BTomTech

Photo by  Ralph (Ravi) Kayden  on  Unsplash Telco and 5G has been taking main stage for some time now. Pat Gelsinger said, “5G is the single biggest tech investment we will see in our lifetime.” What does this mean for the VMUG member new and old? 5G matters to all technologists, and I’m going to share 5 reasons why. Carrier Improvements Carriers have traditionally provided connectivity. That model is not sustainable, and carriers need to do more. Technology is driving carriers to continue to provide higher bandwidth and better coverage, but also more applications to manage edge and the IoT. The most efficient way to deliver these apps is through virtualization and more specifically, Kubernetes. Virtualization VMware has a strong history in virtualization and is used by most, if not all Fortune 500 companies. VMware can handle extremely large virtualization deployments. Telco’s need a software partner who can handle their large workloads and VMware is in position to be that par

  Photo by  Kendall Scott on Unsplash Today I turn 50 years old. What an interesting and amazing ride with lots of twist and turns!  As I reflect on my career, I wanted to focus on the people who provided my greatest “Ah Ha” moments.    I attended the University of South Carolina (Go Gamecocks!) and graduated with an Information Systems degree. My first job was with Computer Sales & Services in Columbia, South Carolina. The job focused on selling computers, networking, services, and accessories to corporate accounts across the state. Though It was a small company,  I worked with many great people who illustrated how to balance work and life. The owner of the company offered a bit of advice; master the hard part of your job and the rest becomes easy.  Success will ultimately follow. What great advice! Implementing this mindset has served me well in my career. The next stop on my career journey was with a company called PC Genius . It was a small local computer training company

It’s that time of year when the vExpert applications open soon. If you are unfamiliar with the vExpert program, it is for technologist who give back to the community. I encourage you to check out the website or my blog about the process for more information. Why be a vExpert? Why go through the process and why put yourself out there? Below are the three compelling “C ‘s” why.        Career        Community        Culpability Your Career is important to you. You keep up with the industry by training on new technology and your career provides for you and your family.   vExpert status can add another bullet on the resume.   Also, utilize the benefits gained by being a vExpert to advance your career even further. An example of the benefits is NFR licenses, exclusive webinars, and the business connections made. Let’s expand on those Connections . Once a vExpert, you get access to the Slack channel. This channel has a plethora of members willing to help. Ultimately, it is a wo

VMware is a huge company with many products, divisions, and solutions. It’s hard to keep track of everything VMware is involved in. VMworld is no different, and in some ways, there’s even more to keep up with because of the tech previews. This VMworld recap post is for the vAdmin, the traditional VMUG member, someone who has been a vSphere user for some time. You are interested in emerging tech, but maybe your company isn’t quite there yet to upgrade. Or maybe you are struggling to understand the connection between spend time learning this new tech and how this could enhance your career. VMware and Your Career The first thing to realize is your experience with vSphere will continue to pay dividends, but there’s a catch: you have to embrace the additional features that allows you to continue the journey—you can’t rely on server virtualization only. vSphere is the base that can take you many new places such as security, networking, storage, Kubernetes, DevOps, and the platform engineer.

Garmin Forerunner 235 Recently my Garmin Forerunner 235 watch died. It was 3.5 years old, had a cracked screen, but it had a good run - pun intended. I was looking for a replacement to track my runs and bike rides. I’ve enjoyed the Garmin and wanted to get another one. The options I wanted to add with this watch was Garmin Pay and a touch screen. As I’ve covered in a previous blog , I’m not in the Apple ecosystem, so I didn’t consider an Apple Watch. On a vFit run earlier this year during the VMUG Leader Summit, Luke Huckaba and I were discussing watches. So I hit him up on the vExpert slack to continue the conversation. vFit Run 2020 Leader Summit Luke gave solid advice and I went with the Vivoactive 3 . I tried to find it at my local Fleet Feet store, but they did not have it. I found it online for a good price on Amazon.  I have been running since 2015 and it’s been a great exercise for my lifestyle. I owe the idea to my wife, who challenged me to find a healthy habit and Victor B