The End of the VMTN Saga?

If you don't know what VMTN is, you might be new to VMware virtualisation or the IT industry. Either way, I have an older post that covers it a bit. I posted it in November 2011 just as the campaign to get the VMTN subscription re-instated by VMware was kicking off.

Here we are though, nearly 18 months later, and it looks like it's not going to happen. One of VMTN's biggest proponents, Mike Laverick, posted on the VMware Communities thread related to VMTN today that it looks unlikely. In his words:

The prevailing view appears to be that other projects will be sufficient… Such as Project Nee…

Project NEE is VMware's online learning resource that's currently being put through its paces. If you read around what it does, you can see why VMware would consequently view the resurrection of VMTN as unnecessary. Whilst it's a disappointment to people who run home lab setups, want to run legitimate workplace labs and prototypes etc., I don't think that it's necessarily the end of the world. The level of automation / orchestration possible in VMware's suite of products means that re-installs don't have to take an age to complete. In fact, I want to rip and rebuild my lab regularly because it's exactly those sorts of tasks and skills that I want to hone. I don't want my lab to sit and age like some legacy infrastructure. I appreciate though that others may not share my views or enthusiasm.

Either way, my advice is not to hold your breath in the hope of a change of heart. If it's true that VMTN is going to stay dead, VMware have made this decision with their heads and not their hearts. My head says, keep calm and roll with it*.

* (@h0bbel, another one for your collection?)