.  I invite you to check out his blog and on twitter.
• Eric Shanks – TheITHollow – TheITHollow.com will be in attendance to cover the event, send out tweets and take pictures to cover the event.  Stop by and grab a button!

Get Certified

This year we will have an available room where you can get your VMware Certified Associate credentials.  If you think you have what it takes, come on in and try it out.  Maybe you’ll pick up a certification.

REGISTER!!!!!

The only thing you need to do before the event is block off your calendar and register here: http://www.vmug.com/p/cm/ld/fid=1887

We’ll see you at the event!