NetApp is widely recognized as the preferred storage platform for cloud computing and this perspective was evident at VMworld 2012 where NetApp dominated the storage discussions and conversations. Here’s 5 reasons why I am so confident in making this bold statement…
1. NetApp was the only partner with two sessions rated as Top 10 Best VMworld Sessions VMworld attendees voted for the best sessions and the results speak for themselves! The vSphere Storage Best Practices session was rated #2 & the Tracking Down Storage Performance Issues session #8.
Kudos to Keith Aasen on the performance session! 
2. NetApp Won the VMware Demo Challenge During Steve Herrod’s Keynote With over 10,000 attendees, NetApp founder Dave Hitz bested EMC, HP, Dell and Cisco with a demo of NetApp Data ONTAP Cluster-Mode solving real-world data management challenges at Peak Colo. By winning, VMware graciously donated $10,000 to Be The Match on behalf of NetApp.
3. NetApp Customer Event at AT&T Park was our Largest Ever Customer Event AT&T Park was the location and it was filled with over 1,300 attendees. The list includes customers, partners, JT Snow, and executives from VMware & NetApp including Pat Gelsinger. This was the vendor party of VMworld!
4. Data ONTAP Edge Giveaway was Off the Hook This may have been the best tradeshow giveaway ever. The ONTAP Edge VSA distributed on a USB stick giveaway was a home run with over 5,550 given away! It was a tchotchke packed with real customer value! It created quite a buzz and we are seeing hundreds of registrations daily. I can’t wait to share with you some of the innovation being driven by the VSA.
5. NetApp was everywhere!
- Team NetApp fought valiantly in vOdgeball and helped raised over $12,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project
- NetApp was featured in 11 breakout sessions, which almost all were full and often filling rooms held over 800 attendees
- The NetApp booth was fantastic, it introduced a new mini theater and was packed with smart boards, a Genius Lounge, killer demos and a FlexPod! The booth was the hub for all that is VMware & NetApp!
- 500 copies of my book with Mike Slisinger, ‘Virtualization Changes Everything’, was given away in hours!
- the VMware CEO Roundtable featured Tom Georgens and Michael Dell in a discussion with the VMware’s Pat Gelsinger who called Tom and NetApp his “new best friend”
- The NetApp Hands-on Lab delivered over 5500 sessions of hands-on training highlighting NetApp technical integration and unique value with VMware vCloud Director.
- The NetApp Cloud Service Provider booth was our first dedicated VMworld presence focused on cloud service providers. 8 of our Cloud Service Provider partners staffed this booth and were dedicated to enabling success for SPs.
Whew!
Now that the dust has settled, I think its fair to say NetApp dominated the storage conversations of VMworld 2012.
Look for more post to follow and I will update related links in this post as the new articles come online.