The VMworld Keynote announcements are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but that’s okay says Wikibon Analyst Scott Lowe in his Professional Alert on the first-day announcements at VMworld 2012.  The biggest news, he says, is the elimination of vRAM, which he characterized as definitely a good idea. Beyond that VMware’s engineers have not had time to incorporate the technologies from VMware’s recent purchases of Nicira and DynamicOps, so the improvements to vSphere, while nice, are expected next steps. Even the one new product, vClouds Suite 5.1, is really a repackaging of existing products.

That, Lowe says, is okay and expected. Even the most leading edge companies cannot revolutionize their products every year, and the announcements do add real value to the VMware product suite. vSphere 5.1 adds several important if not unexpected features that meet customer needs, and the vCloud Suite makes it easier for customers to purchase the full set of VMware products in a single SKU if they choose. However, they can still buy those products separately, an option that Lowe suggests Microsoft should copy.

Overall, the announcements, if not surprising, are solid and going in the right direction, and CIOs should look carefully at the new product suites to see if they provide opportunities for data center purchasing efficiencies.

Wikibon and SiliconAngle will be webcasting live from WMworld 2012 through Wednesday, August 29, with interviews with the thought leaders of the virtualization revolution. Catch the action at SiliconAngle.tv.

As with all Wikibon analysis, the full Professional Alert is available to the public free of charge on the Wikibon Web site. Interested IT professionals are invited to register for membership in Wikibon, which is also free. This gives them the ability to edit research to correct errors, add comments and questions, and post their own research for the community. It also allows them to receive notifications of upcoming Peer Incite meetings at which users on the leading edge discuss what they are doing that can help other community members, and other events, and to receive the periodic Peer Incite e-newsletter.