Is VMware's vSphere 4.0 Update 1 enough to get you to upgrade?

For all of the VMware VI3 customers waiting for the vSphere virtualization equivalent to a Windows Service Pack 1 update, wait no more!

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After numerous rumors about when Update 1 for VMware vSphere and vCenter would be released, VMware finally put things in motion with its announcement Friday. While the company didn't release the update as early as some rumors had it, VMware did beat expectations of an end-of-month release.

So now that Update 1 has been released, what effect will it have on vSphere?

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In speaking to many virtualization administrators and VMware shops since vSphere's release, I have heard a common thread. Many of those shops were waiting to implement an upgrade from VMware Infrastructure 3.x to vSphere 4.0. Rather than jumping on the virtualization bandwagon to move to the latest and greatest technology, many organizations decided to wait and let others test the water first. These shops typically went through painstaking efforts to establish a stable and high-performing virtualization environment, and jumping the gun to upgrade to a brand-new platform in their production environments didn't make a lot of sense to them.

I've seen this attitude before and I've lived it in my own IT career. The idea is much the same as in Windows shops. Ever hear a Windows administrator say, "No thanks, I'll wait until Service Pack 1 comes out before I migrate my Windows environment"? This VMware upgrade is very similar. It's one thing to update or upgrade an application; it's another to upgrade the underlying technology that operates your entire infrastructure.