Mark, you were one of the first VCP’s in the US – when did you become VCP certified and how would you compare that with your recent VCDX  VMware Certified Design Expert certification?

So I got my VCP, in September 2003.  This is the year when the VCP was just starting to become an actual program, about the time ESX 2.x was released. 

VCP (VMware Certified Professional) is a certification focused on administrative tasks, installation, configuration, permissions, and minimum/maximum configurations of hardware.  I have seen that over the past few years, VCP is a certification that distinguishes people in IT …the same way that MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) and CNE (Certified Novell Engineer) were coveted certifications in the 2000′s and 1990′s respectively.  Having skills in virtualization is important today, and it is becoming a required skill for all IT professionals, just like understanding Windows is a required skill for any IT person today.

VCDX (VMware Certified Design eXpert), and the amount of time and effort involved, is a much higher ended, design oriented certification, just as the name implies.  When looking at the design certification, we are not looking to test the skills of administration, installation, or configuration…these skills are expected, as the first requirement of a VCDX is to have the VCP certification.  This does not mean that everyone who is a VCP should go after the VCDX.  There are other skills required:  FC-SANs, iSCSI SANs, Networking, routing, Active Directory, DNS, NTP, LDAP, backup and restore, disaster recovery, application availability, Windows, Linux, workflow, daily IT processes, creating documentation, and the ability to articulate the choices that you are making for the design of a datacenter’s foundation.  The ability to put together the entire design of the datacenter, be this generations Data Center Architect, and design a data center process using the technologies that have become de facto in today’s environment, is what I see as the goal and purpose of the VCDX program.

VMware states that they intend for under 500 VCDX worldwide; what number VCP were you and what number VCDX are you?

That’s a goal that I admire…keep the certification valuable… My VCP# is 46, and my VCDX# is 23.  I received my VCDX, the day after VMworld 2009 in San Francisco, and was the last of the candidates to go through the Design Defense at VMworld.

What does your VCDX certification mean for a customer today? Is there a certain type of customer that would want to know you because of this?

Well, I believe that all customers should be aware of the VCDX designation.    VCDX professionals are going to be individuals that are recognized by their peers as having the ability to see, not only the base VMware ESX and vCenter building blocks of a datacenter, but to see the interdependencies that exist between storage, networks, business continuity, disaster recovery plans, directory services, and all other components of the datacenters building blocks, as well as the processes that allow it all to function as a well-oiled machine that.

So what does it mean to a customer today?  My opinion, biased as it may be, is that when you work with someone who is VCDX certified, is that you will be working with a professional who can make the appropriate choices in the design and integration of Virtualization into your datacenter, and justify the technologies and logic used in the buildout of the datacenter.

I look at the VCDX professional as a certification that benefits IT operations and datacenters in the same way that someone would look to an Architect to provide a blueprint for a building.  When you work with an Architect, his goal is to provide you with a house that has plumbing, electricity, meets building/fire codes and other items that you as a homebuilder may not even be aware of (why use 2×6 construction instead of 2×4 for the outside walls?)  While there may never be a single IT oriented certification such as this, the VCDX is definitely a step in that direction….looking at the big, all inclusive, picture.

Desktop virtualization has received a great deal of attention for the past few years, but it doesn’t seem that the breakthrough year has happened yet because the ROI isn’t very clear.  Would you agree or disagree with that statement?

Agree…to a point.

Will this year be the breakthrough year for desktop virtualization?  I believe anyone who is not actively engaged in concepts of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is missing out,…  There are sometimes shifts in the way we do things that shakes up the foundation of our jobs.  Server Virtualization did just that when it came on the market not even 10 years ago….today, I would be hard pressed to find a datacenter that does not have virtualization as part of its server/datacenter strategy.

Running desktops in the datacenter, and providing users with terminals is reminiscent of the old terminals or green screens.  It provided more control for the administrators, and a consistent experience for the user.  That is what I think the key point will be….a consistent experience for a user.  So the key point to remember is that the only reason there is an IT career path available to most people is that we all need applications to do our job, and the folks who work in IT are the ones who are empowering the user base  to use these applications so they can work smarter, and more efficiently.

So if it is all about the user, what does a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure provide?  Many things…some of them beneficial to the user, some of them beneficial to the company.

Keeping the data in the data center is a tremendous benefit for anyone who’s organization has lost a laptop with sensitive data.  Sure you can encrypt every laptop, and create policies that prohibit you from copying data to your local machine, but how can you enforce all of it.  By its very nature, VDI enables you to keep the your data in the data center, and not on many remote, hard to control devices such as desktops and laptops.

Keeping users productive is what IT is all about.  The only problem with that, is somehow there is a perception that IT / Helpdesk can be viewed by many as only a break/fix department for an organization.  I like to see IT and Helpdesk working proactively to keep the end user from having problems with their applications or their computers.  Working in a VDI environment can enable organizations to shift from a reactive to proactive mentality, where the delivery of applications is thought out, tested, validated and then rollout out the user base.  Today, only the largest organizations have the ability and controls in place to do this, and at a tremendous cost (for the software and management systems required to keep this control).

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