VMware community leader and fan favorite, John Troyer, has announced this year’s VMware vExpert 2013 awards over at the official VMware VMTN blog.  And once again, I am honored to be in that number!  Throughout my IT career, I can honestly say that I've not been part of or experienced any other community quite like this one.  Virtualization and cloud computing are game changing technologies, and I am thrilled that I have been able to be part of it for the last 14 years of my career.

And 2013 is the largest group of vExperts in the 5-year history of the program, announcing a class of 581 lucky recipients.  Some in the Twitter world have questioned the increased number in ranks, but honestly, you can't put a cap on virtualization passion, enthusiasm and evangelism!  Last year, the total number of vExperts was 443, so we've increased our ranks by 138.  Personally, I think that's a good thing.  If you think honoring 581 people is like letting every virtualization or VMware user into the group, you're insane!  And you're also being a bit selfish.  New blood to the group brings new ideas and new perspectives, and that's a good thing.  As the technology continues to pour into data center's around the world, we should only expect the number of evangelists to continue to rise. 

For those who still don’t know what the vExpert award is all about (WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??), it's not a technical certification like the VCP but instead a recognition for what individual's have done for the virtualization community in the prior year of the award.  That includes things such as blogging, writing books, sharing knowledge to the community (giving back), podcasting, working within the VMUG community, etc.  Basically, these people take time out of their already busy lives to help spread the word.

Here's a quote from the official announcement:

We’re pleased to announce the list of vExperts for 2013. Each of these vExperts have demonstrated significant contributions to the community and a willingness to share their expertise with others. We are blown away by the passion and knowledge in this group, a group that is responsible for much of the virtualization evangelism that is taking place in the world — both publicly in books, blogs, online forums, and VMUGs; and privately inside customers and VMware partners. Congratulations to you all!

A special thank you to John Troyer, Corey Romero and the entire VMware Social Media & Community Team for this honor and award.  I'm extremely pleased and thankful to once again be named a VMware vExpert.  And I'd also like to say well done and congratulations to everyone coming aboard in 2013... old and new alike.  2013 is going to be another great year for us! 

And in case anyone missed the announcement within the comments section on the original VMTN post, our friends at Tintri are back again this year with a very generous offer.  As a thank you to the community, Tintri is offering this year's class of vExperts a special Tintri polo.  This is something you DO NOT want to miss out on, trust me!   Click here for your free polo.

Not to be outdone, the good folks at Train Signal have also passed along a valuable award to vExpert 2013 members -- a free one year subscription to Train Signal's video training library.  Check out this link for more details and to register for this incredible offer.

Thank you both!