SAN FRANCISCO -- VMworld --
I heard about v0dgeball last year on Twitter, and when the Tweetvite came out for this year's edition, I knew I had to sign up. Not to play, but to film other people getting hurt. Check it out:
We've got photos, too. Click the photo below to launch a slideshow, or click here for thumbnails.
Rock On
Fred Nix (left) of EMC is the key v0dgeball instigator. The sweatband and the power cable -- that combination says it all.
An unofficial VMworld tradition, v0dgeball started three years ago as a grudge match among friends from EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO). Now it's grown to a 12-team, double-elimination tournament to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Teams put up $1,000 each for the privilege of heaving foam balls at each other.
It's both more and less organized than you'd think. Teams showed up in uniforms, and there was an actual trophy to be had. Smaller details, such as the actual schedule of who would play whom, got made up on the fly.
V0dgeball operates under the real rules of competitive adult dodgeball, and there were even referees on hand.
But obviously, it's a casual event run entirely by volunteers -- no one sponsors the event itself, and it was held in a local gym near Moscone Center.
The slate was a bit EMC-heavy. Teams included EMC itself, VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) (owned by EMC), VCE (the joint venture of Cisco, VMware and EMC) and a couple groups of vExperts -- engineers who know their VMware stuff.
We also got to see Arista Networks Inc. , Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD), Cisco and Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) -- and Cloud Bunnies, a hodgepodge team of vendors, customers and academics. They were at least as fluffy as they were ferocious.
— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading
