All future quiz’s will have sponsors and better prizes, if you are interested in sponsoring a themed vQuiz (i.e. storage, performance, VVols, cloud, backups, etc…) reach out to me and let me know. Sponsored quiz’s will feature a mix of general questions specific to the topic and some related to the sponsor.
Question Answer % Correct Comments
What year was VMware founded in?
1998 71% Remember the 20 year anniversary this year!
What release was the High Availability feature introduced in? Virtual Center 2.5 45% #2 answer was vCenter Server 4.0 (28%)
What was the original marketing name for the hypervisor that was abbreviated to ESX? Elastic Sky X 79% The question most people got correct
What year was the first VMworld held? 2004 49% In San Diego, CA at the Hyatt Convention Center, was the size of a VMUG UserCon back then (1,400)
Who was VMware's co-founder and chief scientist? Mendel Rosenblum 49% Thought more people would get this correct, #2 answer was Stephen Herrod (16%)
The vSphere product name was introduced in what new release? ESX 4.0 & vCenter 4.0 53% I remember this well as it was a big shock to everyone, was the successor to VI3
What year did EMC announce their intent to acquire VMware? 2003 12% Has it really been that long, #1 answer was 2007 (36%)
The very first VMworld was held in what US city? San Diego, CA 36% I didn't think many would know this as the 1st VMworld only had 1,400 attendees, #2 answer was San Fran (34%)
Before joining EMC and eventually becoming VMware's CEO, which company did Pat Gelsinger work at for 30 years? Intel 70% #2 answer was IBM (15%)
What was the very first virtualization product that VMware released in 1999? Workstation 56% Remember GSX (Server) that was the #2 answer (31%), GSX & ESX were released the same year (2001)
Who was VMware's Chief Marketing Officer before Robin Matlock filled the position in 2013 Rick Jackson 34% CMO is usually not that visible and it shows, #2 answer was Carl Eschenbach (32%), Rick Vanover (Veeam) was chosen 12%
VMware has had 3 CEO's over the years, who took over as CEO in 2008 succeeding Diane Greene Paul Maritz 66% Thought more would know this but it was a decade ago, #2 answer was Pat Gelsinger (19%) (huh?)
What was the original code name for the company before it was officially called VMware? Disco 16% I didn't know this either, I stumbled upon it in an obscure Stephen Herrod interview: "Our original code name for the company was Disco, because it was a cool idea from the 1970s that we wanted to bring back", most people answered Merlin (45%)
Who succeeded Stephen Herrod as VMware's CTO in 2014? Ben Fathi 23% His tenure as CTO was short 2014-2015 so not alot of people remembered him, Ray O'Farrell was the #1 answer (39%) who succeeded him in 2016
What year did VMware debut on the New York Stock Exchange with a first day closing value of $19.1 billion 2007 23% Answers were pretty evenly split between all 5 choices
What aquatic creature is a feature attraction in the VMware Promontory pond at their Palo Alto campus? Turtle 71% If you read my blog you would know this: http://vsphere-land.com/news/the-legendary-turtles-at-vmware-hq.html
The first VMworld Europe was held in February 2008 in which city? Cannes, France 30% It was in Cannes the first 2 years before moving to Copenhagen, #1 answer was Barcelona (40%)
VMware announced the general availability of Virtual SAN in what year? 2014 40% And hyper-converged madness ensued...
VMware acquired what software defined networking company in 2012? Nicira 74% #2 answer was AirWatch (12%)
VMware is celebrating this company anniversary milestone this year? 20th 82% If you knew the first answer or paid attention at VMworld you should have known this and it seems most people did
Winners of the vQuiz:
- 1st: 20 answers correct in 2:07 – David Marshal
- 2nd: 17 answers correct in 1:42 – Anthony Poh
- 3rd: 16 answers correct in 3:17 – Dan Raymond
