VMworld 2017 US is taking place next week in Las Vegas, bringing together its partners and customers for its annual conference at the Mandalay Bay from Aug. 26 – Aug. 31.

The conference starts on Saturday with its Partner Exchange and Customer Bootcamps which offer demonstrations and course work on application virtualization.

We’ll keep you updated on all of the top news coming out of VMworld.

General Sessions

Watch the general sessions live stream on the VMworld website on Monday and Tuesday mornings from 9 – 10:30 a.m.

Here is what to expect from these general sessions, according to VMware:

Monday: Good Technologists Solve Problems. Great Innovators Create Opportunities.

Join us as we showcase VMware’s strategy in the next phase of its journey. CEO Pat Gelsinger and COO, Customer Operations, Sanjay Poonen will partner together to shine a spotlight on the key pillars responsible for reshaping industries – cloud, mobility, networking and security.

Whether you are in IT, developing software within a line of business, managing DevOps, or working in security operations to fight the latest round of ransomware, you need to build existing skills while simultaneously learning new ones. Software transformed the world in the last decade; the platforms behind it are now unveiling even more benefits: blockchain, artificial intelligence, serverless computing, IoT, machine learning, edge computing, actionable analytics, digital workspace, proactive cyber security and many more. Hear and learn from the firsthand experiences of customers who are succeeding in their own transformation journeys.

Technology transformation is more than optimizing data centers, saving OpEx and driving automation. Offering new methods of software delivery, operating in a multi-cloud world, embracing new programming models, upping your game in user experience, taking containerized apps to production or building modern apps are not just your challenges. These are the collective opportunities for all VMworld attendees. Hear how VMware can partner with you in this next turn in our journey, to succeed like never before.

Tuesday: Technology Innovation is What Keeps Companies Competitive

Companies today depend on technology to innovate more rapidly and get to market faster. IT now faces high pressure from customers, competitors and executives to successfully transform technology. Such transformative opportunities are the focus of this session.

Join CEO Pat Gelsinger and CTO Ray O’Farrell to dive deeper into the reality of how a fictional company successfully transforms from industry laggard to industry leader by embracing VMware, partner and open-source technologies from the cloud to the edge.

VMware experts will guide you through demos that will help you deploy compelling and differentiated solutions and services, showcasing how VMware is innovating in exciting and unexpected ways. Today’s highly dynamic market demands nothing less than continual rapid innovation, always-on availability, security, flexibility and scalability, and VMware is at the forefront of helping you make that a reality.

This session will also feature a segment with special guest speaker Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies.

Breakout Sessions

If sessions are the highlight of your conference experience, then VMworld has more than enough content to keep you busy and productive. There are more than 500 breakout sessions during VMworld, and depending on your area of interest – cloud security, mobile, software-defined data center – there are sessions across every category to fill your schedule. Here are the tracks at VMworld 2017:

· Application Transformation

· Empower the Digital Workspace

· Leading Digital Transformation

· Emerging Technologies and Trends

· Integrate Public Clouds

· Modernize the Data Center

· Transform Security

You can plan your schedule here.

AWS and VMware

One of the most anticipated aspects of this year’s VMworld is the conversation around the VMware and AWS partnership. Check out sessions on VMware Cloud on AWS storage, securing workloads, and accelerating the hybrid cloud with VMware Cloud on AWS.

VMware has provided a full list of the VMware Cloud on AWS sessions here.

Last week, VMware put out a call looking for design partners to provide input on VMware Cloud on AWS. There are still sessions available if you want to get hands-on with the proposed UI design for VMC on AWS, explore design alternatives and provide feedback on advanced topics to the design team.

Social Media

VMware has put together a helpful guide of conference hashtags and other suggested hashtags if you are planning on using Twitter during the event.