VMblog:  As a VMworld 2019 sponsor, how can attendees find you this year? 

Brad Parks:  We're excited to be in BOOTH 1957...right next to the Rubrik basketball court.  We've also got a Happy Hour going on Monday night with our partner Technologent.  (Register HERE).  If anyone want's to grab some 1:1 time, I'll be there along with our founder and VP of Engineering David Estes... just DM me @MorpheusDude and we can set aside some dedicated time.

VMblog:  You guys won Best of VMworld last year for Automation... how are you leveraging that for this year's booth setup?

Parks:  That award along with the Gartner Magic Quadrant have been great for awareness.   We doubled in size since last year as far as revenue, employees, and our VMworld footprint.  We're in a 10 x 20 and are making a big push to pair VMware with Morpheus instead of vRealize Automation for multi-cloud self-service.

We've got an automation 'confessional' to help people exorcise their pent up demons and like last year think we've got some of the best stickers and swag at the show for those who join us on social media.  You might say we want to help customer vRealize a better approach to cloud Automation.

VMblog:  Sounds like the gloves are off and you're getting aggressive.  What's the latest on the product side that folks should look for?  

Parks:  Just a few weeks ago we made a major announcement with our v4.0 product release where we called out both VMware and Red Hat to meet us at the playground after school.  We see a significant opportunity for customers to simplify automation across VMs and Containers at the same time they are simplifying management across on-prem and public cloud.  You just can't do that if you are too locked into one single vendors platform stack.

Morpheus sits right at that intersection to reduce tool sprawl and provide a unified approach to multi-cloud and container management in a way that is 100% platform agnostic.  A couple of the highlights from the release:

• Easily build, manage, and utilize Kubernetes clusters while also simplifying management of hybrid-cloud Kubernetes with a new fully managed and CNCF certified Morpheus Kubernetes Service
• Reduce risk and cost of using Ansible plus eliminate dependence on Ansible Tower with the most secure Ansible integration of any cloud and container management platform.
• Simplify day-2 operations with self-documenting infrastructure in the form of an embedded Wiki and automate even more with our Jobs and Operational Workflow engine.

VMblog:   How does that new feature-set help VMware customers and what do you plan to talk about at the event?  

Parks:  I love these shows because of the sheer volume of conversation we are able to have in just a few days.  We want to hear where customers are at in their evolution and give them a platform that will provide rapid value no matter if they are just starting out or are a fully mature DevOps shop.  I'm always interested to see how the overall maturity of the VMware base evolves from one year to the next.

Cloud Automation has really emerged as one of the key topics at the event so we expect to be pretty busy.  For folks familiar with this spacem we're now bringing together functionality that previously required multiple products.  Morpheus is effectively a combination of Turbonomics + vRA/vRO + OpenShift + RunDeck... covering the full hybrid IT application lifecycle from cradle to grave.

At the booth we'll have demos and subject matter experts to guide the conversation.  By engaging with us at VMworld we can very quickly move to a PoC after the event.  Plus, if any of our existing partners and customers want to have a roadmap conversation we've got a lot of great things coming in the second half of the year.  

VMblog:  Speaking of partners, how does Morpheus fit into the broader VMware ecosystem?

Parks:  One of the biggest reasons customers choose Morpheus is the library of built-in integrations they get with our platform.  We get up and running quickly and typically get customers farther along in a day then vRA can get in months.

We are able to move that fast because we've got API integration into 80+ common platforms... so as for the ecosystem we feel like we're at the center.  We integrate with companies like Zerto, Veeam, F5, A10, SolarWinds, InfoBlox, Bluecat, OneLogin, ServiceNow, etc. 

This means VMworld is a great opportunity for us to touch base and enhance those relationships.  We're really looking forward to reconnecting with all of our friends in the ecosystem. 

VMblog:  Do you have any tips for first time attendees of VMworld that you'd like to share?

Parks:  Don't be shy.  Today's datacenter is a melting pot of heterogeneous technologies and the same can be said for VMworld.  The community surrounding the VMware ecosystem is one of the best around.  Take advantage and reach out to the vExperts and others who can improve your ability to solve problems faster.  It's also a great time to work with vendors to get straight to the product and engineering teams.

Other advice would be to pace yourself.  With that much social activity and available after hours events you've got to remember it's a marathon and not a sprint.  Otherwise you may not make it to that 8am session on Tuesday you thought sounded interesting ;-). 

VMblog:  Attendees always enjoy a good trade show tchotchke.  And you had some really cool giveaways last year.  What do you have planned this year?

Parks:  As a startup I love having fun with our brand and being a bit controversial.  Last year we did a whole run of shirts and stickers that played off of Star Wars, Deadpool, and Game of Thrones.  This year is a bit of a throwback to the decade many of the attendees grew up in... we've got nods to D.A.R.E, LiveAid, and other classics.  Just remember... friends don't let friends experience vRA pain.