Each big vendor has some kind of annually “community award” for individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of the specific vendor’s users over the past 12 months.

Those kinds of “technologies experts” could be book authors, bloggers (in most cases), leaders in some communities, tool builders, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others. These people have gone above and beyond their day jobs to share their technical expertise and communicate the value of the specific vendor’s technologies to their colleagues and to the community.

Each award, that is not a certification, does not demonstrate the technical level, but mainly the passion and the community support.

Note that each award is usually annually and must be reconfirmed with a candidate submission (almost similar to the submission for new candidates).

Usually most of the submissions are annual (Microsoft MVP is quaternary, VMware vExpert with each six months,  but there are just few exceptions).

What are the different applications for the 2019 year?

• VMware vExpert is VMware’s global evangelism and advocacy program started on 2009.
  vExpert applications for the 2020 (first semestral submission) is open and the applications will be accepted until Friday, January 10th (12:00pm pt). The vExpert 2020 announcement will be late February to early March.
  If you need help with your application or want to know the criteria in detail for you area of interest you can reach out to a vExpert PRO in your region. 
  For more information see this blog post.
• Microsoft MVP (Most Value Professional) award is given to “exceptional, independent community leaders who share their passion, technical expertise, and real-world knowledge of Microsoft products with others”. Is one of oldest award program.
  As written, nomination is quaternary (and announces are on the 1st of Jan, Apr, Jul and Oct).
• Nutanix Technology Champion (NTC) is the Nutanix award and this will be the thirth year, after the announce on December 24th.
  New nominations was open up to November 8, 2019, at midnight PST. We will announce the new group in December 2019.
  For more information see this blog post.
• Veeam Vanguard represents Veeam brand (introduced on 2015) to the highest level in many of the different technology communities in which we engage. The selected individuals are chosen for their acumen, engagement and style in their activities on and offline.
• Cisco Champions is intended to create and nurture a network of people who are passionate about Cisco and enjoy sharing their knowledge, expertise, and thoughts across the social web and with Cisco (the program has been announced in later 2014).
  The new application was open on 11/2019 (like each year).
• Citrix Technology Professional (CTP) Program provides an opportunity for participants to gain deeper insight into Citrix strategies and technologies, including advance knowledge of planned projects. Awardees engage with Citrix leaders to help shape the future of cloud computing technologies that enable mobile workstyles, providing valuable input on business needs and feedback on product strategy. Like the MVP is one of the oldest program.  The application window was open until October 31, 2019.
  Note that Citrix has also a Citrix Technology Advocate (CTA) Program.

Dead or discountinued programs:

• Pernix Pro, started in November 2013, was the elite community of IT professionals committed to advancing Flash Hypervisor technology.
  Unfortunately this program has offically been closed after the acquisition from Nutanix.
• Atlantis Community Expert (ACE) was a new program (introduced on 2016) where Atlantis recognizes expert members of the virtualization community and their passion for technology and transformative approaches to data center designs.
  With the acquisition from Hive-IO the program is basically dead.
• (Dell)EMC Elect was a community-driven recognition and a way from EMC to thanks for individual’s engagement with EMC as a brand over the last calendar year. With the Dell-EMC acquisition has been renamed, but seems no more longer active.
  Dell TechCenter Rockstars seems that this program is death, considering that there isn’t neither the 2015.

Andrea Mauro

Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.