vSphere officially goes on sale on Thursday May 21st according to the information that VMware has published, but will it actually be available on that date for customers to download? Nobody knows for sure (except VMware and they’re not saying) but if I had to bet I would say that it will also be available on May 21st. Why? Several reasons:

• The first reason is why would you sell something if you can’t deliver it, it’s not like VMware to take pre-orders for a product. If they are taking orders for vSphere, customers are going to want the product and they should have it available.
• The second reason is that vSphere is already GA as stated and shown at the April 21st launch event, that means it’s done, no more changes, it’s a final build. Since it’s GA already it’s ready to use, it’s not like VMware has to burn DVD’s and package the product, they simply need to post it to their website for customers to download.
• The third reason is that Cisco announced the Nexus 1000V will be available in early June, they wouldn’t release it unless vSphere was GA, after all why sell something that nobody can use yet.
• Finally VMware had all their SE’s down in San Francisco at the beginning of May, presumably to learn about vSphere. There is nothing preventing them from releasing it, they have had a month since the announcement to prep for the release so they can do things like updating their website, documentation, licensing portal and more. Time to pull the trigger and release the product.

So I guess we’ll find out on Thursday if it’s available or not. If it’s not released then I’ll be surprised and and would expect it shortly afterwards. Everyone is really looking forward to this release so bring it on VMware!

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