VMworld 2013 Day two saw VMware pushing into the Software Defined Data Center (SDDC). Equally apparent, is what the guys were able to unpack about VMware’s goal with Software Defined Networking (SDN) and the next evolution of networking. SiliconANGLE’s exclusive coverage of #VMWorld 2013, both with our editorial and theCUBE, caught all of the action too. We packed in another twenty great theCUBE interviews of top executives at VMworld 2013.

Here are three of the top interviews from our Day Two coverage of #VMworld 2013:

3 must-see moments from #VMworld 2013

• Scaling Horizontally At Will Is Truly Cloud-style

The first interview of day two saw Jim McBride, Chief Cloud Architect with Express Scripts, talk about drugs. McBride explained that Express Scripts is basically a pharmacy-benefit manager, trying to make prescription drugs safer and more affordable to one hundred million-plus Americans who take them. Last year alone they managed 1.4 billion scripts. As for the success recipe, to be considered a winner in this field, McBride believes one has to “take the best available products on the market and figure out how to make them relevant for one’s company.”

See the full interview here.

• Infrastructure Keeps Things Up and Running, Innovation Takes Place at Higher Levels

Rick Jackson, CMO of Rackspace (formerly the CMO of VMware) joined theCube co-hosts John Furrier and Dave Vellante, to talk about his recent career change, the company in general and its movements in Open Stack. As the Chief Marketing Officer at Rackspace, the Open Cloud Company, Rick Jackson is leading the global marketing strategy in the evolving hybrid cloud market. Rackspace is the founder of OpenStack, the standard open-source operating system for cloud computing. There are people that believe open stack community should embrace Amazon’s AWS APIs, but Rick Jackson is not one of them.

See the full interview here.

• VMware On The Forefront

theCUBE welcomed Carl Eschenbach, President and Chief Operating Officer for VMWare. Eschenbach highlighted VMware’s work in the compute layer and stated how they have mapped out virtualization so that it is expanding from compute to also include networking, storage and several other verticals. His main point was that VMware is confident about announcing this technology is no longer on the distant horizon but, in fact, is here and ready for implementation at the enterprise level. In the interview, Eschenbach detailed VMware’s recognition of what they believe to be their core strengths: software defined data centers, end user computing, and the hybrid cloud.

See the full interview here.

More Quick Bites

A collection of SiliconANGLE’s theCUBE coverage of VMware’s VMworld 2013 day two at the Moscone Center in San Francisco California.

Our coverage of #VMworld 2013 was more than just theCUBE however. Here’s a few other snippets that caught our attention:

VMware Pushes into the Software-Defined Data Center at VMworld 2013

VMware has unleashed a string of new and updated products at this week’s VMworld 2013 conference in a move to realize its ambitious software-defined data center (SDDC) strategy announced last year.

• vCloud Suite 5.5 introduces a new version of vSphere that includes automated recovery from application and operating system failure, in addition to Flash Read Cache technology that taps into server-side flash to lower latency.
• VMware vSphere with Operations Management 5.5 builds on the latest version of vSphere to provide admins with insights into workload capacity and health. It’s joined by vCloud Hybrid Service, an IaaS solution that targets the 60 percent of virtualization organizations which utilize VMware’s software.
• NSX, a network virtualization platform that is largely based on technology the vendor obtained through the acquisition of Nicira. The solution transforms physical network infrastructure into a “pool of transport capacity” that marries simplicity with unified automation, visibility and control.
• Virtual SAN, an abstraction layer enables data center operators to treat servers, direct attached storage, disks and flash as one large data store. Virtual SAN is designed for use in virtual desktop, test/dev and disaster recovery environments.
• VMware also expanded its Horizon Suite with a complimentary desktop-as-a-service solution, a centralized version of the Horizon Workplace mobile management solution, and support for the LG G2, HTC One and Motorola DROID family of smartphones.

The Hybrid Cloud Is Closer Than You May Think #VMworld

As part of our continuing coverage of the VMworld Conference in San Francisco, SiliconANGLE’s theCube took their show on the road to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The venue hosted a NetApp Customer Event. Wikibon’s Dave Vellante welcomed Jim McHugh and Adam Fore to talk about the near history and future of converged infrastructures. McHugh, VP Product and Solutions Marketing for Cisco, commented how converged infrastructure was seen as a common goal between Cisco and NetApp because it promised to change the whole model of compute as we knew it. Fore, Virtualization and Cloud Solutions Marketing at NetApp claimed they are currently identifying new markets and environments they can work in.