As day 2 of VMworld 2015 was winding down, theCUBE hosts John Furrier, Dave Vellante, Stu Miniman and Brian Gracely sat down to digest the underlying themes of the conference.

A free for all

Some of the anticipated buzz surrounding VMware, Inc.’s fate with a spin-off and what it would mean for the EMC Federation did not happen. However, one thing is apparently clear, “It feels like a free for all,” remarked Furrier, referring to the opportunities that are wide open in this space.

Missing pieces

theCUBE hosts’ focus on VMware’s CEO Pat Gelsinger’s keynote address was more about what they did not hear as opposed to what they heard. Miniman had some questions about infrastructure and vertical layers and pointed out that there was no reference to Amazon Web Services or Azure (Microsoft’s enterprise-grade cloud computing platform). He said, “VMware is no doubt the incumbent and a leader in this space, but it is getting boring just talking about virtualization. This creates a free for all for adjacency.”

Gracely noted that it appears VMware is trying to become a big player in the space; however, he perceives Gelsinger’s message as being, “We may not have it now, but you should talk to us.”

Vellante said that the company is “beyond the point of no return, but they have a long way to go. But they made that commitment.” He wondered if VMware connects with customers and if they are giving up control by not providing customers a bridge to the resources they need, like AWS, Azure or public Cloud.

Rough seas ahead

VMware is going into rough seas, according to theCUBE analysis. The company’s hybrid Cloud is not ready, and while their core is strong, the issues with Elliott Management Corp. are a distraction.

Furrier believes that VMware doesn’t reach the developer, and infrastructure needs to be aware of this.

Join theCUBE for another exciting day at VMworld 2015 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Wednesday, September 2, and make sure to watch the complete Day 2 recap below.

Photo by SiliconANGLE