Wow, wait a minute, whoa, wait, what? It’s not even December yet, heck it’s not even 2015 yet! Yep. You’re quite correct. But between you and I… It’s good to know that EMC World Early Bird discount is available not only now, but until March 2nd, which means you can sit on this awhile without any major rush. :)

EMC World will (of course) be in Las Vegas again this year, May 4th through May 7th.  There’ll be other benefits we’ll announce as we get closer, like free certification, what kind of magical announcements we can ‘expect’, and who knows what else. But for now… we gotta be the early bird getting the proverbial worm so to speak.

Early Bird Gifts:

• GoPro Hero 3 (White Edition)
• Sonos Play 1
• PowerBeats Wireless Headphones
• “Complimentary” Guest pass to the Wednesday evening event.

I mean some of those gifts sound interesting, the GoPro in particular seems nice. The other ones, eh, I don’t know how  I feel about it… But hey, they’re yours to “choose” from, so to speak :)

If you happen to be hankering to attend but aren’t sure how to make it happen, they have their standard “Convince your Boss” model, whereby you can help well, convince your boss! :)

So get out there and register… you have like 100 days or something to make it happen! :)

Oh… and I’ll see you at EMC World ;)

So, I ask the question… Are you going to be attending the Interface Tour in Seattle? I ask selfishly because I will be there, and you know how much I love you all and I’d love to meet up with you! :)

One cool element of this particular conference is that me and my new rockstar home Xiologix are a Gold Sponsor of the event! So that itself is awesome enough reason to check it out, right?!

There are various sessions at the show, and interestingly an accredited model for earning CPEs which is really useful for you CISSP, CASP, or other kinds of folks needing to maintain some sense of Continuing Education.

My favorite part however will be the opportunity to discuss with ya’ll next generation data-center type things and you know how I’m always a fan to solve pretty much any problem, with or without a whiteboard!

So come check it out, especially if you’re already in the Pacific Northwest area! <3  Here’s an Invitation for the event to check it out!

You ever been like, “Man, I wish more organizations would help out non-profits” Well, guess what. Nutanix is. :)

So let’s break it down a bit! in the event that you find yourself too busy to actually click on their site and want the details!

Submission Period (October 15 – November 21, 2014)

• Anyone can nominate a non-profit to participate! To qualify, the organization must:
• Be a non-profit, non-partisan organization located in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom
• Have a currently working datacenter that could benefit from web-scale converged infrastructure
• Be able to complete and meet Environment Assessment criteria. Read the full terms & conditions

Judging Period (November 21 – December 10, 2014)

• A panel of community judges will select the top three finalists.

Voting Day (December 10, 2014)

• Watch the virtual event on December 10th to hear from the three finalists and cast your vote to determine the winner!
• Voting will be open to the public for 24 hours.

Winner Announced! (December 11, 2014)

• The Grand Prize winner will receive a Web-Scale Datacenter Makeover, implemented in 48 hours by a Nutanix team!

Prizes!

The Grand Prize Package

• NX-3350
• 3 Ultimate Software Licenses
• 3 Years of Support
• 2-Day Installation Services
• One organization will receive a 48-Hour Web-Scale Datacenter Makeover, implemented by a Nutanix team!

Two Finalist Packages

• NX-1350
• 3 Ultimate Software Licenses
• 3 Years of Support

Nominate & Get a T-Shirt!

• Exclusively for Web-Scale Wish participants

So get out there, with this last week left and sign up, nominate, win a shirt and help out a non-profit! <3

#Update# This is no longer valid – Please check out my #AsteriskGate post for details;

VMware feels the ‘pinch’ and “invalidates” the VCP-NV as a “valid VCP Certification” #AsteriskGate

#SadEndUpdate#

So you’re a long time virtualization user. You’ve worked with the systems, you love VMware! (You might even have a bumper sticker on your laptop stating as such) Yet… You never got your VCP.

What?! Why aren’t you a VCP?

This is a problem which plagues many an Admin who will often be multi-skilled and can justify the $225 price-tag to take the exam but whose employer will NOT pay for you to be away from the office, nor the hefty price tag often associated with the VCP course itself.  Yea, we get that, so what?!

The VCP-NV will be your savior! (Until 28FEB2015)

So for those of you who are familiar, VMware has introduced the VCP Network Virtualization an exam which is focused heavily on the Nicira product (Named NSX, and occasionally vCNS related stuff for you vCloudy’s out there!)  Also for a limited time they have introduced a unique ‘program’ with this which is…

If you have a Valid CCNA Data Center or CCNA Routing & Switching or CCNP Data Center or CCNP Routing & Switching certification you are eligible to take the VCP-NX without having to have a classroom requirement! Full details can be found at VMware’s site here on the VCP-NV.

Wait, how does this help me with my VCP-DCV?!

I knew you were going to ask that question.  Well, take a journey with me, shall we?

1. Earn your CCNA Routing and Switching (It’s the cheapest of the options available)
   1. (Unless you already have a CCNA R&S then you’re on the way!)
2. Submit verification of Cisco Certification to VMware (Details here)
3. Study for and pass the VCP-NX
4. Now you’re officially a VCP, which grandfathers you into the ability to pass ANY VCP Exam and earn the VCP designation without classroom requirement!
5. Schedule and pass the VCP-DCV (and/or VCP-DT, VCP-Cloud)
   1. If you schedule your exam BEFORE 1JAN2015 you can use VCPRECERT25 for 25% off! (See link)
   2. If you schedule your exam BEFORE 19DEC2014 and are located in APJ/APAC get 50% off! (See Link)
6. BOOM YOU’RE CERTIFIED!

Some of you might feel this is a lot of work. I don’t think any of us didn’t say it WAS, however it is also NOT having to take the classroom requirement and get around this little issue which quite frankly is awesome! :)  For a lot of us, it is really about principle and anything we can do to avoid an arbitrary classroom will work, that and in many cases it is quite cheaper AND expands your possible horizons! <3

Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. You just put out a blog post for 15% off Microsoft Exams and 25% off VMware Exams and countless OTHER forms of free training and certification and now you’re telling me we can get 50% off on VMware Certifications?!?!

Well, no.

What I am saying is that if you’re in APJ / APAC, or more specifically the following countries;

• Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and Korea

THEN you get 50% off Certification. Those of us in the US, Canada, LATAM and Europe… not so much. But hey, at least SOMEONE is getting a discount, right? (I wish it were me! :))

The full scoop of details can be found here at Save 50% off All VMware exams but the really important parts you can get here…

One nice thing is this is Multi-Use and Multi-Person, so if you’ve been planning to knock out your VCP-NV or update to add Cloud, you can!

• Schedule your exam between Oct 27 and Dec 19, 2014
• VCP Exams: VFVCP1450
• Advanced (VCAP) Exams: VFADV1450
• A Must-Read before taking your next #VMware VCP or VCAP Exam!!! (You must Authorize)

And there you go! Go out there and enjoy something which the rest of us cannot. :)