>> Narrator: From around the globe, it's The Cube, with digital coverage of VMworld 2020, brought to you by VMware and its ecosystem partners. >> Okay, welcome back everyone to The Cube's coverage of VMworld 2020 virtual. I'm John Furrier with Dave Vellante, and Stu Miniman, who's covering VMworld virtually from our Cube virtual studios, where we've been doing The Cube coverage for the past six months virtually. Guys, let's wrap up VMworld virtual this year, different, not in person, still packed with content. Again, they tried to replicate and they did a good job of bringing that site together. They didn't overdrive the platform. They have content, but still a big gap in not having it in person. A lot of action on Twitter. Certainly, we've been commenting on cube.net site, and getting all these videos out. But guys, let's wrap up VMworld this year. Great show. Again, content's virtual. So a lot of asynchronous content. The cloud city, lot of solution demos of obviously, Cube commentary on our side. But Dave, what's your reaction to the past few days? >> Well I thought, you know, as always, VMware has some highlight folks show up to their keynotes. John Donahoe, who knows a little bit about the enterprise 'cause he did a couple of years stinted service now, then he jumped to back to his consumer roots, went to Nike. Interestingly, the service now, the company left is, they're approaching $100 billion evaluation now. They're zoning in on Nike. Of course, and then, you had the Nvidia CEO. Everybody does business with Nvidia. And so, that's kind of a check box, but they actually get the CEO to come to your event. I think it's a big deal. So as always, people want to do business with VMware 'cause they got half a million customers, and I thought that was a pretty impressive gets. >> And the CEO from Nvidia, Jensen Huang. I mean, you couldn't ask for a timely guest because of the news with them buying Arm. >> Huge. >> Nvidia just is a key player in the chip game right now. >> Yeah, and I think too, you know, some of the announcements VMware made around Edge and even Telco, Nvidia is going to be huge there in Arm. You know, we think that that is going to be a really new and interesting AI inferencing at the edge. There were some AI announcements, so very strategic. Again, you know, VMware does a great job of identifying those waves and driving engineering to drive customer value. >> Stu, I want to get your take on the announcements, and Dave, you can chime in too 'cause as we saw the Snowflake IPO, to me, this is, this basically rings the bell for the worldwide global computer industry around cloud native. This, to me, puts the full stake in the ground, cloud native. VMware made some bets, Stu. We go back and look at Gelsinger's moves, and Sanjay's move, and the team's moves. Your thoughts on the announcement there, networking, a lot of multicloud, but it's all about operational cloud native, your thoughts. >> Yeah, well John, cloud's so important, you know? Let me make an analogy here. We all talked about, if this pandemic had happened, enter 15 years ago and we were stuck at home without our Netflix, without our Zoom, without our connectivity, where would we be? John, when we started coming to the VMworld show in 2010, it was a huge amount of gear sitting in Moscone and the amount of trucks that needed to deliver all of that. Of course today, it's all built in the cloud, doing those labs are so much easier, and learning and enabling these technologies can be done so much easier. So I think that that really puts a highlight on where we are with the technology and you know, that was one of the key things that we saw in that announcement. So we're VM, we're fit with the big HyperCloud players, how they're hoping to extend, what they have in a hybrid environment from a management standpoint, starting to push out to Edge Solutions, VMware has strong strength with service providers. So there's a lot of things there to dig into, and that we wouldn't have had if we were talking about this five years ago. >> I just love the glam of the Nvidia 'cause the AI angle there is super important, but I'm, you know, I love the Project Monterey, Stu because it kind of digs out VMware trying to set the agenda on Architecture. This is the end-to-end, you know, whether it's the edge of the network from a work perspective person. Even in space, a purpose-built devices at the edge still need to be updated by software. This is a huge architectural shift. Do you think VMware's got the right moves here? >> Well John, VMware's got some great strength in the service provider environment, and of course, you know, great strength in data center. They've been growing their cloud capabilities. So Edge is still a little bit of a jump ball, as we'd like to say. Absolutely like some of the things that they're doing, strong partnerships. We talked about Nvidia, absolutely one of the companies you want to be closely working to to be successful at the edge. So I like what I'm seeing, but as with anything with VMware, until they have thousands of customer doing it, it's still a little bit early for me to have any final say. >> Stu, 30 seconds left. >> Yeah- >> Tanzu portfolio and partnerships. >> Yeah, so the critique I'd have, John, is VMware have been trying for years to go deeper with developers and they've made some progress, but they haven't done enough. They have moved doing more with open source, they've made a number of acquisitions in the space, but it's all about developers, it's about building those apps. If you talk about a hybrid message, you know, Microsoft, nothing about bit but building new apps. VMware is starting to get there, but they still have work to do. >> Guys, great job, 2020 is in the books. The Cube is via virtually. And again, 10 years ago, John Troyer, Eric Nielsen, Robin Matlock was our partners. Now, we're going with the next generation with VMware the next 10 years. Unpredictable, we'll see how it goes. Thanks for joining us today, appreciate it. Okay, thanks everyone for watching. Cube coverage of VMworld 2020. I'm John Furrier, with Stu Miniman, and Dave Vellante. Thanks for watching.

>> Live from Las Vegas. It's theCUBE. Covering VMworld 2018. Brought to you by VMware, and its ecosystem partners. >> Hello everyone. Welcome back to theCUBE live coverage here in Las Vegas for VMworld 2018. It's our ninth year covering VMworld. Since 2010 we've covered every VMworld. Been with the journey and the transformation of VMworld. I'm John Furrier with Dave Vellante. We've got two sets here in the middle of VM village. And we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for CMO Robin Matlock, who's on theCUBE right now. Welcome back. Great to see you. >> I'm happy to be here guys, again. >> Again, great. >> Thanks for the support, for bringing theCUBE here. The community has been responding positively to the coverage because you guys had so much content here this year. As Pat said, a lot of the fruits been blooming off the tree from all the investments in product. And business is good. >> Good, we're keeping you guys busy I hope. Yep. It's been good. >> So what's going on? Let's get the numbers. We always get it out of the way. How many people are here at the event? We're at the Mandalay Bay. What's the story? >> Yeah, it's a great audience this year. We're definitely seeing some nice growth. We're well over 21,000 here today. Covering all segments of the market. Covering Asia Pacific. The Americas. Also executives as well as our true-blue IT practitioners. >> You got CIOs and practitioners with the hands-on labs, a range of audience personas. >> Yeah, it kind of goes from the practitioner base up. Your mid-level management, VPs, IT decision makers, CIOs. We really have a very wide variety. >> And the theme this year is? >> Possible begins with you. >> (laughs) Okay. >> Yeah, I popped into the CIO event last night. >> Yeah? >> And it was pretty high quality folks. I don't recall, you know, five, six, seven years ago seeing that kind of emphasis and that kind of seniority at the event. Did I just miss it, or is that new? >> No. It's been evolving over the years. I mean, at VMworld's core it is a technical conference Right? So I would say the base of the volume of the program is still catered towards a real, hands-on, technical practitioner and middle management. But we are seeing more business executives come. They want to know what their teams are exploring. They want to understand vision. And I think VMware's value proposition to enterprises is growing and therefore, it's starting to be more of a business conversation. So that is a segment of the audience that is growing. >> And you're nurturing that. Also you're making sure the hands-on labs are the best of the best. I saw Eric Nielsen has this new VMware code thing going on. >> Yes. >> Here at a little hack-a-thons happening. >> So a lot of mix in the community. The community is still robust. The ecosystem floor probably has more energy than I've seen since probably 2012 or something like that. Last time I've seen it this massive. 2012, remember Dave, was pounding. And then this year, it's just, the lift is big. Where's that coming from. >> Yeah. You know I think it's coming from a lot of things and there's no one silver bullet. First of all, VMware is just doing really well. Right? The company is very performing. It's success for our customers that've really come to buy into our strategy and our vision. And they have a veracious appetite to learn. And this is the place. You want to understand where the industry is going. You are technical and you want to be on the edge of the latest and greatest. VMworld is the place to come. So I think we're hitting on many different categories of technology. And it's all pulled together here. So it's one week where you can go from networking, to storage, to management, automation, cloud, mobility. It's all right here. >> And you guys always kind of keep a low profile in the market. You don't over amplify, over play your hand and grandstand too much on the marketing side. Which as always been the DNA of VMware. But this year, you've got Amazon coming on stage again. Andy Jassy returns to do a major announcement that Amazon, really for the first time, is building a product for VMware, on VMware, on premises. Pat's on stage. So you see the commitment from the two companies, the biggest public cloud provider, and the biggest operator of virtualized infrastructure and private cloud, partnering and performing. So I think that really kind of put a lot of wind in your sails. I mean, a lot of people are talking about it. It's been pretty much the top news story, the impact of that relationship. How has that affected VMworld? The announcements are, it seems like more announcements than ever before. How has that relationship changed you guys? >> Well I definitely think, we're several years into it now, and we are seeing the fruits of that effort. A couple of thoughts. First of all, the AWS relationship is not our sole element of our cloud strategy, but it's a big pillar of our cloud strategy. And I think, at the end of the day, by understanding our vision for how we can help deliver a bridge to the public cloud, the hybrid cloud, it is giving our customers the license and the comfort and the confidence to continue to invest. Whether it's in their data center or is in their public cloud. So there's something about just having that clarity of vision and strategy that unleashes potential, even in the data center. I think the second thing, to me, what was so significant with this Amazon announcement with VMware. Is you are now talking about public cloud services running on Primm. The line between public and private. The line between on premise and off premise is fading. It's blurring. We're going to get to a point where we're just going to talk about what's the workload, and what's a service I need to deliver the workload. Okay, and then I can consume those services in different ways, and what's the right way to consume those services. But it's not a monopoly on an off premise, or a monopoly on an on premise. It's a blur. And I think that's going to be in the best interest of customers, because I think it's going to really boil down to what is the workload, what are the services I need, and I have a lot of options on how to consume that. And I'm all for that. I think it's going to be great. >> Well, I got to say, John and I have watched this evolution for for now, as he said, this is our ninth year. You guys have done a great job of really being calm about all the things that were supposedly going to kill you. (laughter) Open stack, open source, cloud, Kubernetes, containers. You've embraced them all. I mean, I know cloud for a while was a little bit confusing. But now it's a real tailwind for you guys. I mean, great job there. And I think a lot of that is sort of how you've dealt with it internally, messaged it externally. I wonder if you could just address that for a minute. >> Yeah. You know, I love that observation about VMware, because that speaks to two big concepts: resiliency and innovation. In this industry you have to be constantly innovating. And if you get too protective of the market that you're in, you start to get into a cocoon. And then people are innovating around you and they're making you obsolete, and you're not even seeing it happen. I think VMware has a veracious appetite for innovation. And we are pushing, and pushing, and pushing. And we're never relaxed. We are always, you know, often pleased but not satisfied. Right? It's like you're never, ever done. And that keeps us being open to innovating, where once we might have been protective. It's like don't worry, things will change. We'll innovate on top of that. It's alright, a new environment. We'll innovate in that context. And I think we're very good about that. And then the other thing I think is resiliency. In this industry, there's not that many that can go from decade to decade and still be highly relevant. But you have to have the grit, and you have to have the kind of gorilla appetite that you will continue to reinvent yourself, listen to your customers, bring your ecosystem along, and partner like nobody else. And in the end you'll deliver more value. >> You know, that's a great point. I love that comment. That's going to be a highlight on our highlight reel for sure. I'll add, and love to get your reaction to, how you guys have maintained the community vibe and the ecosystem vibe. Again, to Dave's point, this is core. Pat said on earlier today, you know, "we're always going to have an open ecosystem." That's been the core DNA of VMware. So, and you also have a really strong community, hence the technical focus. These tech oriented folks, they love the tech. And they speak up a lot, you know that. They speak well. >> Oh yeah. They're vocal. >> They let you know when it's not right. But you guys embrace it. That hasn't changed. That's been a positive. How do you do it? >> Yeah, that's exactly right. I think we have, over the years, just built ecosystem into our core DNA. It's now defined by who we are and how we do things. And, you know, going back to your Amazon comment, I think that is simply an example, we know how to partner. We've been at it for 20 years. And it's just been part of how we perceived the requirements to be successful. And because of that it's now, we're just good at it. We get it. And the reason we're good at it is because we very much understand it's bi-directional. You can only win when you win together. >> You know, one other thing I want to point out, and at least give you guys some props while you're here and get your reaction to it is, we've done a little bit more cube with you guys, outside of the scope of the event. We did a lot of women in tech leadership events. We were invited to the first radio event where they opened it up to some press. So we got a glimpse inside >> Internal engineering kind of conference, yup. >> It's a total R&D, it's with all the technologies being incubated, it's a really great thing. Also being on campus, you guys are always consistently voted the best place to work, you got the innovation in the R&D, and you've just got a great workforce. So, that is also a cultural thing within VMware, right? 'Cause Pat said, we're going to continue to drive technology products, and sales and marketing for customers. Your reaction? >> Yeah, I think people are at the heart of great businesses. Right? And we have to create an environment where people can do their best work. Radio is a wonderful example. So that's an internal conference for our engineering teams. But what it is about building community within our engineering community. How do they explore new things? How do they take risks? And explore and innovate and try new things. And then how do they share that with their colleagues from all over the world. And I think that's just part of our value system is creating these kind of communities internally and externally. >> You opened it up to press, talk about taking a risk. >> That was a first time, yeah. >> That was the first time you've ever opened it up to some press outlets. We were one of three. But it was a peek. That's a risk. >> It is a risk. And I think the idea there is that being protective is not really helpful. That what you need to do is to really be open. That there's so much to deliver value and innovate. There's not reason to be so secretive. It's more about how can we feed of each others ideas. How can we plant seeds and see if these things are going to resonate. We don't know for sure these new emerging things are going to work or not. So the more we get feedback early, I think the faster we'll innovate. It'll accelerate innovation. It won't hold it back. >> Well, and your point about the ecosystem is right on. Sanjay made the point about ROI today. I thought that was really interesting data. About 10x was a conservative return number in the 100s of billions if not trillion of dollars that you've sort of paid forward through the ecosystem to the end customers. It's powerful. >> Very powerful. And at the end of the day, we need to just continue to focus on delivering more and more economic value, right? Whether it's cost savings, whether it's being able to fuel new innovation, whether it's consolidation. At the end of the day we all have to get more done with less and have more value and more impact. >> Well it's interesting to see you being in Amazon into this ecosystem, because you said you guys partnering is part of your DNA. You know, generally Amazon's partnerships have been come on into the marketplace, right? And now, they're diving into this world. Bringing their technology on prem. Which was heresy five years ago. You never would've seen Amazon do that. So, do you think you can teach Amazon something about partnering, humbly? >> Well, I'll let Amazon comment on that as opposed to me. >> Amazon's got a lot of partners, Dave. They've got thousands of partners. >> But, you know, I'm going to go back, I can't speak for Amazon on what their learning journey has been. I do feel confident that VMware, we are good at partnering, and I think we build good partnerships. >> My final question for you is community. Obviously, as people grow there's a demand for more cloud advocates, more cloud engineers, cloud architects. You guys always had a nice lock on that constituent. But we're seeing a lot of competition hire away people from communities. How do you maintain that community fabric when potentially they might be migrating to other communities. Is it through open source? Dirk Hohndel is leading the efforts with open source. Saw him last night. How are you thinking about maintaining an open, but yet inviting community when people potentially are being migrating around different communities. >> Yeah, I think you have to look at communities as personalities, and kind of the DNA of a community. And it's not a one-size-fits-all. When you're in the dev ops world, you need to act and behave and engage a certain way. You need to bring a certain type of content to that. Trust me, they don't want a lot of marketing in those conversations, right? When in enterprise class, you might be dealing with a different type of DNA. It's about proven, stability, security, resiliency. So there's a little different nature of the community and the dialogue there. I think our philosophy is you got to bring the right content to the people. And it's different, but make sure you understand the needs of the community. And we don't own these communities, right? These are volunteer, people do this because they care, and they want to and they're passionate about it. Our job is to foster that passion. Help make them effective, let them share amongst themselves. They are going to move around communities, we just want to be a part of it. We're not trying to own it, we're trying to be a part of it. >> That's the key, you try to get a land grab ownership, that's when they run. >> I don't think that's what it's about. I think it's really just about, what is the sense of community? What does the word mean? It means coming together, it means sharing, it means helping each other, it means people with like-minded needs and wants and interests. >> Robin, thanks for coming on Cube. I know you're super busy. Thanks for sharing. >> Always. >> Final word, just overall impressions so far. Are you happy the way things are going? The conference is phenomenal. Everything going smooth? >> You know, I couldn't be more excited about what's happened here so far. We're only into day two. For me, a couple of the highlights is how now the industry is starting to talk about tech as a force for good. So now we're starting to move out of the conversation of just the technologies, and the products, and the impact. But what are we collectively doing to make this world a better place. That's a new dialog. And I got so much positive response from Malala today. From, you know, some of the things that we're talking about impact on the world. And I think these just nothing but upside and opportunity for us. >> And that speaks to the culture, you guys are very inspirational. Love the tech for good. People want to work for a company that's doing tech for good, as well as making a profit. >> So do I. >> Thanks for coming on, appreciate it. >> You bet, you guys. >> Thanks, Robin. >> We're doing our best for good here on theCUBE by bringing the great voices in the community and also the executives bringing the content to you here. Two stages, ninth year covering VMworld. We're here with Robin Matlock the CMO. Stay tuned. I'm John Furrier, and Dave Vellante. We'll be back with more coverage. Stay with us.